Nope, I’m not referring to the 1980’s tune by the Vapors, but of the news that the foreign rights for the first two books in the Supper Club series, Carbs & Cadavers and Fit To Die, were sold to the Japanese.
Why? I have no earthly idea. I am trying really hard to picture a young woman in Tokyo trying to visualize the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, of attempting to decipher Bennett the mailman’s southern drawl, of the appearance or taste of regional food like sweet potato pie or chicken fried
steak. Will they enjoy the camaraderie between The Flab Five? Are they as tempted by a cupcake (or green tea ice cream) as my pudgy, loyal, and often self-effacing characters? Or do these readers simply scratch their heads and wonder what the heck my book is about?
I cringe whenever someone posts a new review on one of my books, but boy, I’d love to see what the Japanese Amazon reviews will say about them! And it’s been one of the highlights of my writing career to hold the Japanese copy of Carbs & Cadavers. It’s small, it has adorable illustrations of James peeking around a nutritional chart at the beginning of each chapter, and it’s, well, filled with Japanese characters!
For those of you possessing photos of your foreign language (or large print) book covers, please post them. I’d love to see how other countries have transformed your work!
9 comments:
I'm pretty sure fancy iced cupcakes speak the universal language. Congratulations on turning Japanese!
Omedetou!
(That's either congratulations in Japanese, or maybe it's "porcupine." I'm a little rusty.)
That's actually a beautiful cover in its way, isn't it? Lively and bright. I think people will buy it precisely because they're interested in a part of the US they know nothing about.
I haven't seen the covers of any translated books yet, just the large print editions from Wheeler. (Although whether UK English counts as a translation is debatable, anyway.)
JB, that's fantastic news! Your books are delicious in any language. Congratulations!
I think your books will be an exotic escape for them. Congratulations! :)
Thanks everyone! Jess, don't you have a French cover for us to see?
That is very cool! Reading about exotic locales is fun no matter where you live. Virginia looks wonderful from Japan.
I read lots of crime fiction set in Japan. Nice to know the people there read books set here. Congrats.
JB, my French covers look just like my American covers. I WISH I had fun new artwork like you!
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