Curious about this for awhile...

[saucyirishlass.livejournal.com]

It's been said in many places by different people that LKH's portrayal of the BDSM lifestyle is off. I know a bit more than just the basics - ah, the joys of reading - and can sort of inherently pick up that something isn't right with her depiction, but I can't really articulate it. I was just curious to hear from those who participate in the lifestyle, what they personally find offensive, frustrating, or just headdesk-worthy about LKH's portrayal. Perhaps they can help make it clearer to me why it feels amiss.

Comments

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

There is a reason why most foreign publishers stopped translating and publishing at Obsidian Butterfly.

Did they really? Do you mean, she has actually lost sales over this?

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

A lurker from Holland here. I can tell you that yes, LKH has lost sales over this. Only three books by LKH have ever been translated into Dutch. The first MG in 2003, the first AB in 2004 and the second AB in 2005. They weren't a huge success, and when it seemed that both series were turning into nothing more than boring porn in later books, the Dutch publisher decided to not translate anymore of her work. A very good decision, if you ask me. ;-)

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

And this is because sales are down overall, and not just because many Dutch speakers read English???

(And yet she's still not taking the hint???!! Hmmm, I wonder if she's aware...)

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

Some Dutch readers (like myself) are bound to read the books in English, sure. But successful English fantasy series normally get translated into Dutch (like most of Anne Rice's vampire books). The fact that LKH isn't being translated besides those 3 books definitely says something about sales/quality of her work.

And I doubt LKH is aware of it. Holland is just a small market on a global scale, alas.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

But it wasn't just Holland. At least Spain, France, Germany and Russia seem to have stopped publishing. Same with Japan. They might just be late, though.

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

Germany is still publishing the translated versions, but they are behind on the series. I just checked amazon.de and it seems that the German translation for Burnt Offerings is coming out this september. I couldn't find anything later in the series than that in German.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

This is going to put a serious kink in her "Oh, the Americans are just too Puritanical to deal with my edgy, sexy, awesome books!" argument.

(I hope.)

[slayra.livejournal.com]

Mediterranic blood, some say. *grins*

[slayra.livejournal.com]

I did a book cover search once (merely curious how the other covers were designed) and Germany was the only country that published NiC. It's possible that they and other countries are just late, but I don't think that is it. From what I know:
Spain: books 1-3 (series was dropped, I think)
France: books 1-9
And many other countries are the same. My country hasn't published any but then we're still stuck with the classic fantasy genre.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Totally, totally off-topic... I kind of like the French covers (http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/images/2265078824/sr=8-13/qid=1178816392/ref=dp_image_text_0/402-2857671-4044110?ie=UTF8&n=301061&s=books&qid=1178816392&sr=8-13)! Sort of modern, sort of classical painting-y...