ellenkushner: (TPOTS SmallBeerPress (Clouet))
[personal profile] ellenkushner
The Japanese appear to have published The Fall of the Kings in two volumes. And to have actually read the book:

sorry about unavoidable crappy glare - can anyone figure out if Hayakawa has put a good scan of this up online anywhere?

(Hey, [livejournal.com profile] minayi - when can you come over and tell us which is Volume 1?)

Date: 2008-09-09 05:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marinarusalka.livejournal.com
Wow, that's gorgeous. Makes me want to buy a copy, even though I don't even know Japanese.

Date: 2008-09-09 05:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rm.livejournal.com
holy crap, that's stunning.

Date: 2008-09-09 05:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wintersweet.livejournal.com
The left one is volume one. :) Two-volume books in Japan and China are labeled 上 (top) and 下 (bottom). You can see them in the diamond shapes.

I love how the covers go together!

Date: 2008-09-09 06:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
"top and bottom," huh? well, well.

OK - but I still need someone to look inside and tell me where they end Volume 1!

Date: 2008-09-09 06:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wintersweet.livejournal.com
Well, something like that, heh. I suppose "upper" and "lower" would do as well.

Yes, I can imagine you'd want to know where they broke it up! I hope somebody can tell you.

Date: 2008-09-10 03:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] waccawheels.livejournal.com
Well if you are talking about the end of the story (of the Vol.1), that'd be before the page where you may find the word " 訳者あとがき " (translator's postscript) as a title, or the Japanese-written colophon.
I'm sorry I don't have the Japanese version so this is just my guess, though...

Anyway, that's lovely covers! And yes, the translator is good-- I've read the Japanese version of Thomas the Rhymer and liked the translation. Have you ever seen its cover art, by the way?

Date: 2008-09-10 05:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
So glad to hear all this! I was very curious to know how they handled Thomas - it's a tough book to translate, since the language depends a lot on folkloric traditions.

Not only have I seen the old Japanese Thomas edition (which is now out of print?), I actually own the original painting! Mari Kotani was kind enough to take us to lunch with the artist when we were in Tokyo about 10 years ago. She's a lovely woman, and the art is breathtaking. I should shoot it and post it, I guess. I wonder if the image is up anywhere online...?

Date: 2008-09-09 05:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keelieinblack.livejournal.com
Oh, gorgeous. If I had the money, I'd be tempted to buy copies off Amazon.jp. I envy readers in Japan--they tend to get the some of the loveliest cover art for their editions, and sometimes even interior illustrations.

Date: 2008-09-09 06:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aluragayle.livejournal.com
Wow... those're just... wow. ♥ Beautiful artwork, befitting the story.
I might need a copy of those to go along with my cherished hardback copy. Oh, yes...

Date: 2008-09-09 06:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wintersweet.livejournal.com
P. S. Amazon Japan page (http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%8E%8B%E3%81%A8%E6%9C%80%E5%BE%8C%E3%81%AE%E9%AD%94%E8%A1%93%E5%B8%AB-%E4%B8%8A-%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A4%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AF%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-FT-2-4/dp/4150204705/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220983422&sr=8-2); click on the image for a somewhat bigger, glare-free one (and the rest of the books by Eren Kashunaa (http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books-jp&field-author=%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%83%8A%E3%83%BC), if you haven't seen that before, which you probably have :)).

Date: 2008-09-09 07:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
Bliss is mine! And, no, I hadn't even seen the Swordspoint and TPOTS Japanese covers! I wonder when they're being published? I wonder if "translate this page" will produce fascinating results...?

Date: 2008-09-09 07:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wintersweet.livejournal.com
It usually just translates the site-function stuff, but you never know. :) Glad I could be of service.

Date: 2008-09-09 06:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] czakbar.livejournal.com
Oh that is beautiful. Oh, those Japanese! :)

Date: 2008-09-09 06:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com
Oh wow! That's lovely!

Date: 2008-09-09 06:29 pm (UTC)
ext_3319: Goth girl outfit (Default)
From: [identity profile] rikibeth.livejournal.com
That cover is making me DROOL. Oh, Theron!

Date: 2008-09-09 07:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
They even got the color of his coat from the party scene!

Basil looks like a Vampire, though....

Date: 2008-09-09 08:46 pm (UTC)
ext_3319: Goth girl outfit (Default)
From: [identity profile] rikibeth.livejournal.com
I noticed both of those! Didn't Basil have a fairly full beard, too?

But I will forgive them a lot for that coat. Which probably also looks like the one Richard *wanted* Alec to wear, when they went to the tailor.

Date: 2008-09-09 11:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
Basil didn't have a full beard til the end. Otherwise he was always just kinda scruffy in an absentminded (yet sexy) professor way.

Date: 2008-09-09 06:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/
Oh, that is beautiful.

Date: 2008-09-09 07:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meener.livejournal.com
AHHHHHH *dies* i love love love fantasy book covers in japan, and this one is no exception. the translator is quite a prominent one, too - she's also done translations for susan cooper, tanith lee, michael moorcock, etc. ohhhh am so happy for you both. <3 yay hayakawa! and i would be more than willing to show up at your doorstep and read japanese for you again. just let me know!

Date: 2008-09-09 07:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
YIPPEEE!!! great translator!!! I wonder if she did the other 2, as well? They have, ah, quite different covers, I have just discovered courtesy of wintersweet:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books-jp&field-author=エレン・カシュナー

Date: 2008-09-09 07:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wintersweet.livejournal.com
It's the same translator, Itsuji Akemi, for all of them! That's so nice. Now someone just needs to add you to her Japanese Wikipedia page.

Date: 2008-09-10 12:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
Ah. Yes. "SOMEONE" does.....;;)

Date: 2008-09-10 12:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
OK - I've just run the Japanese copy for TPOTS through Google, and got this:

"KYAZARIN country nobleman's daughter, uncle living in the capital to rejoice at the invitation of the notoriety as a fruitcake TODOROKASU ordered the uncle to the training of swordsmanship and was masquerading as a man! IYAIYA KYAZARIN follow. "

Her uncle's a notorious fruitcake? Or whaaaat....?

Date: 2008-09-10 02:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meener.livejournal.com
hahahaha that's hilarious! i especially like how they keep the romanization of katherine's name...XD i think the "fruitcake" part comes from 奇人, which can be translated more errrr literarily as "an eccentric person." here's my translation of the japanese blurb:

Katherine, a country nobleman’s daughter, is overjoyed when her uncle invites her to live in the capital – until her eccentric uncle, infamously known as the Mad Duke, orders her to dress as a boy and take fencing lessons! Katherine obeys only reluctantly at first, but gradually begins to display her innate courage and valor, going so far as to accept a duel for the sake of someone’s honor. Meanwhile, a plot to destroy the Duke is put in motion . . . Set eighteen years after the world depicted in the masterpiece Swordspoint, this tale of Katherine’s coming-of-age as a female sword fighter was a Locus Award Winner for 2007!

awww i feel sorry for the reviewer on the japanese amazon page - the title of the comment is "I'm sorry," and the comment runs along the lines of "i bought the book because the cover was so beautiful, but i didn't realize there were other books and got really confused ack!"

Date: 2008-09-09 07:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sharaith.livejournal.com
Wow, gorgeous covers! I'd love to have that to hang on my wall. :)

Date: 2008-09-09 08:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yaoi-in-exile.livejournal.com
*GASP!!*

That is SO beautiful...! (Oh my goodness, Theron does rather look like both his parents there...you can see Alec in his face and skin, but his nose is Sophia's, and his hair thicker...) I miss Bail's unshavenness, it was rather sexy, but the Art of the Japanese Prettybois *would* omit that...

*drowns in the colors*

*snerk!* Katherine's fluffy shorts rule my world. (Alec is perpetually stuck in that background, isn't he?)

*love!*

Date: 2008-09-10 12:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
Well, I'm glad *someone* likes Katherine's shorts! But I think Alec hovers rather wonderfully, really...sexy & ominous, and from kind of a different part of the manga forest. Hoo ha.

And have you noticed they all have different flowers...?

*love!*

Date: 2008-09-09 08:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alsafi.livejournal.com
Huh. The titles translate a little differently from the English, though. Privilege of the Sword is pretty much the same, but Swordspoint becomes "Roundelay of [the] Sword" (in the sense of a round dance, rather than the poetic form) and The Fall of the Kings is "[The] King and [the] Last Conjuror" (where conjuror is in the sense of wizard, not stage magic).

Date: 2008-09-10 12:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
That is very very super interesting, about the titles!!! Thank you! I love this stuff.

Date: 2008-09-09 09:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com
That is brilliant!

Date: 2008-09-10 03:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belledewinter.livejournal.com
That's gorgeous.

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