Some weeks I get not deliveries of books at all. But then
sometimes, I get a bumper delivery – books in boxes, padded envelopes. Books translated into one different language,
or several different editions all in different languages.
This week has been a bumper week – with two different Italian
editions (of A Question Of Honor and a reprint of a second Italian translation of His
Miracle Baby first published in UK in
2001 and the Italian one in 2003).
Then there was the Russian
Question of Honor and the Dutch
one, Swedish and Norwegian editions of A Throne for the Taking.) But my favourites are always the Japanese version
– the usual Japanese version is always fun to see, but when the story is
translated into the stylised comic
book Manga version it’s not just an
excitement but a work of art to see.
This week I received
both Japanese editions - of
different books. There was the new
Japanese translation of A Question of Honor and along with it came a new Manga edition of
that long ago published His Miracle Baby.
These Manga editions are amazing – they boil the story down to the basic, central conflict and tell the story in the briefest, but most
dramatic way. The illustrations are amazing, with the heroines
I’ve always loved the Manga editions even though I don’t fully understand exactly what the translation
is saying. (You don’t fully have to understand that because the drawings are so
passionate and emotional it gets the message across to you.) But now I have a new delight – the Harlequin
Comics editions of the Manga books.
These are now English translations of
the Managa editions (are you keeping up with this?) so that the wonderful Manag
illustrations are still there and the
dialogue etc is all in English and I can read and understand them. Mind you,
there isn’t a lot of ‘dialogue’
- more single lines - more like
- ‘Alexa what’s going on here?’ ‘Cordero, what’s happening?’ ‘Natalie’s . . . .not coming.’ (Cordero’s Forced Bride)
Or
‘What should I call you?’
‘Just Malik’ . . . This man is .
. .dangerous! (At The Sheikh’s Command)
And hearts go ‘Ba thump!’ – and tears just ’plip plop’ down the heroine’s face.
As I said, it’s the emotions of the story distilled to its very concentrated basics! And that’s why I love them.
They have another, more useful purpose though – when I’m teaching about
writing and trying to show students who
want to write romance who the central emotional core of the book is what
matters and how they need to focus on that to tell the important story of a
romance – the rest is all extras,
shading out the colours and tones and can be taken away – as in a
Manga book – and the emotional journey
of the hero and heroine will still show through. A Harlequin Comic book with this story told
in English is just perfect to reveal this simply and easily.
So I was thrilled to discover this week that I have a new
Harlequin Comic edition – of one of my books.
I already have The Hostage Bride, Cordero’s Forced Bride The
Return of The Stranger, At The Sheikh’s Command, The Hired Husband, His Miracle
Baby – and now there is Bedded By The Greek Billionaire coming out next week. You
only have to look at the difference in the covers to see what an extra fantasy
the Manga edition makes of my original story. I can’t wait!
My latest Harlequin Presents was Olivero's Outrageous Proposal which was published in April.The next one coming up will be Destined For The Desert King which is coming in December this year. I can't wait to see the Managa/Harlequin Comic editions of these.
You can find details of all my books on my web site here and there's all the most up to date news on my blog
1 comment:
must confess--have never read manga
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