The Rolling Bootlegs (26 page)

BOOK: The Rolling Bootlegs

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AFTERWORD

Thank you very much for reading this brand-new-writer’s postscript.

In this story, you can’t even tell who the protagonist is. As the author, it would thrill me to no end if you’d just think of the character you liked while you were reading as the main character.

I first thought of writing a story set during Prohibition when I ran across an anecdote about Eliot Ness in
Capone: The Man and the Era
by Laurence Bergreen.

Eliot, the hero of the Prohibition era, became an alcoholic late in life, losing both his wife and his job. When I read that story, I was just a little moved, and then I burst out laughing: “This is a joke. A completely unfunny joke that Eliot Ness spent his whole life carrying out.”

As if to counter this joke, there was also a story about Capone’s habitual cocaine use. A guy who was probably the world’s most famous Mafia boss took the rule, often seen in picaresque tales, that Mafia executives don’t do drugs because they know better than anyone how dangerous they are, and turned it on its ear.
What an irony-filled time
, I thought.

Of course, I’m aware that this was an illusion: Ironies like that are a dime a dozen today, too. Even so, I’m fascinated by this era, which is shown in all sorts of movies, and by gangsters and the judicial organizations that pursue them.

I think this is due entirely to the fact that this era and these organizations are a type of “other world.” One is the past, a place we can never go to. Not only that, but it was the unique time when the Prohibition Act was everywhere. Another is the underworld, which you’ll never cross paths with as long as you’re living a normal life, although it definitely does exist.

I wanted to write a story about this “extraordinary within the extraordinary,” with even more elements of fiction tossed into it. That was how it began.

These days, I’m smiling wryly over the idea that something I wrote on sheer momentum brought about these results, and wondering if this isn’t some sort of unfunny joke as well.

Now then: I bet some of you had never heard of it before, but the Camorra is the name of an actual organization.

Frankly, from a Japanese perspective, I think it’s a rather stupefying moniker. If it had been a product of my own delusions, I would at least have given it a sharper-sounding name, but it’s a proper member of Italy’s three big crime syndicates (the Mafia, the Camorra, and the ’Ndrangheta).

In contrast to the Mafia’s taciturn, nihilistic image, the Camorra seem to be considered violent but also more cheerful and talkative. In fact, although Mafia bosses won’t even admit that they belong to the Mafia, Camorra bosses will openly declare they’re Camorra.

I thought that temperament might suit this
Baccano!
story, so I did some research into the Mafia and the Camorra, but… It’s deep subject matter, and to be honest, I was barely able to touch on either the Camorra’s charm or their dark side as a criminal organization in this book.

I’d like to put together the plots for my next and subsequent books thinking—selfishly—that, if I get the chance, I want to write more about those aspects someday.

Since I brought out the Camorra and the Mafia, I think eventually I’ll probably have to write about the last of Italy’s three great crime organizations, the ’Ndrangheta, but… ’Ndrangheta… It’s an even more blah-inducing name than
Camorra
, and I’m really not sure what to do.

Although, before worrying about little things like that, I need to work on refining my writing and ideas so they’ll let me keep releasing books. …And before
that
, there’s the knotty problem of having to graduate…

As you can see, I’m an unreliable newbie, but if we get the chance, I hope we’ll meet again.

*Everything past this point is thank-yous. If those don’t interest you, go ahead and skip them.

First, to the slush reader who noticed the script I’d submitted, to everyone in the editorial department, and to the individuals on the judging committee who sent both the honor and the huge opportunity of the Gold Prize my way.

To all my friends and acquaintances who gave me the energy I needed to expand the material… Particularly everyone connected with S City, and the several friends who completely tore into my manuscript the day before the application deadline, highlighting the places I needed to fix.

To my family, who cheerfully supported my entry into the uncertain business of writing.

To my more experienced colleagues at Dengeki Bunko, who helped me at the awards ceremony and the Dengeki Tenth Anniversary Festival.

To everyone in the novel, illustration, and comic divisions who won awards at the same time I did.

To my editor, Chief Editor Suzuki, to whom I am constantly indebted for all sorts of things, and to everyone at Media Works.

And to Katsumi Enami, who stylishly embellished the story with wonderful illustrations.

Thank you very, very much.

I can’t even imagine how many people have used the following sentence in the past, but now that I’m on the side that uses it, I feel it from the bottom of my heart:

“And most of all, to everyone who picked up this book: Thank you so much.”

Ryohgo Narita

November 2002

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Copyright

BACCANO!, Volume 1: THE ROLLING BOOTLEGS

RYOHGO NARITA

Translation by Taylor Engel

Cover art by Katsumi Enami

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

BACCANO!, Volume 1

©RYOHGO NARITA / KADOKAWA CORPORATION 2003

Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS

First published in Japan in 2003 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.