I'm surprised - and delighted - to announce that Cigarette Kisses, a yaoi manga that I worked on last year, has been released.
A brief background: Cigarette Kisses was originally going to be published by Broccoli International. Broccoli International went out of business at the end of 2008, but Aurora Publishing picked up Cigarette Kisses earlier this year. I was unaware that it had been published until I stumbled across it at Borders this past weekend. I am especially proud to have been the English adaptation writer for this manga, for the following reasons.
Cigarette Kisses is about a love triangle. Yusuke, the protagonist, has followed after the dashing and confident Soji ever since their school days, and now as a young man in his twenties he has gone to work at Soji’s family’s company. Masahito, a childhood friend of both, also works there. Yusuke and Soji have unresolved feelings for each other; and as it turns out, Masahito has secretly been in love with Yusuke for years.
This story differs significantly from many other yaoi manga in that all of the characters are young men in their twenties, as opposed to being schoolboys or teenagers, and face difficult real-life adult situations. Each young man longs for another, but each also tries to act responsibly and to consider the other parties involved.
Cigarette Kisses is several levels deeper and more mature than most yaoi manga that we see here in the
Although it has only been out for a few weeks, Cigarette Kisses is already getting positive reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere. I’d like to think this means that more stories of this quality and type will be licensed for the American reading public in future.
Cigarette Kisses is available at Amazon.com, your local bookstore, or at my website: www.jansuzukawa.com.
