Two stories
Oct. 13th, 2011 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatI translated two short stories for our Czech sci-fi/fantasy magazine "Pevnost"...
"Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" by Naomi Novik (originally published in "Fast Ships, Black Sails")
A very hard thing to translate since Novik obviously enjoys playing with "old" words. Another thing that bothered me was the changing POV which was sometimes a bit confusing. And you know, I'm not sure I actually liked Araminta. I mean, I did like the premise - set in a magical version of a 18th/19th century England, Araminta treasures her independence above everything else and thanks to her courage and smart thinking, she manages to get what she always wanted: her freedom, even though she has to become the captain of a pirate ship to obtain it - but... despite her quick wit, Araminta was so naive and reckless and rash, that I could only shake my head at some of her antics.
"I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said" by Cat Rambo (originally published in "Clarkesworld", July 2007)
I think I get what point the author wanted to make: who is a human and who's only a beast in this magical world where mantichores talk and squirrels can learn how to duel, and who gives those who are considered human the right to "dull" - to destroy the intelligence - those who are considered beast? So, I got the point, but I think that, in the end, it lacked the emotional impact. The main heroine didn't learn anything, what she went through didn't make her think at all. She continued as she had been...
So yeah, better than "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky and "Evil Robot Monkey" by Mary Robinett Kowal - the two short stories that I got to translate last time - but that doesn't say much because Swirsky's and Kowal's stories were so bad they left me literally disgusted, especially Swirsky's work. At least Novik's short story was somewhat funny.
"Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" by Naomi Novik (originally published in "Fast Ships, Black Sails")
A very hard thing to translate since Novik obviously enjoys playing with "old" words. Another thing that bothered me was the changing POV which was sometimes a bit confusing. And you know, I'm not sure I actually liked Araminta. I mean, I did like the premise - set in a magical version of a 18th/19th century England, Araminta treasures her independence above everything else and thanks to her courage and smart thinking, she manages to get what she always wanted: her freedom, even though she has to become the captain of a pirate ship to obtain it - but... despite her quick wit, Araminta was so naive and reckless and rash, that I could only shake my head at some of her antics.
"I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said" by Cat Rambo (originally published in "Clarkesworld", July 2007)
I think I get what point the author wanted to make: who is a human and who's only a beast in this magical world where mantichores talk and squirrels can learn how to duel, and who gives those who are considered human the right to "dull" - to destroy the intelligence - those who are considered beast? So, I got the point, but I think that, in the end, it lacked the emotional impact. The main heroine didn't learn anything, what she went through didn't make her think at all. She continued as she had been...
So yeah, better than "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky and "Evil Robot Monkey" by Mary Robinett Kowal - the two short stories that I got to translate last time - but that doesn't say much because Swirsky's and Kowal's stories were so bad they left me literally disgusted, especially Swirsky's work. At least Novik's short story was somewhat funny.
