Monday, August 23, 2010

The Chinese Cover

A writer's life is not necessarily one of frantic and absorbing interest to the observer.

I mean, it can be.  I do not doubt that there are writers who finish the day's work and flip down the lid of the computer and stroll out to rassle aligators --

(Crocodiles have a narrow snout and alligators are the ones with a broad snout, in case you ever find yourself rassling one.  Alligators are considered more dangerous because of that greater crushing power of those wide jaws.  But then, writers are not wimps.)                                                                                                    These are alligators                      

or toboggan down the Matterhorn --

(Did you know it's the Matterhorn only in Germany?  If you're in Italy it's Monte Cervino.  In France it's Mont Cervin.
. . .  And folks wonder why there's so much international discord.)




This is the Matternorn, 
or whatever.

or conduct a wild passionate affair with Johnny Depp.



(You thought I'd never get to the end of that sentence, didn't you?)

But mostly writers lead, as I say, dull lives.
I know I do.


Today, however, as I was walking the dog, I met a most beautiful red fox out in the fields, who kinda curled his lip as if to say,

"You're interrupting me, you know.  Do I come into your dining room when you're hunting mice?  Do I?"
and loped off into the bushes in a snit.

The second wild bonus of the day is that I ran across the cover of the Chinese Spymaster's Lady which had not previously come my way.  In fact, I didn't know Chinese Spymaster was actually out.  It's here.

The Title, according to Babelfish, is:

Spy Sea Rival in Love

which I kinda like.

ETA:  In the comment trail, Sherry Thomas points out that this title is actually Love and Hate Among Spies 
which I also like.



If you go to the site you'll see, over on the right hand side, they've given me five little pinky thingums.
I think they may be ducks.

In any case, I am so delighted with this  beautiful cover.  I really like it. 

My Lord and Spymaster will come out in Chinese next month and then they will maybe send me a copy of each.


The fox that appears above is not the actual fox I saw.  I don't cart a camera around with me, worse luck, so I do not have a copy of the actual fox.  This is an entirely different fox, attrib galen.  It is almost as pretty as the fox I saw.

10 comments:

  1. Ooohh, nice cover -- not too crazy about the title, but the cover more than makes up for it ;)

    I can never remember the difference btwn an alligator & a croc, lucky for me there's none around here :) or at least there better not be any

    Cute fox. Occasionally hear them around my neighborhood and others have seen them (last summer one tried moving her family under someone's deck). I've never seen one myself but I'm okay with that though it would be kinda neat :)

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  2. Hi Gamistress --

    I think the title makes sense in Chinese. I have a Chinese niece and the next time I see her I will ask.

    I do not have large scaled crocodilians at my doorstep . . .
    (Do you know, I never stop to be properly grateful for things like that.)

    but I have copperheads and rattlesnakes which I figger is sufficient reptiles for anyone.

    The cat killed a gartersnake the other day. Medium sized. Maybe 18 inches long. But it was hard to exhibit proper gratitude when she brought it to me.

    I wish she wouldn't do that. I mean, it's hard on the gartersnake, and what if it had been a copperhead?

    When I lived in central Germany, I saw lots of foxes, who no dougbt grew fat upon the many rabbits that were rabbiting about. I haven't seen them much here in the upmountain woodsland of the US. They may just fade into the brush in a shy fashion. Or it may be folks let their dogs run loose.

    I don't know what foxes sound like though. They bark?

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  3. snakes -- eeek. warning went out spring/early summer that the copperheads were plentiful around here than usual this year, luckily no sign of them around my place or dog. neighbor's (older) dog got bit by one last year while on a walk, while it survived the bite he wasn't quite the same afterward and she had to put him sleep a few months later.

    male foxes do bark I believe, but females sort of scream. first time I heard it I wondered if I should call the cops. I was sitting outside on the back porch one spring night and heard what sounded a little like a woman or child faintly screaming and it sounded both near and far at the same time, clear but indistinct (if that can make any sense). it was kinda eerie sounding but cool too (once I knew it was a fox and not someone in trouble).

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  4. I will keep foxes in mind next time I hear unidentifiable screams. We have a number of birds who lark about in the woods being bizarre and innovative and loud.

    It is no wonder our pre-societal ancestors crouched shivering in caves making up stories about night stalkers and ghosts.

    (See. I didn't quote "ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties . . ." I am proud of my restraint.)

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  5. Cogratulations on the Chinese translation, Jo -- it's beautiful. How exciting!

    As for the fox call, well, call me easily distractible but I found a site that has various fox call recordings and it's cleared up a little mystery for me. Sometimes, when watching English TV shows set in the country at night, I've heard the occasional short scream (and clearly not a murder) and wondered what it was. And lo! it's a fox -- or as gamistress66 says, probably a vixen.
    Here's the site.
    http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/sounds.html

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  6. Hi Anne --

    Thank so so much for the site.

    I am quite certain this new knowledge is going to come in useful. I don't know how yet . . .

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  7. Hi Jo,

    I'll serve as your Chinese niece for now. :-)

    The "sea" here is used figuratively, more in the sense of "world of". So the title translates to "Love and Hate Among Spies", or something like it.

    And it has Teresa Madeiro's quote on it. I'm assuming her quote says that you are a "master of romance and intrigue!"

    And tells us you got lots of 5 star reviews on Amazon. Plus the RITA. :-)

    That cover, btw, is just awesome. And totally right on.

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  8. Hi Sherry --

    Thank you so much for the translation.

    One pictures the Chinese Marketing Department mulling over a snappy title and pulling in all sorts of connotations and subtleties.

    I do love that cover though. Why don't US covers get all geopolitical and symbolic like that?

    *le sigh*

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  9. Tha Matterhorn is also called the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland, which seems reasonable, because that's where it lives. [g]

    I love the Chinese cover. It's gorgeous.

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  10. Hi Beth --

    I love the inconsistency of all this.

    I especially like when folks pronounce things differently.

    The northernmost point of Route 1 is where it crosses from the US into Canada at Calais, Maine.
    Pronounced Cahl-us.

    *g*

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