Abstract

What would you do with the last two minutes of your life?
The air is toxic. Humanity lives below ground. In a world where every moment is predetermined and even lifespans are controlled, one-man rebels against his fate.

This book is a collection of fifty short stories, including the title work, that focus on casual everyday delusions. They are spiced with black humor that will make us laugh. The stories range from serious social satire to tales set against the backdrop of outer space or the near future, taking readers on a fun, wild ride.

The characters sometimes appear in different stories with the same names, making the reader wonder if these might be parallel worlds. One can almost imagine the author having actors in his mind coming back to play a new character in the next story. Some of them also appear in the author’s other short story collections.

These are short stories about the odd everyday lives of peculiar people who are like us yet are very different. They will make readers smile, surprise them, and leave them with a uniquely intriguing aftertaste.

Two-Minute Paradise is the 2nd book of ASO Kamo Short Novel Collections.

Author’s Information

ASO Kamo is a writer and strategic planner in advertising and publicity. Born in Kobe City in 1971, ASO has worked in various fields, including video games, the music industry, design, advertising, theatre, event planning, and broadcasting. The ‘@NHK_PR’ account he ran on what was then Twitter in 2009 for NHK’s publicity became the talk of the town. ASO left NHK in 2014 and is currently involved in planning, producing, and directing advertisements and television programs, while focusing primarily on his writing. His past works include "The Guide Runner" (Kodansha), nominated for the 35th ODA Sakunosuke award and adapted into a comic and a TV movie, as well as "The World According to Cats" (Kadokawa). His latest book is a nonfiction “Why You Don't Have to Choose Your Job” (Chikuma).