Yeah, I realize that’s going to get me picked up on some really peculiar search engines. Bummer.
My current project is writing a Kaiju novel. Kaiju, I believe, is Japanese for ‘strange monsters’ and is the preferred term for the genre of mostly Japanese giant monster movies. Personally, I describe Kaiju as any fictional/literary giant monster, including American and European contributions like King Kong, Gorga, the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, the giant Tarantula and so forth. But I think for purists, its only Japanese and maybe Korean.
There’s also a term for movies and television series about guys in spandex leotards grow to giant size to fight giant monsters – Ultraman, Spectreman, Zone Warrior, the Power Rangers etc. – that’s apparently Kyodai Hero. Robots are allowed to be Kyodai Heroes as well, but only if they grow.
Overall, Japanese film or television which makes heavy use of special effects is known as Tokusatsu. So, hey, thanks for stopping by, you learned something useful.
Now where was I?
Oh yeah, writing a giant monster novel.
You don’t really see a lot of those.
Mostly, giant monsters are inherently suited much more to a visual medium. Godzilla for instance has starred in about thirty-six movies over the last seventy years. But the big G hasn’t shown up in a lot of novels.
So actually figuring out how to write one is kind of a challenge.
