A feminist SF short story set on a remote island in a far-future Japan where displaced people are forced to live. The narrative follows a controlled prostitute, a transgender man who is a member of the "new humanity" capable of parthenogenesis yet chose to remain on Earth, and a daughter who has gone far away.

A far-future Japan, an island where forcibly displaced people live. A controlled prostitute, a transgender man who is a member of the new humanity capable of parthenogenesis yet stayed on Earth, a daughter who has gone far away.

Haito Toori's 'Kokuu Ryoiki' (Void Domain) is a broadly-defined SF short story that reached the final round of the 17th Sogen SF Short Story Award (2026) and received the Jury Encouragement Award. The title at the time of submission was 'Mukyu no Hako' (Box of Infinity), later retitled upon award confirmation. The selection committee consisted of Hiroki Tobita, Satoshi Hase, and Haneko Takayama. The Jury Encouragement Award is given by the committee's recommendation separately from the main prize; this work has no plans for commercial publication.

Winner of the Jury Encouragement Award at the 17th Sogen SF Short Story Award, retitled from the submission title 'Mukyu no Hako.'

In a world where ironworking has been transformed by the 'cultivated iron revolution' — a technology that grows iron products from the plant Kuroganesou — science journalist Koike travels to Kanazawa in the early 1990s to interview Yagi Koichiro, a man who spent ten years alone cultivating a Ferris wheel at an abandoned amusement park. Asked why he grew a Ferris wheel no one could ride, Yagi begins to recount an unexpected family history tied to the research of Kuroganesou cultivation.

In the early 1990s, when iron-cultivating plants had become widespread, one man was quietly raising a Ferris wheel alone in an abandoned amusement park.

In a near future where everyone carries a digital brain implant called a denka-nou, Kiriyama, a cleanup hitter on a high school baseball team, is plagued by the yips that freeze his arms at bat. One day, his female team manager Nakamura secretly installs an unauthorized app that can swap the consciousness of two people who lock eyes. Nakamura, who once showed exceptional athletic talent but was sidelined to manager duties by rules barring girls from competition, offers to step in for Kiriyama at bat. A refreshing coming-of-age SF that explores mutual understanding and the question of who gets to stand at the plate through the lens of mind swapping.

In an age where everyone carries a device called a digital brain, an unauthorized app makes the swapping of consciousness between two people possible.

Winner of the 15th Sogen SF Short Story Award. It was published in “Shimi no Techou vol. 18” and later as an e-book, but no print standalone edition has been confirmed.

A short story that moved from magazine publication to digital release.

In a world with dragons, an inspector investigating animal smuggling rediscovers memories of a lost homeland and of dragon riders.

An inspector pursues animal smugglers in a world with dragons while confronting lost memories.

In a near future where people who can no longer live in their physical bodies survive as information personalities, the novel follows Koharu’s special day after borrowing a body for just one day.

A single shared body for one day gently reshapes the outline of the future.

A collection headed by the winner of the 12th Sogen SF Short Story Award, gathering four stories set in summer: a summer spent on a fading island, one that grows brighter in memory, and a virtual summer that seems to go on forever. It holds the shimmer and pain of youth within each story.

A collection of stories that holds summer memories within the pain and shimmer of youth.

A science-fiction short story set in a near-future Taiwan where livestock farming has been banned after a pandemic. Told that her eldest brother has become a piglet, a younger sister returns home, hides and raises the pig, and joins people trying to hold the traditional Shenzhu festival without pigs.

News that an elder brother has become a pig sets a story of lost food culture in motion.

In a future Shanghai ruled by alien life forms known as Sorui, an operative sent from an undersea city wavers between duty and visions. Winner of the 11th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

In ruined Shanghai, visions and duty converge.

In the Genroku era, scholars acting on Tokugawa Mitsukuni's orders set out to devise a human-powered computer for handling waka poetry. Against an alternate-history backdrop featuring figures such as Seki Takakazu and Yasui Santetsu, the story brings calculation, classical literature, and political ambitions together.

Scholars of the Genroku era attempt to build a human-powered computer to process waka poetry.

In a near-future Kathmandu, Siddhartha, a young man from a remote town, is assigned to protect a girl newly chosen as the living goddess Kumari. Set in a city where body modification has spread among young people, this science-fiction suspense story brings mythology and biotechnology into contact.

A young man appointed guardian to a living goddess steps into a Kathmandu shaped by a culture of bodily modification.

A legendary poison bird, the zhen, attacks a public square in Youheki during a pro-democracy movement, killing soldiers and civilians alike. Ten years later, after a change of regime and rapid national development, two surviving young soldiers follow different paths in this science-fiction short story. It won an Excellence Award at the 10th Sogen SF Short Story Prize.

Ten years after a legendary bird's attack, two surviving young soldiers walk different paths.

An alternate-history science-fiction story set in the Sakhalin Socialist Republic, founded in the far north at the end of the war. Through an accumulation of plausible fictional documents, it traces the new Rusty religion, its influence on the state, and the mystery surrounding its leader, known as the Teacher.

It follows the full history of a mysterious religion that came to rule a nation.

A science-fiction short story about children absorbed in an uncanny game called Animal Spinning. Set around a hole that appears in an elementary-school playground in Kyoto, the tale turns a contest of spinning animals like tops into a story of motion and requiem.

At the far end of a game of spinning animals, a still point comes into view.

A Buddhist space opera in which the gigantic nine-story pagoda Hosshoji travels through space to a star thirty-nine light-years away. The young space monk Shokai boards the stellar temple for a journey to Jiso-sei.

Hosshoji, a temple that flies, sets out on a voyage through space.

Ai enters a long-sealed meeting room at her university and encounters a robot vacuum cleaner that can speak. Together with the machine, driven from its home, she confronts a threat lurking around the campus in this entertaining science-fiction story.

An adventure begins with a talking robot vacuum cleaner found in a long-sealed meeting room.

A science-fiction short story built around the idea of trying to change the world itself through the framework of mystery fiction. It received the Omori Nozomi Award for bringing together the logic of solving a mystery and a changing reality.

The act of solving a mystery begins to change the world itself.

A short story by Kenji Nonaka that received the Minzo Kusaka Prize at the 9th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

Kanki ni Somare

A short story by Jinzo Takeda that received the Motoko Arai Prize at the 9th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

Adversarial Pipers, or the Last Cash Robbery

A short science-fiction story about an artificial intelligence protecting the seventy-four-second void created by a warp in space. It won the 8th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

Amid the silence of space, an artificial intelligence guards seventy-four seconds.

A short science-fiction work by Yo Hisano, selected for the Hase Satoshi Prize in the 8th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Hase Satoshi Prize in the 8th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Muneo Ishikawa, the main prize winner of the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

The main prize-winning work of the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Ren Fukami, selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Ifu Azumi, selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Toshin Kagami, selected for the Yamamoto Hiroshi Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Yamamoto Hiroshi Prize in the 7th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

An action science-fiction story set in a desertified Beijing and the Forbidden City, featuring a clash between a war-cyborg unit and a superhuman. It won the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

In ruined Beijing, a war-cyborg unit confronts a superhuman.

A short science-fiction work by Eiichi Ube, selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Tomoko Ito, selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Mayu Henmi, selected for the Onda Riku Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Onda Riku Prize in the 6th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A linked science-fiction work in which Sango, an interpreter of memories, enters memory data while confronting gaps in her own past. It won the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A job diving into the sea of memory illuminates the gaps within oneself.

A short science-fiction work by Satoshi Arii, selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Takuro Urade, selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Shuzaemon Godo, selected for the Sena Hideaki Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Sena Hideaki Prize in the 5th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction story about sentient spaceships facing trials on their journey to another galaxy for humanity's survival. It won the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction story following spaceships bound for another galaxy.

The Unknown Hero: Secret Origin by Tateaki Kashima received the Ohmori Nozomi Prize in the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award, but Tokyo Sogensha states that it was returned by the recipient in March 2022.

A short science-fiction work by Maki Takatsuki, selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Kusaka Sanzo Prize in the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work by Kee Yoda, selected for the Enjo To Prize in the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award.

A short science-fiction work selected for the Enjo To Prize in the 4th Sogen SF Short Story Award.