An Idyllic World Inhabited By A.I. Beings Faces Extinction From Malevolent Invaders Source: VIZ Media, MediaLab press releases Official Site: haikasoru.com Special Thanks to Jane Lui and Erik Jansen

VIZ Media’s Haikasoru science fiction imprint delivers a new literary release with the publication of The Thousand Year Beach on June 19th. The Thousand Year Beach, by TOBI Hirotaka, will be released in print with an MSRP of $16.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN. An eBook edition will also debut on June 19th for the Amazon Kindle, and in Apple’s iBooks Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Book Store, the Kobo eBooks Store, and the Google Play Store. Designed to imitate a harbor town in southern Europe, the Realm of Summer is just one of the zones within the virtual resort known as the Costa del Número. It has been more than a thousand years since human guests stopped coming to the Realm, leaving the AIs alone in their endless summer. But now all that has come to a sudden end, as an army of mysterious Spiders begin reducing the town to nothing. As night falls, the few remaining AIs prepare for their final, hopeless battle… War between the virtual and the real begins in book one of the Angel of the Ruins series. “The Thousand Year Beach presents an idyllic virtual world, still running long after having been abandoned by humans, that suddenly finds itself invaded by an impossible force,” says Nick Mamatas, Editor. “Renowned among SF fans and critics, we invite readers to discover TOBI Hirotaka’s first full-length novel this summer.” Author TOBI Hirotaka was born in 1960 and won the Sanseido SF Story Contest while still a student at Shimane University. From 1983 to 1992 he actively contributed short stories to Japan’s SF Magazine. After a hiatus of ten years, he returned in 2002 with his first full-length novel, The Thousand Year Beach, which took Second Prize in SF Magazine`s Best SF of 2002. In 2004, Kaleidoscape, his collection of revised and new works, took top honors in that year`s Best SF awards in the magazine, as well as the 2005 Japan SF Award. One of the stories from the collection, Shapesphere, also won the 2005 Seiun Award for Best Japanese Short Story of the Year. In 2010, Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Clouds earned TOBI his second Seiun Award for Best Japanese Short Story. The work also appeared in English in The Future Is Japanese anthology (published by VIZ Media). He won his third Seiun Award for Sea Fingers in 2015, which appeared in English in Saiensu Fikushon 2016. For more information on The Thousand Year Beach and the Haikasoru imprint, please visit haikasoru.com. For more information on other titles available from VIZ Media, please visit viz.com.

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Established in 1986, VIZ Media is the premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing. Along with its popular digital magazine Weekly Shonen Jump and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, DRAGON BALL, SAILOR MOON, and POKÉMON, VIZ Media offers an extensive library of titles and original content in a wide variety of book and video formats, as well as through official licensed merchandise. Owned by three of Japan`s largest publishing and entertainment companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is dedicated to bringing the best titles for English-speaking audiences worldwide.