Eldritch doom, sword-wielding detectives, and muffins

I'm still waiting to hear if the meteorite "defrosting" in Japan is going to hatch into mindless horror. I think they're likely screwed when Ghidora starts laying the smackdown. Only Godzilla can save them and we all know how well that goes for real estate values.

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Had free time yesterday and hit Barnes & Noble. Found myself buying a couple of books. Big shock. While waiting for friends and associates, I had a pint and started to read one of them:

Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter by Richard Parks is a sort of pulp noir story, only it's set in Heian period Japan. So the main character, Yamada Monogatari, is narrating the story in modern-ish vernacular, but he's really a down-on-his-luck Japanese nobleman who has been forced to turn to mercenary/detective/demon hunter work to pay the bills.

The book is a collection of short stories about Yamada and so far they're kicking my ass. I know a tiny bit about the Heian period from some light reading done after watching some films set in that era. In a nutshell, it's really before the Shoguns rose to power. Demons and ghosts are pretty common ocurrences in the stories told of that era. So really, you've got a sort of Sam Spade/Harry Dresden walking around with a Tachi instead of a revolver or magical blasting stick.

It's kicking my ass. Love this stuff.

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So far my "healthy muffin" experiment hasn't poisoned me. Yet.