Spice and Wolf Light Novel Discussion

[Kaguya]

Originally Posted by Rajura

Well, the first installment is up on the Moclock embed... unfortunately I cannot read some of the kanzi (in part due to size and a couple others I do not immediately recognize). And... since it is not in html format, I cannot copy/paste and put it into a larger font.

If anyone could place the original text here into this thread, it would be most appreciated!

Indeed, the character displayed on Moclock is too small.
So, I placed the original text into spoiler tag.
I have also placed English translation, although I am not skillful.

Spoiler for Wolf and character limitation:

「狼と文字制限」

ロレンスが手紙を書いていると、ホロが覗きこんでくる。
「む、汚い字じゃな」
「汚いんじゃない。省略文字だ」
「む？」
「紙は高いからな。『おはよう』とかの決まった言葉は記号にして文字を減らすんだ」
「ほう、確かに決まりきったやり取りは省略するべきじゃ」
「……酒か」
「正解♪」


Wolf and character limitation

When Lawrence is writing a letter, Holo looks into it.
"Mm, your handwriting is poor."
"It's not poor. It's an abbreviation character."
"Mm?"
"Paper is expensive. So, I make stereotyped words, such as "good morning", into a symbol, and I reduce the number of characters."
"Oh, ho, surely we should omit the stereotyped give-and-take."
".... alcohol?"
"Correct answer ♪"

[Rajura]

Niiiiiiiiice!

+20 points to Kaguya!

I find it entertaining that Hasekura actually took the direct approach and played off the limited space to write the story.

Of course, alcohol found its way into the story hahahaha!

I hope the next one (if he does another) is a bit more of a classic S&W story... maybe two or three parts to it.

[Vexx]

My volume 15 arrived today... sizzling cover and intriguing illustrations inside. But it may be a month or more before I start plowing through it as I have at least two other japanese reading projects in progress. Something to do in the winter I guess. (yes, I read pretty slowly with lots of sweat drops)

[Rajura]

Wish I had time to do that, but boards take priority! I am just glad I have other S&W stuff to keep me a little satisfied until then.

[ThunderSt0rm]

Originally Posted by Vexx

My volume 15 arrived today... sizzling cover and intriguing illustrations inside. But it may be a month or more before I start plowing through it as I have at least two other japanese reading projects in progress. Something to do in the winter I guess. (yes, I read pretty slowly with lots of sweat drops)

At least you're able to read it :P

*still waiting for English volume 3*

[JThree]

I suppose, even with this advance reading, no one can tell us what some of plotlines in novels 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15 are?

JThree

[woxx]

Originally Posted by JThree

I suppose, even with this advance reading, no one can tell us what some of plotlines in novels 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15 are?

JThree

year if someone could write some spoilers about 8-15, it would be good

[JThree]

Or dare I say it, scan some of the illustrations in the novels, so we can get any idea what's going on -- from those at least

JThree

[poleno]

Originally Posted by JThree

Or dare I say it, scan some of the illustrations in the novels, so we can get any idea what's going on -- from those at least

JThree

I like enclosed link as a resulting comment to all seria from here
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...55#post3281055

But I don't know language, so I used translate.google.com

[JThree]

What's "seria"?

Please forgive my ignorance.

JThree

[poleno]

Originally Posted by JThree

What's "seria"?

serial
All volumes.

My english is not well

[tyranuus]

Only 2 months 'til the next book comes out in english. 2 months too long

[Rajura]

... at least I have a manga waiting for me a month earlier.

I'd start on the Japanese versions, but I know I'd get all OCD and try to get all versions (including the limited edition alternate covers) of the novels and manga.

I already spend enough on my fix... I'm not gonna make it any worse.

[Kamonichan]

Originally Posted by tyranuus

Only 2 months 'til the next book comes out in english. 2 months too long

This irritates me more than a little. I'm not sure why Yen Press has such a disparity between its release schedules. I mean, they release a new Haruhi Suzumiya novel once very four months, but Spice and Wolf only gets a new release once every six months. That particularly bewilders me because S&W is almost finished, with 15 volumes out in Japan. Haruhi, to my knowledge, isn't anywhere close to finishing, and only has 10 volumes out in Japan. It just goes to show that not all gods are created equal.

[Rajura]

Originally Posted by Kamonichan

This irritates me more than a little. I'm not sure why Yen Press has such a disparity between its release schedules. I mean, they release a new Haruhi Suzumiya novel once very four months, but Spice and Wolf only gets a new release once every six months. That particularly bewilders me because S&W is almost finished, with 15 volumes out in Japan. Haruhi, to my knowledge, isn't anywhere close to finishing, and only has 10 volumes out in Japan. It just goes to show that not all gods are created equal.

Haruhi is more established and has a larger fan base, so it makes sense for them to put more time and effort into it... that's just good business-sense, and I know Holo would understand. Besides, I don't want them to rush the project for the sake of putting S&W books on the market, though I would like to see more done sooner rather than later (not that I have a lot of free time to read for pleasure)!

[LKK]

Another thing to consider.... Although we fans think of Haruhi & Spice and Wolf as both being published by Yen Press, in the reality of the business world, they're not. They're published by 2 separate divisions within Hatchette Books. Haruhi is published by Little Books and S&W is published by YP. This business reality means the books are subject to 2 wholly different publishing teams. Little Books is a larger division than YP and can probably handle the work load of a faster release schedule better than YP can.

[Kamonichan]

Originally Posted by Rajura

Haruhi is more established and has a larger fan base, so it makes sense for them to put more time and effort into it... that's just good business-sense, and I know Holo would understand. Besides, I don't want them to rush the project for the sake of putting S&W books on the market, though I would like to see more done sooner rather than later (not that I have a lot of free time to read for pleasure)!

Indeed. I've made that exact same counter-argument to my friends when they made the argument I just gave. Haruhi has the advantage of having become the poster child of anime, arguably matching or replacing Evangelion in terms of levels of recognition. Spice & Wolf, on the other hand, is not so well known and is also seinen, i.e. targeted toward an older audience than Haruhi. But just because that's true and I know it doesn't mean I can't complain every now and again.

Another thing to consider.... Although we fans think of Haruhi & Spice and Wolf as both being published by Yen Press, in the reality of the business world, they're not. They're published by 2 separate divisions within Hatchette Books. Haruhi is published by Little Books and S&W is published by YP. This business reality means the books are subject to 2 wholly different publishing teams. Little Books is a larger division than YP and can probably handle the work load of a faster release schedule better than YP can.

I didn't actually know that. Thanks for the information. However, I am hoping that now that S&W is nearing completion, YP will devote more resources to its publication. Companies usually commit more to completed series because they know how much they're in for.

[ElizLestrad]

Anyone who managed to get a copy of Volume 1 with the dust jacket, can you tell me where you bought it from? Apparantly Amazon refuses to do the dust jackets, and RightStuff!.com are being shmucks with their "while supplies last" BS but dont say anywhere whether they still have the manga art covers. Border's website doesnt specify whether their doing the promotion, and neither does Barnes & Noble. I don't want to pick up the first volume if I have to look at that god-awful americanized "photo" cover.

[LKK]

To be honest, your best bet at the moment really is The Right Stuf. I would call customer service and ask if they still have the covers in stock. (Last time I heard, they still had some.) I don't think B&N or Borders ever participated in the dust jacket giveaway. Amazon is too big to care. Being a fan-oriented merchant, The Right Stuf is the company most likely to still have copies in stock AND to know what the heck you're talking about if you called and asked. Their customer service staff are really helpful. Give them a call for quickest results or send them an email.

[Kamonichan]

Wow, I actually didn't know they (potentially) still had the original art dust jackets for the first novel. To RightStuf!