Martial Arts Fiction

[MightyB]

Does anyone know of any good Martial Arts Fiction with a Chinese Martial Arts focus? Could we start a sticky thread for CMA Martial Arts Fiction books and graphic novels (descriptions and reviews) ?

[GeneChing]

If you look at the tradition of wuxia books (mostly in Chinese) there's a ton of stuff. Check out Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha). Plus there's the historical classics like Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=234), et.al. Another big serial is the Judge Dee stuff, translated by Robert Hans Van Gulik.

If you want modern stuff, there's a lot of vanity published books, mostly of mediocre quality. YMAA has published some fiction by Arthur Rosenfeld, who writes for us occasionally (see The Fisherman (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=209) on our e-zine). That's just for starters... ;)

[SimonM]

"Qi Sha Wu Yi" is available in English Translation. I have a copy; it's a classic of Wuxia but not as well known as Shuihuzhuan

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Here's a link to an English language Wu Xia graphic novel distributor:

http://www.yellowbridge.com/literature/wuxiacomics.php

I personally like the European style of comic book, myself... here are a couple of French language ones, but maybe you can find them in English.

Bruce Kid (this one's pretty funny, I hope they continue the series)
http://www.bamboo.fr/catalogue/bruce-kid-tome-1-humour-story-20.html

Chinn (haven't read it yet, but will review it when I do.)
http://www.bamboo.fr/catalogue/chinn-tome-1-humour-story-148.html

I'm of the opinion that Graphic Novels are the evolution of literature, and when it comes to Martial Arts stories, the medium is perfect.

[SimonM]

I have one graphic novel... well... it's actually a trade serialization of a limited-run comic. I bought it because a friend told me about how good it was...

The seven volume book was a worthy time-killer but not great literature. Give me an old-fashioned novel and I'm happy.

[Shaolinlueb]

there's a good love story called "fuk so lung" :D i'd look it up ;)

[Zenshiite]

wuxiapedia.com for fan translations. Great stuff. Jin Yong. Gu Long. TONS of stuff.

[doug maverick]

i actually posted a thread about this only zen****e responded thou and it died. check it out (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51641)

[Zenshiite]

More people should pay attention to doug. And to Wuxia fiction.

[GeneChing]

...just because people don't reply doesn't mean they're not paying attention.

If we're going to go into graphic novels, there's Jademan, of course. We were associated with a graphic novel group, Comics One, that did Shaolin Soccer in graphic novel form, along with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, My Sassy Girl and Hero, as well as some non-film titles. Comics One was also based here in Fremont, CA. We even ran a piece on it in our 2003 Nov/Dec Issue (http://www.martialartsmart.net/kf200119.html): Andy Seto, Comics One and Shaolin Soccer Kung Fu Comics By Shawn Sanders. The company went belly-up a few years ago. Apparently there wasn't much call for kung fu comics. We carried several of their titles at the time but nothing really sold.

[doug maverick]

comics one sold there titles to a company called hk comics which capped off the rest of there books like the crouching tiger book which was so far superior to the movie its without words, and there was the four constables which i thought was amazing, and would really love to do a movie about some day(it would made an awesome wuxia film). couple of other graphic novels i liked from them. you can still buy them if you know where to go. big cities always have the best comic book spots. but i been to some small towns uin the fly over states(or square states as i like to call them) that have some great collections to.

[Zenshiite]

DRMaster has actually taken over from HKcomics too. HKcomics seems to have turned into a Christian manga publishing house only doing evangelical comics and even trying to evangelize via inserts into Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon!

Anyways, DRMaster is currently running the King of Fighters books and Tale of a Chinese Hero. You can still get the ComicsOne titles that haven't been continued elsewhere from them though. http://www.cubicmall.com/store/othercomics.html

That said, you can download a free ebook of Romance of the Three Kingdoms here http://threekingdoms.com/download.htm

[Zenshiite]

I've recently been downloading a bunch of books... the entire translation of Jin Yong's The Book & The Sword is available on the translater's website and on a Vietnamese website that has bunch of other stuff. Gu Long's Lu Xiao Feng and other stuff. http://www.stackmedia.com/vietkiem.html Look for the "Kung Fu in English" link.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Here are a couple of book series with martial arts flair:

John Donohue's-Deshi, Sensei, and Tengu Martial Arts thrillers involving a Karatedo/Kendo practitioner Conner Burke...well written with some fun characters.

Barry Eisler's-Rain Fall, Killing Rain, Hard Rain, Rain Storm, and The Last Assassin about John Rain, a half Japanese half American Judoka practicing assassin. Some of the earlier books in the series are better than the others but since its so hard to find fictional characters with martial arts experience...you might enjoy this series.

I wish there were more authors out there with martial arts practicing protagonists...I'd love to see one with CLF/Chi Kung skills. Sigh.

[doug maverick]

just finished reading the graham earnshaw translation of this book. i first heard about this book when i was like 13 my friend was tranlating all the chapter for me cause i found it online but it was in chinese. but unfortunatley he and his whole family died in a car accident(RIP Jack) so i only read like a chapter and a half of it, i just recently finished the book, and i loved it. there are other louis cha books that are out. deer and the cauldron series and some others.

[Zenshiite]

I downloaded The Book and the Sword. Jin Yong's first book. Fox Valiant from Snowy Mountain is out too.

Tragic about your friend and his family.