The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) announced today that the short story Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer’s Ship by legendary author Hideyuki Kikuchi will be published inside the festival’s Official Guide Book. Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer’s Ship has never been printed before in any language anywhere in the world. The New York Anime Festival, an anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture convention from the creators of New York Comic Con, takes place September 26th through the 28th at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, NY.

From the Press Release:

Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer’s Ship, a story of D and his encounter with a blood-red battleship, dates back to one of the author’s “Talk Live” events. Each year, Mr. Kikichi hosts several “Talk Live” gathering in the Kabukicho section of Shinjuku. At these events, he introduces a younger generation of fans to a wide variety of horror and sci-fi films and brings them face-to-face with guests from the worlds of publishing, animation, and film. The events conclude with drawings that give the audience chances to win signed books, artwork, and other exclusive prizes. The very best is saved for last — short stories handwritten by Mr. Kikuchi with exclusive publication rights.

To date, three tales set in the Vampire Hunter D universe have come into the possession of lucky fans. Only the first has been published. The third — Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer’s Ship — was won by Ms. Hitomi Yasue, a longtime fan of Mr. Kikuchi and a regular attendee of his events. As someone who knew D from the novels before ever seeing the anime, she was surprised to hear the opposite was true overseas. Ms. Yasue has graciously agreed to share this short story with fans at the New York Anime Festival in the hopes of exposing more people to the literary incarnation of her favorite Vampire Hunter.

This is the first time I’ve heard of this kind of publishing scheme, and I have to say it’s kind of cool. As an aspiring author and book fan myself, I can really appreciate new methods of publishing, and this one is sure to get a lot of exposure for Kikuchi’s story and make the NYAF Guide Book a must have item for all attendees.

Read the entire press release at AnimeCons.com

Technorati Tags: anime, new york anime festival, Vampire Hunter D, Hideyuki Kikuchi

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