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James Lande

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Website

http://www.yang-shen.info

Genre

Historical Fiction, Literature & Fiction

Member Since

October 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/oldchinabooks

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when will we see Book II?

James Lande Hello James,

Thank you for your continuing interest in Yang Shen.

At the rate I’ve been going on Book II it will need at least several more years. Book …moreHello James,

Thank you for your continuing interest in Yang Shen.

At the rate I’ve been going on Book II it will need at least several more years. Book I takes the story up to the first defeat of the Foreign Rifles in early July 1860; Book II then continues on through 1861 into the first part of 1862 when the Imperial general Li Hung-chang brings his Huai Army to Shanghai; Book III takes up with our hero’s association with General Li and ends in September 1862 with our hero’s final campaign.

Over the past year or so my steam engines have been throttled down to low ahead in order to navigate around obstacles like old-age and ill health and dwindling enthusiasm for a book in which very few people take an interest. When I haven’t the moxie to work on Yang Shen, I fill in with other projects for Old China Books, editing the memoir of a 95-year-old lady who grew up in Southern California in the 20s, 30s and 40s, and editing my Yang Shen journals for publication. These distractions cause further delay.

Like Harry under Kilimanjaro, I have, if not entirely destroyed, at least compromised my “talent” by not using it and at this late date am scrambling to make up for the loss. I might live long enough and join the roster of Artful Codgers. Maclean wrote River at 74; Doerr published her first novel at 74; Updike was still scribbling at 76, Marquez at 81, Bellow at 85. Elmore Leonard is 87, Doris Lessing is 94, and Herman Wouk is 96, and they’re still writing. Will-o'-the-wisps? Maybe, especially if I don’t find a way out of the doldrums. Square-riggers were becalmed in the Horse Latitudes for weeks, occasionally a month or more, but with luck found wind in their sails before they starved. Dismasted and weather-worn, I may still be able to get up some wind that would take me into a current.

Look for a review and lengthy Q&A of Yang Shen from Isham Cook (Lust and Philosophy) in the coming weeks.

Best regards,
James Lande (less)

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What are you currently working on?

James Lande What are you currently working on?
The sixth chapter of Book II, which describes the foreign rifles assault on the city of Tsingpoo in August of 1860, …moreWhat are you currently working on?
The sixth chapter of Book II, which describes the foreign rifles assault on the city of Tsingpoo in August of 1860, is proving particularly difficult because of a change in style. In Book I and the earlier chapters of Book II the thought of many characters in the story has been liberally depicted to offer readers a perspective of the hearts and minds as well as the words and deeds of these people. The style has been mostly indirect interior monologue set off with “he/she thought” tags, and less often direct interior monologue in which thought is not set off with tags and weaves in and out of dialogue and narrative. In the current chapter there is no narrator at all – only the thoughts of the characters, slipping between direct interior monologue and more chaotic stream of consciousness (not so chaotic however as, say, Faulkner). The chapter has five sections:
1. Foreign Rifles guard boats on the canal to Tsingpoo
2. Landing at Tsingpoo and deployment of the force
3. Climbing the wall of Tsingpoo under fire
4. Fletcher Thorson Wood shot in the jaw
5. Foreign Rifles retreat to Kuangfulin
Each section has four streams of thought:
Fletcher Thorson Wood
Vincente Macanaya
Hannibal Benedict
Delevan Slaughter
These streams of thought occur simultaneously but with shared events that serve as markers to help the reader follow their sequence. Work on the chapter progresses slowly due to the necessity of working up backstory for Hannibal and Slaughter. Fletcher and Vincente the reader already knows pretty well from Book I, but little has been said about Hannibal’s origins in North Carolina, and nothing about his experience as a Senate page in Washington DC, or the time he spent in India, all of which must be researched and then assembled as plausible experience that will crowd into his stream of thought. It does not help that the author’s advancing age effects a waning of vitality that also slows progress.(less)

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Average rating: 4.25 · 16 ratings · 6 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Yang Shen, The God from the West, Book I 4.25 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Reflections on a Gilded Isle

This story is an adaption of an earlier story called “Wulai” which has been drifting in my wake for many years for want of any place to settle. The original ended with Shannon returning to Taipei; here, the story continues … Continue reading →

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James’s Quotes

“And so we beat on, books against the critics, borne back ceaslessly into rewrites.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

tags: gatsby

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“Why do they call them civil wars when they always are so extraordinarily uncivil?”
― Elizabeth Fitch, Yang Shen: The God from the West, Book I

tags: civil-war

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message 5: by James

Jul 27, 2012 11:13AM

NOVELS ABOUT CHINA: GUEST POST AT HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

My guest post on historical novels set in China appeared this morning at Historical Tapestry. It briefly introduces thirty-two novels, and lists many more titles, that include modern novels about China from both Chinese and Western perspectives, old Chinese novels in translation, and novels of the Chinese-American experience. Click here to read this post at Historical Tapestry.

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message 4: by James (last edited Mar 21, 2012 09:08PM)

Mar 21, 2012 09:07PM

Recent accolades for Yang Shen:

"Historically convincing, and very, very lively!" Pamela K. Crossley, author of The Orphan Warriors

"A fascinating, eminently readable and vivid evocation of the time, place and personalities of a truly remarkable moment in modern Chinese history." Richard J. Smith, author of Mercenaries and Mandarins

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message 3: by James

Mar 21, 2012 09:06PM

New video at Yang Shen website

China in 1860
(a brief overview of the novel's historical background)

China in 1860. This presentation provides a brief 0verview of the history underlying the novel Yang Shen, giving the reader the historical context of China's Ch'ing (Qing) dynasty, the Opium Wars, Treaty Ports, and the Taiping Rebellion, A painless introduction to complex times that will enhance a reader's enjoyment of the novel (6 min, 91MB).

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message 2: by James

Feb 29, 2012 10:47AM

The Lower Reaches - journey up the Yangtze into the heart of China

You are cordially invited to view “The Lower Reaches,” a new 15-minute video of a journey up the Yangtze River into the heart of China in 1860, following maps and illustrations from the novel Yang Shen. Click on this link to YouTube:

http://youtu.be/WaqBS80HIvY

or go to the Goodreads author profile page for James Lande and look for the clipper ship.

Good watching!
James

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message 1: by James

Feb 04, 2012 08:51AM

Hello Fans - Yang Shen eBooks are here!

Formats for Kindle and Nook are now available - you'll find them on the eBook page at the Yang Shen website, www-yang-shen.info. Other formats are a-brewing.

The Kindle and Nook formats have both Chinese and non-Chinese versions all in the one eBook.

Even if you have no eReader, you can still read a Yang Shen eBook...for pennies to the pound! Readers worldwide who are not able to order the book in print can now order the eBook version, and for less cost as eBooks are not nearly so expensive to produce!

The Yang Shen eBook page has links to currently available eBook versions, to free eBook readers for your PC, and a blog for collecting comment from readers about eBook formatting, display, and performance on a reader's particular eDevice.

Good reading!
James

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