Author Spotlight: priest

[momijizukamori]

The end of September snuck up on me! But here's the author spotlight for priest, with a big shoutout to the priest discord server for helping me round up links and adaptation info :)

A prolific author in her mid-30s, known for writing across a wide range of genres. She's most-recognized for being a danmei author, but has also written some gen and boy-girl/yanqing novels. Common features of priest novels:

• novels are typically not driven by relationship conflict, and rather have some sort of main non-romantic plot that the relationship twines around
• as such, characters tend to get together relatively early but still have to deal with the main plot before they can have a happily-ever-after
• Gongs who cook
• Some blurriness around which character is the gong and which is the shou (including many shous who think they're the gongs)
• Her danmei novels are all labeled as shou POV, they're usually written in shifting third-person-limited POV which mostly switches between the main pair but with occasional ventures to other characters/events to build dramatic tension for the reader
• Lots of literary refs to both Chinese and Western classics, and language that is considered somewhat more complex/aimed at an older target audience
• Pets, particularly cats (particularly fat cats). The pets are all fine, I promise.
• relationship dynamics that skirt the bounds of propriety - age gaps are common, but also characters who met when one was a child, characters who were raised together as children, etc. To quote someone on twitter - the pseudo-incest is a feature, not a bug
• completed danmei novels so far are all happy endings (other novels vary)

If you like...

• scifi - Can Ci Pin or You Yi/Itinerant Doctor
• historical/court intrigue - Sha Po Lang, Qi Ye (in part)
• wuxia - Tian Ya Ke or Bandits
• xianxia - Liu Yao, Tai Sui, or Jin Se
• modern supernatural + mythology - Guardian or Lie Huo Jiao Chou
• crime/thriller - Huai Dao or Mo Du
• modern/coming-of-age - Da Ge or Guo Men

Adaptations

Many priest novels have been licensed for various types of adaptations, of which only a few have actually materialized.

Manhua

• Can Ci Pin - ran for 18 chapters
• Lie Huo Jiao Chou - ran for 101 chapters on BiliBili (covering 82 chapters of the novel). Some chapters were briefly available in English officially before BiliBili shut down their international manhua site, and there are 7 chapters available fan-translated

Donghua

• Can Ci Pin - one season, 3D CG animation.
• Lie Huo Jiaou Chou - one season, cel-style CG animation. Available with English subtitles on Crunchyroll, at least in the US.

Live Action

• Guardian - adapts the novel of the same name, for a very, very loose definition of 'adapts' (the plot was heavily altered to remove any supernatural/mythological references and replace them with sci-fi nonsense). The first priest live action series, and the first dangai series, really. Notorious for having a budget of two yuan and some candy wrappers they found under a sofa, but has an enduring fandom on the strength of the casting and acting of the main cast
• Word of Honor/Shānhé lìng/山河令 - Adapts Tian Ya Ke/Faraway Wanderers
• Legend of Fei - adapts 有匪/Bandits
• Justice in the Dark/光·渊 / Guang Yuan - Adapts Mo Du/Silent Reading. All the characters have new names for ?? reasons ?? and they added in some sci-fi nonsense which I personally think somewhat undermines themes of the original novel, but otherwise sticks fairly close to the novel beats. The entire series has supposedly been filmed, but only eight episodes have been released, which cover the entire first arc (chapters 1-33) and the beginning of the second arc

Audio Drama

• Sha Po Lang
• Mo Du (edited in August 2022, unfortunately)
• Lie Huo Jiao Chou
• Tian Ya Ke
• Can Ci Pin
• Liu Yao
• Da Ge
• Guo Men
• Youfei

Links

General

• https://pipi.carrd.co/ - general priest info card, somewhat out of date
• https://discord.gg/n9QxrRZbe9 - general priest discord server (friendly but fairly quiet)
• http://www.jjwxc.net/oneauthor.php?authorid=145956 - priest's JJWXC profile
• http://yikouliaoyadexiaotiantian619.lofter.com/ - priest's Lofter account

Novel-specific

• Can Ci Pin - https://cancipin.carrd.co/
• Guo Men - https://info-guomen.carrd.co/
• Huai Dao - https://huaidao.carrd.co/
• Jin Se - https://jinse.carrd.co/
• Lie Huo Jiao Chou
  • https://lhjc.carrd.co/
  • https://liehuo.carrd.co/
• Liu Yao - https://readliuyao.carrd.co/
• Mo Du - https://modustarter.carrd.co/
• Qi Ye - https://qiye.carrd.co/
• Sha Po Lang
  • https://spl-info.carrd.co/
  • https://shapolangpriest.carrd.co/
  • https://ziliujin.net
• Shan He Biao Li - https://shanhebiaoli.carrd.co/
• Shou Cong Zhi Dao - https://sczd.carrd.co/
• Tian Ya Ke
  • https://tian-ya-ke.carrd.co/
  • https://ghost-valley.dreamwidth.org/
• You Fei - https://youfeitl.carrd.co/
• Zhenhun
  • https://readguardian.carrd.co/
  • https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/
• Zhongji Lanyin - https://zhongjilanyin.carrd.co/

Comments

[geraineon]

Thank you so much for writing this month's author's spotlight, and thank you to the priest discord server too!

I love priest's cats XD

Want to add, there's a Taiwanese adaptation of Da Ge called Unknown (yay pseudocest!): https://mydramalist.com/762497-unknown

[momijizukamori]

Oh, that completely slipped my mind - I'll add it to the list (and maybe some info links for the various LA adaptations...)

[full_metal_ox]

Ah yes, your icon: Gu Yun from Sha Po Lang, master of 5-Dimensional Troll Chess; I’m particularly impressed by his audacity in (ROT-13 for spoilers) znxvat na batbvat naq ynathvfuvat fubj bs srvtavat qvfnovyvgvrf gung…ur trahvaryl unf. (Naq vf ur farnxvat fbzr onyrshy zhfvpny phygvingvba haqre gur enqne, be qbrf uvf syhgr cynlvat fhpx whfg gung zhpu?)

[hazevi]

priest!

Long ramble incoming:

Sha Po Lang in many ways was a lot of firsts for me so it holds a very special place in my heart, especially the audio drama where I loved Gu Yun ahhhhh. Guomen holds a very dear place in my heart for that one quote (iykyk). I was also really girlcrushing on Zhou Fei from You Fei for sometime after reading it.

Lie Huo I went through in a daze because of the two different versions thing and my stupidity of not really catching up with the main storyline, so I'll probably reread it sometime. However, I do know that Xuan Ji is a MOOD. Also, surprisingly, the animation/donghua series might be the best priest adaptation to a visual medium out of all of them.

Speaking of adaptations, I find it quite unfortunate that most priest adaptations to visual mediums except for Lie Huo to have missed the mark for me in some way, mostly cuz of script writing... Not to say that Guardian didn't try or Word of Honor wasn't great, it's just kind of a *vibe* thing for me since I think that priest novels have a lot in them other than relationships, so even adapting the plot would be very interesting. But they all kind of missed for me so...*I'm glaring at Legend of Fei*. Ofc that's just an opinion, I understand why a lot of adaptations are loved. Justice in the Dark I feel like I can't comment on since it's just... not complete?

Embarrassingly, I have not read Can Ci Pin or Mo Du yet, which seem to have a lot of readers, but honestly I take a long time to process priest's writing and these two are pretty long so they're intimidating for me haha. I'm currently working on Qiao Tou Lou Shang (End of the Bridge, Top of the Tower) since I impulsively bought a physical copy while I was traveling.

After I am done with that I plan to read Liu Yao sometime in the unknown future because I've heard it's painful and I love that hhhh

But yeah, thank you for the writeup and compilation of links <3

[halfcactus]

The Sha Po Lang audio drama is the main reason why I want to get into the novel... I really enjoyed the Mo Du audio drama, if that helps! I loved the way they adapted season 2, even though it was a very stressful case and I couldn't listen to the audio drama at night because of the horror atmosphere lol. Gu Yun's VA plays the cat, which is hilarious and cute. Or at least Ajie, who I assume is Gu Yun's VA...

I'm also currently working my way through Qiao Tou Lou Shang and suffering ;___;

[hazevi]

Yes! Ajie-laoshi is Gu Yun's VA and tbh you'd think that with so many characters he plays/voices in c-drama land and c-novel adaptation-land it'd be a bit jarring, but Gu Yun is definitely brought to life in the audio drama. However, there are some descriptions that hit HARD in the novel so I'd definitely recommend a read.

I'm going to consider following Mo Du along with the audio drama now hehe

Qiao Tou Lou Shang is very unique so much so that I can't even get my thoughts out about it halfway through, but I share the T-T sentiment.

[halfcactus]

Just wanted to add that I'm pretty sure the SPL audio drama was fully subbed by a subbing team a while back, but I'm not sure if it's still up or if they ever moved the subs to Maoer...

*still mourning Justice in the Dark*

[momijizukamori]

They're still up, I just wasn't quite sure how kosher it was to link to fan translations directly so I decide not to (but for anyone reading this, I think at least one of the SPL carrds links them)

[halfcactus]

Ohhh yeah I was wondering why the links list was very minimalist + mostly carrds… Makes sense, considering I myself hesitate to post my fansubs publicly lol.

Good to know that the fansubs are still up! I think I remember them being around before the big danmei craze so I’m attached. :’)

[geraineon]

Ah, regarding fan translations, for me personally, it's okay to link to fan tl of novels if it's not licensed yet, okay to link to fansubs of audio dramas, if they are not on youtube (e.g., a text file meant to be read with the audio drama, or similar), and whenever in doubt, lock to community (or send me a DM!). Hope that clarifies!

I know access to audio drama can be difficult, especially for some people in some countries, and especially with language barrier.

[dayadhvam_triad]

Thanks for writing up this author's spotlight! also ty I didn't know about that priest discord XD

I'll always have a soft spot for Guardian because, having watched the show, I went to seek out the novel... and so started my descent into the cnovel pit lol (my previous cmedia consumption was all movies/shows and manhua, sans webnovels). And +1 love priest's cats!

[mekare]

Thanks for writing this up! I had totally forgotten that Word of Honour is Priest-based.

[gekidasa]

…they added scifi to Mo Du? But… WHY? To what possibly purpose?

[momijizukamori]

It's not a lot of sci-fi (like...Gattaca levels), but I assume it was censorship reasons. I wrote [a more indepth post]( https://momijizukamori.dreamwidth.org/473491.html) about my opinions after watching what we got - it's got some very minor first-arc spoilers I think but not much.

[gekidasa]

Oh, I’m done with the first arc, so not a problem with spoilers for that part

[umadoshi]

Thank you for putting this all together!

[jiuyeqiying]

Just adding on a bit, if fanmade audio dramas are included:
1) Qi Ye (two tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2019, has a lovely heartwrenching original prologue of HLY commanding JBY to be given white silk, stops at the first 3-4 chapters)
2) Jin Se (in spirit...because it was basically one track that summarised the novel)
3) Shan He Biao Li (two tracks that covered 1/3 of the book, track 2 updated after 5 years of hiatus from track 1, the running joke is that track 3 will come in the next 5 years...which will be 2027 XD)
4) Shou Cong Zhi Dao (completed)
5) Youyi (two tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2020, up to chapter 14)
6) Zhenhun (two tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2018, in the midst of case 1)
7) Zuihou de Shouwei/Final Protectors (five tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2020)
8) Yi Shu Ren Sheng (completed)
9) Guangze Jiushi (three tracks, last update January 2024)
10) Ni Lu(v) Lai Sheng (three tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2020)
11) Zhongji Lanyin (2 adaptations, Ver 1 has seven tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2021. Ver 2 has two tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2018)
12) Huaidao (three tracks, most likely abandoned project since it hasn't been updated since 2015 despite comments that updates were being recorded during 2017)

Note: All hosted on MissEvan.

[aurumcalendula]

Thank you for putting this together!

iirc Qi Ye was one the first cnovel I finished (I loved Word of Honor, which made me look for Qi Ye and Tian Ya Ke).

Priest's stuff tends to be kinda hit and miss for me so far - I liked Qi Ye, Tian Ya Ke, Guardian, and Mo Du, but bounced off Can Ci Pin, Sha Po Lang, and Ultimate Blue Seal.

[mekare]

Thank you so much for this, I‘m going to refer back to it later.