Just published a new novel on Douban Read.

If you have been following my atypical experience with Chinese web publishing, I finished serializing my previous novel earlier this month, which I actually finished writing back in 2021.

So what have I been doing since 2021? Writing other stuff.

And this is one of them.

"The Curious Casebook of Huo Zhongxia" is a temporary English title. But it's basically a fem!Sherlock Holmes story set in Tang Dynasty's mighty capital city of Chang'an during the mid-7th century. Next to our heroine lived an army doctor who recently came back from war. So expect a lot of Easter eggs! There will be murders and crimes and a lot of Tang Dynasty celebrities making cameos throughout!

Also today is my birthday!

Crested white bird on snow-laden camellia branch. From Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu — the earliest Chinese book printed by the technique of polychrome xylography known as douban.

Held by the Cambridge University Library, Special collections

Tablo’s Weibo Update: Thank you so much ❤️

(EPIK HIGH IS HERE PT. 2 was chosen as one of the top 10 Hip-hop albums on Douban 🏆‼️)

💡Thanks to Fight Club for the tip! https://twitter.com/epikhighcn/status/1611031107750821889?s=46&t=65KfNhOWcChEuHx57xg6jg

#TABLO #타블로 #EPIKHIGH #에픽하이

公众号难得有篇阅读量将近3000的文章, 感觉比豆瓣阅读量过万都不容易。#文字 #📚 #chino #leer #leeresvivir #阅读 #公众号 #文章 #文章分享 #豆瓣 #douban #烽少 #感悟 #人生 #海外 #madrid #🇪🇸 #spain #海外生活 #记录 （在 Avd Valdemarin, Aravaca） https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj31G0rt-eg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

wang yibo - douban rating score

The Long Season | 漫长的季节 (2023) ep 3 vs. ep 9

"The first time we met is the end of us."

An Ancient Love Song is intriguing with angst written all over it. It's a time travel drama that originally was a fan edit made into a drama. It's told in reverse timeline wherein the first time he met her was the last time she'll meet him and the time when he loved her the most is the time where she haven't known him yet. Basically, it's two timelines intersecting but in reverse. His first time time meeting her will be the ending on her part, and his last will be her beginning, where she doesn't recognize him yet.

What made me curious to start it is it's high opening ratings on douban which is an 8.4 (now on 8.5) and I think people rated it that high because of its unique storyline and despite the low budget and limited resources, it's quite a solid show. Just don't expect a grand production.

In short, it's a story doomed from the start. And it's the tragic element draws me towards it. It's the charm of these time travel shows, it's what makes me keep watching it despite knowing from the start that this can't possibly end well. I think the unique aspect of this drama is the reverse timeline. I've no idea how this can have a HE. I'm already settling in for a BE.

It's a web drama directed by Zhi Zhu who's also the director behind Dong Lan Xue and Her Royal Highness (wherein the leads also made a cameo in this drama). If you've been watching enough chinese minidramas, you'll see a lot of familiar faces in the main cast.

It's also interesting to note that the ending credits are rolled from two opposite direction representing the reverse timeline, and are written in simplified and traditional chinese signifying the present and past.

scenes from the animated film New Gods: Yang Jian (2022)

【你留下的爱】

By Coco Lee (李玟), who recently passed away. Please listen to the original as well, it's so beautiful.

Personal update!

You may remember that my original wuxia novel 惊雀定魂录 was being serialized on Douban Read.

And today, I finally uploaded the final chapter to the story! I'm still in negotiations with the platform on pricing details, but it feels GOOD to be able to conclude something I started back in high school.

Yes, the first 1/5 of this novel was actually drafted back when I was in high school. I still have the notebooks where I wrote those early chapters in pencil.

I also made a video (in Chinese) talking about my journey with this story.

In short, I feel like I've done everything I can to promote the story despite the platform being super unwilling to help. I have no regrets. And I look forward to publishing my second novel there which should be very soon.

Douban

To the person who wrote me a big long essay about how Douban ratings eventually settle down into a more realistic zone years later, and Douban is really not so bad, all I have to say is, "Be patient. Maybe in a few years my rating of Douban will settle into a more 'realistic' range too." 😐

In the meantime I'm going to continue to think that any platform that shamelessly manipulable lacks credibility.

And you can't pretend these manipulated ratings don't matter. They do. When a film is in theaters and people are considering purchasing tickets, a rating DOES matter. Not years later when everyone's forgotten about it and moved on to other things.

And honestly, I'll never understand why some people are so invested in defending Douban. It's not a little old lady being ripped off by telemarketers. It's doing just fine despite the fact that some random gay on Tumblr openly mocks it.

No but what if I made everting worse in the silmarilion??? Like how about I take every tragedy and make it all the more personal? Saw a prompt that Míriel had twins and the twin daughter went on to marry Olwë, oh my! The first kinslaying just went All the more horribly wrong!!! And one of my all time fave headcanons is that Rúmil is Míriels father and her sister married Elmo in Cuiviénen which makes Celeborn related to the sons of Feanor and AHHHHHHH I’m going to make everything worse just watch me. And if I can include my otps and also include all my daddy issues in this series of fic that I’m planning all the better!!! I’m going to attempt to write long form fics in English instead of Chinese for once and break my mind in the process.

是音乐，书本，电影陪我度过了许许多多个孤单深邃而又撩人烦恼的日日夜夜，在我心中构筑了属于自己的小天地。#电影 #电影推荐 #🎬 #movie #peliculas #cine #電影 #電影語錄 #電影推薦 #film #douban #豆瓣 #烽少 （在 La Gavia, Madrid） https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce9xJVktMb1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Inspiration Saturday

Thank you @mostlyinthemorning for tagging me.

I recently reread Heart-Shapes, and I've been thinking about how in that fic, just doing things outside helped both Patrick and David recover a little bit, started them both along the path of feeling better. And it seems smart and true and useful, so I'm stealing the idea. (painting: Hill and Lake)

—

I found that image in the Smithsonian Open Access collection, which everyone should go look at and use.

An aside: I have always loved this painting that's on its front page. It's called The Girl I Left Behind Me.

Tagging @treluna4 @apothecarose @meadowharvest4856 if they want to play.

she also wrote my beloved "the legends"? gotta start blue whisper this instant