Tokyopop has unveiled an ambitious line of young adult fiction with the first volumes in four different series debuting in October at cover prices ranging from $7.99 to $10.99. These new teen novels will appear under a new Tokyopop imprint, Pop Fiction, and feature creators from Europe as well as Asia.

The first Pop Fiction release will be Kino no Tabi: Book One of The Beautiful World, the first entry in an eight-volume series about a girl who tours the world on a talking, anthropomorphized motorcycle and discovers the inherent beauty of imperfection ( as Aristotle pointed out, 'nature is long on variety and short on perfection').  This series, which includes black-and-white illustrations, has been a huge hit in Japan.  Book One is 208 pages and has a cover price of $7.99.

The 13-volume series of Scrapped Princess novels written by Ichiro Sakaki was inspired by the popular Scrapped Princess anime series (released in the U.S. by Bandai) with its high concept teen heroine who has been prophesied to bring about the end of the world if she lives past her 16th birthday.  The first volume in the series contains 208 pages, includes black-and-white illustrations, and is priced at $7.99.

Not all of the releases in the series are from Japan -- Magic Moon, created by Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein, two of Europe's most renowned fantasy authors, has been a huge international success with over two million copies sold and has been translated into 20 languages.  The first volume in the Magic Moon trilogy contains 344 pages and will retail for $10.99.

The fourth volume coming out under the new imprint is Witches Forest: The Adventures of Duan Surk, which is based on the Fortune Quest world, a major franchise that includes video games, comics, tabletop RPGs and a TV series.  Multi-media franchises with major video game connection such as Kingdom Hearts, .hack// and World of Warcraft have been extremely successful at selling both tie-in manga and novels.  Mishio Fukazawa's first (of 4) novel in the Witches Forest series contains 328 pages, includes black-and-white illustrations and carries a cover price of $10.99.