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The Hammer of God

Details
Title: The Hammer of God
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Bantam Books
Language: English
ISBN: 0-553-56871-X

Review

The book is: vapid, insipid, tasteless, dull, flat. It’s like a steak made of cardboard. I read it easily like a collage of newspaper articles. It is written more like a history book than a novel.

To continue my food analogy: it is a healthy book, but a diet one. No spices inside.

I am glad I read it in English because I can fell it directly without any translation interference.

PS: Where can I find in Bucharest, English SF book at reasonable prices?

I hate Translators

Why every translator on this planet thinks I have to read a book with a hand calculator near-by?

For example the book says: “They have to travel 36 miles”

And the translator diligently adds a note: “Mile: Anglo-Saxon unit of measurement for distances. One mile equals about 1,609 meters.”

Great! Just great!. Now, my dear reader, take your trusted calculator and compute: 36 miles are about 57,904 meters. One more step and you are enlightened: about 58 kilometers.

This goes on and on and on. You have to worry about inches, nautical miles, pounds and so on.

Why not simply give in the note the full amount in metric units? Or, even better, modify the text to use metric system?

I think the quality of the translation will not be affected in any way by making these small modifications in the text

PS: In the same time I love translators and I thanks them for their very hard work behind the scenes.

Hard to be a God (Russian: Трудно быть богом)

Details
Title: E greu să fii zeu
Author: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Paperback: 239 pages
Publisher: Paralela 45, 2006
Language: Romanian
Original Language: Russian
Translator: Valerian Stoicescu
ISBN: 973-697-365-4

Review
Before 1989 I have read some Russian science fiction. Remember Efremov? Remember Beleaev? I didn’t have much of a choice, as Russian were the only “modern” foreign authors published in Romania.

Efremov versus Strugatky? Military march versus symphony!

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky write in what I call the Russian style. The book is dark, the lives of people are hopeless, and the misery and mud are the main components of everyday life.

The sparks of goodness are small and rare.

The reader is trapped between the immense Earth happiness and intense Arkanar misery.

Authors wrote about their life. About the communism, which promise “eternal” happiness for everybody, but was light-years ahead and about their everyday life.

Beyond the obvious comparison between soviet Russia and don Rumata adventures, the book explores the drama of a human good, of an almost spectator. Don Rumata is neither fully detached, neither fully involved.

Overall I like the book, despite the dark "Russian" feeling.

SciFi & Fantasy Books in Romania

Repost from the CIO Mind

I usually visit a major bookstore twice a month. Since about spring 2004 I only found 2-3 new books in science fiction or fantasy. Because of this I was a loyal customer of airport bookstores. All the airports bookstores have some books in English (even a small French one).

Starting this summer I noticed an increase in number of sci-fi & fantasy books published. But today surprise: I found 20 (twenty) new books.

This is a very good sign. Editors start translating and publishing science fiction books again.


Names and websites (where available) of publishing houses:

Cartea de Buzunar
http://www.cdb.ro

Nemira
http://www.nemira.ro

Tritonic
http://www.tritonic.ro

Paralela 45
http://www.edituraparalela45.ro

Minerva
No web site found

Lucman
http://www.lucman.ro

Tritonic

Review date: 2006/08/30
Site: www.tritonic.ro
Overall: Only if your life depends on it


“We have a site! We have a site!” The cheerleaders sing in front of the stadium. “We have search! We do electronic commerce! You can order online!“ But after the first minutes the spectators already left.

The design is plain ugly and there are many errors. The online orders spits out lots of

“Notice: Undefined index: autor in
/var/www/html/tritonic/tritonic.ro/cos.php”.

I didn’t dare to explore this part further. There are missing pictures. The site break the back browser button. The usability is wonderful but totally missing (Iarta-mă nene Caragiale!)

The good point (there are some :-) ):

• There IS a site
• Many parts function correctly. Unfortunately the fiction.ro collection is in big trouble
• Obviously they invest some energy in the site. This is a good sign.

The sister site www.fiction.ro is even worse. Let’s not go into details.

Notable books:
The New Crobuzon trilogy:

• Statia Pierzaniei (Perdido Street Station)
• Cicatricea (The Scar)
• Consiliul de Fier (Iron Council)

Let's have a web site!

I visited recently Tritonic and Millennium Press web sites. Terrible disappointment.
I seriously consider making a review of sci-fi publisher web sites. I wonder what I’ll find.