translations
May 14, 2009
Russian update
Sun of Suns (Солнце Солнц) is now available, and you can still get Ventus (Вентус)
I've had two books translated into Russian so far: Ventus, and Sun of Suns. Both are published by AST in Moscow, and are available online through the Ozon bookstore. (For instance, here's the link to Sun of Suns, and here's where to find Ventus.)
The summary for Sun of Suns describes the book this way:
История Хайдена Гриффина - обычного мальчишки из искусственной галактике Вирга - огромного наполненного воздухом шара, в центре которого сияет Солнце Солнц, гигантский ядерный реактор - сад, где растут, как цисты, зародыши солнц поменьше.
История его родного мира, уничтоженного флотом "кочевой" планеты Слипстрим.
История его похищения и его странствий с космическими пиратами. История его опасных приключений - поисков легендарных сокровищ древнего капитана Анетина и смертельной борьбы с представителями цивилизации Искусственных сущностей, захватившей уже едва не все планеты за пределами Вирги...
And here's their description of Ventus:
...Вентус. Планета, на которой люди, веками остававшиеся рабами ИскИнов, поднимают наконец восстание против `хозяев`.
Вентус. Планета, на которой людям-повстанцам просто нечего терять!
Здесь сражаются до последнего.
До последнего вздоха. До последней пули.
Здесь цена выживания человечества проста: `Свобода - или смерть!`
I don't read Russian very well, but this seems to be a really over-the-top description--"here, they battle to the last breath!" But hey. If it sells books, go for it.
But now I'm curious. If anybody has read either or both of these translations, I'd love to know what you thought of them. It's always really cool to find out, once the translation to a language is complete, how ideas and characters--and, well, just story--translate to other cultures.
Apr 20, 2009
Internationalizing the website
Starting with a Japanese page for Sun of Suns
I've created a Japanese page for Sun of Suns (太陽の日曜). This is an experiment, so if there's anybody out there bilingual enough to interpret what I've done, please let me know if there's any howlers or flat-out insults accidentally rendered into the page. I used WorldLingo.com's automated translation service, so I have no idea whether any of the text I've dropped in there makes sense.
If this works, I'm going to create pages for each of the other translated languages/works.
Apr 14, 2009
Sun of Suns nominated for a Seiun award!
Japan's top SF award gives me the nod
Here's the complete list under the Best Foreign Novel category. As you can see, I'm in the best possible company this year; in fact, since these books are distilled from years of English-language SF rather than the Hugo's one-year pool, I'd venture to say that winning a Seiun is probably a lot harder than winning a Hugo. Just look at this collection of titles!
- Spin, Robert Charles Wilson
- The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi
- Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds
- Light, M. John Harrison
- The Urth of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
- Sun of Suns, Karl Schroeder
- Seeker, Jack McDevitt
Note that the complete list of nominations doesn't seem to have been translated yet. You can find ongoing updates on that here.
My thanks go out to Hayakawa Publishing for their excellent edition of Sun of Suns; and of course, a deep bow to Naoya Nakahara, whose translation is really what is being nominated here.
Oct 09, 2008
Japanese rights sold for Sun of Suns
There's a lot of interest overseas for this series.
I've just sold Japanese rights to SoS, and have several other countries interested as well. For the Japanese market, the publisher will be Hayakawa Publishing Company. No date yet for publication, but keep an eye on their catalogue!
May 12, 2008
French mass-market edition of Permanence
Now available from amazon.fr!
My second novel, Permanence, has been released in a beautiful mass-market edition. The cover art is cool--it shows Rue's Ediacaran fossil pendant, which figures prominently in the story.
Amazon describes the novel like this:
La jeune Rue Cassels est née et a toujours vécu dans le Halo, cette région riche en naines brunes située à mi-chemin entre le Système solaire et les Mondes illuminés. Fuyant la tyrannie de son frère Jentry et l'ambiance interlope de la station d'exploitation cométaire Allemagne, elle s'empare d'une navette pour rejoindre Erythrion. Chemin faisant, elle fait valoir ses droits sur un objet stellaire non répertorié, ignorant que sa découverte aura des répercussions sans précédent. Avec ses combats spatiaux, ses énigmes extraterrestres plus anciennes que l'humanité et ses planètes exotiques décrites avec minutie, Permanence est un roman palpitant, s'inscrivant dans la mouvance du Nouveau Space Opera illustrée par des auteurs comme Iain M. Banks, Peter Hamilton ou Alastair Reynolds.
My first novel Ventus is also available in Folio SF mass-market format.