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Arimasen: A Chronicle of the World’s Descent into Chaos • Michael Hoffman What exactly is it?	a

Contents:

arimasen bound
arimasen boundless
palimpsest
zuihitsu


“Is Arimasen a country, then?”
“As to what Arimasen is and is not… oh, Ephraim, did you but know what a subject you raise, unwittingly and in all innocence! No, Arimasen is not a country. Nor a planet. Nor a city.”
“A state of mind, then!”
“Perhaps, Umeboshi, it is that. Perhaps.”
“Arimasen, children, is wherever we are not.”
“Can we go there? ”
“Never. The closest we can get is to want to go there. And very few get that far. Maybe only me.”
“Me too!”
“Well, you and me then, Ephraim. Come. We’ll travel together, we’ll get as close as we can.”

“Is it a novel?”
“Not exactly…”
“A guidebook?”
“Not precisely...”
“A poem!”
“In a way…”
“What then, what?”
“A platypus.”
“By which you mean…?”
“Chaos, Umeboshi. Chaos.”
“Who are you, Rose?”
“A poet on fire, laughing.”
“Is Chaos laughter, then?”
“You have grasped, Ephraim, the heart of the matter.”


Arimasen (2024 edition, 2025 edition to follow, and annual editions thereafter) is available as an ebook from Virtualbookworm.com, Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com. and numerous other outlets. Page count: 2527. Retail price: $9.99. Review copies will be provided free on request.

On Failure
• Michael Hoffman
I am a failure. I am not boasting. I speak seriously and soberly, based on a modicum of self-knowledge painfully acquired.

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