Free-For-All Friday + Scavenger Hunt

[geraineon]

Time for free for all Friday, a day for random chit-chat!

Do you want to talk about the other novels you are reading or find a read-along partner? Practice your Chinese? Request for fics? Ask for beta readers? Just talk about your day?

Go right ahead!

Also, I'm thinking it might be fun to do a year long c-novel scavenger hunt!

How it works is, you can suggest in the following google form an item, a trope, a scene, etc. in the box below. I'll collate them all and then depending on how many suggestions there are, create a randomized list for each person who wants to play. When you read a book (define "c-novels" as loosely as possible here) and encounter that thing on your list, check it off and put the title of the book next to it to keep track of where you found it. When you manage to check off all, just respond on any of the weekly posts that you finished it.

This is all on the honor system and you are free to rules lawyer your way into checking off stuff!

Google form link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfz4we33UTHhOILV9Z-D68QxK43xVrC9Ju5clf89VMK96dm6Q/viewform

edited to add: open until 17 Jan 2025 (if we don't have 20 submissions by then, I'll keep it open for a little longer).

Comments

[aurumcalendula]

I've started rereading QJJ and just noticed a reference in volume 1 to Highlight for spoilers! *the same poorly maintained public sewers that cause problems in volume 2.* I had assumed it was just setting the scene, not foreshadowing.

Legend of Exorcism sounds interesting. Has anyone here read it (and if so, what did you think of it)?

The scavenger hunt sounds fun!

[geraineon]

Oh! That reference is neat!

I've not read Legend of Exorcism. Hopefully someone has~

[neigette]

I've read it, and it's a pretty fun read! I personally liked Dinghai (and Joyful Reunion) more though.

[douqi]

Made a suggestion for the scavenger hunt :)

It's my first week back at work post-Christmas break, and I'm absolutely drowning in things that need to be done RIGHT NOW. So I haven't been able to make any progress on the book I'm currently reading (not a c-novel; it's about the Pre-Raphaelite art movement). I have, however, assembled this quarter's baihe reading list for people to judge! It's over here.

[ehyde]

What's the book about the Pre-Raphaelites?

[douqi]

It's The Pre-Raphaelites and Their World, an edited compilation of the writings/personal reminiscences of William Michael Rossetti (aka the sane one). I'm rather overly emotionally invested in the Pre-Raphaelites.

[ehyde]

I hope you can find some time to read it!

I just picked up a biography of William Morris that the library had on hold for me, but it turns out it's over 700 pages long, so I'm not sure I'll manage to read the whole thing (I'm mostly here for the Kelmscott Press).

[douqi]

I'm also overly invested in the Kelmscott Press. One day I will acquire a copy of the Basilisk Press facsimile edition of the Kelmscott Chaucer. One day.

[ehyde]

My library system has a facsimile Kelmscott Chaucer -- I placed a hold on it thinking it was just a collection of images (this was before I realized that most of them are on archive.org already) and when I found it waiting on the hold shelf opted not to take it home with me. It was pretty neat though.

[douqi]

That sounds AMAZING.

I once saw the Folio Society facsimile edition of the Kelmscott Chaucer (it's supposedly less good than the Basilisk Press one, but still impressive) in a secondhand bookshop and made excited noises at it until a salesperson gave me a weird look (absolutely fair).

[geraineon]

<3

Hope the post-Christmas work will calm down a little soon. Gonna head over to that link soon!

[shipperslist]

I'm reading Heavenly Tyrant AND LOVING IT Aaaahhhh (I have nothing else right now. Just incoherent screaming.)

[geraineon]

That's a great start to the book!

[shipperslist]

It isssss. XJZ warned on insta that this book is different from Iron Widow but... I mean, it's different that it's not almost continuous Qi-Jaegers fighting? But the MOOD and VIBE is the same.

[geraineon]

I remember you really liked Iron Widow. Sometimes, all you want is the same mood and vibes and it sounds like this book delivers on that front~

[ehyde]

Dealing with a sick kid the past few days means I just haven't gotten as much of anything done as I'd wanted to do, including reading. But I'm now up to chapter 3 of To Embers We Return, and dying to learn more about the setting.

[ehyde]

I'm also starting to ponder what I should request for this year's cnovel bookbinding exchange, as I think signups for that are coming up soon.

[dayadhvam_triad]

There's a cnovel bookbinding exchange? :o

[ehyde]

It's not really public-facing, since in the past some people have gotten the wrong idea about fanbinding (no money is being made and no one is trying to take anything away from official versions; I'd say most of us consider bookbinding a form of fanart). If you're interested I could send you a discord invite, or dig up some pics from people who posted their pieces from last year's exchange publicly.

[dayadhvam_triad]

I'd love to see any publicly posted pics from last year's exchange! I think (fan)bookbinding is really cool. :D

[ehyde]

(posted some links further down this thread)

[llonkrebboj]

+1 I would also loooove to see publicly posted pictures from cnovel fanbinding! That's so cool ^^

[ehyde]

(posted some links further down this thread)

[douqi]

+1 on publicly-posted pictures!

[ehyde]

(posted some links further down this thread)

[ehyde]

a TGCF bind from last year's exchange

my own (partial) Evil As Humans bind from last year's exchange

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know from last year's exchange <--this user has a lot of cnovel fanbindings on their tumblr including, off the top of my head, an epic single-volume TGCF as well as the Pet Fish novel bound in fishskin leather

[dayadhvam_triad]

Thanks for sharing—these look amazing!

[geraineon]

Ah, where is the cnovels bookbinding exchange normally hosted? Wonder if anyone else here might want to know about it.

Hope your kid feels better soon!

[douqi]

Hope your kid feels better soon! <3

[ehyde]

Thank you! And I've now read all seven translated chapters and! The lore drop! Was not expecting that and I'm so here for it

[douqi]

Great to know you're enjoying it! Eighth chapter coming next week provided work doesn't land another bunch of deadlines on me. Yeah, that was a major moment when I first read it as well!

[dayadhvam_triad]

Checked out a few more cnovels (all historical: transmigration, timetravel [NOT modern-day to past 穿越时空 but historical RPF 重生 which I feel is less common], and even live broadcast [the equivalent of fic where characters read/watch the canon, which I'm usually meh about]), but stopped partway through all of them... I think I'm a little burned out on webnovels for now. Still following the 3K Workers audiobook, but other than that I'm gonna take a break and try to focus on the physical books I've yet to read and the fic tl WIPs I've been ignoring. XD

[geraineon]

Mm, it does sound like a good time to take a break. What physical book will you be reading next?

[dayadhvam_triad]

Giving Good Weight by John McPhee! I really enjoy his writing, and since it's a collection of essays my much shorter off-line reading attention span should be able to handle it. XD

[llonkrebboj]

I think I submitted like 5 or 6 at once for the scavenger hunt xD Will be back if more occur to me xD

Not much reading has happened yet as I've been working on another holiday 'group project' with friends (Spring in Japan, here I come!!!!), and idly looking things up for Yu Xuanji's poetry.

Howeverrrr, it looks like 漂亮小瞎子也要被炮灰吗 | Must the pretty blindy be used as cannon fodder too？ by 寒雾隐 has finally completed!!!! I've had my eye on since October last year when it got recced in the weibo fragile bottoms post. It is quite bite sized at 81 chapters ranging from 2 - 4k words each, and just as potato chippy as it sounds!
Basically, the main character has gained sentience from his switched at birth trope novel, complete with a System and mission to keep the plot on track. MC is supposed to be this green tea!real son canon fodder villain, and the novel he's in features the false son of the rich family as the universally loved main character. Only problem is! The system arrived a little late in the storyline, and to its horror, realizes the mc it is bound to has somehow been blinded O: and probably is the sweetest, worstest villain for the job xD
MC is proud of his green tea skills (he has none xD) works very hard at his role (and keeps failing spectacularly). He also has low vision that will eventually degenerate into total blindness + falls sick quite often.
I look forward to digging into this one once my other missions are completed ^^

An awesome and action packed ongoing WIP is 无限副本唯一指定清道夫 (One and Only Designated Cleaner of Unlimited Flow Instances) | SIN by Philoso. The main character introduces himself as a phd holder who graduated and went to work as a crime scene cleaner. He's full of secrets and has PTSD (we currently don't know why, but he has been triggered in a conversation with the ML about his father). For obvious reasons, the setup sometimes reminds me a little bit of Viscera Cleanup Detail (youtube it!) xD

His boss recently described him with this analogy:
'Like a lion that got released into the dangerous woods. You'd think it can protect itself... and indeed it's living wild and free, fighting poisonous snakes, taking on an entire wolf pack... and at first you don't notice, but as you slowly start to remember it, looking back, you realise it was covered in injuries every day.'

I'm always excited to let this one fatten up over the week to enjoy it on weekends xD

[geraineon]

XD Thank you for your submissions!

Ohh, holiday group project? You mean trip planning?

MC is proud of his green tea skills (he has none xD) works very hard at his role (and keeps failing spectacularly). He also has low vision that will eventually degenerate into total blindness + falls sick quite often.

This sounds like PRIME POTATO CHIPS! Might I even say, ngaku (arrowroot) chips!!

Viscera Cleanup Detail is a game? Interesting.