Martial Arts Fiction

[KC Elbows]

Anyone here have any favorite martial fiction? Doesn't necessarily have to be books, could be movies/comics/whatever, although on movies, I'm talking about well written, not fun schlock.

[Paul]

Kung Fu/Qigong Magazine.

[Tigerstyle]

I read this trilogy of books about eight or ten years ago. More of a sci fi, but the story revolves around a fighter:

- Streetlethal (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812510348/qid=1013447965/sr=1-18/ref=sr_1_18/002-6301824-8703211)
- Gorgon Child (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812531523/qid=1013448164/sr=1-20/ref=sr_1_20/002-6301824-8703211)
- Firedance (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812510240/qid=1013448164/sr=1-17/ref=sr_1_17/002-6301824-8703211)

This series sticks out in my mind, because I remember the fight "scenes" in the books being very clearly written. Steven Barnes is the author, and I remember reading a couple other books by him as well.

Anyone here read anything by Stephen Hunter? He writes some really cool sniper stories. :)

[ShaolinTiger00]

Paul,

My god man, I was laughing so hard I almost choked on my lunch!

Spectacular!:D

[Shaolindynasty]

"Kung Fu/Qigong Magazine"

I was going to pu the sam exact thing! Latly they have been publishing allot of fiction. Between Race Bannon and Mooney I thought I was reading a comic book.

[dwid]

Yeah, that Race Bannon is a real superhero. I don't understand how he finds time to rescue little girls from kiddie porn rings, what with all his responsibilities as guardian of Johnny Quest. Keeping up with that wacky kid's adventures must be a full time job.

In all seriousness though, if only Rich Mooney and Race Bannon could join forces, they would be an unstoppable heroic duo.

btw, just to prove I'm not aiding and abetting the hijacking of this thread, I like "Lone Wolf and Cub" - great martial fiction.

[KC Elbows]

**** hijackers!!

Fortunately, the flight attendants have been thouroughly trained to deal with such things in a recent 4 hour course, so they are now blocking any chance of escape with food carts and will promptly immobilize each of you using a painful pressure point found on your shoulders.:D

[KC Elbows]

Now go read a book!

[Paul]

the old Powerman and Ironfist comic books were pretty good.

[Shaolindynasty]

At the bookstore i saw a magazine put out by CFW enterprises(IKF) called "america strikes back" It was full of fat old bald men in karate uniforms showing mcdojo defenses against knoves and such. That was a great comedy/fiction mag. I think Bannon and mooney should go write for Marvel Comics. Bannon could write for the punisher and mooney could write for the Doctor strange(with his mystical powers).

Gene is right though those guys bull really stands out amongst the rest of the stuff in the mag.

Strange though I like this months IKF better than kungfu mag and Bruce Lee is on the cover again!

Is this bizzaro world or what!

[Shaolindynasty]

Oh yeah the real topic. I like fantasy peices like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (even though allot of people hated it). I also like old stories about shaolin monks, Taoists etc. I didn't like the Ironfist comic cause he was always trying to be to mystical. I used to really like Dragon Ball z until recently it's starting to loose it's steam. I like shaw brothers movies the more corny and bad dubbing the better.

[myosimka]

Tigerstyle-solid recommendations. I enjoyed those alot.

Also on the scifi bend
Steve Perry's Matador series. I actually felt that the fights made what was otherwise a rather melodramatic storyline. His other stuff usually has MA heros as well.

Joel Rosenberg's Keepers of the Way series. solid explanation of fencing and decent sword fights.

Kundalini Equation-also by Stephen Barnes. Bit too much of the esoteric martial arts stuff but still cool.

Warriors of Blood and Dream-edited by Roger Zelazny- This one is actually a collection of short stories- all martial arts themes. Mostly scifi. Very entertaining read.

Armor-by John Steakly. It's a classic. Blend of military scifi and martial arts.

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels- Laurel Hamilton. Picked this up on a whim. Passed over them as schlocky 1000x but then I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer(which I mocked with the best of them til I actually watched it a few times) and have been pleasantly surprised by the gun play and fight scenes in these novels.

My personal preference is scifi so those are my recommendations(and tons more if you want them) My experience is that mainstream fiction gets to carried away with the mystique of the arts and not enough of the details in the MA depictions. Some scifi writers get into this too but they usually back it up with better fights.

But my one mainstream pic would have to be Shibumi by Trevanian. Usual mainstream thriller in the vein of Clavell novels but a lot of fun none the less.

[ShaolinTiger00]

Ninja stories were always cool. Those wacky '80's...

Mac Bolan - pulp fiction version of the Punisher. used to read those books as a kid.

Iron and silk ? recall a fiction book by that title. (think my sifu was in the movie, a badguy I'll wager.)

I don't read alot of fiction.

[KC Elbows]

Is your sifu Master Pan? The reason I ask is that the movie Iron and Silk and the book are non-fiction, regarding an american, Mark Salzman, who tought english and learned kung fu in china, one of his teachers being Master Pan. Pretty good read, decent movie, though, other than the Master Pan bits, I prefer the book.

[Ryu]

Don't have any.
Hopefully I can make some.

Did you send your manuscript in yet? I'm about to send mine in the next few days.

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

Haven't sent it in yet. I'm gonna wait til Thursday to do the last proofread/edit, then I plan to send it in by Saturday.

I've actually gotten quite a bit of writing done in the last few weeks, its amazing how this short story deal has supercharged my writing. I've made an intinerary for myself as far as a career planner, hit the books to study literary style/do's and don'ts, proper submittal etiquette, etc.

By the way, do you ever go on The Writer's BBS? Its the most active forum I've found for writers, and its been very handy. The bulk of the forum is free, though there's a $15 fee to get a year long membership, and it looks like the member's only forums involve critiqueing each other's works, etc. I might fork out the money once I get some copyrights in place for my book.

[Aramus]

Not directly a martial arts fiction writer, but a lot of his books involved intricite fight scenes and such. The drow elf (fantasy) Dritzz D' Orden (sorry about the spelling) always has well written battle scenes. The Cleric Quintet series with RA Salvatore also has a few martial artists in it ...and of course there are many battles. If you haven't read anything by him I would encourage you to start with the Dark Elf series then the Iceland Dale (or the reverse is fine).

Iron fist (the comic book) was pretty cool at the time too.

[drbannon]

Musashi
by Eiji Yoshikawa (Translated by Charles Terry)
Hardcover Reprint edition (May 1995)
Kodansha International; ISBN: 4770019572

A fictionalized account of the life of Miyamoto Musashi that has all the elements of great fiction. Terry's translations is - as always with this respected linguist and scholar - highly readable and perfectly captures the tone and style of the original. The story is exciting and the martial arts are exactly described, as Japanese audiences expected in this popular serialization of one of their favorite icons. Professor Edwin O. Reischauer's introduction is all you need to jump into a work of fiction that will excite, thrill and ultimately satisfy as a pseudo-realistic representation of martial arts in 17th century Japan. There is much to satisfy the Zen student, as well, but very little in the way of esoteric mysticism. Musashi's only power - in this novel - is the refinement of his inner self using the vehicle of bushido.

Hope you enjoy it!

[ShaolinTiger00]

KC, Master Pan is not my sifu. Thats all i'm going to say about that.;)

I Loved the Drizzt do'Urden series! I read many of those books. (Jow Ga's signature weapons are the double broadswords, so there is a kindered feeling in regards to the style of a fight.)

[Tigerstyle]

Aramus,
I don't know how I forgot about Drizzt Do'Urden! :o Definitely a big thumbs up to that one!

[Mutant]

There were some mystery novels written in the 40's by a Dutch author (name escapes me now), who was a law and history scholar who lived and studied in China...The stories are based on the real life and legends of a Chinese court judge in the Ming (i think...its been a while) period, named Judge Dee.
One of his best books was: 'The Bell Murders' ...very cool stuff, lots of kung fu (this guy must have been exposed to quite a bit and trained, cause he has great descriptions), wacky characters and great depiction of life in that time period.

Another fave i mentioned to you in another thread awhile back is called 'Chronicles of Tao', by Deng Ming Dao, a biography of a monk thats heavy on the fiction, but entertaining reading with lots of good Taoist philosophy. If you didnt get around to reading that, I'd recommend it.

[Ryu]

I haven't been to that forum, but was given an address of a writer's forum by PM. That might have been it. What's the address?

I'm pretty much done with my first submission. My sister has a few more pages left to edit, and then I'll make the corrections and send it off.

She's brutal too.... everything from "I don't think this is the word you meant.." to "that sounds dumb" :(

LOL

Ryu

[Black Jack]

I hate the Anita Blake novels, just to torture myself I swam through that man-hating filth untell I could no longer stand it anymore.

IMHO they are the worst written horror novels in the last 5 years, pure "I am women, here me roar" puke, could the women get anymore unoriginal?????????

Sorry, touched on a author I can not stand.

[Budokan]

Check out the "Quiller" books by Adam Hall, especially "The Mandarin Cypher". They all incorporate martial arts within the plots--usually when Quiller is in a fight for his life.

[KC Elbows]

Try: http://writersbbs.com/forums/

Another cool site is http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubagent.htm

Unfortunately, I am incapable of posting a link, so you'll have to click and paste, unless someone can explain it to me in very small words, very slowly.:)

[KC Elbows]

Holy guano batman, it worked!!!:D

[Shaolindynasty]

"Another fave i mentioned to you in another thread awhile back is called 'Chronicles of Tao', by Deng Ming Dao, a biography of a monk thats heavy on the fiction, but entertaining reading with lots of good Taoist philosophy"

My sifu trained in Qigong under Kwan Saihung. That book does have allot of fiction, I'd actually like to know how much. I all I know for sure was that he was a monk on Huashan other than that I don't know.

[KC Elbows]

Mutant,
I haven't read that book yet, but thanks for the repitition(not sarcastic, seriously, sometimes these things need to be pounded into my brain). I'll have to check it out.

[Leonidas]

I'm pretty partial to the Wing Chun history story. I know its fiction but it had some truths and that was way back when everyone actually believed it. I think it had around 13 chapters? and i dont remember what site i read it on but it was truly entertaining. Went through all the successors from Nun Ng Mui through to Yip Man.

[tsunami surfer]

check out Samurai Jack on the cartoon network. It is a little series of cartoons about a great warrior fighting evil. Cool plot and extremly funny moments!

[Crimson Phoenix]

Kabuki from Davi Mack...especially "Circle of Blood" or "Masks of the Noh", since the others are less martial and more psychology oriented (well, from the middle to the end of metamorphosis it gest quite nice, there's even some savate in it!!)...and you just can't beat the artworks and incredible levels of complexity in the storyline...the guy's a genius, with too many gimmicks, but still...

As for the rest, I like any Wu Xia Pian with people flying or wielding impossible weapons like it was feather light...
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms was great too, and Outlaws of the Marsh.

Mutant W, I know the guy you're talking about...nice pieces indeed...grrr, his name ludes me too at the moment, it's Van something...

[Gigante]

IronFist was my hero for some time... the way he'd concentrate his ki until his fist started glowing.... that's some good stuff !

Musashi rules.

Lone Wolf and Cub rules.

And Fist of the North Star.

[myosimka]

AHHH. Who can forget the Fist of the Northstar.? Especially with Showtime still running the cartoons. Man, I even enjoyed that live action version with Gary Daniels. But then how could I not? Still wish they'd worked out some way to do the walking through a building as it falls on your head.

[Vash]

Is there any martial arts fiction (written, not those supa-cewl Shaw Brothers flix) being published these days?

Side note: There any translated copies of the dime-a-dozen martial novels that went around China, etc? I think it'd be interesting to read of the cowboyish martial exploits of MA characectures (sp).

Indeed, it's late.

[@PLUGO]

this is the closest thing I've found. (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/comics.html)

[cho]

if you like those kungfu comics, see the source @ comicsone.com, there's one I like called Saint Legend, where the 8 taoist gods are a super hero team.

if you're looking for novels, look up Louis Cha on amazon.com, he wrote the story for the Swordsman movie trilogy and a couple of the comics in the above site.

[Radhnoti]

Roger Zelazny edited a book called, "Warriors of Blood and Dream". It leans toward sci-fi martial arts, but some of the short stories were pretty straight-forward fiction too.

[Abstract]

have you read "Iron & Silk"?..it's martial arts fiction....i'd heard of it for some time, but happened to see it yesterday in the bookstore so i bought it...haven't really read alot yet, but the first 10 pages were entertaining..only $12.95


as far as comics:
http://comicsone.com/ (http://comicsone.com)

lots of stuff there..

:D

[MasterKiller]

Iron and Silk is non-fiction.

[Ray Pina]

I've written a 375 page book entitled Evolution Fist: Revelations from the hidden garden.

You can't believe how hard it is to find an agent, let alone a publisher. Not given up though and working on a more main stream book that may help my breaking into the industry.

There is a great book, something or other Tao. Or Tao this or that. I forgot it. Will post it tomorrow. Pretty good.

[MasterKiller]

You can't believe how hard it is to find an agent, let alone a publisher. Go sing it on the mountain, brother. My first book was marginally successful. Having a heck of time selling No. 2. I fired my agent last month, so right now I'm trying to figure out if I can sell it without one.

[Abstract]

you're right, that's what i meant to type in...tank ya for the correction:cool:

either way, it's a good book though..

[Ray Pina]

Chronicles of Tao is the book I was speaking of. Better than Iron and Silk.

[norther practitioner]

Thanks EF, I'll have to check that one out.

[Abstract]

is Chronicles of Tao fiction or non-fiction? now i have to check it out...my interest's been piqued
:cool:

[Serpent]

Chronicles Of Tao by Deng Ming Dao is awesome. It's a novelised autobiography of Kwan Saihung, so you have to decide how much of it is fiction. Highly recommneded.

Also, www.cyberkwoon.com have a short fiction section on their site and all the stories are MA related one way or another. Some of them are pretty good.

[Budokan]

Cyberkwoon has a martial arts fiction page; I even have a couple of stories there myself. Otherwise, not too much MA fiction is around because it's such a narrowly specialized genre the major publishing houses aren't willing to take much of a chance on it....

[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.

[GeneChing]

Enter to win KungFuMagazine.com's contest for Enzan: The Far Mountain autographed by John Donohue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/sweepstakes-the-far-mountain.php)! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 10/02/14. Good luck everyone!

I'll announce DUKKHA UNLOADED winners next week.

[GeneChing]

See our Winners-Enzan-The-Far-Mountain-autographed-by-John-Donohue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68122-Winners-Enzan-The-Far-Mountain-autographed-by-John-Donohue) thread.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-jxby5i46c

Watch Gene Ching talks with John Donohue, YMAA martial arts fiction author (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-jxby5i46c) ~ my latest video interview for YMAA

[GeneChing]

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Contest ends 2/15/2024.

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[GeneChing]

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