The Android’s Dream Wins the Seiun Award
Posted on July 20, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 17 Comments
That would be in the category of Best Foreign Novel. I am naturally delighted. This is actually the second Seiun Award for me, the first having come with The Last Colony in 2010. You may now insert your standard “big in Japan” jokes here. But in all honesty, I love that The Android’s Dream has picked up another award (it’s also won Germany’s Kurd Lasswitz Preis).
And as with that prize, where I asked to share the award with the translator, I have asked to share this Seiun Award with the Japanese translator, Masayuki Uchida (内田昌之). Without him, the novel wouldn’t have won this award in the first place. I figure it’s a fair share.
Congratulations also to Paolo Bacigalupi, whose “Pocketful of Dharma” has won the Seiun in the Best Foreign Short Fiction category. The dude’s a prize machine.
Omedetou, Jon Sukolujii ! :D
(Aah, foreign names in katakana…)
I’m actually highly surprised that such an award is not shared with the translator by default (for translated works).
Oh, well done! And your translator. Very evidently, the Japanese ‘get’ you :).
Congrats John! I love seeing Android’s Dream get more recognition, to me it’s up there with The Hitchhiker’s Guide.
That is very awesome. Also, the Japanese cover for the book is great (and I gotta say, it catches the eye a little more then the US cover).
That’s great, Scalzi! I really enjoyed THE ANDROID DREAM as a fun comic SF novel – same as I enjoyed REDSHIRTS.
I finally broke down and got an eBook copy of AGENT TO THE STARS, so let’s see how I like that one.
NIcely done, John. You’re a classy guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZGF4wcPJO0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Because someone had to.
You got the Cy Young award? You don’t even play baseball!
Congratulations! I’ll have to go pick up a copy, as I like getting Japanese editions of books I like so I can practice my reading skills. It also helps when I hear my students say they like certain kinds of books – I can just walk to my shelf and hand them something in their native language.
It can be really satisfying sometimes. I lent out “Hitchhiker’s Guide” to one kid, and got another boy – a baseball player, no less – engrossed in “The Gunslinger” during his morning reading time. Mind you, I’ll probably never get those books back, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay…
And, now that I’m remembering, I gave one student “Old Man’s War” as a Secret Santa gift. So there you go.
Congratulations, John!
As a translator myself, thanks for that! I’m sure there are many authors who wouldn’t even consider mentioning the translator when accepting an award.
I am very entertained by the idea of some Japanese guy picking up the book and thinking to himself (in fluent Japanese): “Aha! I haven’t heard of this Scalzi fellow, but judging by the cover and title, this will be a grim, near-future dystopia, heavily influenced by the work of that master of SF Philip K Dick! I will prepare myself for moral ambiguity, decaying cityscapes, unnervingly intelligent robots, and speculation on the nature of reality and perception!”
Then he reads the first line.
おめでとうございます、ジョンスカルツィ と 内田昌之. 頑張ってください!
Literal – Congrats. Please do your best!
Emotional – Good Job, Keep up the good work!
The cover looks like Yokohama’s lighted concrete canyons during the Tsuyu rainy season (梅雨) in May-June when it rains every day for about six weeks. Just a few more minutes of walking away from the station and you’d leave behind the hiss of wet tires and become wrapped in country darkness, alone with only your own thoughts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiun_Award#Best_Foreign_Language_Novel_of_the_Year
This list holds up pretty well. But is um all dudes it looks like.
“This list holds up pretty well. But is um all dudes it looks like”
James Tiptree Jr. and Pat Murphy are not dudes. But, yes, mostly dudes apart from those two.
That’s great! THE ANDROID’S DREAM is easily my favorite of your novels.