Wuxia Fiction Anthology

Wuxia Anthology Canceled

JohnD — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:47:06 +0000

The wuxia fiction anthology has been canceled. The reason for canceling is there were just too few submissions to select an anthology from. As I said from the beginning, if I couldn’t find enough stories I felt were good enough for an anthology, then I wouldn’t go forward with it. There were some good submissions, just not enough to fill out an anthology.

I could give it more time, as I did also say that it would take time, but I think I have a better idea for promoting wuxia fiction, which will be announced here at a later date. I honestly think wuxia in English is not ready for an anthology yet; there just aren’t enough good wuxia stories written in English out there yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

I want to thank everyone who supported this idea and everyone who submitted a story. My new idea will be up here at a later date (it’s an annual award, to be voted on by the readers).

See you then,

JohnD

New translation coming: Sanxia Wuyi [Three Heroes and Five Gallants]

JohnD — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:43:17 +0000

UPDATE: Chapter 1 has been released.

Later tonight, the first chapter of a new novel translation will be posted at Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a Chinese literature community. In the last post, I mentioned the translation of Moon Demon being published by Grundle. My translation will be from Sanxia Wuyi, often translated into English as Three Heroes and Five Gallants. This is a classic work attributed to Shi Yukun, first published in its current form in 1879. It’s 120 chapters long, and so will take a while to complete, but there has so far not been a complete translation of Sanxia Wuyi in English, though there are two partial translations available. That’s a shame because Sanxia Wuyi is a great novel. One scholar has even ranked it above Water Margin [Shui hu zhuan].

Since this is a side project, which I will be working on in my spare time when not working on my two main projects, chapters will be released irregularly. The first chapter, though, will go up within the day.

Thanks for reading,

JohnD

New Translation: Moon Demon by Huang Yi

JohnD — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:49:31 +0000

There’s a new translation underway, this one called Moon Demon, by popular wuxia novelist Huang Yi. It is being translated by Grundle, who you might know from his translation of another Huang Yi novel, The History of the Tang Dynasty Two Dragons over at spcnet.tv.

The first chapter is already up via the link provided. Moon Demon is a novel set in modern times, described by Grundle as “a mix of wuxia and fast paced Tom Clancy-esque thriller intrigue”. So head on over and read Moon Demon, and make sure to let Grundle know your thoughts about the story and the translation.

New wuxia translation: Swallow and Dragon by Wolong Sheng

JohnD — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:02:40 +0000

Just a quick heads up on another wuxia translation that is underway. Swallow and Dragon by Wolong Sheng is being translated by Joshua Dyer. This is another important translation project for all fans of Chinese literature. As I stated in a previous post, there hasn’t been much wuxia translated into English aside from Jin Yong and Gu Long, so this translation project is welcome indeed. Bookmark the site and let Mr. Dyer know you are supporting the project.

Ren Yuan – A Xia Story

JohnD — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:23:22 +0000

I’ve been working on translating a bunch of xia stories for a book I’m working on, and I thought I would share one of them with you. This story is called “Ren Yuan”, after the main character in the story. “Ren Yuan” appears in Biographies of Swordsmen (劍俠傳) by Wang Shizhen, who lived during the Ming dynasty. That collection contains thirty-three xia stories, dating mostly from the Tang dynasty. I’m not sure when this story was written exactly, but since the narrative itself takes place in the Song, it was obviously written no earlier than that. Like most of these early stories, it is rather short, but “Ren Yuan” is a bit more shocking than most. I hope you enjoy the story, and don’t forget to check out The Crane Startles Kunlun, which I wrote about yesterday.

Ren Yuan

Ren Yuan, courtesy name Jinshu, was the son of an offical living in the capital. He studied a few books, inherited some property, but had no lofty ambitions, and didn’t seek fame; he just closed the doors and let the days pass by. During the second year of the Xining reign period of the Song dynasty, on the fifteenth of the first month, which was the time for the Lantern Festival, Ren Yuan went out to take a stroll through the streets. But there was a sea of people, carts packing the streets; the crowd was really unbearable. He had drank a lot, and at one point he bumped into a woman. The woman’s attendants and maids, thinking he was trying to take advantage of Madame, raised their fists to beat him. They beat him a while, and a large crowd soon formed around them.

There was a man in the crowd, wearing a black kerchief on his head, who saw this injustice. With his fists he beat back the crowd, knocking the assailants down with a single punch each. Then he helped Ren Yuan onto his feet and away from the crowd.

Ren Yuan thanked the man, and said, “I’ve never met Your Excellency, but I’m really grateful for your assistance.” The man in the black kerchief didn’t respond, but just walked away. A few days later, Ren Yuan was out walking and ran into the man again, and invited him to a wineshop to have a drink.

After they were seated, he saw that the man in the black kerchief had a gaze like lightning, resolute and fearsome. They drank for a while, then Ren Yuan thanked him again, saying, “The other day when those maidservants were beating me, if not for a hero like Your Excellency, who would have been willing to come to my aid?”

The man in the black kerchief said, “That was merely a trifle, no need to thank me. Let’s meet up again the day after tomorrow. Don’t fail to show up.” Then he clasped his hands in front of him and left. When the appointed time came, Ren Yuan went to the wineshop and saw that the man in the black kerchief was already there. They drank more than ten cups, then the man in the black kerchief said, “I’m an assassin. I have a big enemy I’ve been trying to find for a number of years. Today I’ve had my revenge.”

From his waist he removed a black leather bag, from which he took out a severed head, which he split in half with his broadsword. He placed one half in front of Ren Yuan, who was by now scared out of his wits. The man in the black kerchief began eating the flesh from his half of the severed head, all the while encouraging Ren Yuan to eat as well. Ren Yuan didn’t dare eat any. The man in the black kerchief laughed heartily, grabbed Ren Yuan’s plate, and began eating the other half. After he had finished, he used a knife to shave the skull into little fragments, as if he were slicing rotten wood. He left the bone fragments on the ground.

The man in the black kerchief said, “I have a skill I would like to impart to you. Are you willing to learn it?”

Ren Yuan said, “What skill?”

The man in the black kerchief said, “I can turn iron into gold.”

Ren Yuan said, “I inherited a small shop from my deceased father. Everyday I take in a string of cash. I have a family of several people, yet in winter I wear cotton, in summer I wear hemp, never worrying about food or wine. Aware that my cozy life is already excessive, I often worry I’ll soon be met with disaster. How dare I study Mr.’s unusual skill? Thank you anyway for your good intentions.”

The man in the black kerchief sighed in admiration, and said, “Looks like your life is content; someone like you ought to live a long time.” He took out a pill, and said, “After taking this pill, even a hundred ghosts couldn’t get close to you.” Ren Yuan downed the pill with some wine. The two men drank deep into the night, then parted. After that, they never saw each other again.

The Crane Startles Kunlun is Translated Into English On the ‘Net; In Wuxia Anthology Land, Still No Progress Has Been Made

JohnD — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:59:45 +0000

Before Jin Yong and his contemporaries, there was a group of wuxia writers in China who wrote what is now known as the Old School wuxia fiction. Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, etc. belong to the New School. One of those Old School writers was Wang Dulu, who was a member of the Northern School of wuxia writers in China, writing out of Shandong province. You’re probably familiar with his work even if you haven’t read any of his novels. The popular 2000 wuxia film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an adaptation of Wang Dulu’s novel of the same name, the fourth in a five book series. Well, now you can begin reading the first novel in the pentalogy, The Crane Startles Kunlun. So far, part of chapter eight of the 20 chapter novel has been translated.

There are plenty of Jin Yong fan translations out there, but so far there hasn’t been much (anything?) translated from the Old School writers, so this project is especially important for the English-reading wuxia fan. So drop by, read the novel, and let the translator know how much you appreciate his efforts.

As for the anthology, well there’s not much to report. I’ve received a couple new submissions since last time, but I’m still waiting to receive a submission that is a wuxia story. If you’re currently working on a story for submission, or you think you might start one, then good luck and take your time. There’s no rush. I’ve been keeping myself busy in the meantime by translating more xia stories from the Tang dynasty for a book I’m putting together. I’ll have an official announcement for that book when it’s closer to being completed. Well, that’s all for now. Go read The Crane Startles Kunlun, and thanks for stopping by.

JohnD

Progress Update #1

JohnD — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:48:30 +0000

It’s been almost a month now (wow, didn’t realize it had been that long) since submissions opened for the wuxia fiction anthology, and I thought I would take a moment and let everyone know how things are going.

I’ve received about half a dozen submissions so far; none of them have been accepted. So if you have submitted to the anthology and you have not received any notification from me, then email me at admin@books.genreverse.com and we’ll try to get it sorted out. Notifications are sent through the Hey Publisher! system, which I have tested. It worked for me. But let me know if you haven’t received any notifications yet.

Out of the submissions I have received so far, not one of them has been a wuxia story, unfortunately. They haven’t even been borderline cases, where I would have to pause and think about just what is wuxia before deciding. I haven’t faced that dilemma yet. Two of the stories weren’t anywhere close to the right genre. If you are reading this and you are a writer, wuxia or not, always read the submission guidelines before you submit to a publication. It’s beneficial to everyone involved and it will save everyone time. Anyway, thank you to everyone else who has submitted a story. I look forward to reading more stories as they come in.

As for myself, I’ve been translating proto-wuxia stories into English for a book I am putting together, which will be a collection of stories which pre-date the wuxia genre proper, but which influenced the creation and progression of the genre. Think of these stories as the grandfathers of wuxia. Most of these stories were written during the Tang dynasty. I just finished translating “The Curly-Bearded Stranger” (虯髯客) today, in fact, a story often cited as a pre-cursor to wuxia.

Also, check out Wuxiasociety and follow them on Twitter. The forum is back after being down for about a week. Apparently, the admin forgot to pay the bill, or something. Anyway, the admins are in the process of revamping the forum so make sure to leave suggestions if you have any.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned and thanks everyone for your interest in this project.

JohnD

Wuxia Fiction Anthology is Open to Submissions

JohnD — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:09:40 +0000

Let the stories begin!

This project, which doesn’t have a great name yet, aims to collect the best wuxia stories written in English and publish them in a single anthology. The purpose is to raise awareness for the wuxia genre in English, to grow this niche and get more readers aware of how great this genre really is. Everyone knows about samurai, but a lot of people have yet to discover the Chinese knight-errant. This anthology aims to change that.

To read more about the project, check out The Plan through the link here or by clicking the green button at the top. There, I go into more detail about how this anthology will come about, starting with reading submissions and ending with the publication of the anthology.

But right now, I need stories to read. If you would like to submit a story for inclusion in this anthology, simply click the blue button at the top or go here. Make sure you read the guidelines before submitting. If you are an artist and would like to submit some art for the cover, follow the same link and scroll down a bit to the relevant section where I lay out what I am looking for from artists.

I hope to begin accepting donations for this project in the next week or two (or three?). I will keep you informed as to when I will be open to donations. I will also be updating regularly, through this blog you are reading now, about the progress of getting this anthology ready for publication. I will post frequent updates about how the submission process is going, and later on I will give updates about the other steps involved in completing this project. So bookmark this site, or subscribe to the blog feed via RSS or Email so you can keep up-to-date.

Please help spread the word by telling everyone you know about it. Even if they don’t know about wuxia, tell them anyway. Maybe they will become interested. You don’t have to be submitting a story to support the project, either. Aside from donating, spreading the word is a huge help. It really can’t be over-emphasized just how imporant word-of-mouth is with something like this. So if you would like to see this project succeed, then be vocal about it. I really appreciate it.

You can follow this project on Twitter, as well as Facebook. For general enquiries, you can email me at admin@books.genreverse.com.

Thanks for the support everyone!

JohnD