And, on the French side of things, D’Obsidienne et de Sang gets reviewed by Blackwolf. And appears to have been longlisted for the Prix des Blogueurs Planète SF (a Bloggers’ Award; wasn’t shortlisted, sadly, but the longlist’s already pretty nice 😀 ), and to have been a notable work as far as the jury for the Prix Masterton is concerned (the award is for horror and dark fantasy, and the shortlist is out in January 2012 or thereabouts, I think).

And I feel as if someone has neatly struck me between the eyes with a big hammer, so I’m going to bed with a hot tea and a good book… (NOT Le Cinquième Soleil, which requires a bit more energy than I can spare at the moment).

Sorry. Will come back to a more regular (and interesting) blogging schedule when we finally get rid of all the boxes and get properly moved in.

… I have seen the draft versions of the illustrations Larry Rostant did for the French translation of Harbinger of the Storm and Master of the House of Darts.
This would be the point where I go all Gollum and say “my precious” over and over. All I’m allowed to say is that they’re as pretty (or maybe more pretty) than the first one.

In other news, had a pleasant week: saw Chaz Brenchley and his girlfriend Karen Sunday; had dinner with James Patrick Kelly and his wife Pam today; and got my French translation of Harbinger of the Storm to peruse. Also, trying to sort out a synopsis. Almost there…

Yay, LJ is back!!!! Good to be in business again.

I’m in Brittany at my parents, enjoying a break before packing up for San Francisco and Worldcon (and dealing with the renovation works and the move, sigh). They did install Internet, but I’m going to try very hard not to use it–so, to all intents and purposes, this is a blackout 😉

In other, writerly news, you can pre-order the French version of Harbinger of the Storm on amazon, under the title Le Cinquième Soleil. It’s interesting to see the titles: book 1 was “Of Obsidian and Blood”, book 2 is “The Fifth Sun”. Quite a change from the English versions–which, to be fair, are completely untranslatable (you can translate them, they just make sucky French titles).

Had a lazy weekend, which involved much writing, eating Russian food (thanks to a friend who made us discover borscht, dressed herring, pierogi, and grilled pork), and of course Vietnamese food (a rather copious shrimp curry, thanks to my grandma).

Entering my second-to-last week of the job; also, entering French summer, which means everything suddenly is going very slowly, and people are unavailable… (frustrating). On the plus side, this week is the annual picnic of the department; I volunteered for salad. I hesitate to make bò bún, but I think I’ll go for a more classical French or Italian dish, if only because leftovers are more easily recycled.

In other, more exciting news, slowly filling in the holes on the novella, and answering a couple questions about the French translation of Harbinger of the Storm. The new novel project is going to be, er, an old one, ie revising Foreign Ghosts [2] before it is sent out. (with a side order of brainstorming sequels).

*rolls up sleeves*

[1] Apologies for the inevitable spelling/usage mistakes: I’m doing my best to retranscribe from Cyrillic, but Russian is nowhere near my native language…
[2] Foreign Ghosts is the Xuya novel. In the words of the blurb I wrote a couple years ago:

The year is 2009–but the world is profoundly different. China’s discovery of America before Columbus has given rise to a West Coast ruled by Xuya, the former Chinese colony. Now, instead of San Francisco, the bustling metropolis of Fenliu is Xuya’s second-largest city, where Irish-Americans walk side by side with Aztec warrior-spies, and the vermillion-painted houses of Xuyan gentlemen-scholars contrast with the grime of Inca clan-compounds. Transportation is done by aircars and maglev trains; and technologies such as network sockets, communicators and weapons are routinely implanted into human bodies.

In this bewilderingly foreign world, PI Jonathan Brooks is desperately looking for a way to fit in. His latest gamble was to rent a flat in one of the posher Xuyan areas of town–but it backfired with the flat turned out to contain a cache of illegally imported mummies. Expropriated and considered a suspect, Brooks must discover the truth and clear his name before he is arrested and tortured.

But Brooks’ hurried and careless investigation may have unintended consequences: Fenliu is a city of many cultures, perpetually poised on the cusp of dislocation, and the racial riots of five years ago need only the flimsiest of excuses to flare up again…

–“Dom Jaguara pogrążony w cieniu” (“The Jaguar House, in Shadow” in Polish), courtesy of polter.pl. With nifty illustrations, and a complementary author interview! Courtesy of Bartek, Izabela ‘Isabell’ Mazur, Bartłomiej ‘baczko’ Łopatka, and Artur ‘mr_mond’ Nowrot
–בונת הספינות (“The Shipmaker” in Hebrew) at sf-f.org.il. Courtesy of Ehud Maimon, and Ibar Inbar Grinstein (not entirely sure I got the names right, as this is the one page I cannot make head or tail of all fixed now!)
–“Constructorul de nave” (“The Shipmaker” in Romanian) at srsff.ro, courtesy of Cristian Tamas, and Antuza Genescu.
–“Casa Jaguarului, în umbră” (“The Jaguar House, in Shadow” in Romanian) at srsff.ro. Same culprits as above 🙂
–D’Obsidienne et de Sang, of course, the French translation of Servant of the Underworld, courtesy of Eclipse. My awesome pretty pretty softcover edition 🙂
-and a forthcoming French translation of “Jaguar House” (“Quand l’ombre se répand sur la Maison Jaguar”) in Galaxies, courtesy of Pierre Gévart and Camille Thérion, which I’m currently rereading…

Still holding out for a Spanish translation, which would amuse me (because of the Mexico connection, and also because I speak the language…) But pretty darn happy with all of these.

There will definitely be an Imaginales report (I even sent the H with the camera to take pictures of the setup, which is unusual by Anglophone con standards), but right now I’m way too tired… So instead, I’ll just scream from the rooftops that my book is out in France (in all good bookstores, can be ordered, yadda yadda. You know the drill 🙂 )

It’s kind of odd that this feels more real than the English publication; most likely because I can see it on shelves near my workplace, and hand it to friends and family who don’t happen to speak English. With the English version, all I could do was watch amazon, and the odd English-language bookstore in Paris. Not quite the same, somehow…

On bookshelves at my local bookstore

(cut to spare you from further book porn)
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