On my world, it means hope.

Yeah, I know no one's here for my To Be Hero X thoughts, but Episode 7 made me mad enough that I want to scream into the void, so...here we are.

Before I start, I just want to say that up until this episode, I've LOVED the show. Episode 1 took over my entire brain chemistry and made me so excited to see each new episode, I was barely able to sleep the night before. My only complaint was the Episode 4 ending, but even for that, I was willing to withhold judgment until I saw how the rest of the season played out.

And then Episode 7 came out and...I didn't like it. At all.

The rest under the spoiler cut.

( "Condensing the pain, baptism of fire; this endless refrain, it cuts deep inside..." )

I feel like I'm in this weird limbo where I have to wait for certain things to happen before I can take other steps regarding my writing career.

I've hit pretty much all of the agents I wanted to query; I currently still have 2 full manuscripts out and 3 queries that still need a response. Of the 2 agents who have my full, one of them I'm pinning my hopes on because she tweeted that she wants Chinese fantasy and wuxia/xianxia stories. I've decided that if that agent rejects, I'll immediately move forward with my plan to submit to publishers that have open submissions (Bindery and Penguin Random House Canada), rather than wait until god-knows-when for all the other agents to respond.

I'm not super confident about receiving a response from those publishers (I don't know if PRH Canada has ever published a book they received from their slush pile), so my plan is to use the 6-month period while waiting to see if PRH Canada ever responds to research and prepare for self publishing.

I feel good about my plans, but I just hate how I have to wait until undetermined periods before I can take action.

I've been slowly editing Novel #4, but I just really feel that I've spent too long on this book and I've hit editing fatigue. (It's hard to edit when you have memories of every previous version of the story still lingering in your head.) Also, I think I'm just not good at plotting a murder mystery, and even worse at revising a murder mystery.

It's been over a year now since I finished drafting Novel #5, but I haven't really felt inspired to write anything new. Part of that is probably because I'm not feeling inspired as a reader, either. Traditional publishing has really pivoted HARD to romantasy and low fantasy (as opposed to high or epic secondary-world fantasy, though with lower stakes than the grimdark fantasy that used to be considered low fantasy). I'm sure part of the issue is that I see far fewer book deal announcements now that Twitter sucks, but when I do see book deal announcements for fantasy novels, they just sound...boring. Every romantasy is about fae (or elves). Non-Western fantasy acquisitions seem to have scaled back significantly.

Sigh.

Not me starting the new year off right with some ~depression~, lol.

It's hard not to feel demoralized about my writing journey. The problem is, when you read published authors' stories in the hopes of some advice/inspiration, there's inherently survivorship bias. I've read so many stories about authors getting to publish "the book of their heart" that I feel awful the books of my heart have all withered on the vine.

Novel #1 was the first book of my heart. However, I was an inexperienced author back then (it was the first book I managed to not only finish drafting, but also finished revising), and it was heavily colored by my experience with depression at the time, so it flopped, not only in the querying trenches but also in terms of reader reception. That did teach me a lesson about the dangers of publishing a story that's too personal to you.

Novel #2 was my on-the-whim, "for fun" book that sold much better than Novel #1 and had a much more positive reader reception. Unfortunately, after years of pursuing traditional publishing, it's become nearly impossible for me to write purely "for fun" books anymore.

Novel #3 was the second book of my heart. It was the first time I felt like I was getting close to breaking into traditional publishing, and looking back, I feel like that changed my relationship with writing in retrospect. But, ultimately, despite all the close calls, it did not become the Cinderella story I'd hoped for. It died on submission.

Novel #4 was not a book of my heart, but it was me trying something new, getting back to my roots as a fantasy lover and exploring the mythology of my heritage. I was immensely proud of it at the time (although now I can see where the manuscript wasn't strong enough). I still think the idea is very high-concept, but this book also died on submission.

Novel #5 felt like the culmination of my writing journey so far. It was the action-packed, epic adventure fantasy I never thought I'd be able to pull off; it was a love letter to all the stories that inspired me and an even deeper dive into my heritage. I still don't know if it's a "book of my heart," but it's certainly my favorite book I've written to date, a story I still deeply love. Cue apathy from agents in the querying trenches.

I don't know where I go from here, in all honesty. I see Novel #1 as a product of ambition but inexperience, a necessary step in my learning curve as an author; Novel #3 was an intimate story with a small scope and no world-building; Novel #4 was my first foray in a long time into building a fantasy world with a larger cast of characters, trying to depart from pure romance; and Novel #5 was me taking everything I'd learned to successfully write a story with both an intimate core and an expansive scope. So what the hell am I supposed to do next, when none of my efforts so far have been successful?

I don't know.

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

Genre: YA, fantasy, mystery

I can't help picking up any book that comps to Knives Out, even if I find all of them to be disappointing. This one was no exception. Although a murder happens, the plot becomes less of a murder mystery and more of a, for lack of a better term, fetch quest for a bunch of artifacts hidden around the mansion. And the puzzles the characters have to solve to find said artifacts aren't particularly interesting, either. On top of that, I found the pacing to be quite slow, and I ended up DNF'ing halfway through and skimming the ending.



Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno

Genre: YA, fantasy, romance

I picked up this M/M romantasy out of curiosity, but I DNF'ed out of boredom around a third of the way through. To be fair, this book had the feel of a Regency romance (the fantasy setting was clearly inspired by Regency England), and I don't read those. But I just found the pacing really slow and I felt like nothing interesting was happening.



The Blood Orchid by Kylie Lee Baker

Genre: YA, fantasy

I ended up enjoying this book a lot, far more than the prequel, but the more time passes, the more research failures I pick up on. The book does some things right compared to the first book (e.g. no more 小姐/xiaojie used as an honorific), but there are still a bunch of very basic facts that I can tell were wrong, without even researching the time period/locations in the book. Here is the list:

- Zilan and Yufei should not refer to Wenshu as "Wenshu-gē" (this problem was carried over from the first book).
- Zilan shouldn't refer to her aunt and uncle as "Auntie So" and "Uncle Fan," but rather just as "Aunt" and "Uncle". Attaching a name after "auntie" or "uncle" denotes that they're not related to you. (Another problem that was carried over from the first book.)
- The characters are journeying in the northwestern deserts of China; they probably should not be eating congee all the time, since rice is grown in the south of China (and a desert absolutely would not have enough water to grow rice).
- A number of facts about Tang Taizong's life are wrong (which is unfortunate, considering he's only one of the three-ish most famous emperors in Chinese history). The book says that he was dreaming of becoming emperor at 16; however, when Tang Taizong was 16, China was ruled by the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty hadn't even been established yet. Also, while I get wanting to portray him as an underdog for the purposes of the story, the fact was that Tang Taizong was a talented general starting from his youth, and once the Tang Dynasty was established he very quickly emerged as a threat to the crown prince, so it's weird to describe him as being viewed as "no threat" by his brothers.
- Tianzi (天子) as a title for the emperor is treated as some arcane title when...it's not. Literally every emperor is called Tianzi during his reign, so it's weird that (a) Zilan wouldn't know this referred to the emperor, and (b) the characters decide this definitely refers to Tang Taizong and not the most recent emperor, Tang Gaozong, or any other emperor.
- A consistency error: silver is referred to as a metal stone and then later as a water stone.
- Another consistency error: Zheng Sili's pouch is described as made of silk twice but made of velvet once.

( More/spoilers under the cut )

I know that one criticism of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's map was that it was huge, but too empty. But honestly, I loved exploration in Breath of the Wild. Whenever I wanted to pick up a video game and do something low-key, I would open that game, look at the map, and go somewhere I hadn't been before, in search of Korok seeds or treasure chests. To me, the brilliance of that game's map design was the fact that I was almost always rewarded with Korok seeds and/or treasure chests when I ventured somewhere new. It was rewarding in a relaxed way, a very zen experience.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom clearly read that criticism and decided to fix it...by overloading the map with Stuff.

I already thought BotW had tons of treasure chests that could be found if you went searching, but TotK has even more. More chests, more Korok seeds, way more enemy encampments, Lightroots, caves/Bubblfrogs, Addison's signs, wells, way more armor to find and upgrade...for a completionist, the game can easily become overwhelming.

And that's what I find myself mulling over. Because I do sometimes approach TotK the same way as BotW: by opening up the map, looking for a spot I've never been to, and venturing there to find Korok seeds and treasure chests. When my goal is only exploration, it feels as zen as BotW did. But when I set out with a goal of completion, then I find myself getting frustrated with how many things there are to 100% in this game, and how hard they are to complete without a guide. (I am not anti-guide in general for video games, but for puzzle/exploration-focused games, I feel like using a guide cheapens the experience.)

I don't know, I guess I don't have an answer for myself yet? Other than it's all in my mind, lol.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of news in my writer circles from BIPOC authors who found rep from amazing advocates after losing their first agent, or landing book deals after long ordeals on submission, and many of them have been saying things like "dreams really do come true!"

And all I can think is...your dreams came true. But mine aren't.

There's a weird sense of shame that I feel, having been querying for 7 months without getting an offer of representation. Being rejected by the majority of agents who say they want to represent authors of color. I just feel like...why am I not enough? What is wrong with me/my books?

It would be a different story if I knew my writing wasn't skilled enough or my ideas are too niche. But they're not. Every time I pitch my books to other people (other authors and acquaintances I barely know), people always say they sound amazing. And yet I can't convince agents/editors that my stories are worth anything.

Right now, I have two agents who still have my full manuscript and seven who have my query. Aside from a few agents at those "only query one agent at a time" agencies, I've pretty much exhausted my list. I'm at this weird point at which I'm stuck in a holding pattern—I feel like there are still too many agents who have my query/manuscript for me to say I have no hope of representation, but I've also been waiting without news for months and really, really wishing I could just yeet my book at some open submission calls so I can feel like I'm *doing something*.

I'm going to try revising Novel #4 during the holidays, but I feel like I'm not even excited to query that book. Because I'll be going out to the exact same agent pool who rejected Novel #5 (which I feel like is objectively better written), so even if I get interest for Novel #4 from those people my reaction is going to be "what the hell is wrong with you??" Also, although I tend to bounce around different subgenres, my consistent "brand" so to speak is the way I approach plot, characterization, and themes, and I just feel like if you don't like how I write one novel, you will probably not like anything else I write.

I have been having an absolutely terrible time with traditionally published Chinese fantasy (by Chinese authors) this year. The only ones I’ve enjoyed were The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang, and The Blood Orchid by Kylie Lee Baker. Every other one I’ve read has been a one- or two-star read. :(

As an example, I recently read The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan, which I was really looking forward to, but it was just so mediocre to me. (I know people argue that BIPOC authors should be allowed to write mediocre books, but at the same time, am I not allowed to be disappointed when mediocre books are published when so many talented authors of color are languishing because they're deemed "not relatable" or "not marketable enough"?)

One of the issues I had with the book was that the Chinese fantasy elements felt so superficial. Apart from the reincarnation/red thread of fate concept, if you took out the dragons, the teahouse, and the emperor, this could have easily been a generic Western fantasy. Hell, the book even features fae beasts and will-o-the-wisps already.

I've been ruminating a lot lately on the topic of what makes Chinese fantasy "culturally Chinese" and how much that matters. To be honest, it wasn't until I started reading danmei novels that I realized fantasy novels set in China by authors in China do feel very different from fantasy novels by diaspora authors, in terms of how (fantasy) China is depicted - the cultures, the traditions, the language.

I mean, the system of pronouns and honorifics in ancient China is extremely complicated, and while I don't expect a diaspora author to necessarily know when an ancient Chinese person would refer to themselves as 本官 or 小的 or (family name) 麿 (heck, I don't necessarily know either), I think it's worth trying to convey some of the speech patterns rather than just having everyone talk like a 21st-century English-speaking American. (Personally, I love writing Chinese fantasy characters introducing themselves like "My family name is X, my given name Y" to emulate "我姓 X，名 Y".)

I can really tell now when a Chinese diaspora author is aware of Chinese folklore and cultural nuances. I had that feeling while reading Justinian Huang, Joan He, and Judy I. Lin's novels.

But I'm also personally wrestling with the fact that I don't like ideas of cultural "purity" or gatekeeping diaspora authors from writing fantasy. And I have enjoyed Chinese fantasy novels by Sue Lynn Tan, RF Kuang, and Kylie Lee Baker that feature Western values and/or storytelling traditions in certain ways.

I think it comes down to, for me, feeling like a diaspora author has done some research on ancient China, instead of just taking some superficial elements and running with their imagination of what ancient China is like (because isn't that the exact same thing white people do?).

All this is, of course, not even getting to how traditional publishing is dominated by white people who are the arbiters of what should be published even when they have no knowledge of Chinese culture or storytelling. Sigh.

Well, 2024 was a dud as far as reading years go; I think I enjoyed less than a third of the books I read. :/ Here's hoping the books in 2025 will be better!

1. Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan: January 7, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) The description of this didn't catch my attention, but I loved Daughter of the Moon Goddess so I'll give it a try.

2. Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia: January 7, 2025

(YA, fantasy, mystery)

3. You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego: February 11, 2025

(Adult, thriller) An isolation thriller with a group of mystery writers, what's not to love?

4. Mondays Are Murder by Ravena Guron: February 13, 2025

(YA, thriller)

5. Oathbound by Tracy Deonn: March 4, 2025

(YA, fantasy) The third Legendborn Cycle book!!

6. The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amelie Wen Zhao: March 4, 2025

(YA, fantasy) Did I hate Song of Silver, Flame Like Night? Yes...but I'm curious enough about any Chinese fantasy that features demons that I'll at least take a look.

7. A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: April 1, 2025

(Adult, fantasy, mystery) I really enjoyed The Tainted Cup and am excited for more in this series!!

8. Cold Eternity by SA Barnes: April 8, 2025

(Adult, sci-fi, horror)

9. The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah: April 15, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) The sequel to The Stardust Thief!

10. The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson: April 15, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) This has been called epic fantasy, even though the summary makes it sound like a fantasy murder mystery...guess I'll give it a try.

11. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker: April 29, 2025

(Adult, horror) I enjoyed this author's debut series, and the premise of this sounds so good.

12. The Sun Blessed Prince by Lindsey Byrd: May 6, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) I'm almost certain I read this story as a fanfic on AO3, so I'm super curious as to how the published version will turn out.

13. The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan: May 6, 2025

(YA, fantasy) Vietnamese contemporary fantasy? I'm intrigued!

14. The Art of Exile by Andrea Max: May 13, 2025

(YA, sci-fi, fantasy) Another dark academia book involving the descendants of Renaissance masters???

15. Cruel Is the Light by Sophie Clark: May 20, 2025

(YA, fantasy) I'm hoping this is Trinity Blood meets the enemies-to-lovers dynamic of Bonesmith.

16. A Song of Legends Lost by MH Ayinde: June 3, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) African epic fantasy with Final Fantasy inspiration?? YES.

17. Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim: June 3, 2025

(YA, fantasy) A magical cooking competition for the Chinese gods? Say no more!

18. The God and the Gwisin by Sophie Kim: June 3, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) The sequel to The God and the Gumiho.

19. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim: June 3, 2025

(YA, fantasy) I didn't enjoy Six Crimson Cranes, but the idea of Beauty and the Beast with an Asian dragon is sooo good.

20. With a Vengeance by Riley Sager: June 10, 2025

(Adult, thriller) I have a pretty rocky history with Riley Sager's thrillers (enjoyed Home Before Dark, found Lock Every Door readable, DNF'ed every other book), but this is giving major Murder on the Orient Express vibes so I have to at least give it a try.

21. The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen: June 17, 2025

(YA, fantasy) I thought the first book was just okay, but I'm curious enough to see where the sequel goes.

22. A Fiery Spirit by Kate Chenli: June 17, 2025

(YA, fantasy) I loved A Bright Heart so I'm excited for the sequel!

23. I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert: June 17, 2025

(Adult, thriller) I LOVED She Started It so I'm excited for another thriller by this author!

24. Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman: July 15, 2025

(Adult, thriller) God, I love the trope of a bunch of writers trapped on an island trying to solve an author's murder.

25. Love Is a War Song by Danica Nava: July 22, 2025

(Adult, romance) This romance sounds so good!

26. Very Dangerous Things by Lauren Muñoz: July 29, 2025

(YA, mystery) I didn't enjoy this author's debut, but a locked room mystery will always get me. :')

27. Immortal Consequences by IV Marie: July 29, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) Dark academia set in purgatory? I'm intrigued.

28. This Is Where We Die by Cindy RX He: July 2025

(YA, mystery) The isolation thriller murder mysteries always get me!!

29. Her Soul For a Crown by Alysha Rameera: August 12, 2025

(Adult, fantasy, romance)

30. The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso: August 19, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) Loved the first book, excited for the sequel!!

31. The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato: August 26, 2025

(YA, romance)

32. King Foretold by Jayci Lee: August 26, 2025

(Adult, fantasy, romance)

33. Demon Song by Kelsea Yu: September 30, 2025

(Adult, horror) The horror vibes in this author's debut were immaculate, AND Journey to the West themes?? Give it to me now!!

34. The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell: October 7, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) Tlingit epic fantasy? I'm intrigued!

35. Red City by Marie Lu: October 14, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) My only prior experience with Marie Lu was The Young Elites, which I absolutely hated. But I guess I'm curious enough about her Adult debut to give it a try?

36. The Only One Who Knows by Lisa Matlin: October 28, 2025

(Adult, thriller) I had mixed feelings about the author's debut, but it was very readable so I'm willing to give another book by this author a try.

37. The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee: November 4, 2025

(Adult, sci-fi) I honestly didn't enjoy Jade City that much, but I'm always down to give an anti-capitalist space sci-fi a try.

38. I'll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker: November 18, 2025

(YA, fantasy, sci-fi) KLB is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, so I'm happy to give this a try.

39. Dawn of the Firebird by Sarah Mughal Rana: December 9, 2025

(Adult, fantasy) This sounds really good!!

I don't often post video game reviews, but I really wanted to do a review for this game (and there aren't really any places I can post a review, sadly, since I'm playing on the Switch rather than on Steam).

If you want a challenging platformer that requires relentless precision, this is the game for you! If, on the other hand, you play games to unwind, don't be fooled by the beautiful art style and cute design - look elsewhere!!

I describe myself as a casual gamer. I enjoy action RPGs and Super Smash Bros. I've played Mario and the odd Sonic games as far as platformers go; I haven't played Ori or Hollow Knight, which were apparently the inspirations for this game. I found this game to be frustratingly difficult.

The platforming is incredibly precise; one dash that takes you too far or jump when you weren't supposed to, and you have to start the sequence all over again. It was doubly frustrating when you had to backtrack through a bunch of stuff every time you died because save shrines aren't that plentiful. I also found combat difficult, as so much of it revolves around "pogoing" off enemies. However, in order to pogo, you need to hold down on the joystick, and if you're also using the joystick to move horizontally (which you are, usually), then oftentimes you might not be pressing "down" enough to trigger a pogo, and you'll take damage instead.

The boss encounters had good ideas, but I found that they took FOREVER to beat because they had so much health and too much of boss fights were obstacle courses where you had to survive long enough just to be able to hit the boss a few times. In other words, the attack windows were so short that bosses took forever to die. I also hated some of the forced combat arenas, which seemed designed to be as annoying as possible (the one in the western part of the Ice Caverns made me rage so hard!!).

This is also a game where you can't farm/grind for upgrades if you're struggling, as health upgrades are locked behind Lotus Seeds that you can only get from specific quests/story sequences. You can farm up teapot upgrades relatively easily, but that's it. I didn't find the Daruma dolls a meaningful help for combat, and I also thought most of the Omamori not that useful, since many of them were too specific to a certain context to be worth equipping. Or, they were just flat-out useless. Like stopping time while changing Daruma? Getting rid of the timer while batting objects? Who needs those? Generating shockwaves with the Mochi Mallet? The Mochi Mallet is so rarely useful in combat if you're not facing a few specific enemies that that's a waste of a slot. And so on.

Honestly, though, the difficulty wouldn't have bothered me as much if it weren't for some design choices that add to the difficulty. With more save shrines, with shrines being able to function as fast-travel points, with the ability to farm health upgrades early if you want, and with more helpful Omamori, I would have found the game more accessible. (Also, it would have been better if the game had gotten rid of the most frustrating enemies. Like those homing cats in Midori Forest or my absolute bane, the f#$%ing wolf/weasels in Megumi Mountain.)

On the plus side, the game IS gorgeous. I just wish it wasn't so frustrating. This is definitely NOT a game I would recommend to anyone who isn't experienced at playing 2D platformers/challenging Metroidvania games.

I usually don't feel compelled to write my thoughts about books until I'm done, but maybe it's the combination of my nerves being on edge from querying and recent events in my personal life, or maybe this book is bothering me just that much.

I requested an ARC (advanced reader's copy) of Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (from Orbit Books, publishing this October) after reading the first two chapters in an online excerpt and enjoying them. Now I'm nearly 25% of the way through and feeling like this book has already become a slog.

I want to say for the record that I try not to request ARCs of books unless I really want to read them and really think (or hope) I'll enjoy them. I'm an aggressive DNF'er when it comes to books in general and hate being stuck with a book I'm not enjoying, so because I feel pressure to finish ARCs I receive, I try to only request books that I believe I'll enjoy enough to finish.

Before I received my ARC, I read an online review that said the book felt like fanfiction of The Untamed. That made me apprehensive, but I assumed that maybe the two romantic leads would follow the same trope. Tropes can't be copyrighted, after all. Even as a writer myself, I love writing opposites attract/the sunshine one falls for the reserved, grumpy one.

Unfortunately, the similarities are too close as to be distracting.

Leo Loveage, the narrating protagonist, is an alcohol-loving, free-spirited, prank-playing, rules-hating character who even practices forbidden magic. Like, come on, my guy.

At the same time, he's different from Wei Wuxian in one crucial aspect: rather than being clever and a genius, Leo is more the Walking Mess type of character. And this is a pretty crucial difference, because it makes him much, MUCH more annoying to read about.

You can forgive Wei Wuxian's antics because his cleverness makes him fun to follow and makes it more understandable as to why he's constantly bending rules. Even though he antagonizes Lan Wangji, he has the energy of a rambunctious, mischievous, but ultimately harmless puppy who nevertheless wants to befriend Lan Wangji (at least in the C-drama). Leo Loveage, on the other hand, constantly antagonizes Sebastian Grimm for no reason other than he likes to cause trouble and annoy him. I don't know how old he's supposed to be, but given that this is an adult novel, it makes him seem immature rather than endearing. Combined with the fact that Leo is consistently terrible with magic and seems determined not to find a solution for that in order to spite his family, it quickly becomes grating to be in his head.

I don't easily find characters annoying. I also generally like Walking Disaster-type characters, characters who are presented as being messed up, who drink too much, and whose lives are out of control, usually due to past/family trauma. But I think it's the fact that Leo has no goal or desires and can't stop himself from making his life worse that bugs the hell out of me.

The other part that bothers me is that the magic system feels eerily like the author took cultivation from The Untamed and slapped a European coat of paint on it. The system of scriving spells onto paper sounds a lot like paper talismans, and the absolute dead giveaway was the fact that these sorcerers are also taught swordplay. Combining swordsmanship with magic has always been a very Asian, if not Chinese, fantasy tradition.

Why does this bug me? Because Chinese cultivation fantasy is not exactly well represented in American publishing. Very few, if any, Chinese fantasy novels published in the US actually draw from the Chinese fantasy tradition of cultivation---which to me is an indictment of what Chinese fantasy novels US publishers deem "worthy" of publication. So yeah, it bugs me more than a little that slapping a pseudo-European coat of paint on Chinese traditions is deemed palatable while actual Chinese fantasies drawing from that same tradition are not.