Albert Dalia's Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest.
Dream of the Dragon Pool – A Daoist
Quest is a multifaceted novel
woven around the historical fact of the death-sentence exile of
Forced by the
emperor’s exile order, Li Bo travels up the great
The cast is rounded out
by Li’s traveling companion, a wandering blade veteran of the Tang
dynasty’s Central Asian conquests, known as the “Iron Talon;” a
mysterious swordsman-musician, who travels with a ghost-catching drunken
monkey; a “dream assassin,” capable of killing people from within their
dreams; and a blond, green-eyed, Central Asian female ghost, enslaved by the
Blood Dragon’s powers. The characters, settings, and sensibilities are
inspired by the romantic and flamboyant Tang dynasty “tales of wonder”
and woven together by the author, a veteran medieval
Albert
A. Dalia is a China
scholar with four decades of study, research, and experience in medieval
Chinese history and culture. Two decades ago, after earning two masters
degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion, he turned to fiction
writing and produced a series of published short stories and, now, his first
novel. For more information, please go to www.aadalia.com.
Here are some reviews of this remarkable book:
Book Review | by Mark Pollard | fm. Kungfu Cinema | 2007.07.12
SCORE:
For years, these tales have provided the basis for the many fantasy, wuxia
and kung fu movies produced in Hong Kong and
More adventurous film enthusiasts have discovered that this is merely a sampling of a broader wealth of cinematic treasures that number in the thousands, from the colorful, classic films of Shaw Brothers studios to the more recent computer effects-filled spectacles of Tsui Hark and his mainland Chinese counterparts. Yet what of their oft overlooked literary and cultural roots and the influences these elements have had on fiction in the Western world?
In
Walk into any bookstore in the
Into this seemingly impenetrable realm of ignorance and possibility treads Dream
of the Dragon Pool, the first wuxia novel from
Pop culture is exactly the term I would use in reference to Dream of the Dragon Pool, for while it may at first glance appear to be a scholarly novelization on the mystical life of a famous Chinese poet of antiquity, it is in actuality as accessible and creative as any Stephen King novel or Hong Kong action movie.
The book’s tale takes place in 8th century
The central protagonist is Li Bo, also known as Li Bai (see Wikipedia
entry), a historical figure known as one of
Ah Wu’s skill with a crossbow and heightened battle senses, honed from
years of military service prove invaluable in keeping apparitions at bay as Li
Bo makes his way to a fabled
Along the way Li Bo is visited in his dreams by an old woman who hands him the legendary Dragon Pool Sword and tasks him with transporting it safely to the Rain Goddess atop a 12-peaked mountain further upriver.
Of course, what is a quest without danger and intrigue? Along Li Bo’s path lie a deadly albino assassin who kills people in their sleep, a reluctant golden-haired seductress who happens to be a ghost and a vicious Blood Dragon that sucks the blood of its victims through their armpits and prowls the river in hopes of getting the sword for use in upsetting the balance of good and evil.
Other characters Li Bo encounters include a young, wandering swordsman named Ma Ssu-ming and his ghost-catching monkey, and an unusually powerful Taoist priestess named Shamaness Luo.
Since I primarily write about movies and have read very little translated
wuxia literature to date, I am going to relate this novel to
There is freshness, a slight spring to Dalia’s writing and approach that nicely counteracts the morbid nature of some of the content. Li Bo is a poet without a poet’s voice, who drowns himself in wine every chance he gets. Yet within him there remains a great love of the simple pleasures and beauty in life that have for years inspired his readers through his writing.
Ah Wu has lost his wife, his sons and his purpose in life as a soldier. Despite his pessimistic mood and rashness, which is in opposition to Li Bo’s temperament, Ah Wu’s friendship with the poet means everything to him.
As a ghost condemned to the Blood Dragon’s service, Chen Shao-lin is the third main character and in many ways represents Joey Wang’s character in A CHINESE GHOST STORY. She is a tragic figure, a victim of evil in life and death whose love of Li Bo’s poetry restores her humanity at a crucial time. She also goes through the greatest character transformation in the story, by attempting to break free from her master’s hold.
Ma Ssu-ming is less well-defined internally and provides more of the
typically light-hearted flavor that
The main threat in the story is of a supernatural nature and comes in the form of the Blood Dragon, a being Dalia defines very well for being something I have never heard of before. It is a petty demon blinded by hatred that exhibits at least as many flaws as the humans it despises so much. Yet the demon’s powers are potent and highly unusual. It can produce assassins from paper dolls splattered in blood. It can transform itself into an attractive female or a hideous serpent. One interesting trait is that the Blood Dragon often takes on the guise of the most hated enemy of those who see it. What Li Bo briefly sees is telling, both for the character and for Dalia as an author who frequently drops little gems into his story that he doesn’t linger on but allows discerning readers to savor.
Although the story moves along quickly and is an easy read, there isn’t a lot of action by typical wuxia standards. Dalia approaches this story, not from the perspective of an action or martial arts buff, but as a writer and scholar. Much of the excitement comes from the internal conflicts and potential that many of the characters exhibit to perform violent acts. For instance, the reader is often teased by the albino assassin. In a basket hat that hides his face, he lurks in the shadows and works his dark arts silently by slipping into the dreams of others to kill them while they sleep. This doesn’t allow for much in the way of sword fights, but it is a clever trick that should be familiar to those who have seen the movie DREAMSCAPE.
Dalia does a fine job of building up to his climaxes and fleshing out his characters gradually, in a way that keeps the reader engaged during their journey up the river. With the emphasis on the yang and yin nature of life and death it is interesting to see how these two states mingle so closely in the story and the players. I don’t know how well this reflects on Chinese thought today, yet it is definitely a different approach from most Western thinking where death is looked upon as the end of the journey. In contrast, death appears to be merely the beginning of a second phase in the existence of beings in this realm where some are condemned to levels of hell, others become immortals and some become unwilling servants of otherworldly creatures.
The real pleasure in reading Dragon Pool is seeing how existence and conflict is witnessed from the perspective that goes beyond life and death. These are merely states with slightly different rules that define them. It gives Dalia a lot of room to play with, yet he keeps the story focused.
The ending comes a bit abruptly as the final conflict arrives with Li Bo and his friends facing the Blood Dragon. Loose ends are tied up quickly and there is a sense that things have happened a little too smoothly. This could be the fault of the storytelling device, which relies on rarely seen, god-like figures that seem to be pulling the strings behind the curtain. This is a common problem with myth telling that involves deities as it strips away some of the mystery of life and death and suggests that the players may be stuck, at least in part, on a predestined track. Regardless, Dalia is working with some interesting concepts that many readers not familiar with classical Chinese philosophy and culture should find interesting at least.
Anyone who enjoys literary-minded martial arts cinema, be it the wuxia and fantasy films of Tsui Hark, Chu Yuan or King Hu, will undoubtedly enjoy reading Dream of the Dragon Pool. It is a mature and polished first offering from Albert A. Dalia that suggests he knows his Chinese source material well and knows how to transfer it into a fun and refreshing tale for English-speaking readers. It is a unique treat to be able to enjoy an original work of fiction that really captures the spirit and flavor of Chinese storytelling. I suspect that Dalia, who possesses four decades of study into medieval Chinese history and culture as his foundation, has a lot more to share. I sincerely hope the Western publishing world and book buying public is ready for his brand of genre fiction because I know I am.
Dream of the Dragon Pool was published in April 2007 by Pleasure Boat Studio. A complete list of the publisher's titles is available at pleasureboatstudio.com. For more information about author Albert A. Dalia visit aadalia.com.
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from
Worm's Sci-Fi Haven:
At first blush, Dream of the Dragon Pool seems a
rather simple narrative following the poet Li Bo on his journey into exile after
being expelled by the royal court. Stopping at an ancient dream temple, Li falls
into a dangerous quest that he must complete, or face the anger of the spirits.
Li Bo was a real person, one of the most famous poets in
Chinese literature. Of central Asian descent, Li Bo was often seen as an
outsider. After an attempted coup, he was sent into exile to the southern
reaches of the empire. Before reaching
Li is told at the dream temple that he must bring the
Dragon Pool Sword to Mount Wu to be protected by the Spirit who resides there. To accomplish this, Li and
his swordsman companion Ah Wu travel down the
While enroute to Mount Wu, Li and Ah Wu are joined by a blonde ghost named Chen, a “travelling
entertainer” named Ma Ssu-Ming and his ghost hunting pet monkey, and shamaness
looking to escape the royal court. On their tail is a dangerous and power hungry
Blood Dragon, and an imperial assassin, both willing and sometimes happy to kill
to get what they want. It becomes a race to get the sword, and to survive.
The characterization was my favorite aspect of Dream
of the Dragon Pool. I wonder if Dalia modeled their characteristics on
people he knew, they are described and created in such loving detail. Ma Ssu-Ming’s
pet monkey, Lao Huang, usually drunk, is hilarious, and useful as a ghost
hunter. Ah Wu is along for the ride out of respect for his friend Li Bo, and as
a disciplined soldier can barely stand it to watch his companions while the
entire day away reading poetry and drinking. Their exchanges are quite humorous
and casual in a way I’m not used to seeing in hero fantasy stories. The Blood
Dragon is a fascinating foe, appearing as the person you most hate. Once killed
by a Blood Dragon, the victim’s ghost becomes his slave. Even after finishing
the book, I can see Li and Ma Ssu-Ming laughing on the boat, and Ah Wu looking
suspiciously at Chen, and the Blood Dragon swimming behind the boat, biding his
time. For having numerous attempts made on his life, and to the frustrations of
his traveling companions, Li Bo is incredibly relaxed through the whole ordeal.
He trusts his destiny to the spirits, and he knows although this adventure may
end in his death, it’s far preferable to a slow boring death in exile.
For a historical and mythical fantastical story, all the
characters (even the spirits) talk and act in a smart and rather modern fashion.
It’s refreshing to read a book with historical reference and have characters
joke, drink, and talk like sailors. You’ll find no melodramatic soliloquy-ing
in this fantasical story, these characters are more interested in having fun,
drinking, flirting, and writing poetry to act in the standard, western
“Tolkien” dramatic epic fantasy fashion. Written in the style of Chinese
heroic fantasy, there is plenty of action as well, much of it involving kung fu
and sword fights.
A thought that kept crossing my mind as I read this was
the tempo. Certain scenes meander, flowing like a lazy river, other times moving
at an unexpectedly quicker pace. Dalia artfully parallels the tempo of the story
to the river on which they are traveling. As the currents move faster and the
rapids become more dangerous, so does everything else. It is subtly done, and
not something I’ve ever run into before.
A mild negative on the book was sentence structure and
editing. There are chunks of sentences that just don’t flow, areas where words
are stumbling over themselves. Bad editing? Lost in translation? I don’t know,
and it wasn’t hard to get past the choppiness to enjoy the story being told.
If you enjoy any type of hero myth and hero fantasy, give
Dream of the Dragon Pool a shot. It is a refreshing change from western
style fantastical stories, and gives a relaxing and satisfying aftertaste. There
is a novel grace and layered subtly to Dalia’s writing style. I look forward
to reading more from him.
Four out of five spaceships.
from Viviane
Crystal
“There is another Reality – not of the human realm.” Shame and anguish
haunt Li Bo, the famous Tang Dynasty poet. After he is exiled by the Emperor
Xuan-zong, a mysterious dream changes his sorrow over losing his poetic gift to
the quest of reaching Mount Wu, where he is told he will both serve the mythical
Rain Goddess and have his poetic muse restored. But little does Li Bo imagine
what his quest will really involve. On the surface it appears he is to find the
mystical Dragon Pool Sword as he encounters various persons of human, divine,
and ghostly natures. Through his journey with Ah Wu the warrior, Old Zhou the
boatman, Luo Jhu-yun the Shamaness, the Lady of the Purple Vault or “Purple
Immortal” of Daoist fame, Ma Ssu-ming the swordsman, Lao-hunag the drunken
monkey, and so many more mysterious characters, Li Bo is gradually purified of
self-interest and becomes the true heroic character of Taoist legend. The powers
he must face are quite formidable, including The Blood Dragon and his minions
who shape-shift, plot, and kill in myriad ways that never become dull with
repetition.
Albert Dalia is a writer to watch if you love Chinese fiction or drama. His
purpose in this novel is to firmly establish the traditional Chinese wuxia
literary genre within English language fiction, and he admirably succeeds in
that venture. Never confusing the reader with the multitude of characters, Dalia
masterfully develops Li Bo’s character so that his eventual immersion into
immortality while remaining in this world is smooth, credible and exciting to
follow. Readers will recognize the stock characters of Chinese tradition while
enjoying the unique qualities of each person who alters and is altered by
sharing Li Bo’s journey. Remarkable, accurate, and well-written, Dream of
the Dragon Pool is a delightful read.
from Kurt Johnson, amazon.com:
The great poet, Li Bo, has been ordered into exile, but on his way out of the Empire he decides to stop at
By O. Makos "Welthow," amazon.com:
As a high school English teacher whose specialty lies in British Literature, I
could not put this book down; I wanted so much to finish reading it. Aside from
the lush imagery and mystical setting, one cannot fail to see the unversal
archetypal theme in the story; the fundamental importance of enjoying and
participating in all aspects of life that can only come by creating and
sustaining a balance. You will find yourself empathizing with the characters,
both male and female, whose flaws closely mirror our own. This story is a
craftful and beautiful story whose narrative is reminiscent of early epic
stories in any mythology, not to mention, I learned a few concepts about Daoism
that I hope to pursue and incorporate in my own teaching. 5 out of 5 Stars.
Enjoyable Read, May 24, 2007