Chapter 233: Chapter 218: Shocked Reader 1
The subject matter is critical to a novel; so why do most novelists always opt for popular themes in their works?
Because readers prefer those themes, they seek out books within those categories—
Choosing a popular theme increases the chances of the novel being selected by readers!
Even some well-reputed bestselling authors don’t dare to easily choose some niche themes for their creations.
This is because they are not sure whether their readers will continue to support them after they write a book with an unpopular theme.
Yet, there are always some authors who defy convention.
Chu Kuang is one such author.
He seems to be inherently averse to writing on popular subjects.
His debut novel in the field of the fantasy long-fiction genre was called “King of the Net,” revolving around competitive sports—
An incredibly niche theme!
His second novel, “Zhu Xian,” falls into a genre of fantasy novels that hardly anybody else was touching—
It’s an even more dubious proposition than competitive sports!
Despite this, these two unlikely-themed novels turned out to be remarkably successful, even setting trends in the market!
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on Ɲονǥ0.ƈο
Therefore,
When Chu Kuang’s third novel was placed in the horror and mystery category, many industry insiders weren’t surprised at all.
It’s clear that
If it weren’t for the success of “Zhu Xian,” the industry would definitely have been pessimistic about Chu Kuang’s new book, and there would have been a hundred per cent chance somebody would have said:
“Chu Kuang’s new book will certainly flop!”
This is because horror and suspense are also niche genres in the realm of fantasy novels!
But Chu Kuang had already twice outperformed everyone’s expectations, so when Silver Blue Books started promoting his new book, no one dared to question the quality of Chu Kuang’s new book, although deep down they might have had some reservations.
Editors within the industry are not fools.
Whenever it comes to anything involving Chu Kuang, judging based on conventional wisdom usually ends up being humiliating. It would be better to keep quiet and wait for the results.
Book merchants are not fools either.
Even though “Ghost Blowing Lamp” seemed to be headed for a flop, all the major booksellers were still respectful, pre-ordering a decent quantity of stock from Silver Blue Books.
There was no choice really,
After all, “Ghost Blowing Lamp” was Chu Kuang’s new novel?
With his first two novels as a base, the pen name Chu Kuang has come to largely overshadow the importance of genre and subject.
However…
This is just the opinion of some people in Qin Province.
A lot of readers in the Qi Province do not agree with it.
Like Mai Tong.
Mai Tong is a native of Qi Province.
After the merger of Qin and Qi Provinces, as a lover of fantasy novels, Mai Tong naturally read many of the great fantasy novels from Qin Province.
Because there are so many excellent works from Qin Province, all brilliant, Mai Tong was captivated and couldn’t stop reading.
Therefore, Mai Tong hadn’t yet had time to get to Chu Kuang’s novels.
However, many readers from Qin Province praised Chu Kuang a lot on the internet, making it seem as if Chu Kuang was really something special.
So Mai Tong was planning on reading some of Chu Kuang’s work
Just then, Mai Tong came across the promotion for Chu Kuang’s new book from Silver Blue Books.
What better way to understand an author than through their newest work?
That’s why, after learning that Chu Kuang was releasing a new book, Mai Tong didn’t buy any of Chu Kuang’s past works, but looked forward to his new book.
Mai Tong wanted to see just how great this Chu Kuang from Qin Province really was.
But-
Before the book named “Ghost Blowing Lamp” was officially released, just seeing the theme of the novel mentioned in the promotion, Mai Tong was already starting to feel disappointed.
It’s a horror and mystery book?!
Isn’t Chu Kuang a famous author from Qin Province? Why would he choose to write such a niche theme?
Is this typical of bestselling authors in Qin Province?
To be honest, Mai Tong wasn’t interested in this theme at all.
But maybe the Qin Province web users were just too effusive in their praise of Chu Kuang.
Even though Mai Tong had zero interest in the theme of Chu Kuang’s new book, he still bought a copy of “Ghost Blowing Lamp” on its official release date, the first of June.
He wasn’t interested in the book, but in the person.
The praise for Chu Kuang coming from Qin Province’s readers online was too high, so much so that Mai Tong was curious about what makes this person so special.
However,
As soon as he flipped open “Ghost Blowing Lamp,” Mai Tong’s face fell.
“First person narrative?”
The great Chu Kuang’s writing is just this mediocre?
Mai Tong has always believed that the first-person narrative is the most unconvincing method of storytelling.
He once tried to force himself to read a novel written in the first person, but he couldn’t make it past a few chapters before giving up.
Since then, he hadn’t read a single novel written in the first person.
The market response also proved that first-person writing was unpopular.
Ninety-nine percent of popular books are created in the third person, with a god-like perspective.
Barely looking at these points, Mai Tong already wanted to write off “Ghost Blowing Lamp.”
However, he had spent money on this book; Mai Tong held back his instinctive resistance with a grimace and continued reading.
And the set up and plotline of the novel slowly unfolds before Mai Tong’s eyes…
[Opening the mound, gold finding, shifting the mountain, unloading the ridge, these are the four major tomb-raiding schools.]
[Man lights the candle, the ghost blows the lamp.]
Before opening a coffin inside an ancient tomb, you must first light a candle in the southeast corner. If the candle goes out, you must quickly exit and cannot take a single thing. This is said to be a contract between the living and the dead set by the founder, adhered to for a thousand years, never to be broken.]
[At the crow of the rooster or the snuffing of the candle, refrain from touching the gold.]
[When searching for the dragon, observe the pattern of the mountains. Each turn is a challenge; A gate with a thousand locks hints at royalty living within.]
At first, Mai Tong skimmed through the book hastily, like swallowing dates whole.
Just like reading a textbook, his lack of interest made his reading very perfunctory.
But when doing plot unfolded, like the part about paper dolls, and the rules and setup of tomb robbing got meticulously analyzed by the author, Mai Tong gradually got interested.
“This is quite intriguing.”
He quirked an eyebrow and continued to Read.
Time, ticked away little by little.
When the story got integrated into the main line, through the perspective of Hu Bayi, Mai Tong found his eyes widening a little, the speed of his reading slowing down.
“Zongzi (rice dumplings)…”
“Goldfinder’s charm…”
“Gifted one distributes gold and determines dwelling places…”
“Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang FengShui Secret Technique…”
From the moment the Ancient City of Jingjue got first mentioned in the story, the main plotline became clear. It was like the trunk of a large tree, slowly branching out into leaves and twigs.
It’s absolutely fascinating!
With the progression of the story, Mai Tong completely lost himself in it. He recalled those Qin Province readers’ comments on Chu Kuang on the internet, for the very first time, he felt a profound agreement in his heart…
Chu Kuang, so exceptional!
This novel, seemingly scary, actually covers historical geography, humanities, and even “The Book of Changes”. Only a knowledgeable author could produce such a work.
Because…
To write this type of book, one needs the imagination of a thriller author, the profundity of a historical writer, the logic of a detective writer, a psychologist’s grasp on human nature, knowledge of a civil engineer, the sensitivity of a politician, the basics of a geographer, and most importantly, an endless source of superb inspirations!
A great reputation is never gained without merit.
Chu Kuang accomplished all this!
What is most magical is…
The tomb-robbing scenes depicted by Chu Kuang!
The underground world he describes is too ingenious and bizarre, the thrilling and terrifying atmosphere carries a intense mental stimulation, triggering Mai Tong’s countless imaginations!
The characters are very vividly drawn.
Hu Bayi, who would talk about everything under the sun, but would become decisive at crucial moments.
Shirley Yang, who’s agile and has extraordinary insights, upstanding and universal.
Wang Kai Xuan, the Fatty Wang, who loves money and has a fear of heights, yet demonstrates deep loyalty and extraordinary gun skills.
Faction, unique skills, jargon, sense of era, all present. It appears absurd, yet it’s unusually reasonable. There’s even analysis and explanation of materialism weaving through it, which keeps people from feeling that the author is concocting cock-and-bull stories…
This world, almost real!
Thrilling and exciting, horrifying and suspenseful, mystifying and weird, while carrying a bit of deductive, puzzle-solving vibe.
This is entirely different from the horror suspense that Mai Tong had expected!
Even putting this novel into the “horror suspense” category is somewhat of a mistake.
This is clearly a new genre.
This is…a grave-robbing novel that’s never been seen in the market before!
“I’m totally sold!”
Mai Tong’s mood, became exceedingly excited!
Previously, he disliked the first-person perspective, but as he read through the novel, he suddenly felt, there’s nothing wrong with first-person perspective!
Tomb robbing novels should use first-person perspective to boost immersion, making one feel as if they too have entered the story!
This kind of immersive reading experience, is something third-person perspective can’t provide.
In other words, if the writer is skillful enough, first-person perspective can also be beautifully done!
By now.
It was already dark.
Without realizing it, Mai Tong had spent the whole afternoon reading.
Only then did he come back to his senses and noticed that his neck was a little sore, and his eyes a little dry.
However, at this point, he was nearly finished with the first volume of the novel.
Mai Tong reads quite fast compared to average readers.
Meanwhile, around the same time.
The editors of Silver Blue Books were anxiously awaiting feedback online for “Ghost Blows Out the Light”, though there were some comments already, most of them were not directly related to the content, only personal support for Chu Kuang.
“There shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
“Although the style of the novel isn’t exactly youthful and imaginative, in this era, isn’t it all about whether the story is exciting or not…”
“I’m worried that readers won’t accept the first-person perspective.”
“Yes, everyone struggled with the first-person perspective, but everything requires an adjustment period, don’t you think after reading for a while, you start to forget about the first-person issue?”
“Yes, I became engrossed later on, I didn’t even mind the first-person perspective.”
As the editors carried on with their discussion, feedback on “Ghost Blows Out the Light” started to appear online.
The first wave of readers finally showed up.
The novel was officially launched at seven in the morning.
By now, almost twelve hours had passed since the launch of “Ghost Blows Out the Light”.
For fast readers, finishing the first volume of “Ghost Blows Out the Light” within twelve hours was not a problem.
Even if they didn’t finish the first volume.
After reading just a part of this book, its exciting charm started to emerge, enough to allow all appraisals to be well-founded.
The editors who had been eagerly watching the official website finally began to see the readers’ reviews.
The first review regarding the official content was from a reader named “Mai Tong”:
“As a reader from Qi Continent, I’ve always heard of the great Chu Kuang. Today I had the fortune of reading ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’, finished it in one breath, and was mind-blown. Since the merger of Qin and Qi, this is the best novel I’ve ever read from Qin Province!”
Shortly after.
As if a starting gunshot.
Once this book review appeared, more reviews regarding ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ followed like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, one after another.