Sunday, July 27, 2008

Forum per fans italiani di Ragazze Lupo

An Italian reader tells me she's started a forum for Ragazze Lupo, the Italian version of Lonely Werewolf Girl. It's here. So if you happen to be Italian, I recommend going and registering and leaving some posts on her forum.

My agent has sold rights for Chinese translations of Lonely Werewolf Girl and The Good Fairies of New York. Well, when I say Chinese I mean complex, or traditional, Chinese, which is used for writing in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. As opposed to Mainland China, which writes with simplified Chinese. (I may have got this completely wrong, and just insulted billions of Chinese. If so, I apologise) But anyway, some Chinese versions of these books will appear in a while, which is all to the good.

I was obliged to do some travelling, for family reasons. This was extremely stressful. When it was over I sank onto the couch in front of the TV and resolved never to move again. I will spend the rest of my life slumped on the couch watching TV. Watched Spiderman 3. Terrible film. Hurled abuse at the screen during some particularly awful scenes. Was mollified by old episodes of Star Trek Voyager, during which I continued to lust after Seven of Nine in a cheerfully nerdish manner.

Among the multitude of household accidents to which I'm prone, I think the 'bike pedal against ankle' is the most painful. You leave your bike in the hall and walk past it without thinking, and then your ankle crashes into the pedal. It's so painful. I seem to do it quite often. Suspect I have clumsy genes, for which there is no cure.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:03 pm

    Congratulations on the Chinese translation!

    Re: injuries - maybe you could make little bike-pedal-cosies out of foam to soften the blow (easier & cheaper than gene therapy to get rid of the clumsy gene, I suspect.)

    Bare feet onto miscellaneous lumpy things which the cat has planted under the bath mat is also surpisingly painful and cruelly comman, at least in my house.

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  2. Cunning cat! Placing traps for unsuspecting humans...

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  3. Anonymous1:48 am

    That makes me feel better Martin - I was starting to think that I was the only person who could injure myself in increasingly ridiculous ways within the supposed safety of my home. don't even get me started on what happens when I leave the home!

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  4. Anonymous11:46 am

    Yes, I think it is time he and I once again have the conversation about how if he damages me permanantly there will be no one left to open tins and turn on taps.

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  5. Anonymous12:32 pm

    When I was wee, I bashed into things with my head so often that my mother took me to the doctor so that he could investigate my head for brain damage. I am much older now so I mainly bash into things with my legs and wind up with massive bruises with mysterious origins.

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  6. You might want to put the pedal which is sticking out in a pair (one over the other) of heavy socks, to soften the impact...

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  7. Worse than when stationary is when in motion your foot comes between the road and the pedal and grates the calf as the other pedal catches on the curb and jolts you into the air. I changed my pedals to nice smooth ones from felixstowe sunday market. Soon after my bike was stolen. Pedal envy no doubt.

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  8. oh and did you see the t.rex documentary on bbc? It should still be on iplayer.

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  9. Cricket pads worn around the house work for me.

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  10. I tried wearing heels. Once. The results were not pretty.

    If it's there, I will bash into it. Heels or no.

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  11. Anonymous11:58 pm

    Martin

    If you're the Martin I remember from school way back in another "If.."-style Beaton Road life - fantastic work. You're one of the good guys. If Sandy Strang could see our Buffy-loving faces he'd implode with fury.

    Mike "Plastic Flies Spike" Paterson

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