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Michael Pronko

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Michael Pronko

Goodreads Author


Born
in Kansas City, Kansas, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Member Since
March 2015


Michael Pronko is an award-winning, Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir and music. His writings on Tokyo life and his taut character-driven mysteries have won critics’ awards and five-star reviews. Kirkus Reviews called his second novel, The Moving Blade, “An elegant balance of Japanese customs with American-style hard-boiled procedural” and selected it for their Best Books of 2018.

Michael also runs the website, Jazz in Japan, about the vibrant jazz scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. He has written regular columns about Japanese culture, art, jazz, society and politics for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, Artscape Japan, Jazznin, and ST Shukan. He has also appeared on NHK and Nippon Television.

A philosophy major, Michael traveled for years, du
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Michael Pronko Lower my standards. It’s OK to accept shitty writing sometimes. No one gets out of bed dressed for a wedding. You’re in an old T-shirt and torn underw…moreLower my standards. It’s OK to accept shitty writing sometimes. No one gets out of bed dressed for a wedding. You’re in an old T-shirt and torn underwear. Or I am. I always figure I’ll spiff up the writing later. Writing for years for newspapers and magazines, I got used to this little thing called a deadline. The idea of a deadline becomes internalized, as a normal part of the process. Getting blocked is usually a little internal melodrama you’re acting out inside yourself, like an argument with your lover over something trivial. It’s never worth it. (less)
Michael Pronko The internal excitement of writing is the most thrilling thing. Making connections, getting into trouble, with ideas or characters or technique, and g…moreThe internal excitement of writing is the most thrilling thing. Making connections, getting into trouble, with ideas or characters or technique, and getting back out, learning through writing, all of that I find to be just amazing! The “a-ha” and “whoa whoa whoa!” moments of insight, breakthrough, and understanding are what make the suffering of writing worth it. You can get those moments in regular life, but with writing, you get to share them. (less)
Average rating: 4.18 · 4,923 ratings · 562 reviews · 16 distinct works • Similar authors
The Last Train

4.06 avg rating — 1,971 ratings — published 2017 — 7 editions
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The Moving Blade

4.21 avg rating — 763 ratings — published 2018 — 6 editions
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Tokyo Traffic

4.21 avg rating — 570 ratings — published 2020 — 5 editions
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Tokyo Zangyo

4.42 avg rating — 492 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions
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Azabu Getaway

4.31 avg rating — 328 ratings — 3 editions
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Shitamachi Scam

4.20 avg rating — 305 ratings — 5 editions
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Tokyo Juku

4.47 avg rating — 218 ratings — 3 editions
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Motions and Moments

4.13 avg rating — 98 ratings — 6 editions
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Beauty and Chaos: Slices an...

3.82 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 2009 — 7 editions
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Tokyo's Mystery Deepens

4.17 avg rating — 52 ratings — 6 editions
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8 of the best series

Pleased to be included in Independent Book Review's 8 of the Best Book Series

https://independentbookreview.com/202...
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Published on March 03, 2025 16:52
The Last Train The Moving Blade Tokyo Traffic Tokyo Zangyo Azabu Getaway Shitamachi Scam Tokyo Juku
(7 books)
by
4.19 avg rating — 4,647 ratings

Michael’s Recent Updates

Michael Pronko rated a book it was amazing
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
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I’d read Abbey’s novels, great eco-minded works, years ago, but I’d never read this long non-fiction work on living in the desert. It’s a masterpiece. It’s quirky, but honest, subjectively focused, but expansive, angry about humans but in love with t ...more
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Falling Leaves by Lea O'Harra
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Lea O’Harra’s Falling Leaves is a compelling novel that blends the momentum of a police procedural with thoughtful insight into the complex history between Japan and Korea. She knows her stuff. Set in a lesser-known corner of Tokyo, the story draws r ...more
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Perplexing Plots by David Bordwell
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The subtitle gives away the gist of this excellent, somewhat academic study. He points out how popular storytelling was always steeped in mystery, thriller, murder, crime, and detective plots. He points out how popular storytelling gradually carried ...more
Michael Pronko rated a book it was amazing
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
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I wasn't one of the shop guys in high school, but one of my best friends was. I spent summers working at a public swimming pool and fixing almost every damn thing in the place. This book argues that the value of work is instilled by working with your ...more
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How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky
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I can't write much about this excellent book without screaming—not at the book but at the conditions in the US that make a book like this needed. It's great. Read it. I'm going to put my head out the window and scream now… ...more
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How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky
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I can't write much about this excellent book without screaming—not at the book but at the conditions in the US that make a book like this needed. It's great. Read it. I'm going to put my head out the window and scream now… ...more
Michael Pronko rated a book it was amazing
Beastly Things by Donna Leon
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Like all of Leon's work, this one is a grand tour through Venice, high and low. Detective Brunetti is a classic character who knows what he should know, never oversteps his bounds in judgment, and gets the case solved. It's rich with culture, feeling ...more
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Quotes by Michael Pronko  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Your unique individuality seems a petty thing, less important by far than what connects you to everyone else.”
― Michael Pronko, Motions and Moments

“Onigiri are like a haiku of the entire Japanese food culture.”
― Michael Pronko, Motions and Moments

“the”
― Michael Pronko, The Moving Blade

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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond!
I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin the wave, dodgin the bullet and pushin the envelope. I’m on-point, on-task, on-message and off drugs. I’ve got no need for coke and speed. I've got no urge to binge and purge. I’m in-the-moment, on-the-edge, over-the-top and under-the-radar. A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary. A street-wise smart bomb. A top-gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps and run victory laps. I’m a totally ongoing big-foot, slam-dunk, rainmaker with a pro-active outreach. A raging workaholic. A working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial!

I’ve got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant and a personal agenda. You can’t shut me up. You can’t dumb me down because I’m tireless and I’m wireless, I’m an alpha male on beta-blockers.

I’m a non-believer and an over-achiever, laid-back but fashion-forward. Up-front, down-home, low-rent, high-maintenance. Super-sized, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready and built-to-last! I’m a hands-on, foot-loose, knee-jerk head case pretty maturely post-traumatic and I’ve got a love-child that sends me hate mail.

But, I’m feeling, I’m caring, I’m healing, I’m sharing-- a supportive, bonding, nurturing primary care-giver. My output is down, but my income is up. I took a short position on the long bond and my revenue stream has its own cash-flow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds and I watch trash sports! I’m gender specific, capital intensive, user-friendly and lactose intolerant.

I like rough sex. I like tough love. I use the “F” word in my emails and the software on my hard-drive is hardcore--no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini-mall; I bought a mini-van at a mega-store. I eat fast-food in the slow lane. I’m toll-free, bite-sized, ready-to-wear and I come in all sizes. A fully-equipped, factory-authorized, hospital-tested, clinically-proven, scientifically- formulated medical miracle. I’ve been pre-wash, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed and, I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I’m a rude dude, but I’m the real deal. Lean and mean! Cocked, locked and ready-to-rock. Rough, tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide. I’ve got glide in my stride. Drivin and movin, sailin and spinin, jiving and groovin, wailin and winnin. I don’t snooze, so I don’t lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hearty and lunch time is crunch time. I’m hangin in, there ain’t no doubt and I’m hangin tough, over and out!”
― George Carlin

“I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
― Nick Cave

“Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.”
― Francis Picabia

“There are thirty-two ways to write a story, and I’ve used every one, but there is only one plot – things are not as they seem.”
― Jim Thompson

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