I’m currently translating Paul Halter’s contribution to the Jack the Ripper canon: Le Brouillard rouge. Normally, I do two Halter books a year, which appear in June and December. This one will also follow the same pattern, meaning the book will come out in December, but I am working on an accelerated schedule in the hopes of getting a review in Publisher’s Weekly to coincide with the publication of the novel. To do that, I have to submit a preliminary copy of the whole book to PW by early September. The reason I’m hopeful something will come of it is because of the fine article that Lenny Picker wrote for them back in April: Ripping Yarns which effectively pre-announced the book.
However “Rien n’est simple” as the French say (nothing is simple): in the rush to meet the deadline for the article and include a cover shot, I had to go with a literal translation of the title, namely The Red Fog.
Now, as it happens, I don’t like that title. The French title has four syllables and a certain ring to it. The Red Fog has only three and sounds flat and pedestrian to me. Alternatives could be The Crimson Fog, crimson being chromatically the closes color to blood, or The Scarlet Fog which sounds slightly more sinister.. Or even The Vermilion Fog?
Suggestions are welcome.