Hello!

[The Innkeeper]

Hi,

I'm new here. I'm a medieval China scholar turned wuxia novelist (Chinese martial arts/heroic fiction); lived in East Asia for fourteen years and met some interesting masters. I've set up a website and has some information on my new martial arts novel and my background (Taichi - Yang and Chen styles) along with a blog (Wandering Blades Blog) that discusses the history of the martial arts genre in Chinese literature up to the Tang dynasty (7-10th centuries).

Drop in at the Inn!

[Mariachi Joe]

Welcome to Martial talk and happy posting

[Mariachi Joe]

Nice website by the way

[MJS]

Welcome to MT! :)

Mike

[SFC JeffJ]

Welcome to MT and enjoy!

Jeff

[Drac]

Greetings and Welcome to MT...

[Kacey]

Welcome, and happy posting! :wavey:

[stickarts]

Welcome to MT!

[Brian R. VanCise]

Welcome to MartialTalk!

[Ping898]

welcome to MT :wavey:

[Jade Tigress]

Welcome to Martial Talk ~ Enjoy! :)

[The Innkeeper]

Thanks for the welcome and thanks to those who visited my website!

[KempoGuy06]

Welcome to Martial Talk

B

[The Kidd]

Welcome and have fun!

[Domo Kun]

Welcome man :)

Nice site BTW

[Carol]

Fascinating background! Welcome to MartialTalk :)

[14 Kempo]

Hello ... and welcome to MT!

[Tames D]

Welcome.

[fnorfurfoot]

Welcome to the site. Enjoy.

[kidswarrior]

Welcome, Innkeeper! I'm a writer, too (two non-fiction books). Good to have you here.

[Jonathan Randall]

Welcome to Martial Talk!

[The Innkeeper]

Hi!

It's been awhile since I've posted here, sorry bout that, but I have a great excuse - My wuxia novel, Dream of the Dragon Pool - A Daoist Quest, is doing well and I've been taking care of business, so to speak!

If you've been to my website, then you know my objective is to make the Chinese wuxia genre an accepted genre in English language storytelling.

I don't know if this is allowed in this forum, but I have to share with you a terrific review that I got from one of Amazon's top 50 reviewers - there are more reviews on my website:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V47081849_.gif All this...and a drunken monkey!, May 25, 2007
By Kurt A. Johnson (http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1CDZM5YMB61PD/ref=cm_cr_auth/002-6516530-9047217) (Marseilles, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1CDZM5YMB61PD/ref=cm_cr_auth/002-6516530-9047217?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reputation/c7y_badge_tr_3._V47081935_.gif (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cm_rn_bdg_help/002-6516530-9047217?ie=UTF8&nodeId=14279681&pop-up=1#TR) http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reputation/c7y_badge_rn_1._V47060296_.gif (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cm_rn_bdg_help/002-6516530-9047217?ie=UTF8&nodeId=14279681&pop-up=1#RN)
The great poet, Li Bo, has been ordered into exile, but on his way out of the Empire he decides to stop at Dream Temple, "a place where dreams bring peace to troubled hearts." But, the dream vision he receives sends him and his friend Ah Wu on a quest to bring the magical Dragon Pool Sword to the Rain Goddess on Mount Wu. And so, Li Bo sets out on an epic quest that will lead him through life and death, and choices...and back again.

OK, Where do I start? I have read and enjoyed a few pieces of Chinese literature before, and found them interesting, if heavy, going (most notably Chang Hsi-kuo's city trilogy). This book was written by Albert A. Dalia, a Western scholar and traveler with two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion, and it ably succeeds in bringing a Chinese story home to a Western reader.

The story is set in eighth-century China, but it is the China of legend. Through his quest, Li Bo and the reader meet ghosts and dragons, magical assassins and potent shamanesses, magic swords and Immortals...oh yeah, and a drunken monkey. The story itself is quite excellent, being equal to any of the recent wuxia movies coming out (including House of Flying Daggers, which I highly enjoyed).

So, let me sum up by saying that this is an excellent fantasy story, a wonderful Chinese-style story that brings Chinese culture and religion within the grasp of a Western reader, and a very entertaining read. All this...and a drunken monkey. Come on, you know you *have* to read this book!

I loved this book, and give it my highest recommendations!

[stone_dragone]

Greetings and welcome to MT!

[seasoned]

Welcome to MT, we hope you enjoy the info here. There are a lot of awesome people in the group.

[Steel Tiger]

Welcome to MT. What you do sounds very interesting. I have to say I'm something of a fan of wuxia.

[Callandor]

Hello and welcome to MT.

[IcemanSK]

A hearty Welcome to MT, to you!

[Shaderon]

Hello, you sound a very interesting person, it'd be good to see some of your ideas on posts :)

[mjd]

Welcome to the MT, posting made easy, spelling not required, have fun!

[Zida'sukara]

Welcome to MT!! :)

[The Innkeeper]

Hello,

Sorry I've been gone awhile, but have been traveling through the Internet jianghu telling everyone about my newly published wuxia (Chinese heroic fiction) novel, Dream of the Dragon Pool - A Daoist Quest. I've been getting great reviews, check them out on my website or on Amazon.com. One of the latest is a great, an in depth look vis a vis Chinese martial arts movie history! Check out www.kungfucinema.com (http://www.kungfucinema.com) You can't miss it! Enjoy!

[The Innkeeper]

OOPS! I just realized that the URL I gave for that the Dream of the Dragon Pool book review would take you to the website, but you'd have to hunt around to find the review under Reviews. This is much more direct:

www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/books/dream_of_the_dragon_pool.html (http://kungfucinema.com/reviews/books/dream_of_the_dragon_pool.html)

[qi-tah]

Welcome to MT, i look forward to seeing yr posts, you sound like one interesting fella! Love the website btw. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif

[tntma12]

Hey there, and welcome to martialtalk!!

[Allie]

who, who moves mountains, travels the world, opens all eyes, returns to the mountains and find nothing but the wind.

[seasoned]

Welcome to martial talk, enjoy.