Help me find the illustrator?

[seawasp]

With the help of our friend Carolyn and some online searching I was able to determine that Grand Central Arena was translated by "Hiroshi Kaneko". What neither of us can find out is who the cover artist for GCA Japan was, and I'd really like to know so I can tell him or her just how much I love their work. Anyone?

Comments

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

Ask your agent (that is, the one who sold the rights to the Japanese publisher on your behalf) to contact the Japanese publisher about it...

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

Maybe if you knew where a scan of the copyright page or back cover was, but the internet is not immediately providing me one.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

The cover design was done by an outfit called "WONDER WORKZ". If Google's translation of the Japanese Wikipedia entry is even vaguely close, WONDER WORKZ is a one-man outfit that does SF novel covers. The one man is Kazuya Yoshinaga.

[seawasp]

Hm. Searching on that name gets me some guy in the medical field. Searching Wonder Workz and excluding some obvious "no, wrong wonder workz" seems to show they have several associated people, and different names for "cover design" versus "cover art" work.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! Dug up some more:
http://ameblo.jp/ashe-bnargin-dalmasca/entry-10972203194.html
Google's translation of the blurb:
translation = Hiroshi Kaneko,
cover illustration = Mikio Masuda
cover design = [nonsense] + WONDER WORKZ

[seawasp]

Thanks. Now if I can just find contact info. Alas for language barriers. I don't see him (I presume "him" but it could be "her" I suppose, not knowing if Mikio is male or female as a name) on LinkedIn, and there are a BUTTLOAD of Mikio Masudas on Facebook which would make it difficult to figure out which one, if any, is the one I'm looking for.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Yeah...
Your agent has to know someone at Hayakawa. That looks like the best way to be sure.

[seawasp]

I dunno if my agent does. She didn't sell those rights, that was Baen. I've sent a message to them to see what they know.

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

I inquired at Hal-con (April 14-15, 2012). My first new acquaintance at the convention, Mr. Yoshio KIRIYAMA of Osaka, confirmed that "Mikio" is a male name, and that Wonder Workz is a well-known art group, although he didn't know Mr. MASUDA personally. Mr. Nozomi OMORI, one of the interpreters for the concom, said that the editor for Hayakawa was at the con and he would convey your compliments, i.e., me -> OMORI-san -> Hayakawa -> MASUDA-san.

Also, the convention chair, Mr. ATTA, has purchased the Hayakawa edition of GCA but hasn't yet read it.

(I'm using the U.S. diplomatic standard of capitalizing family names to avoid order ambiguity.)

[seawasp]

Well, then I thank you for making the connection. I cannot read the translation myself, but I can say that the cover was magnificently chosen, and done perfectly. :)

[seawasp]

I was unaware of that standard but it does make it much easier to be sure which is which, whether someone decides to do the traditional or the European order. :)