From the “Why On Earth Would We Tell The Author Anything” File
Posted on March 13, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 12 Comments
Hey! Today Old Man’s War was released in Spanish, in which it is known as “La vieja guardia.” How do I find out? The Internet.
Oh, Internet. You never fail me.
The title in Spanish is actually pretty clever – a play on words that could mean “The Old Guard” like say, Heinlein, Asimov, Anderson and Williamson, for example (or any other set of oldtime trendsetters) – but it can also mean the single old guy working as a guard or guardian… I can explain it more clearly, but I’d have to do it in Spanish, and if you could understand the explanation, you probably wouldn’t need it.
Hey, and Planeta is one of the good, big publishers. The cover looks kind of cool, too. Surprised they didn’t switch Cory Doctorow’s review for someone who writes in Spanish, though. It’s all good stuff, in any case. Says it beats Heinlein for having less political sermonizing, and Haldeman for having more sex.
Congrats.
I’m in Fort Lauderdale for ICFA, otherwise I’d have told you it was out!
:-)
Well, you know, it’s Spain. They’re busy with the train bombing commemoration and political strife.
If I were you, I would have demanded that I be billed as “Juan Scalzi” on the Spanish edition. Then, when the Spanish edition came out, I would refer to myself constantly in the third person and affect a bad Spanish accent: “Juan Scalzi would like some more salsa with his nachos. Is there any guacamaole in Juan Scalzi’s refrigerador?” I would keep this up well past the point where my wife told me to stop it.I guess what I’m saying is that if you were me, you’d be a really annoying person. Or maybe I’m just saying that I’m annoying. In any event, I implore you not to overlook the possibilities for self-amusement here.
Is the title of this entry a dig at someone’s publishers perhaps? :()
Well, to be fair to my Spanish publisher, none of my foreign publishers so far have told me when the books has come out; they’ve all been a surprise. Fortunately my obsessive ego surfing keeps me in the loop.
So far the Japanese cover is the best, but I’m a pretty much recovered otaku.
I particularly think that the title translation is SO bad. And, just to let you know, in the little synopsis they put up there on that website they give like half the book away. Spoilers everywhere.
Anyway, congratulations on the Español edition!
Good news for my friends down here too. Now I can change my line from “man, you so wish you could read English just to read this book” to “go and buy it now!”
“Oh, Internet. You never fail me.”
Toda tu base es pertenece a nosotros.
¡Tocino gato!
J.D. Finch: Seriously? All Your Base made it to Spanish? Is that a real translation, or is that just Babelfish?
(Readying “glee!”)
Made it to Spanish? Sure it did. When I put it in Google translator it went in one end English and came out the other Spanish.
The Internet never fails me. ;)