The American Sphinx

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Limited Edition. Small octavo. Unpaginated. Pictorial wrappers, in a matching pictorial dust jacket. A Fine copy as new. This copy signed by the author on the title-page. One of 750 copies printed, 13 of which were bound in leather or vellum. // 'William Kuko is an inhabitant of the Pacific Northwest, who lives in the Seattle metro region. A hermit/recluse by nature, he often disappears into the Cascade Mountains for great lengths of time. He is a many-turned-man of poetry, history and all things biologic. The man is a myth maker, a storyteller, and one who is truly in-tune with the world around him. | The Sphinx is an American Nekomata story, combining some of Japan's greatest myths and tales, forms an altogether new myth, truly American. The Nekomata tradition dates back as far as the Kamakura era in Japan: Kenko Hoshi, a Buddhist monk of this era, began this tradition in his essays in idleness. These Nekomata stories have evolved as have stories of other traditions by continuing to make themselves new again for the modern reader. William Kuko has transcended this old form into a Poe-like tale akin to the American poetic tradition. In this epic an American myth begins to take shape. As with many of America's inhabitants, a girl, foreign born, has come to the United States to make her way. Unfortunately for her, the customs of her people and the layers of her former civilization haunt her. This girl, lacking a companion, feels compelled to buy a neko, and thus the story both ancient and yet modern unfolds. For those lacking in Japanese and Chinese customs and thought, this story is an intricately woven tapestry of old tales and thoughts, combining American idealism with the ideas of the Native Americans that all forms of life have a say in how things should exist.' ~ from the publisher. Paperback.…