Welcome
My 5-star reviewed fantasy book Saint Ignifer’s Rise is out now on Amazon!
The ebook is on sale for only 99 cents (75p), for only 1 more day- a $3 saving!
Read more on Amazon US or Amazon UK
Michael John Grist is a British science-fiction & fantasy author and ruins photographer who lives in Tokyo, Japan.
His short stories have been published in numerous fiction magazines, as well as in two short story collections- The Bells of Subsidence and Bone Diamond.
His explorations and photographs of Japan’s modern ruins (haikyo) have earned millions of hits on this site, and are now collected in the travelogue / memoir- Ruins of the Rising Sun – Adventures in Abandoned Japan.
His debut novel, Saint Ignifer’s Rise, is now available to buy in both print and ebook formats.
See his recent posts here.
Books
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The Bells of Subsidence
Aliqa’s mind has been erased, every memory lost to the endless reticulations of the branes, but for one single word that haunts her- Temetry.
With it comes an abiding hope for salvation, perhaps for the salvation of every single Bell in Subsidence’s ancient fleet, but first she must hunt it down, though she doesn’t even know what it is.
The Bells of Subsidence is a collection of 9 science fiction stories, filled with ruined intergalactic civilizations, lonely robots, and AI that could destroy the world.
Readers have said:
- “The images are striking and euphonious, and the story is moving.”
- “Smart, sophisticated, … stunning … epic plots that race across the universe, but always revolve and seek resolution in the human heart.”
Read more and buy at:
Bone Diamond
When a lowly jeweler in ancient Egypt finds an enormous yellow diamond lodged in the clavicle of a Nile river crocodile, he strikes for riches, selling it to the richest man in Memphis, a living god, the Pharaoh.
Then the Pharaoh demands more, beginning a greed-soaked descent into terror, madness, and murder, with diamonds for all, and diamonds in all, and the blood-red eye of Ra ascendant.
Bone Diamond tells nine weird short stories that delve into a surreal and magical world, separated from our own by the most gossamer of veils, rife with horror, mystery, madness, and hope.
Readers have said:
- “Magical …. poetic … out-of-the-box … a little gem.”
- “Wow. Horrifying and compelling and poignant. This one is going to stick with me.”
Read more and buy at:
Ruins of the Rising Sun – Adventures in Abandoned Japan
For five years MJG explored and photographed over 100 of the most beautiful and haunting modern ruins in Japan (haikyo), from abandoned theme parks and ghost towns to deserted love hotels and relics of World War II.
He documented these explorations with photographs and stories, earning millions of hits on his website and featuring in books, magazines, blogs, national newspapers, and a documentary movie.
Ruins of the Rising Sun tells the best of all those adventures, with gorgeous photographs and fascinating snippets of history, poetry, philosophy, and fiction, exposing a bizarre and forgotten Japan most people will never have the chance to see.
Along with MJG:
- Stay overnight alone in the haunted ruins of a remote jungle theme park.
- Venture inside the mysterious black interior of a corporate cult’s underground bunker.
- Climb up the rusted rails of a massive wooden rollercoaster in a dead Disney-clone theme park.
Includes:
- Explorations of over 40 of Japan’s best ruins.
- Over 200 stunning photographs.
- Map coordinates to every location in the book.
- Links to extensive additional material.
Readers have said:
- “Gorgeous, haunting, stunning memento mori photos… fascinating text commentary… I guarantee you will start fantasizing about exploring haikyo yourself.” – Barry Eisler, bestselling author of the John Rain books.
- “As always with MJG’s work I found myself immediately engrossed in the ambiance of his writing style & the visuals it produces. The photos are amazing & give such a beautiful taste & perspective on where you’re reading about so that you can truly imagine being there!”
- “I’ve lived in Japan for over 23 years and thought I knew all there was about Japan. This book opened my eyes to a whole other world yet to be known.”
Read more and buy at:
Saint Ignifer’s Rise
The fate of the world is written in scars.
In a bleak industrial city where marks in skin are a sentence to death, Sen is a child condemned. Cursed with mysterious scars carved by his own mother’s hand, he leads a fearful hidden life in the city’s last abbey.
But he can’t hide forever. When the King’s fearsome Adjunc attack, Sen is thrown into a world of cursed slumlands and ancient lava-buried cities, searching for the truth behind his scars. What he finds is a conspiracy three thousand years in the making: an apocalypse god is rising, and only the legendary hero Saint Ignifer can stop it.
But Saint Ignifer is dead.
Revolution rocks the city. The blood of all castes runs in the streets. With Saint Ignifer’s name ringing out from the barricades, Sen must confront the terrible fate written in his scars- in the volcano’s caldera, at the end of the world- before the black jaws of the apocalypse descend.
For the Rot is coming, and the Saint must rise again.
Saint Ignifer’s Rise is a 130,000k word YA low fantasy, combining the precocious children of Ender’s Game with the gritty weird settings of China Mieville.
Includes:
- 6 pieces of original character art
- 3 free excerpts from other books
Readers have said:
Read more and buy at:
Biography
Michael was born in Manchester, England, to an American mother and British father, in 1980. He was raised in Bolton, where as a kid he wrote snippets of fantasy stories and explored the horse’s field behind his house. Nothing much has changed since then, except the snippets became full stories and the horse’s field got a whole lot bigger.
In his childhood summers he visited his family in Kentucky, where he learnt how to make s’mores, enjoyed night-time hay-rides, and worked in his uncle’s bike shop. In his late teens he worked at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids in Massachusetts, and after graduating high school in the UK he went (glutton for punishment, yes) to high school again, in Indiana, on an exchange program for two semesters. It was there that he first took creative writing classes, and started work on his first novel (which is now maturing on his hard drive like a fine wine). He also took a Greyhound trip around the country (six days and nights on a bus), which reinforced his thirst for exploration.
In 2003 he came to Japan, and began to explore the country’s modern ruins, known as haikyo, ultimately visiting over 100 locations, and posting many of them to this website with photographs and stories of each exploration.
Throughout this ten-year tenure in Japan, Michael also got more serious about writing fiction, getting numerous short stories published in semi- and pro-level fiction magazines in America, Australia, and the UK, resulting in him publishing two collections of short stories, The Bells of Subsidence and Bone Diamond.
He also got married.
After many close calls to get a publisher for his ruins / haikyo book, Michael decided to publish it himself. Ruins of the Rising Sun – Adventures in Abandoned Japan is a hybrid Japan travelogue / memoir telling his story of self-discovery and redemption in and through the ruins of Japan. Barry Eisler the bestselling thriller writer loves it!
Now Michael enjoys the odd game of squash and badminton, working out in the gym, going to ruins, and of course writing stories and novels. He’s currently working on the fantasy epic Saint Ignifer’s Rise. He lives in central Tokyo with his wife and their pet King Frog, and works as an English lecturer at university.
Contact
You can contact Michael about use of photos, potential advertising offers, and most anything else by emailing michaeljohngrist @ hotmail.com (after removing the spaces)
- As a fun little grace note, you can learn more about the design and evolution of this website here.
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And you can buy my books here-
Thanks!
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Saint Ignifer's RiseIn a brutal industrial city, a condemned boy named Sen must confront the mysterious fate written in his scars. For the Rot is coming, and the Saint must rise.
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Ruins / Rising SunAbandoned theme parks, lost mountain ghost towns, relics of World War II- they're all in this uniquely fascinating Japan travelogue / memoir of a serial ruins explorer.
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Bone DiamondThis collection of 9 'weird' stories reveals a bizarre world where the direction East is a living thing, the Moon counsels children to evil deeds, and diamonds grow in living bone.
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The Bells of Sub..If you like ruins and science fiction, you'll love this collection of 9 SF stories, ranging from the crumbling outposts of galactic empire to the dystopian wastelands of future Earth. |
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