Dear History Exchange writer,

Thank you for agreeing to write for me. Prompts for specific characters can be found in the description of my request. Here I wanted to put together requests and likes/dislikes that apply regardless of character or time period.

I am fine with just about any sexuality or pairing as long as it's consensual and not incestuous. I request that the story not feature in a positive way relationships with a heavy power imbalance between the parties (including age and family dynamics) to the point of coercion. I have no problem with tender moments arising in the context of an abusive relationship, but I'd be very uncomfortable if the story ultimately portrays such a relationship as healthy.

That said, I'm fine with large age gaps as long as it's clear that both parties have full agency. I also adore genfic, so if you don't feel the need for a pairing in your story there's no need to try and add any.

I'm no stickler for historical accuracy (and don't have the expertise to judge anyway), but would greatly appreciate it if there were at least a couple of evocative details that gave a sense of the period and setting.

Seeing how these are real people, though long dead, I would like to request a level of respect for their cultures and legacies. That means, for instance, no easy stereotypes like an Indian character being reduced to funny accents. Humor is great, obviously, including those that arise due to differences between language and cultures, but I'd like all characters to be human first.

I have a preference for stories with a clear arc, as in something changes at the end of a story in comparison to the beginning. It doesn't have to be a flashy "action" story--though I love those, too!--but I would like some character development no matter how introspective or action-packed the story. If that's not something that comes to you, though, there's no need to force it.

Thank you again for your participation, and I hope the process of creation is an enjoyable one for you!

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I learned yesterday that evidently a bunch of jingoistic pseudo-historians (let's call them JiPHs for short) who claim to be "patriots" helped put a halt to the Early Korea Project, a joint publication project by Harvard University and (actual) historians of ancient Korea. The JiPHs' complaint? That the project put the site of one of the major Chinese colonies, Nakrang, in the Korean peninsula, as opposed to the Chinese continent where the JiPHs insist Nakrang was located.


Different theories on the location of Nakrang: Most South Korean scholars (green), North Korean scholars (blue), so-called "irregular" scholars, i.e. JiPHs (red)

The JiPHs' argument, as always, is total baloney. The historical and most crucially the archeological evidence points to Nakrang being on the peninsula, around what is now Pyeongyang, North Korea. (Green area of map above) The JiPHs, however, insist that Nakrang was in modern China to the west of the Liao River (Red area of map) because Reasons because Korea wasn't centered on the Korean peninsula we were a continental power dammit and the Chinese could never have had a presence on the Korean peninsula and it's colonialist to say otherwise and wahhhhh why are their dicks so small.

That's their entire thing, that ancient Korea has to have been a continental power, no, a continent-spanning empire in order for our history to have any worth, the evidence must only be interpreted to support this conclusion, and any scholarship that says otherwise is imperialist treason to the Korean people and ughhhh I feel slimy just typing this wanky nonsense.

Like mainstream historical scholars tend to, I've regarded the JiPHs with amused tolerance because I assumed they were harmless though annoying cranks. But now, realizing they can get valuable, serious research shut down with their pseudoacademic crap and get members of the national legislature on their side, I realize they are a serious threat and need a stompdown.

This gives me more incentive than ever to finish and publish my novel which places Nakrang, obviously, squarely in the Korean peninsula where it belongs. I want with all my heart for this novel to gain enough influence that the idea of Nakrang in Pyeongyang becomes popularized and the JiPHs can only scream and cry while their "theory" goes down the toilet where it belongs. That's not the only JiPH sacred cow I'm slaughtering, so may their cryfest be bitter and long.

And sure, if that happens they'll start their usual campaigns of smears and harassment, tactics that people with actual proof and logic on their side don't have to resort to. And you know what? Bring it. I am so ready for these liars and cowards. They have gone too far and this means war.

Following up a post on the religious instruction of children, I'd like to address a second point about missionaries. I will reproduce the relevant paragraph I'm responding to; for the full comment, see the earlier post.

The comment I'm responding to said in part (emphasis mine):

I also don't think it is fair for missionaries to go disrupt established cultures and push their beliefs on indigenous people. It's usually done with fear-mongering and things like food, education, medicine and other badly needed aid being used to "persuade" people. The effects can be devastating. Look what missionaries did to Uganda.

( The white guilt might be cute if not for the objectification of POC )

Yes, my society has been disrupted multiple times, including by religion, more often by politics and war. We change, and we go on. We are not so fragile that we're destroyed by every new thing that comes along, including Christianity. We are a society with our own history, viewpoints, and choices, not just helpless huddled victims of Western cultural imperialism.

Obviously I cannot speak for all indigenous peoples' experiences and many were probably more traumatic than ours. However, blanket statements about what missionaries do and what religion does are unhelpful and tend to flatten and objectify the diversity of our stories. One thing we are not is a cautionary tale for someone else's anti-theism.

Has it seriously been a month since I updated? o_O THE TIME WHERE DOES IT GO

My friends who have given me encouragements on the Soseono novel will be heartened to know that my obsession with the project continues apace. I've done a substantial amount of research on the politics of the period, at least in the internal politics among the heroine's people, so I've moved on to the daily lives including clothing, food, and architecture.

I've started on clothing first because it's the best researched and documented among the "daily life" topics. Goguryeoh in particular has a wealth of primary sources on these, because starting around the second or third century A.D. these people started painting elaborate tomb murals depicting everyday scenes like dancing, parades, cooking, fighting and so on. (In later periods the murals become more abstract and religious, closing this window into the material lives of their eras.)

There's a lot of research on specific subjects depicted in these murals. Recently I read an entire paper on men's headgear, for instance. Evidently Goguryeoh men wore caps, and noblemen wore feathers in their caps to denote their status. Feathered caps are shown in various murals including the following the third or fourth century depiction of a hunt.

( pics below the fold )

To left: A more honest cover, brought to you by terrible photoshopping.

I remember leafing through a copy of The Education of Little Tree at a friend's home many years ago. The book had been published in Korea under the title 내 영혼이 따뜻했던 날들 (The Days when My Soul Was Warm), and was a bestseller here as it was in the U.S. I read through a bit where the protagonist's grandfather taught him that predators hunt the old, weak and sick leaving the strong ones to breed. So evidently natural selection was a part of Cherokees spirituality? How nice. I put the book back and didn't give it much thought.

I was reminded of this brief exposure when I read The Real Education of Little Tree, about the life and career of author Asa "Ace" Carter. Carter worked as a speechwriter for George Wallace, who would go on to become the infamous segregationist governor of Alabama. A staunch segregationist himself, Carter formed a white citizens council (these were widely seen as respectable segregationist alternatives to the Klan) and his signature appears on the articles of incorporation of the Original Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy, though he denied Klan membership. Even fellow segregationists considered him too radical and sinister in his open calls for violence, however. Wallace never hired him directly but instead paid him through intermediaries, and the white citizens council eventually drove him out. Yes, Carter was too virulently racist for George Wallace.

( It only gets better from there )

Asa Carter's views are not irrelevant or incidental to Little Tree. Rather, his violent racism is central to the entire work. Carter might have been a con man and a bastard, but he was one smart con man and bastard: He knew what was required to hold up the system of white supremacy, and he knew its logic. He knew that mainstream white society would not seek out or listen to the actual Cherokees who would realize in an instant that the book was bunk.

Above all, like any successful author (or con man) Carter knew what his audience wanted to hear, and that a book that condescends to and erases American Indians to score cheap emotional points was exactly right for the public's palate. He got that right, so much so that people still defend and celebrate this book decades after the hoax was revealed. Is it any wonder, when the book reflects so much of what America is?

In the course of researching the nexus between marriage and funeral rites, I also found out that courtship was frequently a part of the funerals of ancient Turkic tribes in Central Asia. Weird as that might seem, it turns out that young men and women making googly eyes at each other was the tamest part of a Turkic funeral by far. Here's a description from the Zhoushu (周書), a Tang Chinese historical compilation completed in the year 636:

( The historical account... but was it REAL? (Dun dun!) )

Friday and the weekend was taken up with a series of work and social engagements (and sleep, sweet sleep) but I did read several articles about ancient Goguryeoh and Baekje and write out some of my ideas about Book 1. The most interesting article was about the strategic use of traffic routes by the ancient Chinese to cut the ancient Korean groups from each other and to contain them. It was like watching a chess or Go game in real geographical space, the way these kingdoms used key bases to contain and counter-contain each other.

( Portraying an epic Chinese-Korean chess match doesn't have to be racist )

My continuing attempts to outline the second half of Book 1 reminds me again how complicated this dynamic can be, with three kingdoms in a delicate maneuver of cross and double-cross. Sometimes I'm convinced I'll never get it right and the book will never get written, but that's a trick of time perception where it feels like the present is forever. I'll get past this eventually. I already had a couple of mini-breakthroughs today and I think I'm close to a workable story. Come on, self, hang in there!

After another compulsive bout of reading last night, I finally learned where my heroine's home in the first century B.C. was likely to have been located. Here's what it looks like today:

( Folded for pictures and rambling )

My heroine's ancient home is now underwater, which is a bummer but not a huge one. I still look forward to visiting Huanren and the dam; in addition to research it's going to be like a pilgrimage to a woman whom I consider a spiritual ancestor, and the people and way of life she was a part of until she found the courage to leave it all behind at nearly fifty years of age. Two thousand years later she still fills me with awe, something no amount of water can touch.

Okay, remember when I said I was going to read a paper about women's jealousy to find out more about the issue? Well I read that paper, called The Imagery and Meaning of the Jealous Wife in Written Stories (Korean link), and found one story unexpectedly awesome.

( Lady Shim meets her match )

It seems that I am not the only one (Korean link) to surmise that my heroine Soseono's marriage to her second husband was a form of Levirate marriage where a man married his late brother's widow. The thing is, the relation between No. 1 and No. 2 stretched the definition of "family," to say nothing of "brothers."

( Of ancient power struggles and romantic comedy )