Chinese Lore Podcast

Politics turn blood relations into blood enemies.

King Zhou gets literal and puts a figure of speech into practice, with predictably disastrous results.

The Chan and Jie Sects stop pretending they're frenemies and start acting like straight-up enemies.

A Shang commander learns the pros and cons of letting your kids talk to random beggar monks.

One of the Zhou's officers discovers that his powers aren't so unique after all.

A member of the Chan sect discovers that there's no such thing as friendly competition with those jerks from the cow college down the road.

What looked like an easy victory for the Zhou turns into a bit of a nightmare.

The Zhou army gets a timely visit from a helpful but uppity Buddhist friend in their fight against Kong Xuan.

Some quick background on two minor characters whose pacifist message fell on deaf ears.

The Zhou army meets its first real resistance on its march East.

Marking a decade since I first started doing this.

Ji Fa decides that while he couldn't live with attacking his tyrannical king, he CAN live with paying said king a visit with a large army in tow, just to, you know, talk.

Jiang Ziya is finally ready to head East to dethrone the Shang, but then his king goes, "Wait, can't we all just get along?"

Jiang Ziya and company learn that in order to defeat their prodigal disciple's MacGuffin, they must collect three other MacGuffins to add to the one already in their possession.

The Chan sect has its hands full with yet another prodigal disciple and his lieutenant of mysterious origins.

The Shang commander gets some help from a feathered friend, while the novel's author recycles his old material.

The Shang commander Su Hu tries to get his comrade to buy in to his definition of a hero and a man of honor.

The latest Jie Sect Daoist strikes fear into his foes' heart ... by eating it.

A long-lost member of the Shang royal house checks back into the story, shortly before his good sense checks out.

Under siege from an invisible foe, Western Qi seeks help from a guy who married his sister, a guy who had a transparent stomach, and a guy who invented math.

Su Hu never thought it would be so hard to surrender.

Fresh off their victory, Jiang Ziya and company decide to make the unwilling bride go through with the wedding that everybody knew was fake, and it only gets worse from there.

Deng Jiugong gets too clever by half in trying to scheme his way out of a prior promise.

The Shang's diminutive weapon leaves Jiang Ziya and company all tied up in knots.

Zhou officers deal with the ignominy of … GASP … losing to a girl.

Grand Tutor Wen desperately tries to make it home before he runs out of bodies.

Just when things look dire for the Chan sect, a couple adults show up on the scene to lecture the kids about showing their elders some respect.

Zhao Gongming's sisters show up on the battlefield demanding some answers.

The Jie sect Daoists get a taste of their own medicine.

The body count is mounting, and so are Grand Tutor Wen's hurt feelings.

The Daoist Mafia War takes on a decidedly familiar and repetitive feel.

To save Jiang Ziya, his fellow Daoists call on a senior consultant and borrow a sacred object dating from the time of creation to help them with a smash-and-grab. 

The Daoist mafia war is in full swing as Grand Tutor Wen calls in a gaggle of his friends.

Boosted by some new help, Wen Zhong finally faces off against Jiang Ziya.

A missing umbrella and seemingly every slain foe's refusal to stay dead are proving to be a pain for the commanders of the Shang army.

Jiang Ziya gives his foes a taste of the future hell that is climate change, but soon finds himself besieged by even more powerful enemies.

The action and the weather get hot as the Zhou and Shang continue to clash.

Riding into battle on a horse is so passé.

Jiang Ziya goes back to his master for help, and gets tasked with an errand instead.

Grand Tutor Wen sends an army West to teach Jiang Ziya and company a lesson about offering sanctuary to rebels.

Flying Tiger and company continue the worst family road trip ever.

Flying Tiger faces his most daunting foe yet on his flight West: his father.

Let’s focus more on who rescued whom and less on who kidnapped whose baby, said the Daoist master.

Grand Tutor Wen returns from another campaign and asks King Zhou, "Oh what the heck did  you do now?!"

A character faces a tough choice: Tick off his ancestors, or tick off everyone else.

Grand Tutor Wen makes some progress on restoring order at court. Let's see how long that lasts.

King Zhou sinks further into depravity, until the party comes to a screeching halt.

King Zhou gets a new pleasure terrace, a party with gods, and a comfy new article of clothing.

Ji Chang and his ministers come perilously close to plagiarism in their search for a capable adviser.

Ji Chang undertakes a monumental construction project of his own and dreams about airborne mythical creatures.

Ji Chang gets his own X-man escort while trying to evade the king’s henchies.

We find out how Ji Chang's freedom was won, or bought.

An alleged simian assassination attempt is only a minor part of the insanity at court this week.

Another Shang official discovers the price of offering loyal advice to the king.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Jiang Ziya finally discovers something he's good at, and of course it lands him in trouble.

A major character explores a career change after 40 years cultivating his Dao.

Nezha "returns his flesh and blood" to his parents, in the most literal way.

Li Jing gets another visit from an angry neighbor about his troublesome son.

A dragon king tells the neighbor's punk kid to turn it down, with unforeseen consequences.

Ji Chang makes the trouble he predicted for himself come true by predicting trouble for others.

The ministers at the Shang court wrap up a rather intense work week, and King Zhou is still just getting started.

Left alone by their rescuers, the two princes set out on their quest to raise armies to avenge their mother.

The death of the queen proves to be just the start of the day's drama.

Hell hath no fury like a fox demon scorned.

The tension between court ministers and the king's new lover comes to a boil.

Daji makes quite the first impression on the king, much to his ministers' chagrin.

With the enemy at his gates, Su Hu decides to lay the blame where it belongs -- on the teenage daughter who has not even appeared in the story yet.

The upstart marquis Su Hu braces for the king’s wrath.

Our story opens with a lesson in governing 101: Do not ogle creation goddesses through poem.

A brief overview of the next novel I’m covering, a leading work in the genre of gods and demons fiction.

Wrapping up the Water Margin Podcast and revealing my next project.

Our heroes go their separate ways, and then gather again … sort of.

Song Jiang continues his journey back to the capital, but how many of his brothers are coming with him?

Fang La makes a desperate last stand against the Song forces.

With the end of the campaign within reach, Song Jiang’s forces converge on the rebels’ palace.

Eager to avenge more slain comrades, Song Jiang charges headlong into trouble.

Song Jiang suffers setbacks on land and water, but his enemy isn’t doing any better.

Song Jiang gets a heaven-sent opportunity, while the rebel emperor gets some help of his own.

Song Jiang gets another mixed bag of heartbreaks and victories.

One of the naval chieftains undertakes a dangerous nighttime mission.

A few of our heroes run into some guys who remind them of how they used to be.

Song Jiang encounters more victories and more losses as his army pushes south.

A fortuitous encounter on the river sets up a cunning plan by Song Jiang.

To occupy his gang’s minds with something other than rebellion, Song Jiang volunteers to go put down a rebellion.

Lu Zhishen revisits his old haunts, while Song Jiang waxes poetic about the most Confucian birds.

The Middle Kingdom overfloweth with Sinocentrism as Song Jiang and company bring to heel the barbarians who reside in the desolate desert outpost of [checks notes] Beijing.

On the brink of total victory, Song Jiang runs into a string of unexpected setbacks.

Song Jiang and the Liao commander’s son engage in a battle of the nerds.

A look at the who, what, where, why, and how of Song Dynasty travel.

Lu Junyi finds himself stuck between a rock and more rocks.

An envoy from the Liao tries to convince Song Jiang and his men to join the Great Resignation.

Despite a few hiccups, our heroes stay on the offensive against the Liao.

After their untimely run-in with an embezzling government representative, Song Jiang and company are under pressure to deliver some quick results in their opening battle against the Liao.

The bandits begin their new life as law-abiding subjects by selling off their loot.

The imperial court hopes the third time is the charm when it comes to making nice with the bandits.

Yan Qing offers a little eye candy to the emperor’s mistress in exchange for her help.

The bandits roll out the red carpet, and you won’t believe who’s coming to dinner.

Prospects of peace ride on the all-important question: Is that a comma or a period?

YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP! (And torched my fleet and killed my generals and burned my camp and …)

You just lost 60,000 men on your campaign? What are you going to tell the emperor? Wait … not telling him is actually an option?

The hawks at court get their way, as a huge imperial force descends on Liangshan.

A dive into the minutiae of monastic life.

We secretly replaced our heroes’ imperial wine with swamp water. Let’s see if they … oh crap they totally noticed!

After delivering justice on heaven’s behalf in his usual manner at the fair, Li Kui dabbles in a more comical delivery of justice at a nearby county.

Li Kui and Song Jiang wagered heads, and heads they shall have.

On his way home after spreading holiday cheers in the capital, Li Kui decides to do some good deeds for civilians.

Song Jiang goes to the capital to partake in the holiday festivities, and a little extracurricular activity.

Our heroes pray to heaven for a sign, and heaven answers in the most literal way possible.

Liangshan sets its sights on another town that was just minding its own business, but a local general gives the bandits a literal bloody nose.

From attacking innocent towns to abducting women whose family you just slaughtered, it’s another honor-filled adventure for the heroes of Liangshan.

The bandits and their despised foes parley for peace.

Our heroes get back to settling old scores and unfinished business.

The imperial court prepares a retaliatory strike against Liangshan, while Li Kui goes rogue.

The bandits try one more time to spring Lu Junyi from jail, aided by some galaxy-brain holiday planning from the authorities.

To have friends come from afar, is it not a joy? If your friend is here to recruit you to Liangshan, then no.

Winter is coming again for Daming Prefecture.

The bandits find themselves in trouble when a descendant of the god of war comes knocking on their door.

A daring rescue runs into the obstacle of not having Google Maps.

Lu Junyi’s jailer discovers that there IS such a thing as having too much money shoved in your face.

Lu Junyi discovers that there IS such a thing as too much feasting.

Lu Junyi decides to take a road trip, and everyone’s got a bad feeling about it, except him.

Big changes are afoot on Liangshan.

No sooner had our heroes put down one group of upstarts did they discover another group that’s just asking for it.

Song Jiang flags down a passing court official and very nicely asks for a favor.

Huyan Zhuo gets another crack at the Liangshan bandits, and a whole gaggle of other outlaws.

Huyan Zhuo’s simple quest for revenge turns into three side quests against leveled-up enemies.

Xu Ning chases after his lost property and actually catches up with the thief.

The outlaws run up against a formidable foe and decide they need to “recruit” some more help.

After a successful siege, the bandits go in search of the man they had come to save.

A look at food and drinks during the Northern Song.

Li Kui gets put in timeout and learns a lesson about messing with Daoist priests.

Li Kui finds himself up to his neck in Daoist shenanigans.

As it turns out, iron-pledge guarantees from long-dead emperors do not count for as much as everyone thought.

The outlaws return to their tried-and-true recruitment tactics, and take it maybe just a step too far.

In a shocking twist, the ancient Chinese legal system delivers some semblance of justice and punishes constable violence, and all it took was sleeping with the magistrate.

The Xie brothers’ relatives mount their jail break, and then we rejoin the Liangshan outlaws outside the Zhu Family Manor.

Some relatives embarrass you at weddings, some get into political arguments at the holiday dinner table, and some threaten to fight you to the death if you don’t help them break some cousins out of jail.

After getting a bloody nose in their initial attack, the Liangshan forces take another crack at razing the Zhu Family Manor.

Our heroes storm to the gates of the Zhu Family Manor, intent on teaching the people inside a lesson.

An act of petty theft quickly escalates into a grave insult against the Liangshan heroes, somehow.

Yang Xiong has a little heart-to-heart with his adulterous wife.

Things heat up in Yang Xiong’s house, and on the dead-end street behind it.

In between carving up pig carcasses, Shi Xiu sniffs out some shenanigans in his new household.

I recently did two interviews on other podcasts -- the Mandarin Slang Guide podcast and Journey to the West: The Podcast. 

A street brawl turns two strangers into bosom buddies.

Don’t drink on this trip? I’ll drink as much as I please, damn the consequences. Oh, here come those consequences.