novelraw Chapter 97 The Hoarded Manuscripts
Chapter 97 The Hoarded Manuscripts
Kyosuke Maijo's reputation spread far and wide in Tokyo's mystery fiction scene, and many readers from other cities began to travel to Tokyo in hopes of seeing him at a book signing event.
But the person at the center of this matter is now troubled in the "Longevity Soup" room...
On the second floor of the "Longevity Bath," in the room of Maijo Kyosuke.
Dozens of sheets of paper were crumpled into balls and scattered all over the floor, looking as if they had been stolen and were in complete disarray.
Of course, Maijo Kyosuke's room was not robbed.
Because in Maijo Kyosuke's room, the most valuable manuscript of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands" was still safely on the bookshelf.
The reason why Maijo Kyosuke is so troubled is entirely because of the short mystery novel "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate".
The reason is mainly because the original text of this story in the previous life was written in a very dry style, but the logical reasoning in it was very hardcore, almost like the Japanese version of Queen in his lifetime!
Kyosuke Maijo's idea was very simple: to use his writing skills to polish the story.
This will make this already excellent story even more perfect and more readable.
But this kind of thing is easy to think about, but extremely difficult to do...
Since Jiang Liumei started watching "Summer of the Ubume" yesterday morning, Maijo Kyosuke has made more than a dozen revisions, both big and small, by 8 pm tonight.
Although it has been polished very well and is more suitable for the atmosphere of 80s mystery, Maijo Kyosuke is still not entirely satisfied.
After all, he is currently quite popular, and as his popularity rises, he will inevitably attract jealousy from his peers and stakeholders. Even though many people like him, there are also many people who dislike him and want to suppress him!
In order to protect the popularity they have worked so hard to gain.
Kyosuke Maijo must polish the original work as much as possible so that the story of "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate" is not only highly logical and deductive, but also written in a way that leaves no room for criticism!
Thinking of all this, Maijo Kyosuke sighed as he looked at the crumpled paper on the ground, then turned his gaze to the manuscript of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands" on the bookshelf next to him.
Upon seeing the manuscript stored in the safe, Maijo Kyosuke seemed to have a spark of inspiration.
It's important to know that the reason why "Mr. Altmore's Hands" was voted the best short story in the history of detective fiction by twelve top writers including Queen, Carl, and Hecklough is not mainly because of the mystery itself, but because of the suspenseful atmosphere it creates and the surprising motive for the crime!
If... I could utilize the suspenseful atmosphere of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands," the poignant prose of "A Bellflower," and the logical structure of "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate"...
That would definitely bring a huge shock to the Japanese literary world!
After all... under the impact of the "Kiyoshi Curse", even the orthodox mystery genre in Japan can only be supported by those old predecessors. The logic-based style from "King of Logic" Quinn has almost become extinct in the Japanese mystery market!
Once my article, "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates," is successfully polished, it will undoubtedly attract even greater attention!
Thinking of this, Maijo Kyosuke immediately stood up and took down the safe containing the manuscript of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands".
I'm starting to appreciate this short story again, which Queen hailed as the best detective novel ever written. I hope it will add some suspense to "The Death Row Inmate's Mystery" and allow this logically-driven masterpiece to shine even brighter!
-
January 20, 1980 (Showa 55), early morning.
After two days and one night, Jingjie Maishiro finally finished his logical masterpiece, "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate," using the writing style of "A Bellflower" and the suspenseful atmosphere of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands"!
Having finished everything, Maijo Kyosuke put his pen on the table and breathed a sigh of relief.
After carefully placing the manuscript of "Mr. Ultraman's Hands" back into the safe, Maijo Kyosuke lay down on the tatami mat.
My book signing event for "The Astrological Murder Mystery" will be held at 6 PM today.
That's a physically demanding job; you can't do it without proper rest...
With these thoughts in mind, Maijo Kyosuke slowly closed his eyes.
-
While Maijo Kyosuke was busy, Eri Ryumi wasn't idle either.
Although the deadline for the second issue of Top Hat magazine was yesterday.
However, due to Kyosuke Maijo's arrogant remarks at the Edogawa Ranpo Ryusho Awards, Kodansha's magazine department received sixty to eighty submissions from all over Japan every day!
While the number of submissions may not seem like much, when added together, it becomes an astonishing figure!
Because from the 12th to yesterday's deadline, there have been a full eight days.
At this point, Kodansha's magazine department had accumulated approximately five hundred submissions!
It's worth noting that even the Edogawa Ranpo Prize and the Japan Mystery Writers Association Prize only receive fewer than 600 submissions a year!
In other words, the newly released issue of Top Hat magazine has become an absolute sensation!
In just eight days, the number of submissions has already rivaled that of other awards in a year!
However, this is normal, and Jiang Liumei can understand the mentality of these contributors.
Some of the authors here are dissatisfied with the remarks made by Kyosuke Maishiro and want to curb his arrogance.
The other group of authors clearly wanted to ride on the coattails of Kyosuke Maijo and Top Hat magazine.
Because the circulation of Top Hat magazine has reached an astonishing 800,000 copies!
Being featured in a hat magazine is equivalent to gaining huge exposure in one go!
At first, Jiang Liumei was somewhat proud of this.
After all, editors from other publishing houses and magazines have to come to them to ask their authors for manuscripts.
Meanwhile, his magazine, "Top Hat," only requires him to sit in his office, and he receives a steady stream of manuscripts from all over Japan.
The problem now is that even with President Noma providing additional staff, it's impossible to review all the manuscripts in just a few days!
Especially as Maijo Kyosuke's popularity grows and more and more people submit their work!
The editors under my command cannot keep up with the speed of submissions, which will only lead to more and more manuscripts piling up.
If this continues, he will inevitably exhaust his subordinates.
Thinking of all this, Jiang Liumei could only find President Noma and ask him to publish such a notice in the newspaper.
"Due to the overwhelming number of submissions to 'Top Hat' magazine, Kodansha's magazine department was unable to review them all. Therefore, the outstanding works that were not published will be featured in the third issue of 'Top Hat' magazine. We hope all the authors who submitted their work can understand..."
Although it was just a very simple announcement, it caused a huge stir in the mystery genre!
As soon as the announcement was released, it was discovered by Matsushima Shunma, the sales manager of Takarajima Publishing, who had been closely monitoring Kodansha's activities!
Before becoming the sales manager of Takarajima Co., Ltd., Matsushima Shunma worked in the public relations team of a famous celebrity.
They are very experienced in confusing the public and smearing the other side.
Kodansha issued a notice stating that there was a backlog of manuscripts for its "Top Hat" magazine that could not be processed in a timely manner.
Matsushima Shunma immediately spent money to bribe a large number of writers to smear the Top Hat magazine, claiming that Kodansha would never hoard manuscripts.
It was only because Top Hat magazine was worried that Maijo Kyosuke, their cash cow, would be destroyed by other writers that they arranged all the best manuscripts for the third issue of Top Hat magazine!
This rumor, once it was released, immediately sparked heated discussions among many people...