Product Placement
will byers stan first human second
Cosmic Funnies
dirt enthusiast
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Today's Document
Misplaced Lens Cap
Game of Thrones Daily
Andulka
tumblr dot com
I'd rather be in outer space đž
Stranger Things
Not today Justin
Discoholic đȘ©
JVL
almost home
noise dept.
KIROKAZE
we're not kids anymore.
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
seen from Russia
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seen from United States
seen from Honduras
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Netherlands
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
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seen from United States
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@adozencrows
no shot men hold up half the sky wtf was mao on
When Mao said "Women hold up half the sky," it was unknown at the time what held up the other half and so was left unstated. Later, Thomas Sankara discovered that women hold up the other half as well.
I wanna start legitimately contributing to the commie space here and since I'm getting this random surge of dopamine after lying in bed depressed (mental depression + tummy ache :((( ) I'm gonna post this as a reminder to myself to start doing that even after the surge passes. First I think what I wanna really share is how Malaysian Socialists handle the topic of Religion, since I'm thinking it'd be insightful to my Western moots and the writings have been useful for me personally when doing outreach or organizing. But even before that bcz I might need to edit these into actual readable posts and not just copy-paste whole pdfs or books, ill just share some lingo that ill probs be using here and there: âŹïž
Manglish :-
Translation: Bahasa Melayu/Malay + English
In Malaysia, the official lingua franca is Malay ( 'Bahasa Melayu' in Malay ), the business lingua franca is English and the layman lingua franca is Manglish! Which, while being just a combination of the words 'Malay' and 'English', is actually a creole mixing Malay, Tamil, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese, Mandarin (as well as contributions from other Chinese dialects) and English! I'll probably have a more in-depth posts on this cuz I'm a huge linguistics nerd (amateur only though, not academician) and I could write whole (non peer-reviewed) essays about the Manglish creole. For now, just know I wanted to share this as a preface in case it's ever brought up, because a lot of published Malaysian Leftist writings are in fact in Manglish, and not perfect Malay or English.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia :-
Translation: Socialist Party of Malaysia
( Shortformed: PSM )
This is currently the largest Left-Leaning political party and organization in Malaysia. They're officially Marxist-Leninist.
Saudara :-
Translation: Comrade ; lit. Cousin/Familial Relative Member
( Shortformed: Sdr. )
Sometimes you will just see 'Comrade' or 'Komrad' used. The latter just being a transliteration. Officially the major Socialist parties here always refers to fellow Communists and Socialists with Sdr. Insert Name on documents, published writings and verbally when giving talks, and sometimes even when referring to non-Malaysian Communists such as Sdr. Raul Castro, but in practice Comrade/Komrad is used just as often when speaking and even party members may use these in their writings if it's not anything super official. When translating to English, the official position by said parties are still to retain the Saudara/Sdr. convention but other organizations (like the one I'm a part of) will prefer the usage of 'Comrade'. I will personally retain the usage of Saudara/Sdr. even after translating out of pride in the Socialist identity formed within the Malay Archipelagos, I hope readers don't mind :)
Marhaen :-
Translation: Proletariat ; lit. Commoners/the Masses
( alt. Kaum Buruh/Golongan Pekerja/Rakyat Jelata )
For the most part when referring to the working class, I will just either use 'Working Class', 'Proletarian', 'labourers' or any other more specific terms if needs be. But I'd thought I'd throw this out as a fun fact due to its historical significance. It originates from 'Marhaenism' which was Soekarno's "Marxism with Indonesian Characteristics" ideology, adopted by early colonial-era Malayan Communist Parties as it also applied pretty well with British Malaya's material conditions at the time. I'll probably also share some Marxist-Marhaenist works some other time. 'Marhaen' as a word has come back into popular modern usage, but coopted and butchered by NeoLiberal Malaysians and Malay Supremacists, so while Socialists still use the term in slogans and speeches, it doesn't carry the ideological weight it used to thus is not used much when writing theory.
i know things are hella grim in the nsfw/kink art circles especially in the last year --
but I'm hearing there's a NSFW-friendly ko-fi alternative built on atproto that's actively in the works, and being vetted by lawyers right now. as torrent-princess (OP) says, you should be able to swap out payment processors while keeping your account intact. this matters since even if stripe removes support, you'll still have a shop and all of your links intact. (ATproto is an infrastructure that bsky is built on, but is far bigger than bsky with far more opportunities.)
additionally, the Free Speech Coalition is working on a credit union specifically for adult work (including kink art) - here's the link so you can add your interest & support. Since this will be built by sex workers, there'll be far less risk of being debanked for spurious and puritanical reasons.
on a domain TLD level, there's an initiative here for a .furry domain built from the ground up by seasoned furries; it's unclear whether they'll support NSFW, but it's yet another promising turn of events for a group that's been similarly affected by censorship.
there are friends and allies out there helping to build a working parallel infrastructure. keep being vocal, keep supporting these initiatives when it's possible, and keep supporting your nsfw/kink artists. â„
Since a lot of people donât seem to know a lot about leftist theory, or seem to misunderstand leftism, or even who just want to learn: Iâm going to create a master list of books and resources. The internet is full of misinformation surrounding the topic, and I want to help stop the spread as much as I can. So without further ado, I present:
QueerlyCryptidâs Leftist Resource Masterlist!
Books (mostly classics or introductions to leftist theory)
The Principles of Communism by Friedrich Engels
The Pedagogy of The Oppressed by Paulo Freire
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropoktin
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropoktin
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin
On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky
The Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
Books ( focused more on marginalized groups, leftist history, and deeper dives into leftism):
The Good Die Young: The Verdict On Henry Kissinger
Why Iâm No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women Of Color by Ruby Hamad
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in The Age of Colourblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Autobiography Of Malcolm X
Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
The Tragedy of Womenâs Emancipation by Emma Goldman
Caliban And The Witch: Women, The Body, And Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
Orientalism: Western Conceptions of The Orient by Edward W. Said
The Class Matrix: Social Theory After The Cultural Turn by Vivek Chibber
Western Marxism: How It Was Born, How It Died, How It Can Be reborn by Domenico Losurdo
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
The Wretched of The Earth by Frantz Fanon
Assata by Assata Shakur
Blood In My Eye by George L. Jackson
The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde
Gang Politics: Revolution, Repression, and Crime by Kristian Williams
Womenâs Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara
In Defense of Looting: a Riotous History of Uncivil Action by Vicky Osterweil
Websites and other resources:
Anarchist Library ( has thousands of articles, essays, and full books for free, you can download any of the PDFs. Contains theory from basically every leftist movement)
Queer Liberation Library
Marxists.org
Bannedthought.net (exclusively Maoist)
Marxistphilosophy.org
Prolewiki.org (anti Maoist)
Revulopedia.net (also anti Maoist)
Oceanpdf
Mlreadinghub.org
Podcasts:
Rev Left Radio
Trillbilly Workers Party
TrueAnon
The Red Nation Podcast
Blowback
Weird Little Guys
Working Class History
Head In The Office
Diabolical Lies
I obviously didnât list every single resource or book there is, but a lot of these books and websites contain information about other leftist movements, resources to find other books and resources, and guidance for more research. I tried to include works from multiple leftist ideologies including anarchism, Marxism, Leninism, socialism and Maoism, however thereâs many more leftist movements and ideologies. This is not by any means a full list, but itâs here to help get you started and to give resources that may help your research journey!
we gotta get back to torrent distribution, i just watched someone eat eight grand in bandwidth charges because they ran a direct-download piracy site with local file hosting through cloudflare. torrents were invented literally for this exact reason
torrents work like this
i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3
unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it
i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map
i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs
this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.
crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.
please learn to torrent
An expert guide to get started using torrentsTorrents are one of the most popular forms of file sharing on the internet, accounting for over
always use qbittorrent, do not use bitorrent or utorrent.
Well those are allllmost done
question. why do you have 7 featureless grey monoliths in your driveway
There's eight actually but the last one is still in the garage
question. why do you have eight featureless grey monoliths
They're actually a really dark purple
question. why do you have seven featureless really dark purple monoliths in your driveway and an eighth in the garage
Some of them do have features though. There's holes and hinges and stuff, so I can put secrets in em
question. why do you have 8 really dark purple occasionally featureful monoliths
The heart wants what the heart wants
this reads like a muppet sketch
see? See!??!
You're not wrong
This post is less than six months old.
World Heritage Post
Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner
yeah hang on
ignore the title of this google doc because it's a long story but it's a really solid recipe for southwest chicken alfredo
this is a vegetarian potato curry recipe that's about 75% spices; once you get the potatoes in there you can really do whatever you want with it
this is literally just pasta, broccoli, and cheese babey and you can live off that shit for DAYS it makes such a big portion
bro this spinach/pesto/3 cheese flatbread is so fucking tasty bro
also you can make the flatbread yourself it's super quick!!
oh hey I'm eating this white chickpea chili right now, much like the curry it's mostly spices and you can do p much do whatever you want with it
don't let the name fool you these potatoes are delicious any time. not just breakfast.
this is slightly more than five ingredient when you add them together but if you have time and really wanna fuckin treat yourself I recommend these chicken strips + this cornbread + either these potatoes or these buttered veggies on the side.
These are my two favorite comfort foods. They're very easy to make and dont take long to cook.
Garlic butter rice
Orzo mac and cheese (comes out a little bit soupy)
this recipe for gogumabap (sweet potato and rice) saved my life when i couldn't eat hardly anything for a long time. the recipe itself calls for a heavy bottomed pot but you can absolutely use a rice cooker and put the rice and diced sweet potato in together and just let the machine do its thing
If you have a crockpot, I do a really good pulled pork carnitas that is:
Pork - any cut boneless
Onions- chopped anyway you like
Orange juice - about one cup (you can use about 2 tablespoons of the condensed frozen stuff if you have it)
Root beer, pepsi, or other cola soda - about one cup
Preferred chili mix seasoning - 1-2 packets depending on how intense you like your flavoring and how much pork you put in
Garlic - as much as you wanna, specifically smashed not cut
Canned or frozen corn - to your preference
Dump all that into your crockpot in the morning (or the night before) and let it run on low until dinner. Cook some rice if you feel like it, or just serve over tortillas.
bro WTF, I wanna try this just for the sheer shit of it
During a time when the US is bombing another country or actively threatening its sovereignty, you should always take the most hardline stance of any position that opposes US foreign policy. I donât care about âaccuracyâ!!! You are adding your voice to a chorus soaked in the blood of children. Get a grip!!!
I get it. We all have a need to be right. But what is the material consequence of your well-reasoned critiques of a nation the imperial core is actively framing as ontologically evil as pretext for destroying? Mama letâs think for a second.
Assume your readers already believe the Iranian people, the Cuban people, the Venezuelan people, the Juche Korean people, etc. Whatever, are monstrous and deserving of US-imperial violence. Because they often do. That is your starting point, that is the image your critiques are building upon. Work backwards from there. Become a propagandist NOW. Peopleâs lives literally depend on it.
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.8 (Final)
Future Plans
Risa: Are you perhaps working on a novel?Â
Moxiang: I have not a few works in progress, but because my creative process is slow, for the foreseeable future, no work has taken proper form.Â
Risa: If you can write freely without worrying about readerâs reception, what kind of story will you write?Â
Moxiang: Personally, I enjoy and pride myself in being able to satisfy myself and my readers at the same time. Therefore, I never thought about disregarding my readerâs reception. I really have not thought through something like this before, so I would like not to answer this question.Â
Risa: What have you been doing recently?Â
Moxiang: Recently, Iâm into playing with slime. On my days off, I also want to play slime with my friends, or I think: âWhat do I eat today?â That sort of stuff.Â
Risa: So cute. Ms. Moxiang, even though you are so busy, you still reserve time to sit down and talk to us. Such a wonderful opportunity. Thank you! Lastly, other than the stories that you are working on, is there anything you would like to tell your Japanese readers?Â
Moxiang: Dear Japanese readers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. No matter if it is today or in the past, when I think about how my work has been translated into Japanese and read in Japan, I always feel an indescribable emotion in my heart. I am so, so happy.Â
Furthermore, regarding my newest work, âTian Guan Ci Fu,â I must apologize to all of you. Also, âMo Dao Zu Shiâ that we just talked about as well. Originally, there were no scenes where Lan Wangji visited the Burial Mound and the kiss on Bai Feng Mt. (Mount Hundred Phoenixes). These scenes were added on in the extra 50 thousand words edit in the new edition. But at the moment, the âTian Guan Ci Fuâ that Japanese readers have is the old edition without the additional contents. For the foreseeable future, it will only be this old edition. I donât know when the new edition will be ready or if there will be any further changes. I profusely apologize for this.   Â
Risa: We will work on this new edit with utmost seriousness.Â
Moxiang: Thatâs right. We will treat it with the highest level of care.Â
Risa: Kuohao-san, please say something to the audience waiting for the third season of the audio drama.Â
Kuohao: The third season is progressing very nicely in both story and the Wangxian romance. It will certainly be very exciting. Many details will be gradually revealed, and there will be countless famous scenes between Wangxian! Please listen to it!Â
Risa: Thank you both of you for today. I hope there will be future opportunities like this.Â
Moxiang: To be honest, this is my first official interview. I am better at writing than speaking. Iâm a little clumsy with my words. Today I was so very nervous. Thank you, Ms. Risa, for following and recommending âMo Dao Zu Shi.â Ms. Risaâs Mandarin is excellent! I look forward to future opportunities to sit down and talk. Furthermore, I hope I will have more opportunities to connect with my international readers. Â
-From Sichuan Province, China, November 28th, 2022-
Translatorâs Note: with this done, I will take my time to reorganize all 8 parts of this translation into a single file, proofread, and edit it. My plan is to host this one file on a platform that can be easily stored and shared among the community. So probably Google Drive. I will post the raw Mandarin transcript of the interview too, for people who can read Mandarin to read it directly.Â
Iâm thinking whether I should put it on other platforms too, for safekeeping, because digital things can disappear randomly. Iâm not sure where though. Tumblr and twitter are hardly suitable for archival purposes. AO3 maybe? If you have suggestions or advice, I would be very happy to hear them.Â
Translatorâs Note 2: recently I was told that my sharing this translated interview might be illegal and will negatively impact the fandom and make reprints of the magazine harder, that it will negatively impact fan etiquette. I concur this is a potential issue. So I would like to take a minute to clarify a few things.Â
1/ This interview was conducted in Mandarin and then translated into Japanese by Subaru and printed for their May-June 2023 edition. This edition is now being scalped on Japanese web for 7-10 times its original price.Â
2/ I originally got a single scanned page of the magazine (Japanese) and translated it with the help of my husband. I was waiting for further scans, but luckily, the actual translator (Mandarin to Chinese) working for Subaru posted the entire Mandarin transcript on weibo. Subsequent parts of this translation was made based entirely on this transcript. As my Mandarin skill is much better than my Japanese skill, this is reflected in the quality of the translation from part 4 onwards (something I intend to fix in the edit).Â
So we have a situation where: the magazine is in Japanese and sold to Japanese fans. The Mandarin transcript is posted publicly on weibo to Chinese audience (although that might change at any moment). I am Vietnamese, living and working in Vietnam, translating from Japanese / Mandarin to English for an international fandom (my husband is American citizen working for Saudi Arabia⊠if thatâs relevant to the issue).Â
I am not a lawyer, so I donât know how copyright laws apply here, or even if it applies at all. Again, if anyone has advice, suggestion, concerns, I would be open to hearing them. Â
I did intentionally add in footnotes explaining lingual concepts and cultural, philosophical references, to potentially lean on Fair Use (if it applies).Â
That said, I donât want to negatively impact MXTX, so if I receive official request, I will take this translation down.Â
Regarding potential fan etiquette, I donât really participate in the international fandom, but I do know fandom politics can be difficult to navigate. Itâs not really my place to gatekeep any body. As far as Iâm concerned, if the story brings you joy, then thatâs a good thing by itself already.Â
So, I would like to ask anyone who read this translation to please keep this in mind. Fan translation is a gray area issue. Whatever you feel, please consider the wellbeing of the fandom itself, and to not potentially negatively impact Ms. Moxiang. If thereâs anything you donât like in this translation, please just chalk it up as my translating skill not being up to snuff.Â
Sincerely,
NPD KhanhÂ
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.7
Which creative works influence you:Â
Risa: Please tell us which creative works influence you.Â
Moxiang: Professor Jin Yongâs wuxia novels (*)! Professor Jin Yong is my number one teacher in the craft of writing. His skill in crafting wuxia stories, his artistic palate, the sheer intellectual depth and philosophical complexity of his stories and characters. Professor Jin Yongâs wuxia novels have a profound and immeasurable influence on all modern Asian creative professionals.Â
(*: the legendary late professor Jin Yong. Heâs not as well-known in English-speaking spheres due to the complexity of his works being very difficult to translate to languages outside of the Sino-Tibetan language family. But in Asia, heâs a literature titan. Heâs comparable to Tolkien in that he laid the foundation and codified the tropes of wuxia as a modern genre (alongside Gu Long and Liang Yusheng) and brought about the first and subsequent wuxia waves, and that thereâs also university courses and entire research field on Jin-Yong-ology. However, heâs a much more prolific writer, having produced 15 wuxia series, among which 14 are of comparable length or longer than the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit combined.Â
It would be no lie to say thereâs not a single creative professional in Asia that is not influenced by Jin Yong in some way, shape, or form.Â
One of Jin Yongâs trademarks is the overwhelming, often obsessive, sometimes destructive love that his characters exhibit. Thereâs not one work of his that is not threaded through with larger-than-life romance, not just among the protagonists, but also among the villain characters. The trend of modern Chinese literature, especially wuxia and xianxia, to portray larger-than-life romance can be traced directly to Jin Yongâs influence.Â
Interestingly, heâs also credited as having accidentally created the proto icon of danmei as a genre.Â
Iâm sorry. Iâm so excited I want to cry. Professor Jin Yong is also my first teacher in the craft of writing. It turns out we all step in the footsteps of the giant, huh, Moxiang?)Â
I also watch a lot of 90s Hongkong movies. Do you know âShaolin Soccerâ? Â
Risa: I do know!Â
Moxiang: Stephen Chowâs comedy movies, Tsui Harkâs wuxia, and fantasy horror movies. Lam Ching-yingâs walking corpse movies. I love all of these.Â
Risa: Thatâs closer to jiangshi (*) than modern zombies.
(*: a type of Chinese walking corpse. The name literally translates to stiff corpse. Jiangshi is typically translated into Chinese hopping vampire in English due to their similarity to Western vampires. They are the dead that comes back to life. They suck yang energy from living people. They fear the smell of garlic. Etc⊠Jiangshi has real-life basis in an extinct profession in China: the corpse walker, i.e., people who made a living out of âwalkingâ corpses back to their home provinces in times of war and chaos. Corpse walkers are mentioned in Liao Yiwuâs historical book 'The Corpse Walkerâ)Â
Moxiang: Thatâs right. Thatâs right. A hopping jiangshi. I watch a lot of such movies. Some movies are from before I was born, such as 'A Chinese Ghost Storyâ and 'Sword Manâ (*). I have watched them more than ten times! If I meet someone who has never watched those movies before, I will enthusiastically drag them along while saying, "Letâs watch them together!â My novel bears obvious and immense influence from these movies⊠For example, the funny scenes in my story are very close to the atmosphere of comedy scenes from Hongkong cinema. Or the walking corpses in my story. My inspiration came from these undead corpses. In the novel, I mentioned using glutinous rice as a cure for corpse powder. This knowledge came from the movie âProfessor Jiangshiâ (named 'Mr. Vampireâ in English in the Wikipedia).
(*: Both of these movies are Tsui Harkâs movies and are counted among the top 100 best movies of Asian cinema. They are known for their fantasy elements, eroticism, and homoeroticism. These movies came from a time where Asian cinema was pushing boundaries left, right, and center. Swordsman and its spin-off were adapted from Professor Jin Yongâs The Smiling Proud Wander. The very same work in which he accidentally created the proto-icon of danmei. I wrote an essay about this as part of danmei history last year. I will make a separate post after this.)
Risa: To be honest, when I reached the part where glutinous rice was used to cure corpse powder in 'Mo Dao Zu Shi,â I was moved.
Moxiang: Ah? A Japanese author saw the glutinous rice scene in my novel and linked it to jiangshi movies⊠That is so surprising!Â
Risa: When I was young, I watched a lot of jiangshi movies. I love them!Â
Moxiang: I feel increasingly close to Ms. Risa now. As for other foreign literature, Emily Bronteâs 'Wuthering Heightsâ greatly influences me. When I read it during elementary school, I was shaking from excitement. Perhaps because of the influence of Wuthering Heights, that whenever I see complex, intertwining love-hate situations, I feel such joy and nostalgia in my heart.Â
Thereâs also my favorite childhood mangaka Rumiko Takahashi! This kind of light-hearted, rowdy atmosphere where characters argue and rib each other is so cute! I especially like 'Ranma Âœâ. I think itâs the best comedy manga. Other than that, 'Inuyashaâ can only be described by the word romantic. Romantic! To this day, Kikyo is still a goddess in my heart.Â
Risa: Although 'Ranma Âœâ is a work that features China in it, what do Chinese people think about it?Â
Moxiang: The first thought that comes to my head is 'charming!â After that is probably fond familiarity. This work (Ranma Âœ) features many Chinese elements. I feel that the distance between our hearts is lessened.  Â
To be Continued (The next part will be the last)Â
Translator: Sythe / NPD Khanh  Â
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.6
Creative Process:Â
Risa: âMo Dao Zu Shiâ has not only sweet scenes but also painful scenes. After scenes of brutality, violence, and death, the characters might carefreely chat about nothing and everything, or there might be some lovey-dovey scenes. This is like treating readers with alternating pleasure and torture. Did you do this intentionally during your creative process?Â
Moxiang: If I only write about sad, painful story elements, my readers will inevitably leg it. From the other perspective, joy and happiness are comparatively fleeting emotions. If I only write joyful, happy stuff, I would not be able to touch and move my readers to any significant depth. Therefore, I paid special attention to balancing both sides during my creative process.Â
Kuohao: If you keep the same kind of tone throughout the story, the evocative effect will inevitably decrease. Readers will eventually become bored of it. But if you time it right, readers (listeners in the case of audio drama)âs emotions will go up and down along with the flow of the story. The pacing and structure of âMo Dao Zu Shiâ are incredibly well-timed. As a result, the audio drama script was not changed in any significant way and stayed loyal to the source materialsâ strength.Â
Risa: Do you feel pain when you write sad parts, and joy when you write happy parts?Â
Moxiang: In the case of âMo Dao Zu Shiâ, I put myself in the position of an observer when writing sad parts, and focus on the development of the narrative. In the happy parts, I put myself among the characters and indulge in their shared joy.Â
Risa: Thatâs so clever of you. There are so many âtorturousâ (*) parts in the novel, so I thought perhaps it was very difficult. When reading âMo Dao Zu Shi,â I feel that thereâs a vast world populated by many people in Ms. Moxiangâs mind. Where does Ms. Moxiangâs immense imagination come from?Â
(*: literally 'reverse/mistreat/torture.â Itâs a modern Chinese slang denoting sad story elements designed to 'emotionally damageâ the readers. Please check the note for the same word in part 3 of this translation)
Moxiang: If we are speaking of imagination, I feel that itâs important to visit many places and meet vastly different people. In other words, step out of the house a bit more. But in terms of building characters, observing people is of great importance, even more important is⊠to dig deep into your own heart.Â
Before, when I was a young child, I read stories by Alexandre Dumas, Hugo, Balzac, and other world-famous authors. A writer staying in his room alone, talking to himself, laughing, and crying. A friend visiting him saw him in this state and became worried: âIs your mind alright?â But when the friend was about to leave, the author said: âDonât worry about me. Iâm just writing a story."Â
Risa: The excitement of unraveling mysteries starting from the introduction of the story is a pleasure when reading Ms. Moxiangâs novel. The introduction carries details that, sometimes later on, become a key point in the second half of the story in unimaginable ways. Thereâs also a feeling of picking up hints and information purposefully left behind by the author. Is this a careful deliberation on your part during the writing process?Â
Moxiang: As I said, I only start to truly write once I have completed the outline of the story. About 80% of the story is planned. 20% is inspiration that came up during the writing. I think that the story structure is immensely important.
..
Translatorâs Note: In this part is a section concerning the audio drama by Mimi. Risa talked mostly to Kuohao. Moxiang only chimed in at the last bit to say the production quality was very high and she was very happy with it. So, for now, Iâm not including that part here. Once I have completed the translation, I will reorganize everything into a single file, proofread, edit, and host it on google drive so that it can be shared with the community.Â
..
Before writing "Mo Dao Zu Shi"Â
Risa: Ms. Moxiang, please tell us how you started writing stories. What kind of stories did you write when you first started?Â
Moxiang: The first time I started writing stories was probably while I was in elementary school. Along the way to my school was a bookstore selling books as big as a hand. I love buying the ghost story magazines there. Because of this influence, I remember writing lots of horror stories while in elementary school. Although most of them were just short parts and scenes and werenât complete stories. The first story I completed was 'Tian Shiâ (lit. Celestial Master), a schoolyard romance story, during my secondary school. Even though it was just a WIP draft, it still got some of my classmates really riled up. "I also want to be a character in this story.â âI want to be in the same team as this heroine.â I got a lot of requests like this.Â
Risa: Woa, I so want to read that story!Â
Moxiang: the heroine, the heroineâs childhood male friend (letâs call him A), and a male classmate that suddenly appears (letâs call him B). This story is about these three. The thing I remember most about this story is: when I asked my classmates, who were my first readers, for their opinions (I still keep the draft now. Even though now itâs old and yellow); around that time, I wrote a romance between the heroine and B, but the result from all of my readers was: everyone liked A instead! I was so shocked! Everyone commented: âBâs love is so whatever! (*) We want to see A and heroine together!â (laugh). I could not understand it at the time, but now that I think about it, A certainly does have a charm of his own. Even though I wrote without any kind of plans or forethought at the time, after that, I started to realize: âThe main character must be a person I love the most and has the most charm.â At the time, I looked at my classmatesâ excitement and admiration for my story and felt so happy. As a result, my old notes are filled with old, incomplete stories. If I have a chance in the future, I would like to complete them.Â
(*: Northeastern Mandarin slang ç±ćæ ·ćæ ·. A combination of Heibei-Shandong and Jiao-Liao Mandarin. It means 'whateverâ / 'donât careâ/ 'indifferentâ)
Risa: To be honest, I have the same experience as Ms. Moxiang. I drew manga while in secondary school. My classmate said after reading: âI hope you can continue to draw.â I was overjoyed. Perhaps it is because of this kind of experience that I became a novelist.Â
Moxiang: Me too. From the start, I also wanted to become a Manhua artist! Perhaps this is normal for people who want to become novelists. Because I never had the chance to learn how to draw, the result is that I chose to become a novelist.Â
Risa: A, I feel the same! Ms. Moxiang, where do you get your ideas?
Moxiang: To put it simply, it starts from 'fulfilling a personal desire.â For example, if itâs a detective or mystery story, then I want to fulfill my curiosity and solve puzzles. If itâs a romance story, then I want to love and be loved. If itâs a survival story, then I want to see survival in extreme conditions. To fulfill these desires, I think of how to best tell stories. To write a great story, one must have a foundation of intense desire. Of course, the amalgamation of multiple desires also works. In fact, 'desireâ is a 'thread.â The story is the pursuit of this 'threadâ to the very end. Once you have found a strong desire, disregard everything else, the story starts there.  Â
Risa: So thatâs how it is.Â
Moxiang: I think that each author has different ideas. I personally build the characters first. Their personality, their destiny, and their emotions. Once a character with irresistible charisma appears and makes people fall in love with him (her), then they will surely love his (her) story too. Therefore, build the characters first, then weave the story. That is my process. Until now, Iâve only produced three novels. So I still find the process of structuring a story to be complicated. In terms of the structure and pacing of stories, I strongly recommend Robert McKeeâs âStoryâ! You can learn the theory of writing craft. Â
To Be Continued
Translator: Sythe / NPD Khanh
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.5
Characterâs Allure
Risa: Among the cast, my favorites are the Nie brothers. Nie Huaissang and Nie Mingjue. As I read, I constantly prayed that Nie Shi (House Nie) would not fall.Â
Mo Xiang: Shocking! I have yet to see this kind of attitude toward the Nie brothers. In the place of Nie brothers, I deeply thank Risa! Nie Mingjue was created as a foil and reversed mirror image of the âextremely socially adeptâ Jin Guangyao. Nie Mingjue is someone who would rather break but never bend. Jin Guangyao is someone who would rather bend but never break. One embodies unbendable justice. One is a cunning smooth operator. I thought about these two contrasting and contradicting kinds of characters and then created them (Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao). A cunning faker (*) like Jin Guangyao, once he meets a 'violent godâ (**) Nie Mingjue would become absolutely powerless and can only flee. Their situation would be quite interesting should I continue to write it. Although for them, it definitely would not be a fun time.Â
(*: çĄçŸ jiaohua: someone who is pretty/righteous on the outside but rotten inside, a faker, a pretty snake masquerading as a saint)Â
(**: ć¶ç„æ¶ç xioengshen esha: a powerful, brutal, violent god that is consumed by the slaying of evil so much he starts to do evil himself. Someone who should be good but is consumed by rage and violence and becomes no better than the evil he seeks to destroy)
Risa: Nie Huaissang is extremely smart. Nie Mingjue still acts even though his body has been split into multiple pieces. I absolutely love these brothersâ opposing approaches to life.Â
Moxiang: The more the character personalities contrast with each other, the clearer their conflict and transformation is portrayed. It also makes the story even more compelling and exciting. Nie Huaissang was built on the foundation of Nie Mingjue as a character. They both use sabers as their weapons. Nie Mingjue is more or less straightforward inside and out. Nie Huaissang, on the other hand, looks weak and cowardly on the outside but is actually immensely insightful, patient, and crafty on the inside. The characters of Qinghe Nie Shi were actually complete quite early into the writing.Â
Risa: The characters of âMo Dao Zu Shiâ mature into different kinds of people depending on their relationship with their parents. In terms of lineage and family ties, what were your thoughts while writing?Â
Moxiang: I think the environment a person grows up in is a very important factor. The parent generationâs joy and sorrow will create an increasingly greater impact on their children. Furthermore, children will inherit specific things from their parents. Only when you look at the profound yet incidental similarities between parents and children, you will see that family ties are something very real.Â
Risa: Some characters in the book had a very difficult childhood. Jin Guangyao, Xue Yang, and Wei Wuxian. One type of character experiences misfortune in their childhood and then grow to become bad people. One character, on the other hand, steadfastly holds onto his good heart no matter what. Both types exist in the same book.Â
Moxiang: To be honest, the characterâs childhood was the last thing I considered. My creative method starts with imagining the zenith of a characterâs life when they are shining brightly at the summit. Then I think about narrative developments leading to and from that moment, and then the characterâs childhood as the finishing touch. After that, I fill out details on their parent generation. The parents mostly act as supporting characters. Their designs are based on the main cast, to contrast or to complete.Â
For example, first, I think of what kind of person Wei Wuxian is. Then, I think of what kind of parents could have such a child. I base his parentâs characters on his character.Â
Looking at it from within the story, itâs that parents will inevitably influence their children. But from a structural writing standpoint, itâs the children that influence the parents.       Â
To be continued (We are about⊠half-way through the interview transcript)
Translator: Sythe / NPD Khanh
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.4
Risa Wataya: So thatâs how it is. This is fascinating. Through the forehead band, I feel that I can understand the relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. Furthermore, what does Ms. Moxiang think of the allure of each character?
Mo Xiang: Because the novel is told from Wei Wuxianâs point of view, itâs easy to understand why Wei Wuxian has such irresistible allure. From a holistic point of view, heâs incredibly âvivacious.â I especially like the part where they were in Xuanyu Cave (The Massacre Turtle Cave in some English translations). Wei Wuxian kept teasing and poking. While they were in there alone together, he kept provoking Lan Wangji. Amazingly he managed to provoke Lan Wangji into biting him? Wa! My readers grit their teeth and said: âThereâs no need to be so charming ok! Please feel free to turn around and scram!â But before they even knew it, they had been enticed by him (Wei Wuxian).
In other aspects, Lan Wangji is Wei Wuxianâs opposite. Heâs an elegant, refined gong whoâs far removed from the petty squabbles of mere mortals. But he acts so cute (*) whenever heâs provoked and harassed by Wei Wuxian. I left many hints about him in the book. These hints require careful reading and interpretations from the readers. But such complexity and contradictions are what make the book enticing and exciting to read.
(*: ke ai ćŻç±: easy to love, cute. This description is typically used for children, small, cute animals, teenagers, very young women. Itâs not typically used for adult men in China)
For example, outwardly Lan Wangji has always maintained a cold, silent appearance, but in truth, since his teenage years, he was already enraptured by Wei Wuxian. I think that deep in his heart, he is filled with yearning for the kind of freedom that Wei Wuxian inhabits so easily. Furthermore, these two people are deeply similar at the core of their personality. At the core of who they are, they are the same kind of person. This is also one big reason why they come to love each other so deeply. Â Â Â
To be continued⊠(Itâs long. Very longâŠ)Â
Translator: Sythe / NPD KhanhÂ
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.3
Risa Wataya: So thatâs how it is. Although Lan WangJi is very quiet, he always uses practical actions to protect Wei WuXianâs feelings. Heâs a character that makes people feel sincere and earnest. I also really liked the scene where he couldnât beat the alcohol and drank until he lost self-control.
Mo Xiang: Lan Wangji is a cute person! Although he is stubborn and cold and not easy for strangers to approach on the outside, but when he loves someone, he is innocent (*) and sensitive, like a teenage girl. He will cry. He will be shy, jealous, and hesitant. He will worry and fret by himself⊠I like gong like this! The weakness to wine is to show this cute side of Lan Wangji. I think childish gongs are very cute.
(*: the word used here is chun de çșŻç. It means âpureâ in the mental and emotional sense. As in his love and his feelings are pure and have no other motives or agendas. Itâs not pure/innocent as in⊠well⊠we all know Lan Wangjiâs sexual awakening involves a dream about him r***-ing Wei Wuxian so⊠Itâs not that kind of innocent.)
Risa Wataya: On his forehead, he wears a forehead band, like a headband in Japan. The fact that the forehead band symbolizes self-restraint is also very interesting.
Mo Xiang: In reality, the forehead band also frequently appears on the costumes of classical Chinese literature. So I think it is a kind of ancient Chinese aristocratic jewelry, to emphasize Gusu Lan Shiâs nobility (*) but without giving too much meaning at that time⊠However, later upon investigation, I found that in ancient China, there was a âceremonial stoicismâ (**) of ethics and etiquette, which is also reflected in clothing and jewelry. For example, âhairpinâ, which means âproper/virtuous postureâ⊠When walking, if the hairpin makes a sound, you need to adjust your posture. Although the exposure of the forehead does not seem to have special meaning, âbindingâ is reminiscent of âself-restraint.â After considering the behavioral ethics of the ancient Chinese, I developed this ârestraint oneselfâ setting.
(*: the wording here does not actually mean nobility as in a ranking or social class of the time, but in the feelings evoked by Gusu Lan Shi, in the way they conduct themselves, restrain themselves, deny themselves extreme power, in the goals and standards they set for themselves, in the ways they treat other common people in a time where China had an extremely rigid nine-ranked caste system and extensive slave class and slavery system. A sense of beyond the petty squabbles of common mortals. In other words, nobility from the bones)
(**: 瀌æć ć·± Lifu Keji: an ancient manifested philosophy and a type of Asian ascetism where a practitioner must conduct his life, from the smallest, most insignificant details, with extreme restraint and control.)Â
Risa Wataya: Ah, so thatâs how it is. The plot related to the forehead band is quite interesting. Although looking at the full text, there are a lot of sorrowful, tragic parts, but after adding such interesting details, the mood becomes much lighter.
Mo Xiang: If itâs all torture (*), my readers will run away. By the way, the âAside from the destined person, other people cannot touch the forehead bandâ detail is something I suddenly thought of during the writing process. I often read classical Chinese martial arts novels (wuxia). The female characters often appear on screen and say: "You have seen my face. You must marry me.â âOr "You touch my hand, youâre responsible!â (**) But I thought, âWhy do women always have to say this?â
(*: modern Chinese slang. It literally means âreverse/mistreat.â It denotes âsad, sorrowfulâ tones in stories that will make you cry buckets and run away screaming or require times in therapy (Ask the folks reading Erha. They will tell you all about it). Chinese stories are often marked with either âmistreatâ or âsweetâ to tell readers the tone of the stories. Alternative slangs are âglass shardsâ and âcandies.â Itâs a very popular modern Chinese writing technique to mix glass shards and candies, and itâs generally believed there are no great stories without âglass shardsâ in them. The readers need to cry to remember the stories you are telling. So the vast majority of modern Chinese literature is of the âglass shards mixed in candiesâ variety. Have fun!)Â Â
(**: Common trope in Wuxia and Xianxia genre. This stems from the strict sexual segregation of ancient China and the rigid customs imposed on women. For thousands of years in China, up until the last one hundred years, it was very normal for daughters of wealthy families to never step foot outside their house, or even their personal wing inside their house, until the day of their wedding. And after their wedding, this process is repeated in their husbandâs house.
The traditional saying is that there are only three places for women in this world: the ancestral hall, the kitchen, and the bedroom. This saying is even repeated by Jiang Cheng when talking about Jiang Yanli in the novel.
Thereâs a lot of emphasis on women maintaining extreme unstained virtue. So there used to be ridiculous things like if you see an unwed womanâs face, then you must take responsibility for her, and so forth. In particular dynasties, it also wasnât strange for blood feuds or even all-out war to occur because some random dudes saw some particularly protected womanâs face⊠or touch her hair or that sort of thing.)
âSo I wanted to try the same setup on the male character Lan Wangji, adding meaning to the forehead band. That moment when oneâs ethics and ceremonial morality codes are broken. This feeling of hysterical panic and discombobulation applied to a male character might be very interesting indeed!â (*)
(*: tone / word choice is especially gleeful at seeing Lan Wangji metaphorically having his chastity slip being stolen by Wei Wuxian)Â Â Â Â
Translator note: Hmm, this part the vocabulary is a bit more complex and needing extra explanations than the previous two. I worry that a lot of lingual concepts donât match up to the English words, or that the same concepts donât exist at all. Ergo, the abundance of notes. I hope itâs not too disruptive.
That said, after this part 3, I will have to stop for a few days. The reason is because⊠I have to wait (and beg) for the scan of the next page in the interview. You might not know this, but this interview with MXTX was rumored by Japanese fans for a long time. The result is when it was confirmed, the May-June edition of Subaru magazine was sold out in minutes! People queued up for hours and could not buy it. The magazine originally retails for about 10 USD. But now there are people reselling it for 70 USD and there are plenty of people queuing up to buy those too! So of course⊠even had I tried⊠I still would not be able to get even a finger nail on this edition.Â
Luckily! I am in this Vietnamese MXTX fan group. A ârich sisterâ in there was able to acquire a copy and shared a scanned page with the rest of us. The magazine is something of a collector item now, much clout, very envy!! That kind! So the rest of us peons have to wait for the next scanned pages.Â
To Be Continued (Pray for meâŠ)Â
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.2
How to describe the main characters of âMo Dao Zu Shiâ
Risa Wataya: One of the charms of âMo Dao Zu Shiâ is that the characters are depicted in multiple dimensions. Even characters who are seen as villains or enemies will have such complex backgrounds. Sometimes I feel that some scenes pay more attention to depicting the deep psychological connections between the characters than the plot. In terms of describing emotional and psychological relationships, is there anything that needs to be emphasized?
Mo Xiang: My personal belief is: âFirst, let the characters interact and talk to each other in my head. Then portray them. So that I can feel that the charactersâ emotions are real. At this point, itâs natural to imagine the way the characters talk and behave.
Similar to real-life interpersonal relationships, you have to give the characters enough time to develop and incubate a certain amount of emotion before you can start writing the story, so my creative process is very slow.
Risa Wataya: How long did it take you to finish writing "Mo Dao Zu Shi?â
Mo Xiang: Last year of university, when I was about to graduate, I started to come up with ideas. It took about ten months to write an outline. Even though I posted constantly (*) online at that time, it took me five months to finish.
(*: Here, MXTX used a term from Chinese e-literature platforms, which means daily posting for long-form novels. So she wrote and posted every day for 5 months to complete MDZS)Â
Risa Wataya: So quick!
Mo Xiang: âMo Dao Zu Shiâ is my second work, and I have only completed one before. So thereâs still plenty of room for the imagination. Actually, I had a lot of ideas for a long time, and in my spare time, I started writing when I was about to graduate in my senior year. After the serialization process really started, I felt that it went smoothly, and I felt that the writing speed also became faster.
Risa Wataya: So thatâs how it was. Thatâs incredible! Returning to the subject of the character, Wei WuXian, one of the main characters, although deeply misunderstood by those around him, he is still a genuinely good-hearted person. And he is also very talkative. Even in the love scenes, he talked constantly, but he never lost his charms. This makes him so much more attractive.
Mo Xiang: I think Wei WuXian is a very interesting character. If you become acquainted with him, you probably wonât be able to hate him. I like the loving side of him. Whether itâs fellow travelers, family, friends, passersby, or children, he is the first to show affection and take real actions.
Whether to me or to Lan Wangji, such a personality is of extreme importance. To put it bluntly, I sympathize with Lan WangJi, so for me, Wei WuXian is a fascinating and important (*) character. If I canât make myself feel âLan WangJi will definitely love Wei WuXian. Moreover, this kind of love will be so strong that he canât forget it for the rest of his lifeâ, then I canât convince myself to believe in their love and continued writing it. Since the relationship between these two is a very important element in the work, I thought a lot about it.
(*: the way she used the word important here is in a personal and deeply emotional sense. So Wei Wuxianâs character being the way he is, kind and affectionate towards everyone and backing up his emotions with real actions, is deeply important to MXTX herself and not just the plot. The wording also means here that this is the crux of why he becomes Lan Wangjiâs beloved and gaining tremendous weight in Lan Wangjiâs eyes)
To Be Continued
Translation by me: Sythe / NPD Khanh
MXTX Interview with Risa Wataya for Subaru Magazine P.1
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MOXIANG TONGXIU IN JAPAN ON May 6th 2023 ABOUT INSPIRATIONS for MDZS (P1)
(Risa Wataya is a very famous novelist in Japan)
Risa Wataya: âMo Dao Zu Shiâ is very famous in Japan. When the Japanese version of the novel came out, I was so excited that I waited in line before the bookstore opened. This work is a âChinese-based fantasy novelâ, so there are also some settings that I am not familiar with, but by consulting the material, I feel I gained a deeper understanding of the work. This makes me feel very happy. In addition, because Japan also uses Chinese-like characters, the image of places and names can be communicated directly, making the worldview easy to understand.
Ms. Mo Xiang, when this work also became popular abroad, how do you feel?
Mo Xiang: I never thought my work would be well received by foreign readers. I was very happy and also very surprised. I was also surprised to hear my friends say that Wataya likes it. Thank you very much.
Risa Wataya: For Japanese readers, the fantasy world of China is refreshing, with long-haired characters hovering in the air by manipulating celestial arts, sometimes displaying stunning moves or engaging in fierce power struggles. Environments like hidden lands, dignified palaces, and haunted houses all make people excited. Why did you choose such a fictitious setup?
Mo Xiang: Because I love traditional Chinese culture very much. If I have to describe it, I prefer old palace gardens, natural mountains, and river scenery to modern high-rise buildings. Compared to modern costumes, I also prefer the character in Hanfu with flowing hair.
Risa Wataya: Is there anything thatâs exclusive to the fantasy genre?
Mo Xiang: This classification is very liberal. Anything can be written. For example, a beautiful woman that does not age for a hundred years, does not die in a hundred years. Or a monster that cannot die for a few hundred years. Imaginations that cannot be exercised in the real world can be used here.
 Risa Wataya: So it turns out. What is special about Chinese fantasy novels, compared to other countriesâ fantasy novels?
Mo Xiang: It can feel different to describe traditional emotions (*) that only Chinese people can understand. For example, other countries may have different views on blood relations between family members.
(*: can be understood as intrinsic social and cultural values and customs)
Risa Wataya: Indeed, it is rare for Japan to feel such deep house/clan ties through novels, so this work of Magic gives people a very refreshing feeling. On the contrary, what do you think is the reason why this novel is also famous abroad?
Mo Xiang: Maybe because everyone focuses on the characters and their feelings, not the setting and value system of the work.
Risa Wataya: I understand. The character concept here is great.
Mo Xiang: It could also be because my own setting is relatively simple and easy to accept. For example, when I was writing, I was obsessed with the southern and northern Wei Jin dynasties.
Therefore, I have read a lot of related literature, and the power structure mentioned in the work also mentions some Wei and Jin regimes. But when it comes to actually adding these elements to the story, I need to make it shorter and easier to understand. I didnât want the context to be too complicated, because I basically just wanted to describe the story of great Houses, so I thought of using a context like âThe Hundred Cultivator Housesâ. For example, if you are familiar with magicians riding on flying brooms, understanding the setting of flying swords should not be difficult.
Risa Wataya: This is the first time I read the scene of exchanging jindan (golden core) and flying swords. Both are very cleverly interspersed in the story, which is a great setup indeed.
Mo Xiang: The concept of jindan can be a bit confusing for people from other countries. The jindans that appear in my works are a little different from the jindans that appear in other Chinese works. Readers consider it to be âexchange of spiritual energy in the bodyâ. In the novel there is also âThe so-called jin dan is a ball of qi that forms in a cultivatorâs body after cultivating to a certain level. It is used to store and circulate spiritual energy.â This kind of description, my friends told me: âTreating spiritual cores like an organ transplant. I have never seen such a ridiculous setting.â
To Be Continued (The article is quite long)Â
Translation by me: Sythe / NPD Khanh
