Meanderings of a Bent Mind by Gordon Hideaki Nagai
- Mission Point Press
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
The Journeys of an Introvert
Using Creativity to Confront Stress, Author Releases Twenty-Four Tales—A Lyrical Journey Through Fantasy, Folklore, and Ghosts of War
Traverse City, MI—Throughout his life, Gordon Hideaki Nagai has turned to creative outlets to deal with stress: artful photography, the calming stitchwork of embroidery, and decades of putting pen to paper. Now, he’s releasing his latest achievement, Meanderings of a Bent Mind: Journeys of an Introvert, (Mission Point Press, November 13, 2025), a collection of interwoven, speculative, and fabulist stories that blend elements of fantasy, fairy tale, and gritty wartime narrative.
Some stories feature young girl protagonists and explore themes of kingship, nobility, and magical realism, while others involve talking animals interacting with humans. The collection delves into time slips, ghost stories, and archaeology, with some wartime narratives adding a bittersweet contrast to the fantastical elements. The stories, though diverse, maintain a sense of continuity through recurring motifs and will appeal to readers of fantasy, philosophy, and young adult fiction, with a fabulist style reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges.
Decades in the Making
The twenty-four stories in Meanderings of a Bent Mind were culled from forty-one that Nagai wrote fifty years ago. Deciding which stories to include was difficult for Nagai, sharing that there was a sentimental attachment to each of them for their role in his personal healing. “I chose those stories that I had the deepest connection with, those with personal connections to me,” Nagai said. Featured stories include:
Willows in the Wind, recounts the death of a dear friend from Nagai’s time at the University of California, Berkeley
Tiptoe Through the Mind Field, observations of Nagai’s marriage to a white woman
The Battle of Byte Mountain, details Nagai’s time as a conscientious objector just prior to the acceleration of the Vietnam War
The beautiful lightness of some of Meanderings’ content belie the struggles of Nagai’s early life. From the ages of four to six, he and his family were forced to abandon their peach and almond farm in California to join the 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry incarcerated at concentration camps during World War II. Eventually directed to file a claim for loss of income during their internment, his parents received $500 against their $12,000 loss. As a young man, he protested the Vietnam War, serving two years of alternative service in lieu of military service as a conscientious objector, and he also participated in the Civil Rights movement. “My attitude and mindset in general is positive and upbeat; I haven’t let my experiences make me overly negative, which I attribute in large part to my mother,” Nagai shared. Born in California in the early 1900s to parents who immigrated from Hiroshima, she was a U.S. citizen by birth. “Even after being stripped of her constitutional rights and sent to a camp, she was most forgiving of President Roosevelt because ‘He was doing the best he knew how!’”
Nagai has been a member of the Creative Writing Group at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon since 2013. He began his work there by co-authoring Two Faces, a memoir-style novel exploring friendship and prejudice during World War II, with Nina Wolpe. Following its publication, he began work on Meanderings of a Bent Mind.
The Author
Gordon Hideaki Nagai is a second-generation Japanese American and lifelong Californian who spent part of his childhood in a World War II concentration camp in Colorado. A UC Berkeley graduate with a master’s in social welfare, he worked for decades as a social worker and was active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. He is the co-author of Two Faces, a memoir-style novel exploring friendship and prejudice during World War II, and the author of several pun-filled humor books, including The Ultimate Book of Dad Jokes and Born to Pun.
The Book
Meanderings of a Bent Mind: Journeys of an Introvert
Gordon Hideaki Nagai
250 pages, 6 x 9 inches, B/W
Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasies, Collections & Anthologies, Magical Realism
ISBN: 978-1-965278-75-8, $18.95 (Softcover)
Mission Point Press, November 13, 2025
Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its November 13 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at gordon@ghnagai.com.
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