Introductions

[geraineon]

Welcome! You can use this post to share a little bit of yourself! Feel free to also just post an introduction to the community instead of replying to this post! You don't have to follow any format, but here are some prompts:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What is your favourite cnovel?
3. Do you have a favourite author?
4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
5. What do you hope to see from this community?

Comments

[geraineon]

I am gonna start the ball rolling:

Hi, I'm Neon, currently reading Sendoff. It's been a fun read so far (one dying, one trying to end their undying life, both after the same thing while lying about themselves).

I have a number of fav novels: Thousand Autumns (千秋), Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know (魔尊也想知道), Married Thrice to Salted Fish (三嫁咸鱼), Evil as Humans (凶人恶煞), and my new fav author, I think, is Nian Zhong (年终).

when I am not doing revenge sleep procrastination by reading novels late into the night, I play Honkai Star Rail, and I do also read other books (I am trying! but webnovels are so long!)

I hope we will all have a good time chatting about cnovels~

[nemainofthewater]

I love Sendoff! It's so good, all the characters are so crunchy and the worldbuidling is beautiful

[nemainofthewater]

Hi! I'm Nemain, currently reading Mo Du/Silent Reading (and about 7 others scattered around the internet that I refresh each week to see if they've updated...).

I read a lot of webnovels, and I can't remember if I have a favourite, but five of the completely translated ones that I've read recently and really like are Mr Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life, Sendoff, Strong Winds Return Home, Suddenly Trending, and After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General .

There are... so many more that I've read and enjoyed, but I'll leave it at five in the hopes of not writing an entire essay...

I also enjoy watching cdrama (mainly with friends) and I write fanfic on Ao3 (also a lot of Chinese media recently haha).

Thanks for setting this community Geraineon!

[gekidasa]

I'm Mura!

Currently reading: A Lady's Tranquility (the novel Story of Kunning Palace is based on.

Favourite cnovel: Fourteenth Year of Chenghua, but MDZS is the one I'm most in fandom for.

Favourite author: I don't know that I've read enough to know. Danmei, probably MXS... but although the only thing I've read from Hai Yan is Langya Bang, I've also watched both NiF and NiF2, which she also wrote, and I just LOVE both of those stories, so... maybe I love her more.

Hobbies and interests: Photography, travel, reading in general, studying chinese, just went back to university to study ceramics Hope to see from this community: People to talk about cnovels with! Cnovels beyong JUST MXTX! Discussion of genre conventions and tropes!

[geraineon]

Yay, a fellow Sendoff lover! It is so good! So far that's two out of two of Nian Zhong's that I really love, and from what I have seen from a friend reading another Nian Zhong (Happy Doomsday), that's gonna be awesome too.

I'm about halfway through now.

[geraineon]

Welcome to the community~ Glad to have you!

Ohh, Strong Winds Returns Home is on my TBR list. I enjoyed Mr. Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life too. Cyan Wings has an interesting take on genres/tropes. I just took a look at After Being Force to Marry the Evil Star General and I think I started that some time ago before it was finished and never finished it. I guess I know what else I'll be reading soon.

... the pain of reading not completely translated novels, ahaha (I am still waiting for more Panguan, but I am happy waiting because the TL quality is very good)

[geraineon]

Yay, nice to have you here Mura~!

People to talk about cnovels with! Cnovels beyong JUST MXTX! Discussion of genre conventions and tropes!

Absolutely! Hm, maybe we can have regular trope chats specifically related to Chinese webnovels too.

[nemainofthewater]

There are so many excellent novels and so many talented translators! If you ever want recs i am always here, i am always happy to talk about webnovels (much to the detriment of my sleep schedule, day job, and fic...)

[geraineon]

Hahaha that's me too. Instead of working, here I am, launching a cnovel comm, replying to comments!

And sure, will def ask once I clear some of the titles on my list! My plan after sendoff is either Happy Doomsday or Cultivation in C. Then, I guess we shall see what I am in the mood for at that time~

[nemainofthewater]

I've got A Lady's Tranquility on my to read list! I'm halfway through Kunning Palace and I'm currently debating on whether to read before or while watching.

LYB is so good! I actually have a hard copy in simplified chinese, and it's a goal to be able to read it one day haha. I didn't realise when i bought it just how comparitively complicated the language is to read in the original, but I will persevere!

[gekidasa]

...Well! I find Kunning Palace really interesting because at the end in particular there is a certain scene that ONLY makes sense if you know of something that happens in the book but not the drama. I knew because I'm in a group chat with someone that had read as well as watched, and she'd told me about the differences.

It's not all the way translated though T_T

[gekidasa]

I started learning chinese in order to someday mdzs and other cnovels. I'm 2 years in at the local Confucius Institute and... um, not even close yet haha.

[halfcactus]

1. What are you currently reading?
She Belongs to Me by Da Ying.

2. What is your favourite cnovel?
I don't really have one yet... I guess I Ship My Rival X Me by PEPA? I did also like Silent Reading and imprinted on the main character (Luo Wenzhou).

3. Do you have a favourite author?
Not yet. ;__; I'm a very slow reader and I don't read much, honestly.

4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
Journaling. Fandom-wise, vidding and subtitling, though I'm kind of tired of it now haha.

5. What do you hope to see from this community?
I know it's a long shot, but gen (non-romance or little romance focus) novel or manhua recs!

[halfcactus]

*Gen novel recs that are not The King's Avatar because that one is way too long for me aksjd;ajsf; I was thinking more of like... standard novel length.

[geraineon]

Welcome! Someday, someday I will get to I Ship My Adversary x Me (I heard so much good things about it).

Haha, webnovels are extra hard becomes as you said, some of the are so long... Hm, for gen novel recs, I really like (but haven't finished reading) Tai Sui by priest: https://edanglarstranslations.com/ts

Steampunk xianxia, no pairing. Have you read it? (that's the only one gen webnovel I know that I have read some of). If SF novels are okay, Folding Beijing was a short and interesting read, and available here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/folding-beijing-2/

edited to add: stepped away then thought of it, I think it'll be nice to have a gen novel rec post up later too (hm, maybe we can do themed weekly recs, that's a thought)! I too want to read more gen novels~

[mekare]

1. I have only just finished Modao Zushi and plan on Heaven's Official Blessing next as it's being translated into German atm (2 volumes available). I'm also rereading Volume 5 of Daomu Biji (Xu Lei).
2. MDZS
3. I haven't yet read enough to have a favourite and my relationship to Xu lei (of whom I've read the most) is complicated (great characters and setting, lots of unfinished volumes in the DMBJ series).
4. Reading, Art, Music.
5. Just a place to share recs and reviews and discover some new authors.

[autodach]

Hello, happy to be here :D

1. What are you currently reading?
The Ultimate Blue Seal by Priest

2. What is your favourite cnovel?
Mo Du/Silent Reading by Priest

3. Do you have a favourite author?
I’m on a quest to read everything BL by Priest. Does that count as a favourite?

4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
I love cooking and video games :D

5. What do you hope to see from this community?
I hope to find lesser-known novels to read

[shipperslist]

Ohh, a new community!

I've read Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by MXTX several times, the atrocious, older Guardian fantranslation and Farawy Wanderers, both by priest. I have a bunch of danmei on my TBR-list, and my goal is to tackle a second round of Book Bingo as a danmei edition. The webnovels I already have might be enough for a blackout but hopefully this community will be of help if I need more ideas.

[ehyde]

Hello, thanks so much for making this community! I'm Hyde.

I'm currently reading C Language Cultivation (by the author of Little Mushroom). I'm less than halfway through but I'm really into it!

My favorite cnovel is, I think, Tai Sui by Priest, but I've been the most active in MDZS fandom. Currently I'd say my favorite author is Nian Zhong (but I haven't read everything of theirs yet)

The hobby I'm most into these days is bookbinding (mostly I bind fanfic).

From this community, I hope to find and share recs for novels that aren't so widely known, and connect with fans of less popular novels.

[halfcactus]

ISMM really is more of a pick-me-up read haha which I do recommend if you have experiences with RPF. I get so much joy from the audiodrama and manhua adaptations because there are some extra scenes, and they're just a lot of fun.

I actually didn't know that Tai Sui was gen! That, or I keep forgetting when people tell me it is. XD Edanglars translating it will make it more readable for me hehe.

Thanks for the recs and links! I do read SF on occasion, so I'll put Folding Beijing on my list! Am very happy to be in a comm where people seem to read pretty widely. ♥

Some themed posts would be nice!

[ehyde]

I'll second the rec for Tai Sui and also throw in a rec for The Langya List (the novel Nirvana in Fire was based on) if you haven't read it. The novel is gen -- I gather the drama added more of a romantic element with Nihuang but that's not there in the book.

I think these are the only two gen cnovels I've read -- no, wait. We Live in Nanjing (a sf novel that came up in discussions of last year's hugo nominations debacle) is gen, and it was a fun story, communicating with someone in the future via ham radio to prevent an apocalypse. But there's only an mtl translation for now.

[anne]

Hello! Followed the link from Mastodon, where I'm aegtx at wandering.shop

1. What are you currently reading? Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

2. What is your favourite cnovel? Not yet! I like many equally

3. Do you have a favourite author? Maybe Cyan Wings, but Meng Xi Shi is also up there (edit: my favorite translator is EDanglars, which is why I bought Golden Terrace and Imperial Uncle sight unseen. No regrets!)

4. What are your other hobbies and interests? fiber arts, reading things that aren't cnovels, watching cdramas, finding out what other people are nerds about

5. What do you hope to see from this community? I'm excited about having in-depth fannish conversations again! The kind you can't really have on Masto or Bsky or Discord.

[ehyde]

I liked Mr Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life a lot -- actually I've liked everything I've read by Cyan Wings so far. I like the way she plays with tropes. Sendoff took me a little longer to get into than the other Nian Zhong novels I've read but I thought the worldbuilding was really cool, once I figured out what was going on

[geraineon]

I have friends into RPF so I have seen the RPF world haha. Chinese actors RPF too. So I will probably enjoy it!

Hope you enjoy both Tai Sui and Folding Beijing! (I was initially gonna open a danmei webnovel comm but I also wanted to talk about non-danmei books so here we are! Haha. Similarly, I'm happy to see people here read widely!)

[geraineon]

Welcome! I saw your post linking your MDZS read posts, definitely heading over there soon!

... Haha my friends who read DMBJ have talked a lot about Xu Lei in similar ways. I need to get started on that too. Really enjoyed Ultimate Note, that HeiHua movie and whatever I've seen of Sha Hai