I Couldn't Be A Youtuber, So I Decided To Make A Podcast Instead.: Recent Episodes
Adrifting / 书海漂泊
A podcast mainly about webnovels. Hoping to focus on Chinese Webnovels, however I'll probably meander a little bit with Japanese Light novels, some anime cross over, Korean webtoons, manhwa, and more.
Rants and reminiscing about various things are definitely covered as are reviewing and introducing niche genres, unique recommendations and personal insights into Chinese and Asian Culture. ^-^
Discussing a fun Korean Webnovel set in a VRMMO setting.
KR title:
크툴루 게임 속 천재 마법사가 되었다
Read it Here:
https://page.kakao.com/content/60874787
Sorry for not uploading in so long, I wasn't sure about posting audio files / episodes on multiple platforms.
It's a unique webnovel with legendary powerhouses, magic, intelligent protagonist and a light dose of comedic moments.
Read it Here:
https://www.qidian.com/book/1038514258/
nQ9woGFd1ivbpOF0wwtH
Rosen explores the mystery of the world and magic systems in Celestial Mage. I go on to discuss some of the plot (relatively spoiler free this time), but talk about some of the themes and interesting aspects of this style of webnovel by Mo Xiang.
Tags:
Mages, Intelligent Protagonist, Transmigration
Sub tags:
Light romance (no harem), power dynamics / politics, Mathematics trend
Book Link:
https://book.qidian.com/info/1036076562/
Written in 2014, It's a unique 664 chapter story with unique characters in the game world. A constant battle of wits, virtual worlds, administrators, hacking, and some points and skills here and there.
It's a unique blend of litrpg, wuxia, administrator, and overpowered harem MC template by an author (墨乡) whose stories I've inadvertently read before.
9.5/10
Main Tags:
Metaverse, Virtual World, Intelligent Protagonist
Sub Tags / Themes:
OP Protagonist, Administrator, Wuxia, Infinite flow, Harem, Mages
Similar Titles
Super Gene (WN)
The Ultimate Evolution (WN)
The World Online (WN)
Pitch Black Dreams (RR)
Book Link:
https://book.qidian.com/info/3108265/
The Black Agent (黑色代行者)
A unique cyberpunk webnovel full of intrigue politics and a heavy amount of mystery. Lin Huan (临幻) is a traverser who arrives into the game world of [The Land of Exile] full of super powers, hidden power struggles, and a hidden past.
I go into way too much detail attempting to summarize and jam in as many titles and references as I can as I dissect the story in a very rambling mess.
Ep#63 of I Couldn't Be A Youtuber, So I Decided To Make A Podcast Instead.
Book Link: https://book.qidian.com/info/1016995395/
Author Link: https://my.qidian.com/author/429494225/
Written by Bones in November (十一月的骨头)
CN, Urban Life, Infinite Flow. Along side, my autobiography can't be a tragedy and I'm my own uncle.
Autobiography I wrote can't be a tragedy - 我写的自传不可能是悲剧
infinite flow style - unique / different
Reborn I'm my second uncle (harem warning) - 重生之我是我二大爷
Before the College Entrance Examination, I received a text message - 高考前，20年后的我发来短信
Read it here:
https://book.qidian.com/info/1033368617/
Honestly, this is more of a time capsule. I've already forgotten what I've talked about at time of publishing
Honestly this topic scares me, freedom of speech isn't free and discussing politically sensitive topics and information of non-mainstream topics will lead down a path of radicalization.
Espionage, spooks, MKultra, Cointelpro, political prisoners. The average person will never talk or learn about it, so having that knowledge and discussing it puts you under a lot of scrutiny to appear not as crazy as you think. heh heh. ^-^
Deity style webnovel very much in it's early chapters.
I found it's style very unique and different from what I've seen being a "science fiction" genre story.
It's Deity and Fantasy elements are quite heavy, but I discuss why it's categorized the way it is and how the author's light novel and fanfiction style makes it an outlier compared to others in this similar, but very rarely written subgenre.
Competing with Apocalypse, Science Fiction niche subgenres to the more popular empire building, fantasy, wuxia, VRMMO combos.
This one is different, almost a historical fanfiction that I go more detail into.
Tags: "Primordial Being, Post Apocalypse, No System, Deity Protagonist, Fantasy, New Webnovel, Unique Style"
Read it here:
(我成为了旧日支配者)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1034787772/
Sister Bomb is here
(炸弹姐姐来了)
Came across the interesting question, what is the SAO of webnovels? Here are my thoughts.
Covering a unique time travel webnovel, It has some unique urban life elements. However, it proceeds to approach the genre in a way I've never seen before. If life was a video game, it would be like the relationship of the narrator and the player in the Stanley parable, if it was an anime it'd be a cross between Steins;gate, erased (inai machi), Mom I'm sorry, A man's man & again!!! .
Title:
高考前，20年后的我发来短信
Before the college entrance examination, I send myself a text message [from 20 years later].
Author:
木子心 - wood-like heart
Book URL:
https://book.qidian.com/info/1033368617/
A unique fantasy noble school setting webnovel. Similar to trash of the count's family style webnovel or reincarnated demon lord, 8th class mage (Ian page).
Discussing a basic power fantasy manga / webnovel with tower, system and regressor / do-over protagonist and tags. I go into a basic summary about some other aspects of reading Korean literature and art. ( ;^_^)
Discussing ideas of parents, equality and some of the reasons of why I love this webtoon so much.
Discussing the Korean webtoons genre, urban life and more.
Read A Man's man on webtoon!
I'm just going to be going over some of the content that Korea has, so I'll be talking about some of my favorite webtoons and translated Korea web novels.
Discussing recent titles that I've read. I'm not going to provide links, because there's too many to look for.
After I finished reading the outcast （间客）, I realized my previous review didn't really do it justice. So I decided to revisit it by doing a post commentary about my thoughts and feelings after I read everything.
Discussing hacking culture, I quickly talk about the urban life webnovel. Then we get into the sort of background and technical aspects of the field.
One of the great magic and engineering webnovels. If you like economics, politics, and empire building this is a good webnovel. I reiterate on some of the old titles I've talked about before in empire building, but I go more into the plot and the interesting ideas the author explores.
Similar premise, but different execution from release the witch. I also talk about some of the differences between the two as well.
Read it here (NU link):
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/magic-industry-empire/comment-page-3/#comments
Release the Witch:
https://www.webnovel.com/book/release-that-witch_7931338406001705
Going over a system webnovel, I very briefly talk about am I a god. Things I enjoyed about this urban magical fantasy webnovel and the unique premise that it had differentiating itself from other urban life webnovels.
Read it here:
https://www.webnovel.com/book/am-i-a-god_9027206605001705
Going off of EP#35, I go more into depth of the various tropes and cliches of the Space Battle genre. I found that anime and manga readers may not be familiar with the genre, so I discuss it and how it differs from similar genres such as the interstellar genre, sci-fi genre, and it's close relationship to adventure and wuxia.
Popular / unique Webnovel titles in the genre:
Counterfeit Hero, Card Apprentice, Soaring of Galaxia, Age of Cosmic Exploration, The Legendary Mechanic
Alt Titles: EP#35.5 Space Battles / Opera
Written by the same author of Nightfall, Joy of Life and Ze Tian Ji, Tricky (猫腻). I cover one of his space battle / opera genre, which prior translations have ceased on wuxiaworld forums. It's not a very good summary, but I discuss a few ideas and cliches in the genre that I enjoy talking about.
Outcast - (间客)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1223147/
I may have read some webnovels across a variety of genres, but I don't nearly have enough time to encompass every single one of them. I discuss some of the genres I feel unwholly prepared to talk about and I may never be prepared to talk about.
Maybe there will be someone who can or maybe there is someone who already has and I just don't know.
My top 10 favorite webnovels, a hidden gem of the interstellar genre. Star ranked hunter was written by the same author of Superstars of Tomorrow, Strange life of a cat and primordial hunter. Very similar to anime like cowboy bebop, trigun, and just a really good space wuxia in general.
I forgot to mention the memes and fanart. o(╥﹏╥)o
special thanks to volare & craxuan for translating.
https://www.volarenovels.com/novel/star-rank-hunter/chapter-1
https://www.reddit.com/r/starrankhunter/comments/sd5rj5/star_rank_hunter_chapter_363_part_1/
Talking about a military fiction, I haven't read or talked about this in 6-7 years so my memory is definitely a bit hazy. I may start to wrap up this podcast as I feel any future material I have will suffer quality-wise and my podcast is not high quality in the first place.
No raw link... because I have no idea what happened after the Gravity Tales and Webnovel acquisition.
Going over a wuxia novel by an extremely talented author. I create a new rating called the wuxia degenercy scale, detailing the various tropes and styles of wuxia novels. This particular webnovel was a fun read to binge as it was very casual and refined. I discuss having read the first ~500-800 chapters during a 10 hour reading session.
Read it here:
My Master breaks through the limit (我的师傅每到大限才突破）
https://book.qidian.com/info/1024522101
More technical aspects of webnovel and research into the field of digital literature and Asian cultural and tech innovations. I go through the history of what I've learned and try to explain, predict, and discuss the future trends of this emerging industry.
Covering a science fiction novel, I discuss topics of time travel and various author influences of the science fiction genre. As I mention in the episode, my first recording got corrupted and so I lament (i.e bitch / whine / complain) about it quite a few times. Overall though I did my best to try and rerecord it as best I can
We Live in Nanjing - (我们生活在南京)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1025325277/
Covering a science fiction novel, I discuss topics of time travel and various author influences of the science fiction genre. As I mention in the episode, my first recording got corrupted and so I lament (i.e bitch / whine / complain) about it quite a few times. Overall though I did my best to try and rerecord it as best I can
We Live in Nanjing - (我们生活在南京)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1025325277/
Weird Theater in London is one of my top 5 infinite flow novels and top 10-15 fanfiction novels. I don't recall exactly why this recording sucked so much that I couldn't keep going. I probably ran out of energy, but there were some titles that I wanted to discuss.
从伦敦开始的诡异剧场
https://book.qidian.com/info/1025457349/
Covering the sports genre, I discuss various web novels I've previously read. I also talk about how sports is written about in web novels and digital literature. Just the unique insgihts and terms that authors have written about and used. Plus some webnovel news at the end.
Rest is only noise - (余下的，只有噪音)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1029046794/
A webnovel very near and dear to my heart, it's a historical fantasy Chinese webnovel. One that I didn't hesitate to spend entire weeks of school breaks to read and binge. I discuss some of the knowledge I've amassed from education, art history classes, travels and museums and bundle it in my discussion of this most amazing Chinese webnovel. A real hidden gem.
Read it here:
https://book.qidian.com/info/1001375918/#Catalog
Returning to JP LN / WNs, I cover one of the novels that got me into the kingdom building genre. A novel that after 5 or 6 years I still get chills reminiscing over the plot. I talk about one of the most unique and outstanding non-human MCs that are quite different compared to other light novels and isekais.
Read it here:
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/goblin-kingdom/
Although the current translator is NeoTranslations, I get nostalgia from the older wordpress sites, one of them was
Jigglypuff's Diary.
Discussing a very popular and mainstream webnovel. The Legendary Mechanic is one of the best webnovels among the likes of ARK, LMS, Overgeared, Close Combat Mage, Peerless White Emperor. I discuss it's similarities to litrpgs, system, and the appeal of the various player and NPC interactions.
Read it here:
https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-legendary-mechanic_8662546605001405
Korean Title: 아카데미에서 살아남기
- Finished 6.4.2022 - Recorded 6/13/2022!
Covered a academy, novel's extra (omniscient / foreknowledge character), with a neutral protagonist. The main character (MC) is hardworking (in a good way), adept / intelligent, and never overpowered (but has a good sense of balance with the story's power creep). I enjoy discussing the various aspects that this webnovel goes over such as the character developments, arcs and execution of academy webnovel and why it's a korean webnovel I'd recommend. 8/10
New milestone, new language. We dive into the topic of Korean webnovels and villain protagonists, Deculain. There's a couple tropes I discuss in a calmer manner than some of my previous recordings. I lay out some of the points that made this such a fun read and good translation
Read it here:
https://a-t.nu/novel/the-villain-wants-to-live/
武 - Martial 侠 - Heroes
I provide a sort of commentary and introduction to Chinese wuxia webnovel styles, martial arts, culture and popular titles. Definitely more of a rant and I've probably repeated some of this before in my earlier recordings. I'm more sad of the fact I've previously recorded this and that I was unable to restore that information as the file was corrupted and then promptly deleted soon after to make space on my device. Anyway, hope this is somewhat informative for those interested in reading the genre and helps explain somethings
Check out this site as well if you're looking for more information:
https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/#alchemy
I go over some amazing hidden gems and summarize them badly if at all. Almost all of the titles are on the longer side, but are quite popular for those looking to read a good story.
Read them here:
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/16811/relevance-and-a-world-flying-off-the-tracks/
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/3984/trapped-the-gm
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/30625/the-bleak-walker/
Going over Exectale's English web fiction, I talk a bit about the English magic genre and titles. I attempt to discuss some of the more historical and classic works that progressed to get to the current trend of programmer and magic webnovels.
Read it here:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49434/the-first-mage
Discussing a Chinese romance webnovels with gender swapping, deuteragonists, delinquent Male Lead and a studious Female lead. The various tropes of a fake & illegitimate daughter, drama, rival loves and a unique premise, romantic relationships, and classic misunderstandings. This Chinese webnovel has a lot of tropes and I discuss, analyze and break some of them down in this episode of the podcast.
The Legitimate Daughter Doesn't Care
真千金懒得理你[互穿]
Read it here
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-legitimate-daughter-doesnt-care/comment-page-3/
Returning back to webnovels a little bit before we go back to webtoons. I cover a military webnovel. (spy / espionage / thriller / mystery / action tags) Discussing some of the interesting aspects and background relevant to the plot. Chinese culture about northeast China, Shanghai, Military organization, Geopolitics, GRU, NKVD, CIA, NSA.... and more.
https://m.qidian.com/book/1033544087.html
credits to FD, Z, JC for listening to the live version on DC.
link to server here:
https://discord.gg/HxgJNwf8PV
Discussing superheroes, I go on a long tangent about the various books, cartoons, anime, and web fictions that I've read. I'm quite happy to bring up some of the older royalroad stories that I've read all those years ago.
Going over the fluffy genre of webnovels, I discuss titles like slightly contradictory by Budis, The Oscillation & Kammi Kettu. I include some pokemon, non-human mc stories written on royalroad, unborne caution, golden fox... etc. There's even a quick tangent on romance, relationships and eating dog food.
Read The Orphan Fox here:
https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/search?title=the+orphan+fox
Covered an English web fiction by Argusthecat, which takes magic system and incorporates it in a rare urban life genre. Set in a mediocre office setting, it introduces a touch of magic and adventure in an otherwise mundane and boring world. I discuss my reading experience of the first 70 chapters, including character interactions and drama.
Read it here:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15925/the-daily-grind
A hidden gem, Mooderino's works are always a pleasure to read. They often write in a variety of different genres and each always have good character development and plots full of twists and turns.
Read it here at RRL or their site moodylit:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/10286/the-good-student
https://moodylit.com/the-good-student-table-of-contents
Going over one of my favorite fictions and authors, I talk about reading Re;write by Whocares. It's an omniscient type web fiction and is quite unique from many of the other stories on most english sites.
Read it here at:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/6356/rewrite
scribblehub, or his independent wordpress site.
Transitioning into talking about English web fictions and serials, I discuss some of the classic works people have written and the famous authors across various sites
Lists:
topwebfiction, webfictionguide
Sites:
Royalroad(l), Scribblehub, Tapasreads
other:
AO3, Fanfiction, Wattpad, quotev
I deliberately left the 5th volume out for those who are interested in reading the finale. For those who are interested there's still plenty of details I glossed over and omitted. However like most volumes, each one keeps getting better and better and this one is no exception. I calmly deliberate ideas as always about apocalypses, similarities and the contributions of heroes.
地球纪元 - Earth Era
https://book.qidian.com/info/3530381/
I get to talk about various scientific principles ranging from optics, communications, Neil Degrasse Tyson Speeches, Ethics, Fermi's Paradox, Dead knots of innovation, space travel and more. Sorry, that was a long sentence. There was a lot to talk about.
Earth Era - 地球纪元
https://book.qidian.com/info/3530381/
Usually I'm quite terrible at summaries if you couldn't tell by my previous recordings. However, I decide to try talking and summarizing the plots and volumes of Earth Era. I still include some of my own commentary and attempt to stay focused, but more often than not I tend to stray from the topic. ヾ(´･･｀｡)ノ
地球纪元 - Earth Era
https://book.qidian.com/info/3530381/
I get to introduce one of the Chinese Science Fiction webnovels I've recently read. It's amazing and I go more into genre of interstellar and space travel webnovels. I also talk about other books, media, video games, literature and movies.
地球纪元 - Earth Era
https://book.qidian.com/info/3530381/
I discuss a little about some of my favorite empire building novels that I've read. The various sorts of encounters and plots that are in a subgenre. I also talk about some relevant history that makes reading empire-building novels so fun!
寒门崛起 - Rise of the Poor Family
https://book.qidian.com/info/3483546/
I get to discuss two of my most recent Chinese Science fiction webnovels I've read. I also cover the various subgenres and other amazing titles as well. (Apocalypse, Mecha, Future World, Infinite Flow... etc)
There's still a little science history, books, movies, and cultural influences mixed in.
Cyber Heroes - 赛博英雄传
https://book.qidian.com/info/1018180913/
Actor's Reincarnation of the Heavens - 影帝的诸天轮回
https://book.qidian.com/info/1025158887/
This is the #1 webnovel trending on the chinese urban life webnovel. Amazing characters, darker themed protagonist, and interesting game functions.
https://book.qidian.com/info/1021617576/
One thing I'm annoyed by is that it's not classified as eastern fantasy or science fiction. Since by genre tag logic, VRMMO like ROTTWRTW (rebirth of the thief who roamed... ) should be urban life instead of under the Video Game genre.
It's probably not being translated because the author hasn't licensed it to be translated into English.
I mentioned quite a few positive energy recordings (i.e ep#5 & ep#7), I thought it might be interesting to showcase a term on the reverse side. Poisonous Chicken soup.
one day we might get to talk about 8lbs of oranges and a chinese curse word.
This is a recording I tried to expunge, but had difficulty doing so. So I posted it with one of the shorter recordings, Ep#8...
It's not good, but I couldn't bring myself to delete it.
My final recording of this actually got corrupted. So I'm using a previous one where I didn't get all my thoughts together. Since I don't have my notes or any of the titles, I can't really record it again.
I discuss my experiences with System webnovels across the many platforms of scribblehub, royalroad, webnovel, and other wordpress sites. Litrpgs, English webfictions, and the assortment of Chinese webnovels available.
I'm sad my last rant on system wuxianovels didn't make it in. The main points I wanted to make are lost to time.
I basically geek out over my favorite webnovels. Out of the hundreds of titles and years of reading, these were the lines that I remember all these years later.
Writing this description, I genuinely don't remember which titles I talked about:
The Great Storyteller
Sword of Daybreak
World of Deities (?)
Godfather of Champions & The Winner is King... etc
Going over 2 Urban Life Entertainment novels I've recently read. I discuss some of my favorite moments and quotes.
Uncle's Chinese Entertainment (大爷的华娱)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1030540375/
Apocalyptic Boss Aspires to be in the Entertainment Industry (末世大佬问鼎娱乐圈)
https://book.qidian.com/info/1025158130/
A niche of mine and a small break from Japanese Light Novels (JP LNs), I cover 都市 or Urban Life novels and explore one of the top leaderboards most popular books.
重生之似水流年 - Rebirth is like flowing years
https://book.qidian.com/info/1027551057/
Covering Fluffy isekai, Female Protagonists, and various similar genres such as the VRMMO Genre and litRPGS.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/kuma-kuma-kuma-bear/
Talking about merchant isekai, spice & wolf, death march, and slice of life light novels.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/takarakuji-de-40-oku-atattandakedo-isekai-ni-ijuu-suru/
Going over another classic isekai Light Novel. Talking about Isekai tropes, OP protagonists, harems and other similar trends.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-mage-will-master-magic-efficiently-in-his-second-life/
Rough introductions and start to the podcast. I attempt to cover a unique Japanese Light Novel and one of the first that I've ever read.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/because-janitor-san-is-not-a-hero/