Exposing Overlooked... Gu Long Novels!

[PJ]

Whether Lovable or not, let's Expose and share information about all the Overlooked Gu Long Novels.

Below I have tried to identify a comprehensive list of the titles that I would consider Overlooked. Please share your experience with them: whether they are related to other novels, which ones are good, which ones are not so good, etc...

剑气书香 (1960)
one of his early works; listed as incomplete and missing to public

剑气严霜 (?)
similarly titled as above; are they related? Anyone know when this one was written? Partly (mostly?) written by Mo Yusheng... this seems to be a really long novel

铁剑红颜 (?)
Partly (mostly?) completed by Yu Donglou

菊花的刺 (?)
listed as partly completed by another author

怒剑狂花 (1982)
Completed by Gu Long's disciple Ding Qing... listed as the opening novel of the 群侠传 series ??

那一剑的风情 (1982)
Same as above... part of the 群侠传 series

边城刀声 (1983)
Same as above... part of the 群侠传 series
Is a continuation of Bordertown Wanderer?

白玉雕龙 (1981)
Listed as a continuation of Jade Tiger; largely completed by another author

剑毒梅香 (1960)
One of his first novels... but it's already partly written by somebody else? I guess Gu Long started this tradition early!
By the way, this seems to be one HUGE novel, = the length of the ENTIRE 8 Luk Siu Fung installments!!

失魂引 (1961)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列 in my collection (?)

残金缺玉 (1962)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列
I've been told by TigerWong that this isn't that great...

彩环曲 (1962)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列

游侠录 (1961)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列

孤星传 (1960)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列
Both TigerWong and Laviathan have very low opinion of it

湘妃剑 (1960)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列

月异星邪 (1960)
His 2nd novel

护花铃 (1962)
Another early effort

苍穹神剑 (1960)
His debute work!!!!!

飘香剑雨 (1963)
I must say: cool title!

Bloody Parrot (1976)
Listed as originated by Gu Long but maybe partly written by Huang Ying?
Opening installment of the 惊魂六记 that are sometimes credited to Gu Long but are actually written by Huang Ying?

7 Weapons series (1974 - 1978)
①长生剑 ②孔雀翎 　③碧玉刀 　④多情环 　⑤霸王枪 　⑥离别钩

拳头 (又名《愤怒的小马》，曾被收入《七种武器》，误)

Lover's Arrow (1964)
Actually I'm not sure if this qualifies as an Overlooked title, but I haven't heard anyone speak of it other than TigerWong, so I dare put it on this list. This should be one of his first "good" novels, along with 浣花洗剑录

大人物 (Big Time Celebrity)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

绝不低头 (1975)
The only modern-day novel by Gu Long
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

剑花·烟雨·江南 (1975)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

猎鹰·赌局 (1983)
His final work!!!!! - a short story?
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

七杀手 (1975)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

七星龙王 (1978)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

欢乐英雄 (1971)

大地飞鹰 (Land of Condors; 1976)
Related to "September Condor" ??

剑客行 (1963)
Another early effort

剑玄录 (1963)
Another early effort

风铃中的刀声 (1980)
Completed by Yu Donglou
Is it related to Dagger Lee or Ye Kai ??

飞刀，又见飞刀 (1977)
Considered a disaster by just about every reader
Is it related to Dagger Lee or Ye Kai ??

[PJ]

By the way, I plan to read most of the novels above, even the marginally recommended ones.

eventually.

[Tom]

Is there a short novel of his that's translated? I want to get a taste of his writing but I don't have time to read a large amount right now. Any suggestions?

[TigerWong]

Some random comments...

Whether Lovable or not, let's Expose and share information about all the Overlooked Gu Long Novels.

Below I have tried to identify a comprehensive list of the titles that I would consider Overlooked. Please share your experience with them: whether they are related to other novels, which ones are good, which ones are not so good, etc...

剑毒梅香 (1960)
One of his first novels... but it's already partly written by somebody else? I guess Gu Long started this tradition early!
By the way, this seems to be one HUGE novel, = the length of the ENTIRE 8 Luk Siu Fung installments!!

Loved this one! One of his early epic novels w. some of the biggest and most interesting powerhouses in the GL universe. Several characters and a manual are referenced in latter GL novels.

孤星传 (1960)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列
Both TigerWong and Laviathan have very low opinion of it

I don't believe I explicitly listed this one as a bad one when you polled me... but it's definitely very mediocre, so I'm not going to argue for it.

飘香剑雨 (1963)
I must say: cool title!

Pre-requisite to the sequel, which is even more entertaining.

7 Weapons series (1974 - 1978)
①长生剑 ②孔雀翎 　③碧玉刀 　④多情环 　⑤霸王枪 　⑥离别钩

拳头 (又名《愤怒的小马》，曾被收入《七种武器》，误)

One of GL's most famous works, so I wouldn't consider them "overlooked" at all. Great novels.

Lover's Arrow (1964)
Actually I'm not sure if this qualifies as an Overlooked title, but I haven't heard anyone speak of it other than TigerWong, so I dare put it on this list. This should be one of his first "good" novels, along with 浣花洗剑录

I'd say there were several great novels before this one, but this is definitely one of my favorites too.

大人物 (Big Time Celebrity)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

Another favorite of mine, as I actually started translating this a while back. Humorous, light reading.

七星龙王 (1978)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

Interesting references to CLX, who is viewed with some awe during this time.

大地飞鹰 (Land of Condors; 1976)
Related to "September Condor" ??

Nothing to do with "Eagles Flying in the Ninth Month", but contains an interesting little treatise on Ximen ChuiXue and Central Plains Yi Dian Hung.

剑玄录 (1963)
Another early effort

Another one of my favorite early epics.

风铃中的刀声 (1980)
Completed by Yu Donglou
Is it related to Dagger Lee or Ye Kai ??

According to Edmund Lau, it was listed as part of the "Dagger" series by a publisher, but the plot had nothing to do with them. Very dark story.

[PJ]

"Poisonous Sword, Fragrant Plum" Loved this one! One of his early epic novels w. some of the biggest and most interesting powerhouses in the GL universe. Several characters and a manual are referenced in latter GL novels.

Sounds very interesting. This was originally my first choice for reading, and now after hearing your comments, there is definitely no turning back.

"Lonestar Swordsman" I don't believe I explicitly listed this one as a bad one when you polled me... but it's definitely very mediocre, so I'm not going to argue for it.

I was referring to your comments in this topic

"Piaoxiang Jianyu" Pre-requisite to the sequel, which is even more entertaining.

One question: Is the sequel 剑毒梅香 ?

[PJ]

Is there a short novel of his that's translated? I want to get a taste of his writing but I don't have time to read a large amount right now. Any suggestions?

For a quick taste of Gu Long's style, may I suggest 2 excerpts translated by our own resident Gu Long aficionado bliss:

1. Horizon, Bright Moon, Blade

2. Third Master's Sword - the famous duel between Third Master Xie Xiaofeng and Yan 13.
(a big influence on me - as traceable in my writing throughout the RPG and even in my own modern-day Fan Fiction)

....

But at that exact moment, the already lifeless sword suddenly began to tremble.

The fluttering leaves that drifted in the sky all dropped down to the ground simultaneously. Everything that was moving suddenly fell still.

Absolute stillness.

There was no other movement in the entire world, except for his sword that wouldn't stop trembling.

A look of utter dread came over Xie Xiaofeng's face. He suddenly realized that although the sword was still in his hands, it was totally devoid of life.

As soon as his opponent's sword began to regain its life, his sword would start to die, his movements would have no chance of ever changing again. Because all the changes were now in his opponent's control.

All the life and vitality around them had been snatched away by that one sword.

And now, that sword could pierce through him at any time it wished. No force in the entire world could stop it.

Because that one sword was [Death].

....

[TigerWong]

One question: Is the sequel 剑毒梅香 ?

No, it's this. 飘香剑雨续

Here's one link that hosts it: http://qiqi.com/cgi-bin/bk2.pl?fd1=b...long&in=gulong

Along with,

剑毒梅香
剑玄录
剑客行 (Many online versions are missing the ending unfortunately...)

I consider these 4 some of his more traditionally written and entertaining early epics.

[PJ]

剑客行 (Many online versions are missing the ending unfortunately...)

[EDIT]
I see - I checked and even your link (qiqi.com) just ends with 看来他就要施展狠毒招式，不惜辣手摧花！....
It omits the 第六五章 大结局

Online versions really can be deceiving.

./

[TigerWong]

Does your link have the proper ending?

Unfortunately, it doesn't. So far, I haven't come across any online that did.

[Ren Ying Ying]

i'm not sure if da ren wu should count as overlooked, seeing how they have already made two tv serials on it. but as far was wuxia discussion goes, i suppose there isn't much.

i've only tried one of his earlier works (月异星邪)...which is rather un-gulong-ish. i suppose he hasn't really developed his "style" back them.

[bliss]

For a quick taste of Gu Long's style, may I suggest 2 excerpts translated by our own resident Gu Long aficionado bliss:

1. World's Edge, Tomorrow, Blade
....

It really pains me that I still haven't finished translating Bordertown Wanderer. It pains me even more that I probably won't ever get the chance to translate Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre. =(

PJ, just wondering, about your translation of the title, "World's Edge, Tomorrow, Blade", I don't think "Tomorrow" really fits? The middle two words are 'ming yue', not 'ming ri'.

[PJ]

PJ, just wondering, about your translation of the title, "World's Edge, Tomorrow, Blade", I don't think "Tomorrow" really fits? The middle two words are 'ming yue', not 'ming ri'.

That's what happens when I stay up all night and type at 6 AM

[kidd]

失魂引 (1961)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列 in my collection (?)

彩环曲 (1962)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列

孤星传 (1960)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列
Both TigerWong and Laviathan have very low opinion of it

湘妃剑 (1960)
Another early effort; organized as one of the 金剑侠魂系列

月异星邪 (1960)
His 2nd novel

护花铃 (1962)
Another early effort

7 Weapons series (1974 - 1978)
②孔雀翎 　④多情环 　⑥离别钩

大人物 (Big Time Celebrity)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

剑花·烟雨·江南 (1975)
Organized as part of the 七杀手系列 in my collection

Wow, I actually saw the above books on sale in the 2 books stores I frequented. Should I buy them before they run out of stock (both stores are just selling old stock. No more upcoming copies from publisher for the time being. No idea when is the next publication date). I was contemplating whether to buy them or not because I have no idea or not what's the stories about or whether they are good or not.

I've bought 护花铃 and 大人物 though and I'm currently reading 大人物. Agree with TigerWong. It's quite a fun read.

I don't think 大人物 is overlooked anymore, since it has only recently been adapted as tv series starring Nic Tse, Angelica Lee, Liu Tao and Yan Kuan. So, should have gotten quite good publicity.

护花铃 was introduced to me by Yufeng who has high praises for it. The english translation has been completed by him. I've read a few pages of the chinese text. It's very un-Gu Long. Don't expect lots of dialogues and easy to read wordings. The writing of this novel is very old style with lots of difficult words (for people who are 'half pail full' like me ).

One overlook novel I can think of:
- 碧血洗银枪 (1977)
I enjoy reading it very much and I especially like the female lead. The male lead is also very likable. The premise is that the male lead Ma Ru Long was framed for murder and he has to be a furgitive and also find a way to clean his name. For anyone interested, this novel is only one book long, about the same length has LXF book 4 (I compared the thickness of the books).

[kidd]

Why no more updates on this thread? So few people have interest in Gu Long's work meh.

Has anyone read 湘妃剑 and 彩环曲? Are they good?

Ren Ying Ying, how is 月异星邪? Is the story good?

[PJ]

Why no more updates on this thread? So few people have interest in Gu Long's work meh.

I think not many people have read his overlooked books.
But at least, a few have.

[Ren Ying Ying]

Ren Ying Ying, how is 月异星邪? Is the story good?

it's average in terms of wuxia, nothing spetacular, and as i've said above, it doesn't have much gulong elements. rather predictable for a gu long novel. so average in fact, that i can only remember the very basic plot.

[kidd]

it's average in terms of wuxia, nothing spetacular, and as i've said above, it doesn't have much gulong elements. rather predictable for a gu long novel. so average in fact, that i can only remember the very basic plot.

Thanks for the feedback.

[kidd]

Has anyone read 绝不低头? It's a 14 chapter short story. I just realise that my 大人物 book came with this story at the back. Is it any good? If not, I'll leave it aside first and focus on my other unfinished novels first.

[Ren Ying Ying]

Has anyone read 绝不低头? It's a 14 chapter short story. I just realise that my 大人物 book came with this story at the back. Is it any good? If not, I'll leave it aside first and focus on my other unfinished novels first.

if i remember correctly, it's the one set in a somewhat modern timeline (at least relatively modern compared to most wuxia novels since there were cars)?

the novel doesn't have too much wuxia elements to it, but the storyline is decent, tthough not spetacular (an "overlooked" gulong novel for a reason). the story is a bit on the heavier side, though

[PJ]

I have another query about Gu Long's novels

In Jin Yong's works, his writing improved in later novels, so his later novels generally feature more impressive feats that were not seen in earlier novels. Is this also true for Gu Long? When you guys assess fighters written in Gu Long's later style (his famous style), vs the fighters written in his earlier style (which is rather traditional), do you notice any trends?