Blog-A-Rama-Ding-Dong!
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International Superstar!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006I've just gotten my author copies of the very first Ebenezum novel, A MALADY OF MAGICKS, in its Japanese translation! It's a cute book, with a red cover sporting a cartoon wizard and the tile of the book in English. The rest of it, except for a character list in English at the very front, is in Japanese, which, I alas, cannot read. But it looks cool as all heck.
Ebenezum's quite the world traveller. Besides being a paperback bestseller in England, old Eb has seen editions in Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. A lot of my other books have seen print in these countries, too (along with one sale each, I think, to Italy and France) but in most of the cases, the Eb books have led the way. And, of course, my novelizations have been translated all over the place (BATMAN was translated just about everywhere!)
It will be interesting to see if the Japanese public takes to my sneezing wizard. (The publisher has bought the first three out of six.) I think the Cineverse books could do well in Japan, too, what with the Japanese fascination with American and European film culture. But these things, alas, are beyond my control...
In the meantime, tho, I've got a cool new book written by me that I can't read at all. And I am properly thankful.
Arigato, Ebenezum-san!
Derek, 3:07 PM | Story
Oh! My! Gosh! You are still alive! Do you know how many times I went into the local book store to see if there were any new books out by you? Do you? Well, of course you don't. You don't know me, do you? I'm sure you get tired of fan boys and such, but I just have to tell you that you introduced me to the wonderful genre of fantasy/comedy. You launched me into that world and then seemingly disappeared, and the slack had to be taken up by such the likes as Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, but it's good to see that you are alive and kicking. And it also seems that the Ebenezum Trilogy is alive and well, too. I believe I first read the series when I was maybe 13 or 14, and here I am, a doddering old man of 32 still recollecting reading the series over again with fondness.
And now another thing comes to mind…I had never known what you look like. Your books always had an “About the Author” section, but it was never accompanied by a photograph. Well, now I know what you look like Craig, so if I see you on the street I can say, “Hey! You’re Craig Shaw Gardner, aren’t you?” And when you ignore me I can shout, “Hey, everybody! That’s Craig Shaw Gardner! He writes books!” And when you start to run because the mob I’ve gather around me starts chasing you, I can yell, “Get his pants! We can sell them on Ebay!” Just like last week except this time it REALLY will be you because now I know what you look like.
So now I should go over the rest of your website to see what else you’ve been up to. Possibly you didn’t disappear; possibly I just stopped paying attention, y’know? I just feel sorry for you now that you have the likes of me snooping around your website. I get into places, and it usually takes an industrial strength cleaner to get me out.
Craig Shaw Gardner, 5:44 PM | Story
Yes, Derek, I'm still here. It was funny fantasy that went away. And that sounds like the topic of another blog! Stay tuned!
Derek, 11:19 AM | Story
Sorry, but I'm not sure how to take that. Are you saying that funny fantasy has disappeared, or are you saying that YOUR humour novel writing days are over? Or is that going to be the topic of your next blog? Should I stay tuned constantly? What if I have to, um, you know, go? To the toilet? Should I get someone to stand in for me? So vague. I need clarification because it's going to start smelling in here soon.