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Hayakawa's neat...
I haven't yet seen or heard anything on GCA yet (why should I, it's only been a month or two since the deal was done, and I'd figure the translation alone will take several months), but while trying to figure my way around a site in a language I can't read, I DID come across Sarah Hoyt's Darkship Thieves/Dark Ship entry, and the cover certainly looks kickass.
ETA: The link I used got changed, so I found a hard-link to the actual cover JPG.
So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both an excellent translation and a buttkicking cover. I love the original cover for GCA, make no mistake, but I look forward to seeing what the Japanese decide to do for it; I'm hoping for an anime-manga style translation of the imagery, sort of the way Weber's Honor Harrington novels ended up (here's the one for Honor Among Enemies).
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http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/File:Onbasilikstation1.jpg
My only complaint is that it's almost TOO cute. *lol*
The back cover is also badass,
http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/File:Onbasilikstation1-.jpg
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(It's worth the wait, but don't expect to see any action this year.)
One thing you should do is to politely prod your agent or whoever sold the Japanese rights and emphasize that you'd be delighted to assist the honourable translator with any issues of local idiom or vernacular they may encounter. (Because they may be too embarrassed to implicitly admit their own inadequacy by approaching you uninvited if they have a query ...)
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On their being slow... well, they must not be that slow ALL the time, because DST was published in late 2010 and as you can see from the page I linked to they're already getting the translation out or ready to be out next month. Even if they bought the rights only shortly after Baen set the publication date, that's only about a year, I'd guess.
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Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Calling something a treecat will naturally predispose people to think cat shaped, but that's how we tend to name stuff, to try and make it familiar and understandable. I think mini-bintarong or treefisher or arboreal weaselbadger just doesn't have the same ring somehow. :-)
First paragraph...http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Treecat
I will have to re-read the series (oh what a hardship) but I seem to recall that the ears are rounded.
This head bearing a striking resemblance to a Terran cat doesn't really wash with me, though. Sea Lions' head bear striking resemblance to labrador dogs, and lamas, of all things, are remarkably similar head wise to kangaroos!
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Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Speaking of which, did I ever mention just how good your brown falcon drawing looks on a black t-shirt?
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Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
no picture of darkship thieves
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: no picture of darkship thieves
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Likewise for the Magon and Maelkodan, if you've got descriptions handy I can give them a shot. I'm running short on reading material though, so I might read your books over breakfast and take some notes.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
The nearest [structure] was a sort of curved double-trumpet shape rising from one side of a six-foot-high dais, thirty feet across, carved in a spiral fashion with rippled indentations along it. I started for it, raising my bar and watching for the interior guard.
No one came forward, no attackers, nothing. “Rokhaset? Where’s the welcome wagon?”
“I admit my bewilderment, Clinton Slade. I cannot —”
But at that moment, the dais began to uncurl. The crystalline shape sat at the crest of a head fully five feet long, armed with black-shining spines, cutting blades of blue stone, a crushing maw, and grasping talons. It gave voice to a grinding screech like the unoiled hinges of Hell and turned towards us.
“Magon!” Rokhaset gasped. His shocked cry was echoed by his fellows, all of whom, the Nome King included, began backing away as fast as they could.
“Figures.” I stared at the monstrous thing as it continued to uncoil. “They brought one here as a last-ditch defense.”
The Magon shrieked again, and a steady humming began to emanate from it as it stalked towards us on many sets of legs.
The Maelkodan:
Before me stood the Maelkodan.
The centauroid torso and head were just about my height; the body itself, perhaps three to four feet at the hip. It was twelve feet long, covered with iridescent scales in beautiful geometric patterns of green, black, red, silver, and gold. The legs, three-taloned affairs like a Jurassic Park raptor's (minus the one huge claw) moved smoothly, shifting back and forth nervously. The arms were edged, with wicked spikes at the elbows, and I could see the glitter of diamondlike teeth in the mouth. The head I couldn't focus on, without risking eye contact, but it seemed to be crested and fluted and spiked, as though wearing an elaborate helm.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Now, we don't want to risk eye contact with the Maelkodan, but maybe there's photos of them - any more detail on the head?
The Magon...
So...double trumpet, is that a trumpet within a trumpet, or two trumpets next to each other or back to back?
I'm sort of envisioning a cornucoepia inside a cornucoepia here but I could be completely off base. Where does the mouth of the trumpet face?
Is that head armed with grasping talons?
You know...that's a *pretty darn good* last-ditch defense.
Re: no picture of darkship thieves
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Stocky or slender build?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
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Yes, grasping talons around a sort of lamprey-like mouth; sort of like the things around the Predator's mouth. Though it's all made of living rock of different colors, etc.
Yeah, an 80-foot long rock-centipede-dragon is formidable, and the fact that it projects electromagnetic waves that blind the Nomes and heat metal (using that crystalline antenna) doesn't help. I wrote that scene SPECIFICALLY to give Baen a perfect Baen Cover Moment, since it provided a completely and utterly justified reason that the main female character had stripped to her underwear and advanced to within 20 feet of a huge semi-draconic monstrosity to do acoustic battle with it in this exotic cavern setting. Instead, we got Boris Karloff.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
With respect to the head, I see it as having a crest like a small Triceratops, except fancy sculpted, as though the crest part were strung like a heavy bone layered web between sharp horn/spike ridges. The face is semi-humanoid, semi-Werewolfoid, but more human; it's not monstrous but, if you ignore the sharp diamond teeth, almost delicate looking.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
I'll complete the drawing of the Maelkodan and post it sometime today.
Just bear in mind it's essentially only a sketch! With some colour. I generally bleed from the ears if I show stuff that's 'not finished' or in progress, but I feel sad that no one's drawn your delightful creatures, so I don't mind.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
If you have fun doing these, I'll be ecstatic to see any others of mine you might try. Only one person's ever tried to do one of the Great Wolves (Virigar). And I USED to have a picture of Poplock Duckweed, but it disappeared.
Re: Why do *none* of these artists read the description of treecats?
Okay, ready when you are