I always have many different writing projects going at once. And I’m please to reveal that Bloomsbury Publishing now has my latest book Be Kind; Rewind! (Re)Introducing Fun Retro Media and Vintage Technology to Libraries available for pre-order! This professional development book aims at librarians, but unlike most prof-dev books, I avoid stuffy writing. Throughout the…
Author: Chris Kincaid
A Mecha Pilot’s Introduction Handbook
Welcome to Earth’s premier defense and industrial team! As a mecha pilot, you’ve proven to have the character, flexibility, and capabilities to serve your fellow citizens in this exciting and challenging career. This handbook offers an overview of what you, as a new mecha pilot, need to know about the history and policies of this…
What Does “Anime Tourist” Mean?
What do you think of when you read “anime tourist?” Anime tourist can refer to two quite different meanings. The first, and most obvious for older anime fans and people who aren’t in the fandom, relates to tourism. Namely, it refers to people who visit areas featured in different anime. Many towns and cities in…
The Legacy of Hakuin Ekaku
You likely haven’t heard of Hakuin Ekaku, but you’ve no doubt heard of his most famous question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This question is a koan. Koans are a method, tracing back to Chinese Buddhist tradition, to break the logical mind so you can be more open to nirvana. While koans…
Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? The Doormat and the Emotionally Unbalanced
Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? is a romantic comedy with the usual love triangle set in high school. But this story has a few twists that are sadly realistic. I have to spoil the story to discuss the characters. Yu Natsume is a high school boy who has an interest in flowers and wants to…
Is AI Translation the Future for Anime and Manga?
Manga is increasingly being translated by large-language models (LLMs), or artificial intelligence as most people call LLMs. The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga, for example, used Mantra Engine for part of its English translation (Schley, 2023). LLMs are software programmed to teach itself patterns in inputs and then use those patterns to generate new patterns based…