Over the last year or two, I’ve gradually been getting requests to translate works I have published into languages besides English or Japanese. As a translator (and a publisher) this is a true honor, and I have been trying to work with these publishers and translators to make these projects a success.
Just last week I received a copy of “A Última Transmissão” (The Last Transmission), a paper book containing Portuguese translations of 7 classic SF stories by Juza Unno, translated from my English translations of these stories. It includes a translation of “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath”, acknowledged as the first modern Japanese dystopian novel, now available as part of my collection titled “Fast Forward Japan”.
While I don’t know any Portuguese (the closest language I am familiar with is Spanish, though it’s been many years since I’ve used it), it’s clear they have done an amazing job on this book: cover design, layout, fonts, author picture, etc. I especially like how the chapter titles are printed on black-background pages.
While there are many benefits to E-books (I’ve gradually been buying less paper books myself in the last few years), there is still something to be said for the feel of paper and the way you can hold a book in your hands. This begs the question of when I will be making my own paper books, and that is definitely high on my list of priorities for this year. Hopefully I can have an update in a few months.
I am open to considering allowing translations of this work into other languages, as well as translations of my other works, so if you are a translator or publisher interested in this please feel free to contact me.
By the way, the “A Última Transmissão” also has an E-book version which you can preview here:
This is the compilation that contains “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath”: