Hungarian Han Solo Novels in Translation!

I found this: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Encyclopedia_(Altaya)
This is a lot, I don't think anyone is gonna have time to translate all these in the near future

 

82 planned books!!! Yeah, unfortunately that’s just not something I’m ever likely to have time to get to, although I’ll add it to the list for completion’s sake. Thanks for sharing! I also need to add many of DeAgostini’s books such as the Fact Files series, which I don’t think were ever published in the US (I could be wrong, I never collected them so don’t know). I also need to add The Clone Wars Decided You Destiny: Crisis on Coruscant and Dooku’s Secret Army, both of which were UK-exclusive as far as I know.

 

Could anyone DM me a cbr file of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition, so I can cross reference with my translation. They don't have it in any danish libraries, and I don't have the money to order copies internationaly at the moment

 

No because that is illegal piracy and not allowed, especially not on this board!

 

Ups, sorry about that, I should have read the JC rules

 

Greetings. Been lurking in this thread for a while. I come bearing gifts.

I've been working on translating Imperial Blood from Hungarian into English. While I was researching it, I did a reverse ISBN search and came up with this paper entitled The Cultural Transfer of Science Fiction and Fantasy in Hungary 1989-1995. I hope it is of use to someone.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...-Fiction-and-Fantasy-in-Hungary-1989-1995.pdf

Not much new information on Imperial Blood, sadly. But a veritable treasure trove of lost titles and insight.

A few notes on Imperial Blood:

1) I don't think this was written to be a Star Wars novel, but rather to be sold AS a Star Wars novel. There are some extremely Star Wars-y elements in it. Shock sticks that hum and extend from hilts with glowing rainbow blades of light, Vibroblades, turbolift shafts. These are common enough tropes on their own, but the precise language used (as far as my limited translation skills can deduce) tells me that whoever wrote this had a working knowledge of early Star Wars fiction.
2) I don't think Dale Avery (Zsolt Nyulászi) actually wrote this. It doesn't jive with his style from what I've read. This reads more like some unpaid intern was offered $100 to throw a story together.
3) That said, it's actually competently written. There are some grammatical issues, and loads of translation errors (It was written in the "poorly translated" faux style) But the bones are good. There is a solid understanding of world building. However, the characters are the weakest part of the story. lots of "people did X because that's who they are" without informing any of their character motivations.
4) It's short. 33,201 words in English, 26k words in Hungarian. More of a novella than a novel. Was this typical for dime novels at the time in that part of the world? It would never fly here today.
5) Imperial Blood follows Maia Dai, a hot-tempered young woman with fiery red hair. She is the daughter of Ilator Dai, Captain of the Royal Guard. The plot revolves around Maia and her discovery and subsequent thwarting of a plot to assassinate Emperor Marqus, head of the Ramraquor dynastic family.
6) Similarities to Star Wars: a) Maia is clearly a Force user. She can sense people's emotions, see things while blindfolded, preform super-human aerobatics, and at one point reaches out and tries to call a weapon towards herself. That said, she is not a Jedi, and her father is trying to train her as a warrior while keeping her abilities a secret; both from everyone else, and herself. b) There is a war on (duh) c) an evil cultish organization. Less Sith and more Darkside Worshipers. Think Witches of Dathomir crossed with the Catholic Church. (In structure only. Not saying Catholics are evil. please don't read into that.) d) Bounty Hunter Guild. e) Previously mentioned terminology. ie: Vibroblades, Turbolifts, ect. f) Mentions the Kibertech conglomerate, which I am almost certain is analogous to the Corellian Engineering Corporation. They're a massive engineering corps that produce starships, weapons and personal yachts. g) The previously mentioned N18 Falcon, piloted by the Kid and "Puppy." I still can't figure out how to translate Puppy.
There's a few other things that I am sure will come across later on.
7) DIS-similarities to Star Wars: a) A direct mention of Adolf Hitler and Stalin. b) Very anti-Communist sentiment throughout. c) Lots of cursing. d) Hyperspace is there, but people need to go into stasis to travel, like in Alien. e) An actual religion worshiping the god emperor, as well as an actual god. I've never seen a SW book do that before.
8) Oh, the Romulan D'deridex Warbird does actually show up. She's called the Naval Phoenix. But she has a feather-like array, which made me think more of the Scimitar or Valdore Warbirds from ST:Nemesis. Of course, that movie wouldn't be released for 20 years.

That's a brief summary of Imperial Blood. Is it a Star Wars novel? Eeeeeehhhhhh... Maybe? It has more than a passing resemblance. It was clearly written by someone with a familiarity of the franchise, in a pre-internet world with not a lot of lore to build off of. My main question is: Where did this book come from? If it was an adaptation of previously released work, I need to know. If it was written just for the Han Solo banner, I need to know that too.

So what's the plan? As it stands right now, I should have the translation completed and cleaned up possibly this month, but more likely mid-late June. I will be releasing two versions: A straight translation, and an adaptation. The translation will come out first.
Why am I working on an adaptation? It needs the help. Not just with the Star Wars aspects, but structurally it needs the help. Some of these chapters are 4-5 paragraphs long. As I said, it's a short book. But the bones are there, the story is there, the heart is there. But it needs to better inform its characters and their motivations. It needs to fully realize the three act structure. And the language needs to be updated for an English speaker similar with modern literature. Unfortunately the state of the book necessitates stepping in more than a translator, or even an editor. Right now it's looking more like stepping up to the plate as a second author.

Q) Am I just doing this to write a novel? A) No, I've already got a couple under my belt, with a another one on the way. (You can check it out here: https://amzn.to/3xR3CJZ )
Q) Am I wanting to change the story my way? A) I have a very distinctive literary voice. You'll be able to see my thumb prints easily. That's why I want to release two versions.
Q) Am I just writing Star Wars fan fiction? A) Well, that's an interesting question. First of all, it remains to be seen how much I will be "Writing" and how much I will be "Adapting." But to the fan fiction question, let me ask. Is this already fan fiction? Valhalla is owned by Disney now. They (arguably) had the right to release (at least 5) Star Wars translations. They had the license for a time. They released other books outside their contract, while still under the license. Was that fan fiction? A court of law said yes. But Disney though enough to buy them. So are they fan fiction? C-canon? Surely not. Imperial Blood, along with the 4 Hungarian Han Solo books and The Power of the Jedi, would, AT BEST, be considered N-canon. This whole thread is quasi-N-canonical.
Q) Where would Imperial Blood fit into continuity? A) Someone in this thread suggested Legacy Comics era. And I can see how you could reach that. But there's a few issues. 1) The Old Emperor could be Palpatine. He's dead, and being worshiped by a darkside church as a god. But the issue is with Emperor Marqus; He's a good person. And he's alive at the end of the novel. 2) The ships don't fit right for Legacy era. There's some problems with distances and times for hyperspace and such. There's space pirates running around and worlds being explored. 3) This is unscientific, but it doesn't feel like a Legacy story. So where is it? Well, without spoiling too much of the book, there's one really good answer:

The Old Republic.

Specifically, surrounding the events of the Seventeenth Alsakan Conflict in 3017 BBY. It makes sense to have Emperor Marqus be the Corellian emperor. It makes sense to hide Maia's powers, because the Jedi and Sith were snatching up every Force user they could find. It makes sense for the Kid and his buddy Puppy to be an ancestor of the Solos, but not Han himself

Just something to chew on. I'll have an update for you guys in a few months with the translation. Then we can revisit the issue, and I am sure someone will be eager to tell me how wrong I am.

Cheers!

 

@Sam Ford now this is some exciting news for Revenge of the Fifth! Very excited to follow your work!

 

Holy crap, now I wanna read Imperial Blood! haha, keep up the great work! Can't wait to see the final product next month!

 

Good morning all. I have somewhat of an update for all y'all good boys and girls. I am making progress on the translation. It's not exactly slow going, but is somewhat difficult at times. And things in my personal life make me feel like I'm on a rollercoaster, so sometimes I'm glad for the distractions.

The good news! There are a lot more Star Wars elements in this little book than I first reckoned. Which makes me incredibly curious. I want to know everything I can about the history of it, because it's kind of driving me crazy.

The bad news is, I am not sure it is complete. It just kind of... ends. Are we sure the Google Doc I downloaded had the entire transcript in it? The main characters are in the middle of a fight, and then the book just stops. I'm not sure what to make of it.

My working theory: When LFL found out what Valhalla was up to, there was talk of lawsuits which quickly resulted in them buying out the publisher. Valhalla, seeing their meal ticket about to end, either A) slapped SW elements onto a draft script they had sitting around, or B) commissioned someone very similar with SW to throw a script together in 2 weeks. I am not sure which. But Imperial Blood was in 1994, alone with Brian Daley's other (stolen?) works. But Valhalla was still translating official SW works till 1996. When did LFL buy them?

Now it is my turn for a question. Forgive me, but I have not gotten around to reading the translation of Han Solo The Imperial Agent. I have a problem with the name however. Grammatically shouldn't it be either "Han Solo: Imperial Agent", or, if Han isn't the agent, should it be "Han Solo and the Imperial Agent"? Either of those work better than what it is now. If we're taking a vote, I kind of like Han Solo: Imperial Agent better. But what does my opinion matter?

Also, where do the duel names come from? Imperial Agent is sometimes translated as Han Solo: Gambit and Han Solo Nomad becomes At Doomsday's Edge. Where do the alternate names come from? You could call one "Han Solo: Nomad at Doomsday's Edge" but I can't think of a version that combines Gambit and Imperial Agent.

Lastly, we have the Han Solo Adventures and the Han Solo Trilogy. What do you guys think of calling the quadology the Han Solo Saga?

That's all for now. Sorry I don't have more to report.

 

"Han Solo and the Imperial Agent's Gambit."

Bit of a mouthful, but that's what came to my mind.

 

Is there any evidence that Imperial Blood started out as a Hungarian work to start, or is it possible that it is a translated or modified version of an English (or other language) work? I don't recognize any of the proper names from the book as coming from sci-fi of the era, but given what you say about how it ends I'd be surprised if this was an attempt by Valhalla to develop a series of original unlicensed Star Wars books from scratch. I'd favor the theory that the transcript we have is incomplete, but I guess we'd need someone to head out to a used bookstore in Hungary and track down a copy to confirm that.

 

That's what I was thinking. Question is, does it fit the plot? Hard to say for me, since I have no idea what the story is. I'm just assuming there's an Imperial agent, and a gambit...

 

So here's some interesting things that I have very little information on.

https://maxapro.hu/dunakeszi/walhalla-paholy-konyvek-45db-sci-fi-fantasy-5214899


Dang those are skinny books.

So it's unfinished, I am gathering from a book review?

If anyone wants a copy, there are some for sale here. https://www.vatera.hu/konyv/index-c369.html?q=dale+avery+star+wars

Here's what I can't quite figure out about this book. It says "From the Author of Han Solo" but is that Star Wars Han Solo, or is it Star Wars Imperial Blood?

I don't know. I am confused.

 

Regarding the title Han Solo: The Imperial Agent, I initially took to dropping the article “The” from the literal translation of the Hungarian title until I realized there was a self-referential joke about it within the book, after which I decided to re-include it. But without getting into spoilers, yes, it is grammatically correct.

As for the dual titles, the title pages of both Han Solo nomádjai and Han Solo a birodalmi ügynök fictitiously describe them as translations from English-language books, respectively dubbed “Han Solo at Doomsday’s Edge” and “Han Solo’s Gambit.” These are not translations of the Hungarian titles, however, but completely fabricated. For authenticity’s sake, knowing there are some bilingual Hungarians who are helping with or will otherwise read my translations, and to avoid confusion over whether these were actually long-lost English novels, I decided to use the literal translations “Han Solo’s Nomads” and “Han Solo: The Imperial Agent,” titles which I believe best reflect their particular plots as well.

The blurb translates as “Author of the Star Wars: Han Solo novels,” which is a bold claim considering “Dale Avery” only wrote three of the seven books

 

I have finally begun translating foreign language exclusive SW material for the english speaking fan community. Something you all want to read, stay tuned. And yub I told about it before and back as ceiranharmony had a topic even about the contents unique lore. It will take a little while but Joe will host it then.

 

Here's a question. The ships in the upper right shooting at the (incredibly disproportioned) TIE Interceptor are X-Wings.



What are those in the bottom left? My first thought was Mark I Z95 Headhunters, but it has S-foils, and two sets of stabilizer fins. If I may channel my inner EC Henry, perhaps it is a Z-95 Mark II, or even a never-before-seen Mark III? Anyone ever seen anything like it?

Bantam Hungarian covers are just awesome. I went ahead and ordered a couple copies. We'll see how it goes.

 

It almost looks like an ARC-170. Almost.

 

Maybe a ARC-210 or something unknown like that?

 

I vaguely recall reading somewhere an official answer that it was a Headhunter. Maybe an interview with a writer of a WEG RPG campaign that used this illustration on the cover... ? Can't remember.

 

It looks like a Headhunter. There is a Mark 2 from WestEnd Games that we have never seen. But like Daneira said, it also really looks like an ARC fighter of some kind. A pre-evolution/hybrid of a Z95/170/J65. I just didn't see anything on Wookiepedia about it.

Not to hate on the prequels, but why weren't there Z95s running around? :/

 

I figure a lot of Headhunter variants came off the assembly lines, and a lot of those variants got different field modifications, so I can accept just about anything with a vaguely X-wing shape as some sort of Headhunter.

 

Surprisingly there’s actually a Wookieepedia article about this ship. My guess is that the artists probably meant it to be a highly stylized X-Wing, but WEG decided to canonize the appearance into an actual separate Z-95 when they reused that artwork for The Kathol Outback supplement.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Variant_Z-95_Headhunter

 

Does WEG call it a "variant Z-95 Headhunter" or is that just what Wookieepedia calls it?

 

Kathol Outback! That's the one I was trying to remember.

 

It actually gets that label from the book itself! Towards the end of the book there's also a description of a space battle between a Star Destroyer and variant Z-95s that is likely meant to reference the cover.