We've been covering the arrival of wuxia on American shores from as far back as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON and THE STORM RIDERS. Still, many were already familiar with those Kung Fu Fantasies. Newer readers may well shrug considering its presence in pop-culture today, most notably on-screen with Marvel’s SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS or in comics with titles which include Immortal Studios’ THE ADEPT among others. Considering the wuxia genre’s origins in the printed word, it’s no surprise that among the more serious writers of today, that term may have lost some of its appeal. Just ask American wuxia pioneer Fred Lit. Yu whose new book series issues the wuxia adventure trapping for a much more grounded look at Kung Fu in his new work of historic fiction: The Red Crest Series. The first book of this trilogy THE ORCHID FARMER’S SACRIFICE as just arrived.
Readers of KFM may recognize the author's name, and if those readers are Stephanie B. of- Kenner, LA, Sylvia B. of Boynton Beach, FL, Les C. of Princeton, NJ, Denise M. or Lithia, FL or Sarah Y. of New Kensington, PA. then surely they’ll remember having won a signed copy of his debut novel, the wuxia epic Legend of the Snow Wolf. Fred & I have kept in touch through-out the years and he graciously agreed to answer some of my questions on your behalf.
“The armed thugs remained silent, motionless. Wen reachedfor his sword. Feng held out his hand, fingers outstretched, andmotioned for him to stop.
“There’s only ten of them,” Little Chu said in a low voice.
“And they’re on foot.”
“Get out of my way,” Feng said to the bandits, his voice loudand firm. “We’re military officials.We have important businessin the City of Stones.”
A short bandit with a gray topknot broke into a smile.
“Military officials,” he said, speaking slowly as if to pronounceevery syllable. “Exactly what we’re waiting for.”
A lot has happened since we last covered your debut wuxia novel LEGEND OF SNOW WOLF. Can you catch us up how the follow-up book was received?
Unlike my recent one, it was really a long story that took a couple of books to finish telling. Unfortunately, I did not know how to market myself back then, and no one knew I existed. Before the pandemic, I attended a writer's conference and an agent told me that in modern times, every emerging author is expected to do their own marketing. Publishers will put their precious advertising dollars on those already established. So now I get it. This time I am trying something different. I learned how to market the book before releasing it. The pandemic worked out well for me too. Yeah I stayed home and my muscles atrophied, but I learned many things about book marketing.
We worked to together to develop a graphic novel adaptation for the series, going so far as to generate some pages, we just couldn’t’ gather the financing for a full-steam-ahead production. How was that experience for you?
There is opportunity yet. There's a huge market for graphic novels and I think it will still happen. Maybe for this upcoming series.
Ever consider reviving that project, perhaps brining it to DIY platform like Kickstarter?
I don't know much about Kickstarter, and I'm not really familiar with all these new ways that people raise money. I believe that if a book does well, someone will invest in the production of a graphic novel. If it does really well, someone will invest in a movie.
I remember that your father was a traditional Chinese calligrapher of renown who provided that amazing cover illustration for LEGEND OF SNOW WOLF.
Yes, my father was killed by Covid last April. The virus is a formidable enemy. It killed him in 3 days.
As you know the father figures prominently in Kung Fu in the form of the term “Sifu;” can you tell us what is was like to be raised by a father with such skills?
My father was self-taught. He never had a teacher and he never respected the idea of a teacher. He said if knowledge is what I wanted, then it's out there and I should go get it. If I wanted to be an artist, then go do something no one has ever done before. Don't follow Daddy's footsteps, or even try to be better than him. Go be Fred Yu.
I decided not to express with visual arts, and he was cool with that. I wanted to express with words. But even though he swore not to teach me a thing, he did. I will always seek to do something no one has done before.
But my father was not a complete cool dude. He was traditional in many ways. For example, he hated the idea that my sister did martial arts. He thought women belonged in the kitchen, though his own daughter packed metal nunchucks under her car seat.
Your sister was remarkable and that was evident to anyone who met her. She was gracious enough to participate in the Kung Fu Tai Chi 20thAnniversary celebrations, going so far as to bring a selection of her finest teas to serve the event’s visiting VIP Masters & Grandmasters. That one generous and humble act elevated the experience for everyone involved.
Someone recently pointed out to me that every woman character I've ever written was strong. I've never written a scene with a damsel in distress. I thought about it. It's because of my beloved sister. In my mind, women are supposed to be strong like her. I remember many years ago, we were on Wudang mountain. She found a sword she really resonated with, and she bought it right away. We got on a train back to a big city the next day, and going through security, the Chinese cops saw that she had a sword in her luggage. I stepped up and said that it's for decoration. I said, "Look at her. Does she look like she knows how to use a sword? It's a souvenir to show off to American woman back home!" They bought it and let us through.
She was furious, but she smiled and kept her mouth shut. Once we boarded the train, she got in my face and shouted, "I guarantee you, I am the only person on this train who knows how to use that sword!”
So even though he was a master calligrapher and ultimately raised two people devoted to Kung Fu, he wasn’t really a martial artist?
My father never did martial arts, but he was a Kung Fu master for sure. Kung Fu is not limited to martial arts. It's mastery of calligraphy, cooking, furniture making. I remember the long conversations about history and Chinese literature and the difference between Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism in our lives.
It's the self-discipline, the integrity, the inner strength, and the seeking of new heights every day that makes someone a Kung Fu master. My sister lived with that kind of discipline and integrity. She was a Kung Fu master as well. And yes, there were plenty of people she could beat up. A father can become world famous but his kid will always remember when he taught him how to do his first pushup.
Okay, so give me the elevator pitch for your new book.
The Orchid Farmer’s Sacrifice is a plot driven Asian fantasy, Martial Arts epic, taking place in ancient China. Feng is a spoiled son of a general still realizing his own military genius, suddenly hunted by the entire world because of a symbol on his body, known as the Red Crest. Out of nowhere, Feng is chased from his home, his sister abducted, his friends slaughtered, and there’s a huge reward for his head.
As I mentioned earlier, wuxia has grown in popularity since your first novel was released. But you’ve made a point to distinguish this new project from that genre, can you elaborate?
The martial world in this genre is normally portrayed as a stand-alone society comprised of practitioners from various schools and lineages. They have their own rules of honor and street justice, they resolve disputes among themselves either through a well-respected member of their society, or through fighting, rather than reporting each other’s crimes to the government. A lot has been written about this genre in Asian fiction, known as wuxia.
But if we are to talk about martial arts in wuxia, we need to note that the early successful writers that defined the modern genre were not practitioners of martial arts. They did not know how to Fa Jing, how to strike meridian points, nor what stealth agility is used for, and that has worked out well for them. They were free to imagine and innovate. Stealth training became gravity defying levitation skills. Sealing a meridian point not only immobilized someone, it caused the victim to freeze in whatever position they were in as if they saw Medusa and turned to stone. More powerful practitioners are able to strike someone’s meridian point from across the room. And Fa Jing became The Force, an invisible internal power called chi but carried immense destructive capabilities, that can be used to heal, can be sent into another person’s body so they could become powerful, and can be used to blow up a brick wall with a hand strike.
Martial arts were already heavily exaggerated in this genre but then further exaggerated in the movies. After the 80s, wuxia movies were riddled with special effects to further enhance the experience of the directors’ imagination. The western audience was then exposed to the idea that all martial arts practitioners in this genre knew how to fly, run on water, and blow up that brick wall with a single punch.
In my mind, the genre of the martial arts epic has essentially become a variation of superhero movies. Everyone has a different power, they compete for dominance, and of course to save the world. The primary difference is that with martial arts fantasies, everyone can acquire their superpowers, with the right teacher or secret manual of course. Once acquired, the superpowers are not as different as superhero comics. The powers are all variations of skill, internal force, or gravity defying speed.
So from my understanding, you’re using this book to pull away from the sort of special FX driven qualities Wuxia has become known for.
I have two reasons to approach the portrayal of martial arts a little differently.
First, because it’s written for the western audience, and many Americans understand martial arts through Bruce Lee movies and MMA fights, I’ve toned down the exaggeration. Unfortunately, no MMA fighter has been able to freeze his opponent from across the cage. I tried to stick with what most human bodies can actually do.
Second, as a lifelong practitioner of martial arts (at least until I became old and out of shape), I wanted to include real knowledge in my writing. Yes, I did exaggerate a little, but the techniques are still attainable in real life. That means no one could leap to the roof with one jump, but someone could jump down from some elevation and land on soft ground in complete silence, for example. One person cannot fight an entire army, unlike in movies like HERO, but he certainly can run from one if there are no archers behind him.
Recently, with the mask mandates relaxed for gyms in New York City, I decided to join a boxing gym to beat the heavy bag for much needed exercise. I am aware that I am at an age where I should only beat something that won’t hit back. But pounding that bag was a humbling experience. My knuckles couldn’t handle the impact anymore. It took two weeks to get my hands used to hitting a bag that doesn’t hit back, and with the protection of gloves and wraps.
And I thought about the fictional storylines where a martial artist aged and coughed and shriveled, and when the enemy came, he still kicked everyone’s ass. This is not a scene that I would write in my stories. It’s just not possible.
When people think of Chinese literature, there are a handful of titles that come immediately to mind. A popular read among martial artists is ART OF WAR. Since you’re working on a historic epic, did you end up working that into your story?
My main character is the son of a prestigious general and a spoiled brat who never had to get into a fight. His character development was first to realize his military genius, and then much later in the book, to finally acquire some martial arts skills of his own. Because of how this first book’s main character is portrayed, I introduced the fictional world without having to explain meridian points, internal power, or stealth agility. Instead, I focused on many aspects of ancient military strategy, which is also an important element of martial arts epics.
Unlike modern day strategy that depends heavily on information, data and probability of something happening, ancient strategy relied a lot on deception. Knowing the enemy character, what he fears and what makes him confident, is critical in drawing him into a trap. As my main character became more confident with his ability to conduct warfare, he was able to stay several steps ahead of his enemies and used deceit at every turn.
For example, the antagonist is a naturally suspicious man. Our hero had to lead him to believe he was privy to superior information before he would commit his attack, and that’s how he would defeat the antagonist who had 25 times more men than he did.
Fundamental to my main character’s success in this book is his natural abilities in using strategy. He was raised with strict discipline in studying Sun Zi’s ART OF WAR, and throughout the story, against impossible obstacles, he was able to survive and even win because of his use of strategy. He always knew when to entice the enemy, when to evade, how to trap his opponents using their weaknesses against themselves. Despite the entire world hunting him, our hero won each battle against incredible odds.
Readers of KungFuMagazine are already pre-disposed toward two activities that work in your favor, reading and Kung Fu. So what if you were to share some of the thinking behind THE ORCHID FARMER’S SACRIFICE? Something to deepen the insights and enjoyment for those who pick this book up?
This story was originally designed for four books, but may stretch to five, depending on how the plot thickens. The first three books each follow a different character, they happen simultaneously, and all three end at the same point in the story’s timeline. When I first planned the outline of this story, I was going to write about all three characters at the same time. But then, it would become a 300-thousand-word volume. If I split them into a normal trilogy, there would not be a natural beginning or resolution to each volume.
So I arranged the plot into an Excel spreadsheet like every ex-banker should have done in the first place. I assigned a number to when each character would encounter what and sorted the plotline up and down until I realized that I could tell the same story with one book for each character as long as I released new information about the plot with each volume. Why are these characters faced with their dilemmas and what is the ultimate villain trying to pull off? The reader finds out more in book two, more in book three, and then the resolution of the story with all three characters together in book 4. The scenes that all three share would be repeated from a different point of view in each volume.
I decided to tell the story of the strategist first. It would ease the audience into the world of martial arts, because he first started learning a palm set and sword skills late in the book. As he learns, the reader learns, and it serves as a natural introduction of martial arts concepts for my readers. Book two will be focused on an accomplished martial artist, and that’s where I have opportunity to explore many ideas that comes with his skills.
Can we talk briefly on future plans for this books series, your last one and perhaps what’s next?
F: This story is planned for four books. Then I plan to write detective stories, but in the same fictional world and same genre. The current characters will be old and become minor characters as the next series develops. But these are just plans. We will see.
Any final thoughts?
Thanks, as always, it was a great pleasure to connect.
Fred Yu went to film school but ended up working in a bank, yet he remains a martial arts junkie who welcomes any new martial arts knowledge that comes his way. Along with THE LEGEND OF SNOW WOLF, he authored the 2017 cookbook HAUTE TEA CUISINE, which represents a full year of experiments using artisan teas in French sauces and the instructional book YIN YANG BLADES released on June 2018. THE ORCHID FARMER’S SACRIFICE (The Red Crest Book 1) will be premiere on amazon.com October 5, 2021 with Kindle & audiobook editions available at Amazon.com.
Patrick Lugo is the freelance illustrator, comics artist and writer that helped define the look of KungFuMagazine.com & Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine. His recent comics work will appear in the anthology SPECULATIVE FICTION FOR DREAMERS which Publisher's Weekly called "A Knock Out." His illustrated chapter book LUCY VELOZ: HIGH-FLYING PRINCES was published by Cosmic Ray Press and is available on Amazon.com. Subscribe to his free online Webcomic & Newsletter at PLUGOarts.com for exclusives and buy merchandise ranging from cellphone cases to shower curtains on PLUGOarts.RedBubble.com. You should also with his new youtube series THE COMICS FU SHOW. On Twitter: @PLUGO, Instagram: @PLUGOarts
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