It’s a little-known fact that I can sing in Russian. I rarely do it–I believe the last time I did so in front of other people was at the Writers of the Future banquet last year, where I sang a verse or two of “Katyusha” for the benefit of the Ukrainian and Russian artists at my table.
I can only speak and understand a few phrases in Russian, so I generally don’t understand what I’m singing. You see, I took Russian 101-102 at BYU, but when I hit Russian 201 I decided the workload was too much. But I sang in BYU’s Russian choir for two years, and it’s easier to remember things you sing, even years later.
Anyway, the real point of this post is that I got an email on Monday from the editor of ESLI, a Russian science fiction magazine, asking to buy the rights to translate and publish my story “The Ashes of His Fathers.” That’s the first time someone has contacted me out of the blue wanting to reprint one of my stories. It’s enough to make me want to burst into song in Russian.
In honor of that, here’s me and the rest of the BYU Russian Choir circa 1990 singing “Katyusha”: