Wednesday, June 10

Okay, this is worth mentioning.

This "Charlesmaverick" who wrote a note in the previous comments section may turn out to be kind of a big deal; he says two of the biggest publishers in mainland China are interested in presenting Star Wars-related books in one or more of the various Chinese languages (I actually forgot to ask if Cm translated the book into Mandarin or Cantonese or whatever -- largely because I don't really know a damn thing about Chinese dialects outside the bare fact that there are several major and a number of minor). I managed to locate the right person at LFL to steer them toward, and now I'm waiting with considerable interest to see what happens next.

It may still fizzle; I'm not privy to any inside information, and cross-cultural intellectual property negotiations can be exceedingly tricky. But the possibility alone is cause for pleasurable contemplation. Umpty-million Chinese sales of Revenge of the Sith wouldn't make me a wealthy man -- but it'd be pretty cool to be part of what could be a major cultural exchange. David Brin would likely disagree, but I think that Star Wars, the Expanded Universe, and SW Fandom in general reflect well upon Western pop culture. It'd also be really damn cool if some Chinese SFF types were to get new contracts to produce their own SW books and such.

I'd read 'em.

20 comments:

Daniel Anderson said...

Good luck with this, I hope it works out well!

Dornicus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dornicus said...

Best of luck with this, Matt; I can't think of an author more deserving than yourself.

Dare I fantasize about this leading to better sales of the Caine books, and perhaps lighting a fire under your ass for more sequels?

Anonymous said...

I bet the Chinese would get a big kick out of the Barra series too.

Unknown said...

I'm also a big fan who speaks Chinese, but I am from Taiwan, not mainland China. It would be great to see your work translated and introduced to Asia. I tried to translate Heroes Die a few years back, but couldn't finish the job.
Hope it can really work out for you.

MWS said...

Hey, if somebody over there sells a million or two copies of REVENGE OF THE SITH, it might be worth your trouble to shop around a translation -- or at least query the publisher and let 'em know I write things besides STAR WARS.

And thanks -- your interest and support are much appreciated. I didn't I had any fans from Taiwan, either.

WarlordGrego said...

Matt,
best of luck. You're the best writer i've read, so it would be good to have your books as the face of American Sci-Fi in China.

-Greg (SC)

Unknown said...

Hope it works out. On a related note, how does the audiobook business work? Does the publisher have full control in deciding what gets the audiobook treatment, or can you self-finance and produce it on your own if you own the IP rights?

I'm a huge Caine fan, and I'd love to see the series in audiobook form. What's the biggest obstacle, cost-wise? Hiring a good performer? Recording studio time? Thanks to Audible and iTumes, at least the distribution costs are near-zero.

Assuming you have all the requisite rights, have you considered recording them on your own? I've thought about recording my own versions to load into my iPod, but I'd buy a decent production of them in a heartbeat, despite already owning the books.

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr. Stover,

This was the only way I could find to contact you so hopefully you get this. My name is Chris Rainwater and I am an aspiring author. I have a book series planned and I pretty much have everything planned as to how I want things to go. But Im having trouble organizing my thoughts and putting them on paper. I was wondering if you could give me some helpful tips and guidance. My email is cerainwater@yahoo.com. I would really appreciate anything you can give me. Thank you and I hope everything is going well for you.

MWS said...

Gio --

Though I haven't reviewed the details of the contracts for the Acts of Caine in quite some time, my recollection is that Random House controls all publication rights except for comic books (which I still own, if anybody's interested). This includes audio-books. You may have noticed that they've brought out each of my SW titles as an audio-book, except (so far) LUKE SKYWALKER AND THE SHADOWS OF MINDOR.

So far, they've all been read by a NY actor named Jonathan Davis, and they've been pretty good -- especially the Unabridged Version of REVENGE OF THE SITH, which is just unbelievably awesome.

I figure if they ever want to bring out the Caine novels in audio, I'll read the damn things myself; I was an actor before I was a novelist, and I have experience in voice-over and narration -- and nobody can read Caine (and Ma'elKoth, for that matter) like I can.

Period.

Chris Rainwater:

The best bet for advice from me would be (for general questions) to post them to my dusty, cobwebbed forum over at SFFWorld.com; that way, I don't have to type out separate answers if other people are wondering the same things. For more specific, directed answers, you're welcome to post a question or two right here.

Be advised, however:

I do not read uncompleted work. I have made exception to this rule only three times in my career, and in each case the writer was a goddamn genius and already a good friend of mine. So don't even ask.

Also, I'm not going to comment on specifics of anyone's premise and that kid of shit, because frankly I don't have a clue what a really good idea is; if I did, I'd already be rich.

Otherwise, however, I'm happy to help.

Unknown said...

Kinda surprised this hasn't been mentioned already, but last week Ars Technica ran a piece regarding books as Father's Day gifts. Fourth one listed was Heroes Die. Ars is pretty big site in the tech world, so this might give you a bit more exposure.

Article is here:

http://arstechnica.com/media/guides/2009/06/fathers-day-gift-guide-dead-tree.ars

MWS said...

Well, that's darn nice.

One of these days the Acts of Caine will slip into Malcolm Gladwell territory . . . makes you wonder where that damned fourth book is . . .

WarlordGrego said...

Matt,

You know, somebody on theforce.net posted a clip of you reading a portion from ROTS at one of the celebrations (I think)

Anyways, feel free to make a damned audiobook. Has there ever been a discussion for making any Overworld books on tape? I own all the star wars ones.

The way you read that portion of ROTS was very moving. You should totally do it!

WarlordGrego said...

I should read things before I write things. :P

Anonymous said...

I have my fingers crossed for you that the Chinese deal will go through!

On another note, is there any chance that you will ever write any more books in the Iron Dawn/Jericho Moon series? Those are at the top of my favorites list!

Bon (bonnielala@gmail.com)

Steve said...

Damn, that would be cool as hell.

creativelapse542 said...

The Chinese book deal sounds interesting, and certainly possible. I was in Beijing a few weeks back and while their selection of SFF was somewhat limited, I do recall a good splashing of Harry Potter and LotR. I imagine SW books would fit in well with that crowd of popular fantasy franchises.

Plus it's a safe bet most people in China know of SW already. Their ridiculous market for pirated American DVDs should have made certain of that.

Lyle said...

I'm a huge fan of Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle. Have yet to find a copy of the newest one but I am searching diligently for a first hand copy so that I can lend whatever meager support I may. Glad to hear that Heroes Die got the recognition it deserves.

Edwin Zhang said...

Revenge of the Sith would be amazing in Chinese. While I haven't read them myself, I've seen Chinese versions of the Terry Brooks and R.A. Salvatore novelizations in Beijing book stores. If this does go through, they better get someone good to do the translation. One can do some pretty neat stuff with Mandarin, but only a real master could do justice to RoTS.

jefrench said...

Please don't writing novels!!! You are the absolute best SW EU and non-EU visionary out there! Mace Windu's homeworld became real to me and Jacen's torture explored a depth of human insight I never knew. It sucks that Vergere, apparently was Sith and was planning Jacen's downfall. I kinda liked that sick little she-bird. I've always known that the book is always better than the movie, but your Ep. III book transcends the movie. Anakin's wimpy little "wrestle" with the dark side (which, of course, does not exist) is pathetic compared with your exquisite rendering of his inner dialog.

Say it ain't so, Matt, say it ain't so.

Write another book, I'll read it.

-Jonathan