A while ago I had occasion to check out the Wikipedia entry for The Three Musketeers, and one of the things I saw in there was that the definitive translation is one that was only done a few years ago, by a guy named Richard Pevear. And all this time I had been reading inferior translations! So I got it out from the library and am reading it. Haven’t noticed any striking differences, but once I’m done I’ll compare it against my copy and see what I can see.

It’s weird to think of myself as a sophisticated enough reader that I care about what translation something is. But I once rejected a copy of Cyrano de Bergerac because the poems weren’t like I remembered from when I took it in school. And the first copy of The Three Musketeers I ever had, I got rid of because it referred to “Milady” as “my lady”, which doesn’t work for me at all.

If you’ve never read it, it comes with my highest recommendation. Let me put it this way. I lent my copy to a friend once, and he was only halfway through it when he said that it had already been entertaining enough to be worth it. It’s just one of the best books ever.

If you’ve already read it, and liked it, here are some of the other things you could read after that:

Twenty Years After and The Viscount of Bragelonne and Louise de la Valliere and The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

…other stuff too, but those are the obvious ones. Anybody have any other suggestions? I’m always on the lookout for more swashbuckling stories.

21/10/2011 Superhero of the Day: Vibe

October 21, 2011 Matthew ELeave a comment

Vibe.

Ded & Sac Update

October 20, 2011 Matthew E1 Comment

Put Chapter 11 of the first draft to bed last night. The writing has been going slowly, but it has been going, and I am guardedly confident that it’ll pick up speed.

One problem I’ve been having is that I’ve got this idea for another book I want to write, and I can’t seem to stop thinking about it. It’s a light fantasy that’s going to require a lot of prep work, and I’ve been poking at the prep work and writing the odd paragraph here and there.

I will say this about it: I thought up this book mostly because of my wife. See, I’ve recommended a few fantasy things to her to read, and she only likes some of them. Took her a while to get into Lord of the Rings, but once she did, it was fine. She likes the Discworld series. Didn’t like Tigana. Couldn’t get into The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. I asked her what the problem was, and she said, “They’re so sad. Everyone in them is so sad.”

Which they were. I tried to mount a defense by saying, “What about Devin in Tigana? He’s not sad.”

“No, but all his friends are, and he wants to be just like them!”

Which was also true.

So I tried to think of some fantasy on my shelves that wasn’t so sad and serious. It was a harder job than I expected. I mean, there is some. Paul Kidd. Barry Hughart. David Eddings, if I wanted to go that way. Some others. But overall not much.

Well, why shouldn’t there be fantasy out there where the characters have more of a good time? I know, I know, you need conflict and tension in your story. I know that. But there’s no reason you can’t do both things. Anyway, I have this idea and I like it and I’m gonna write it.

But I don’t want to let it distract me from Ded & Sac. One thing at a time. This light fantasy thing (as yet untitled!) is going to have to settle for scraps of time until I’m finished at least the first draft. Then we’ll see.