Perhaps it comes with the genres I read but I mostly read series, something you probably all know if you’ve read my Moonlake’s Book Tastes series. So why do I lean that way? Foremost are two factors: I like familiarity and I like immersion. In some ways, the two are linked. While familiarity is moreContinue reading “Serial Reader”
Author Archives: moonlakeku
Remarkable Women in Ancient China (6)- Liu Ru Shi
Who is she: One of the Eight Beauties of Qin Huai, essentially eight prominent prostitutes of the late Ming era (Qin Huai is the name of a river in Nanjing, it was a red light district back then with brothels operating on boats) famed for poetry, painting and beauty A highly patriotic woman Notable LifeContinue reading “Remarkable Women in Ancient China (6)- Liu Ru Shi”
Tales of Inspiration (3)
Today I’m going to talk about the inspiration underlying my current WIP. I’ve alluded to this before: for many years, I was an active member at a website where you can submit what I call articles in prose on world meta: all the different aspects that make up a world. It was there that IContinue reading “Tales of Inspiration (3)”
Chinese Superstition- Physical Oddities and Polycoria
Following on the last post about Chinese number superstition, I decided to do another on a related topic. So ancient Chinese had various fortune telling methods, one of which was looking at people’s facial features. For example, long ears or a long gap between the nose and the upper lip were considered a sign ofContinue reading “Chinese Superstition- Physical Oddities and Polycoria”
What Moves Me (2): Lost Opportunity to Stand Up for Self
This post is the result of a conversation I had with a long-time Internet friend. I was telling him about my personal reflection spell last July/August and how one of the most potent memories that crept up on me had to do with my high school group and peer pressure. I found out I wasContinue reading “What Moves Me (2): Lost Opportunity to Stand Up for Self”
Fantasy Pet Peeve
For all that I love fantasy, I have a single pet peeve with it: all wars eventually trace back to Gods. First, for the sake of putting things in context, let me recap in rough chronological order my foray into fantasy (back in those days, nobody cared about subgenres as far as I’m concerned andContinue reading “Fantasy Pet Peeve”
World Building: Resources
Perhaps it is my economics background but I like to think about resources and how that has a range of flow-on effects. To that end, I was a little intrigued by the sci-fi book Dune but one of my friends persuaded me to try something lighter instead so I still haven’t ventured into sci-fi yet.Continue reading “World Building: Resources”
Beliefs about Numbers in Ancient China
I decided to write a post about a Chinese fun fact today and having no ideas, I Goggled it. What caught my eyes was number superstition. So today I am going to trace back the beliefs about numbers (or rather single digits since I want to limit the scope of this post) in ancient China:Continue reading “Beliefs about Numbers in Ancient China”
The Meaning of Happiness
Happiness has a slightly different meaning for everyone. Recently I had this really resonant one that came to me (or rather it was a rediscovery, I think I re-discover things a lot. I’ve recently thought about my core personality and it hadn’t changed from when I was a teenager) so I thought it worthwhile toContinue reading “The Meaning of Happiness”
Moonlake’s Book Discoveries- June 2020
Desecration by J.F Penn I think it’s a solid work, with a clipping pace and it’s a nice plot-driven detective mystery which is always to my preference. The book delves into a very dark theme but that’s okay, I can handle it. A murder was announced by Christie Agatha As a Christie Agatha mystery, IContinue reading “Moonlake’s Book Discoveries- June 2020”
Moonlake's Fiction Space 