This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!

Mr.Paprocki,
Thank you for the positive review of my book. On the same token, I feel that I should perhaps address Chronicle's philosophy behind the publication of EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS.

Chronicle Books wanted to approach this book as if no other book on the subject had been released. Even so, I also provided some heretofore unpublished (in any language other than Japanese), pivotal details such as who was the man behind the original design of Godzilla (and his correct name) and who drew the storyboards for the 1954 film (previously credited to Producer Iwao Mori); as well as the correct title for Tomoyuki Tanaka's proposal -- not to mention some background on minor, but key, figures such as author Ken Kuronuma (who wrote the treatments for RODAN and VARAN), whom have only been previously mentioned by name.

Initially, Chronicle wanted a 50,000-word manuscript, and I submitted my first draft at 90,000 (!) -- including details on the making of Toho's Visual Effects Films -- so some tough cuts had to be made (by Chronicle), because there would have been no room for photos (I'll save those details for another book)! I based the lion's share of the manuscript from official Japanese texts, while others were cross-referenced with Japanese sources, and the entire manuscript was then fact-checked by Tsuburaya Productions for accuracy and detail (and I had to provide them with my sources, if certain facts I presented were unknown to them).

So, while there are some details of Tsuburaya's films that will be familiar to hardcore fans who have exhausted previous English-language books on the subject (which cannot be avoided due to the inherent nature of recounting Tsuburaya's visual effects career), I am confident that past gaffes have been corrected, and there is still a wealth of information in the 208-pages never before published in English. The information on the making of Tsuburaya's flagship television series, ULTRA Q, ULTRAMAN and ULTRA SEVEN, has never been published before in such detail outside of the Japanese language.

With that being said, I would like everyone to remember, EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS is not a book exclusively about the films and television shows which Tsuburaya was an instrumental figure, rather, it is a biography on Tsuburaya's life and career, which hopefully will add depth and understanding when viewing these films through western eyes. It's an introduction into the world of fantasy that he created, which still resonates to this day.

I will note to my editor that the section on the Americanization of GODZILLA and GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN seemed confusing to you, and this will be remedied with the Second Edition, which has already being considered by Chronicle.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond, and I thank you once again for the positive review.

Best Regards,
August Ragone