Sanguo - Books, Culture, Podcasts, and Revolution

About the Sanguo Yanyi Audiobook

By the Romance of the Three Kingdoms on Amazon

I have long been fascinated with the almost two millenia-old Chinese epic, the Sanguo Yanyi, or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as it has been called here in the west. The book, written by various authors contributing to it throughout the centuries, is truly one of the finest examples of epic storytelling in the history of the world. I tend to refer to it, sometimes, when I'm describing the story to people, as "The Chinese Illiad". The term might be a tad bit imprecise, since the Illiad only covers, what, ten years or so? Whereas, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms covers 90+ years of Chinese history. Some time back, I got a bug up my ass or something, and decided to go out and find audiobook versions of all my favorite books. I have been very successful for the most part, but there were some glaring omissions that I could not countenance. For one thing, I've not yet been able to score an audio copy of "The Aeneid" by Virgil. And from all the information I've thus far been able to gather, there is no audiobook adaptation of the Three Kingdoms saga. (Perhaps this might have something to do with the fact that the story is 120 chapters long!) To say that I was a bit indignant to discover that no one had ever made an audiobook version of one of the best-selling books of all time, one of the greatest STORIES of all time would be a bit of an understatement. I looked and looked and looked for months to see if I could track down an audio copy, and found none. So I decided that I would make one myself.

By the way, I just want to say right here and now: I do not speak any of the Chinese dialects, so if I happen to mispronounce anything, my apologies, but I do the best I can. :p I realize that this is a project which will probably consume my entire lifetime. The book is, as I have said before, quite a long one. But I am resolved to finish this project, if it takes me forever, and when I'm done, the world will have this fine, fine story of loyalty, brotherhood, ambition, and betrayal in audiobook form! This version is adapted from the online version published by the good folks at Threekingdoms.com, featuring a musical score taken from the many Romance of the Three Kingdoms video games put out by Koei over the years. The music is courtesy of Kongming.net. If you're as much of a fan of the Three Kingdoms as I am, you'll have to check that one out! I have put a lot of work into this so far, and it's not going to stop, so I hope that each and every one of you enjoy this.

Entries in Tragic Death (4)

Thursday

Nov282013

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 66

Thursday, November 28, 2013 at 6:52PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 66:

Armed With Sword, Guan Yu Goes To A Feast Alone;

For The State, Empress Fu Offers Her Life.

Listen:

Download Episode(Click this link. It will bring up a page with an audio player loaded with the file. Right click your mouse and "save as" to download episode.)

WARNING:

THERE'S SPOILERS HERE YET TO BE READ.
READING THEM MIGHT JUST DO IN YOUR HEAD.
BUT IF YOU READ ON,
MANY QUESTIONS BEGONE,
AND YOU'LL SLEEP EASIER IN YOUR BED.

So it's Chapter 66 now (I'm sure the superstitious out there among you are probably like "Whoa! What an inauspicious number that is. Something bad's going to happen in this chapter, I know it!")

And you know what? They're right. They do know it. Because something bad does happen in this chapter. What happens? Ohhhhh, the suspense...is it getting to you yet? ;)

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D.J. Raspe |

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Lu Su,

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Wednesday

Jan132010

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 41

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 3:00AM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 41:

Liu Bei Leads His People Over The River;

Zhao Zilong Rescues The Child Lord At Dangyang.

Listen:

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WARNING! THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY, LIKE EVERY OTHER IN THIS ENTIRE AUDIOBOOK OF 120 CHAPTERS, CONTAINS SPOILERS. HOPE YOU DON'T MIND...

So when we last left off, the Cai Family had decided to surrender to Cao Cao. This, of course, has left Liu Bei pretty much surrounded by enemies, with only a vastly inferior force left to him. Liu Qi is at Jiangxia, but Cao Cao would long ago have swallowed up Liu Bei's army by the time help from Jiangxia would arrive. And so, Liu Bei flees south at the behest of Zhuge Liang, and the people decide to go with him. I'm seeing some echoes of the biblical Exodus here...

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D.J. Raspe |

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Thursday

Nov052009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 32

Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7:43AM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 32:

Jizhou Taken: Yuan Shang Strives;

River Zhang Cut: Xun You Schemes.

Listen:

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

I know I said before that the story is shifting to the south, and so it is, but for the next couple of chapters, Cao Cao's got some loose-ends to take care of in the north. What are these loose-ends, you might ask? Their names are Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Gao Gan, the sons (and nephew) of Yuan Shao.

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D.J. Raspe |

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Tuesday

Sep292009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 24

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 12:51PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 24:

Cao Cao Murders The Consort Dong;

Liu Bei Flees To Yuan Shao.

Listen:

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WARNING! THE FOLLOWING IS PROBABLY NOT VERY FUNNY AND ALSO CONTAINS LANGUAGE NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN...

So Chapter 24 is probably the shortest chapter thus far produced in the Sanguo Yanyi audiobook. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, but just like people with a Napoleon Complex, it's short of stature, but compensates for its lack of length by being jam-packed full of action. However, since it's so short, instead of writing a commentary on it like I normally do, I think I'mma just rewrite the chapter in slightly different terms. :p

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D.J. Raspe |

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