Zanski: Blog

I just submitted the Feint Trail file to the queue. This is the longest book in the series.

Technical stuff: The file is.odt written in LibreOffice Writer. I have continued to experiment with ways to show block text (e.g., for quoting a character's entire written message) within the confines of what actually transfers. This time I added an extra marked line break before and after, as well as decreasing the text line spacing. I doubt the reduced line spacing will transfer and I'm worried the line breaks will cause the text to center. We'll see.

The title: The choice of the word Feint was deliberate as both feint and it's homonym, faint, have applications to the plot. I figured it would either intrigue folks or they'd simply think I didn't know how to spell. Besides, the titles of the Arenoso Trails Series progress in alphabetical order and I needed something that was a familiar modifier of Trail and also fell between False and Game, and faint didn't. So I changed the title to Feint and re-wrote the book. Kidding.

A kind reader has pointed out deficiencies in some of the Spanish translations. I am honored that a reader felt involved enough with my story to want to take the time to contact me. Moreover, I am in no position to diagree with the reader's critique because I do not know Spanish. For that same reason, I am unable to agree with the reader.

I use Google Translate. I'm aware it can be inconsistent, that idioms are often lost in translations both ways, that word-for-word translations can be awkward to the point of ridicule, and that colloquial and regional variancces are a problem. On the other hand, amateur human translators, even native speakers, are often subject to some of the same vagaries and may not even be aware of it simply because of their own unconscious and intuitive language facility.

In addition, we have the element of time, of contemporary versus historical language. Just as English varies in diction and vocabulary over the years, decades, and centuries, so do other languages. For instance, the characters in the Arenoso Trail Series are, in presumed context, speaking the borderland variant of Mexican Spanish of the late 19th Century. Supposedly. Obviously, Google Translate does not have that sort of fine-tuning -- nor do human translators, other than those of particular scholarly expertise.

Here, then, is my rationale concerning translated language:

1. The translations into non-English languages are only representative of that language with the presumption of relevant general context.

2. It is not my intention to represent non-English languages with the same facility as I may represent English language. My use of non-English languages is not intended to exemplify them.

3. Using Google Translate affords me the protection of not deliberately including erroneous or offensive content.

4. While I may be glad to discuss most any facet of my novels, I am categorically unable to respond intelligently to issues of non-English vocabulary, diction, and grammar or their practical applications and use. I wish I could.

While still dealing with the health care technical hassles, I have begun reformatting the third book, Feint Trail. This is the longest book in the series. For those not adept at reading between the lines, that means it's going to take a while, especially as I've just noticed I never broke the book into chapters. My original inent was to submit it as a long, multi-page story. But all those indexed chapter headings look impressive on the "More Info" page, so maybe I'll just break it at every ten-thousandth word, just for grins. (Kidding; it would take hours and hours to do all that counting.)

In continuing to become familiar with the SOL Author's utilities, I have now discovered how to update one chapter at a time, hence the wayward date in Chapter 13 in Back Trail has been corrected from "1946" to "eighteen forty six," thus disappointing those who thought it might be a secret Time Travel story.

For those so inclined, consider this: we are all time travelers. It's just that our time machines have only a forward setting at 60 mPH. Nor do I require a DeLorean for temporal transiting; my time machine resembles a La-Z-Boy recliner.

The False Trail HTML file did not produce quite the results I was after (or "after which I was," to avoid ending with a preposition). However, I intend to try a couple more formatting devices and re-post -- but not before a short break to attend to a healthcare procedure I've been neglecting.

Following that, I'll re-touch False Trail, then polish up the next book in the Arenoso Trail Series, Feint Trail.

Just to go on record, the five books of the Arenoso Trail Series are complete, having been a project between 2017 and 2021. However, they were not written in a format that meets the unanticipated requirements of online publication, else I'd have already dumped all of them on you all at once.

Oh, and while I'm fooling around with technical health stuff, I'll likely be neglecting my email, as well. Hopefully everyone will survive that tragedy.