26 July 2020

Magic future tech

I got heavily into Chinese webnovels last year - an addiction that has yet to pass.  Originally I was reading licensed and/or fan translations of the novels, but lately I've shifted to reading directly on the official original sites (first dozen chapters or so are free, and then you can purchase the rest), and letting Google translate take care of me.

Google translate (the automatic function through Chrome) produces perfectly readable Chinese webnovels.  This is such an amazing thing to me.  Occasionaly there are confusions (particularly for people's names, which usually have a distinct meaning - so occasionally someone the novel usually calls 'Liang You' will be called 'cool pomelo' instead), but for the most part it's clean and readable text.  This is pure magic to me - to have that barrier of language taken away and give me access to reams and reams of virtual books.  [I'm presuming that Chinese somehow lends itself into translation into English - whether through similar syntax or some other congruity, because I've seen many very poor machine translations.  Or perhaps Google is just improving their translation tech year by year and has reached 'readable' level.]

I tend to be what I guess could be called a 'glom' reader.  Like, I'll get into the mood for Rex Stout or Agatha Christie, and then will spend the better part of half a year reading all their books in order of publication.  I don't think it's possible for me to glom the entirety of China's web novel output - the books are being written faster than I could ever read - but I seem to still be in the mood to try.

I started out with the historical reincarnation/transmigration novels, but am now on the modern day reincarnation/transmigration, with an admixture of gaming and game system novels.  [I just finished a gaming one which (entirely coincidentally) started off with a take-off a game I'd just been playing called Raft.]  I prefer the stories that go for around 100 chapters, though I've gotten quite a ways into some of the really long ones.

No novel has kept my attention for 6000 chapters, but I have made it more than a million words into a few of them.

On the gaming front, recently I've played a ton of Two Point Hospital, a fair bit of Raft, and have completed the first location in Viscera (a game where you are the janitor that cleans up after Doom Guy [or other equivalent] has blasted their way through the latest zombie outbreak or alien invasion).

Writing-wise, I'm about 3/4 through 'Firsts', which I guess counts as New Adult, but as usual for me doesn't quite match the genre.  It's something between slice-of-life and romance, with some plot vagaries and a ton of sex that somehow manages to be more friendly than erotic.  When I finish it, I'll move on to 'Seconds', a sequel, mainly because I like the characters, and then back to Tangleways.  [So, not a permanent shift to New Adult or anything - just want to write this story.]

All quiet on the corona-virus front - still working from home (with hopes of transitioning to at least part-time working from home once all this is over).  I purchased a face mask in case NSW mandates masks (it probably won't, but Australia's otherwise good progress tripped up and we've gone all second wavy here, and so I'd rather not be caught out trying to convert my socks into a mask at the last moment).

Hope you're all keeping well.

11 comments:

  1. FYI on masks: One of my sons, who works security in St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix,Arizona and has recovered and is back at work in under 2 weeks, says that a current theory there is that wearing a good mask and doing other necessary steps consistently won't keep you from getting the virus but can limit your viral load, giving your body time to build some resistance and limiting the virulence of your disease. In support of this, he says that over 200 of the staff have come down with the disease and so far all are in recovery or back at work. This is not to imply in any way that the virus is not deadly. It is. It's just a heads up that masks may do a bit more than limit the spread.

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    1. That's very interesting to know, henwyn. I've not heard that bit of information before.

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  2. I love Raft! Can I ask about the web novel it reminded you of? I don't know anything about Chinese web fic but it sounds really awesome! I'd love to try. Thanks!

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    1. It's this one: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=4477306

      It only really starts with Raft, but it was a funny coincidence.

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  3. Hello! I am currently reading STARFIGHTER INVITATION, and ma curious to know what some of your favorite MMOs are.

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    1. FFXIV and FFXI are probably the stand-outs. [They're certainly the most story focused.] I currently pick up FFXIV when each expansion releases.

      I played WoW at release, but not to expansion. Played Guild Wars II, LOTRO. I enjoyed them all, but FFXIV is the only one that keeps me coming back for the expansions.

      I haven't played any of the big Korean MMOs (in part because a lot of the outfits/aesthetics/animations are really, um, focused on women as eye candy in a way I'm not keen on).

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  4. My daughter and I have just finished binge watching Goblin and think the Korean drama industry could do a stunning job of turning Touchstone into a TV series. Korean could be Taren, subtitles could be the interface telling you what people are saying...I'd love to see Touchstone on the screen.

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    1. Because of the focus on language, I also think it's a series that would be best done as a foreign language adaptation. It would make a fantastic anime...

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  5. Do you have any more webnovel recs? They have also been my Thing for the past couple years! Have you ever tried The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System? It's a ttansmigration/cultivation/system novel just adapted into a donghua

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    1. My favourite so far is "Genius Fundamentals" by Zhang Er. This is the typical reborn and study better the second time around, but of all those, I really liked this one. [I'm not a Maths devotee, but it would be my recommendation for Maths devotees who like reincarnation stories.]

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    2. http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3193259

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