As always, the book-cover departments of Sphere (UK) and Berkley (USA) have done me proud. Though the images on the jacket of Under a Blood Red Sky (UK) and The Red Scarf (USA) are very different, both are very striking. Both should jump out at you on the bookstore shelves.
I have the two covers pinned up in my study and I try to look at them objectively, but fail. Instead I see my characters moving through the scenes depicted. I hear their voices and smell the Russian pine forests or catch the sound of St Petersburg's church bells.
When you have spent months, even years, creating the world in your book, sometimes it's hard to let it go.
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9 comments:
Hello, Kte!
Thanks for your posting and have a good weekend
Good to hear from you, David. This weekend I'm knee-deep in sorting through research notes. But the weather is dry and the empty wind-swept beach beckons.
Hello Kate,
I just finished translating your manuscript of Under a Blood Red Sky for the Dutch publisher.
It was an absolute joy of a job. Thank you very much for that.
I believe you can always tell if a book is really good if it starts snowballing: I'm now reading Hope against Hope, to learn more about the extraordinary period. So there!
Anna
Hey Anna,
Fantastic to hear from you. I'm so pleased you enjoyed working on Under a Blood Red Sky - you probably know the book even better than I do! I do admire what a great job was done by my Dutch publisher, Unieboek, and the translator of The Russian Concubine - was that you?
I feel strongly that translators deserve much more recognition than they receive - a good or bad translation can make or break a book.
Delighted to hear you are inspired to read further. It's a fascinating period and still very relevant, given what's brewing now in Russia.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Hi,
just to say: it wasn't me who did your other work (credit where credit is due). But I did do my best to keep you in and myself out of this book. Not that it was hard, mind you: the words very nearly translated themselves. I just had to sit there, read it and weep (which I really did, actually. That village! Loved it so much. Exotic and universal at the same time.)
cheers
Hi Kate,
Just want to say that your book The Russian Concubine is right up there with the best books I've read. Congrats on the website too -it's fun to get some insight into the writing process.
Kate, I cannot express in words how much I loved 'The Russian Concubine', but I'll try. I've never had a book fill my heart and rip it out at the same time, it was thrilling! I was so entranced, I could not and would not put it down till I had read it through to the end. I ran immediately to the internet to find out more about you and see what else was coming!
I've already passed it along to my mother and friends, you're getting popular in Canada now. Thank you so much for writing such beautiful words in such an amazing story. I can't wait for the next book and for the sequel.
Sincerely, B
Hi Jemima,
Glad you enjoy the website - I like to be able to communicate directly with readers. It makes the process of writing less of an isolated passion, and it's great to receive feedback.
Hi beccaselman - you certainly managed to express your response wonderfully! Great graphics. It excites me to think of the book taking on a life of its own out there in Canada, passed from hand to hand, discussed over coffee or a beer, argued about and carefully dissected. Hey, that's what books are for.
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