“A captivating exploration of gender dynamics, set against a background of the trying and confusing time of adolescence, when identity is in flux and everything in life is unstable and magical.” —Lydia Conklin, author of Rainbow RainbowA fresh, thoughtful, and always surprising short story collection from a rising young star in the world of Japanese literature that sensitively explores gender, friendship, romance, love, human interaction and its absence, and how a misogynistic society limits women and men, now available in a convenient pocket-sized portable Nomad Edition.

In the title novella, Nanamori and Mugito, two university students appalled by society’s gendered roles, rebel. Refusing to interact with other people they use stuffed toys for emotional support. Unlike Nanamori and Mugito, their fellow plushie society member Shiraki does not talk to plushies. Pragmatic, she accepts the status quo that boys sometimes make nasty jokes; she believes their behavior resembles the real world. In “Realizing Fun Things Through Water,” a young woman named Hatsuoka must contend with a mother-in-law who swears by cancer-preventing “hyper-organization” water, and a sister who writes fake news for a living. “Bath Towel Visuals” illuminates the mental cost of not just laughing along at mean humor, while “Hello, Thank You I’m Okay” follows a family’s response when their shut-in son announces he wants to throw himself a birthday party.Ao Omae’s stories capture the subtleties and complexities of his characters’ inner world, individuals struggling to conform in an inflexible society little tolerant of difference. Sometimes comical, sometimes bittersweet, and always thought-provoking, People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals are Nice speaks to the pain and desires of all who embrace nuance, repudiate traditional sex roles, and long for a gentler and more accepting world.