Japanese Literary Awards

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Keisuke Sone

そね けいすけ

Sone Keisuke

Pen Names: Kensuke Sone（Pen name used at time of Edogawa Rampo Prize award）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1967-04-21 （Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
Novelist
Active Years
2007-
Memberships
Mystery Writers of Japan

Education

Shizuoka Prefectural Numazu Higashi High School
Country: Japan
Member of the karate club during high school. NHK announcer Ayaka Sasaki was a junior.
Waseda University
School of Commerce
Country: Japan
Enrolled in the School of Commerce but later dropped out.

Awards

Japan Horror Fiction Award — Short Story Prize
2007
Work: Hana ("Nose")
Category: 短編賞
Organization: Kadokawa (Japan Horror Fiction Award)
Result: 受賞
Edogawa Rampo Prize
2007
Work: Sunken Fish
Organization: Edogawa Rampo Prize Committee (Kodansha / Mystery Writers of Japan, etc.)
Result: 受賞
Mystery Writers of Japan Award — Short Story
2009
Work: Tropical Night
Category: 短編賞
Organization: Mystery Writers of Japan
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Sunken Fish

2007 Mystery / Horror

Debut novel. A mystery that explores human psychology and hidden darkness; revised after initial completion and published as an award-winning work.

psychologysecretsexposure

Hana ("Nose")

2007 Horror / Short story

A short story collected in a volume; depicts uncanny and unsettling scenes and won the Japan Horror Fiction Award (short story prize).

uneasethe uncanny

Tropical Night (originally: Ageku no Hate)

2008 Mystery / Short story

A collection/volume containing the short story; focuses on distorted human relationships and tensions, and won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award (short story).

human relationshipsrevengemoral ambiguity

Beasts Clinging to Straw

2011 Mystery / Social suspense

A novel portraying complex human relations and crime. Later adapted into a film in South Korea.

social issuesdesiresurvival
Adaptations
  • [Film] Beasts Clinging to Straw — film adaptation (South Korea) (2021)

Chiji Hanten (retitled: Honboshi)

2009 Mystery

Contains short/medium-length works with orthodox puzzle-solving elements; later reissued under a new title in paperback.

puzzle-solvingjusticethe underside

Bibliography

  • Sunken Fish (2007)
  • Hana ("Nose") (2007)
  • Ageku no Hate (2008) / retitled: Tropical Night (2010)
  • Chiji Hanten (2009) / retitled: Honboshi (2012)
  • Beasts Clinging to Straw (2011)
  • Koroshiya.com (2013)
  • TATSUMAKI (2014)
  • Operation Name Cassandra (2015)
  • Black Ripples (2017)
  • Chouzume Kozou — Keisuke Sone Short Stories (2019)

Adaptations

  • Beasts Clinging to Straw — film adaptation in South Korea (2021)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
intricate plottingdark, cold psychological depictioncrisp pacing in short fiction
Recurring Motifs
betrayalrevengehuman darkness

Legacy

Recognized for blending horror and mystery; winner of the Edogawa Rampo Prize and the Mystery Writers of Japan Award. He is noted for short fiction collected in anthologies and one novel adapted into a film.

Academic Societies

  • Mystery Writers of Japan

In Popular Culture

  • 'Beasts Clinging to Straw' adapted into a South Korean film (2021)
  • Multiple short stories included in mystery yearbooks and anthologies

Trivia

  • Hobby: mountain climbing.
  • Used the pen name '曽根狷介' at the time of the Edogawa Rampo Prize.
  • Was unemployed at 36 and spent time reading in libraries before deciding to write.