… the definitive guide for your Journey to the West
Inspired Books
The Monkey King’s Daughter
Apr 2nd
Bet you didn’t know that the Monkey King actually had a daughter. It may not have been documented in the original book, but that doesn’t prevent modern day authors from appending to the story.
Wicked Local Photo by Ken McGagh
Todd A. DeBonis of Natick, is the author of the young adult book “The Monkey King’s Daughter” and has been making his rounds to further promote this series about 14 year old high-schooler Meilin who is half monkey & half human studying in Midland Hills, California. The usual plot ensues- flakey girlfriends, zits, too much homework, bad hair, obnoxious boys… but all of that changes when her ancient past catches up with her.
Eagerly Awaiting Neil Gaiman’s Version
Dec 30th
Photograph by Murdo Macleod
The amazingly prolific and diverse writer is best known for his graphic novels: the Sandman series of comics. However, more recently his success has come in the form of books without pictures in the science fiction and fantasy genres. And while his earlier work has exclusively focused on adults, his latter work now includes those for children, although you cannot expect his stories not to have the dark side.
What I am particularly and eagerly awaiting for is his version of Journey to the West which is supposed to feature Sun Wukong – (the Monkey King) – and Xuanzang the historical seventh-century monk who went through treacherous roads, mountains, and valleys on his way to India to bring the Buddhist sacred texts back to China.
Gaiman says, “It will also partly be about me travelling through China and having peculiar things happen to me – the kinds of things you just can’t plan. “Like nearly buying a human elbow. It was being sold by a little old man with a tourist stand outside a temple. After failing to sell me any of the things on the table he rummaged underneath and brought out this bone wrapped in newspaper which turns out to be half a human arm, probably many hundreds of years old – things he’s found after the archeologists went away …”
Wow.
Can’t wait.
Dragon Ball is based on the Monkey King
Oct 3rd
Lots of Japanese manga characters and storylines derive their inspiration from the adventures of Sun Wukong. But the most famous of all has to be Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru).
For those who don’t know the Dragon Ball series, it is basically about Son Goku, a monkey tailed boy who has super human strength. He trains in the martial arts and later explores the world in search of the seven mystical objects known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon. Along his journey, Goku meets several friends and fights against several villains who also seek the Dragon Balls.
Created by Akira Toriyama, he does explain that his inspiration comes from the story of Sun Wukong except for his character Goku, he wanted him to be human instead of simian. Goku’s gi uniform is also modeled after the robes worn by the Shaolin monks of China but are later embellished when readers complained he was too plain.
"The strange fact is that the world goes on against all reasonable odds. A hundred years, and even unimaginable evil is just called history."
Talk to Me!