I previously wrote a blog post about how I've got my current setup with dreamwidth. I liked DW's tag structure, but I hated how SSGs made you write posts in Markdown.

After getting over that hurdle (I still find it kind of annoying), the next biggest problem was finding a blog theme that I liked. I've checked out a bunch of themes from Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, etc. but I couldn't really find anything that was simple AND attractive, until now.

I found this absolutely gorgeous Fuwari theme from Saicaca.

After cloning the github repo, I found that editing the config file isn't too hard. Most of the code is readable, and everything is preloaded. I'm already pretty happy with how everything looks, so I've decided to finally commit to this blog instead of forwarding http://blog.pomnavi.net to my dreamwidth archive.

I still don't like having to write in markdown, but at least the blog is nice to look at now. All my posts will still be archived on DW because I don't trust myself not to screw something up, like the test run I had with 11ty and Hugo.

I hate the experience I had with SSGs so far (especially with trying to hook-up a 3rd party CMS), but I'm going to try straight markdown for now. If I need rich text conversions, I'll probably look up another tool online.

This has been a really annoying saga, but I'm gonna keep sticking with this until it breaks.

There have been two recent instances of DRM screwing over customers who legitimately paid for things:

• The Amazon Kindle debacle, where Kindle users are losing the ability to download and transfer ebooks over USB
• Dark Horse Comics shutting down their digital storefront, causing comics (and some manga) fans to lose their digital purchases.

It happens time and time again. We buy digital products, but we don’t have any of the rights of actually owning the physical thing. Oops, you actually agreed that what you were buying was a license, you don’t own the real thing teehee!

I can say this in no uncertain terms, if I buy something digital, it’s mine!

(Don’t even get me started on game DRM, where you’re better off pirating the entire game due to multitudes of compounding factors, like music licensing or publishing agreements. Physical media is dying out here, and game hardware/software is not easy to preserve like books are.)

Piracy exists because of nonsense like above. Of course, there are some people who either can’t or won’t spend the money. But situations like above only benefits pirates, not legitimate customers. You want legitimate customers? Make sure you give them what they paid for.

I recently got into reading light novels, and I can point to one publisher who currently sells books without DRM, J-Novel.Club . They currently publish two of my favorite series, Ascendance of a Bookworm and Apothecary Diaries. I’ve happily paid for Bookworm twice (ebooks and physical), and currently own all of Apothecary Diaries digitally.

Yes, I own these books. I can simply download the epub from J-Novel Club once I’ve bought the book, and they can’t take away that file from me. So I’m happy to support their business. They even issue updates to the epubs, and let you know, in case you want to download the new version to replace the old local copy.

I never trusted Amazon or Kindle to begin with, so I currently buy my books through Rakuten Kobo. Their ereaders, while not open source, do support multiple file types, including epub and kepub (proprietary to Kobo, offers some additional features). You can easily convert epubs to kepub using Calibre and a 3rd party plugin called KoboTouchExtended.

Kobo isn’t perfect because they still enable publishers to use Adobe DRM with their books, but that’s easy to get around. But at least Adobe DRM doesn’t lock you into just one device, like Kindle does.

When I buy a pdf or an epub from an indie creator, I am doing it because I want to support them. Don’t stab customers in the back. They’ll just become pirates, and you’ve lost a future sale.

A Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu Vol. 1, Written by Tang Jiu Qing, Illustrated by [St]. Published by Seven Seas. Translated by Jia, Xia, and amixy.

This is my first Danmei (Chinese BL) series, and my first Chinese novel series that wasn't initially trad-published (I've read the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy, better known as the Three Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu).
I've been into the Apothecary Diaries series recently, and I did enjoy the anime for Raven of the Inner Palace. I'm also in the middle of watching Kingdom (the anime). Also, I'm a fan of Legend of Galactic Heroes, which is a 10-book political sci-fi epic.
Why am I stating all of this? When I looked into danmei, this was the first book that caught my eye. I really like the art, and the premise was interesting too. So I knew that this series was probably squarely in my strike zone.

The Synopsis, I'm too lazy to write my own, sorry.

Shen Zechuan is the eighth son of the traitorous Prince of Jianxing, a man who doomed his cities and people to destruction at the hands of the foreign enemy. As the only surviving member of his reviled line, Shen Zechuan is dragged to the capital in chains. He bears the hatred of the nation, but no one’s hate burns hotter than that of Xiao Chiye, the youngest son of the powerful Prince of Libei.

Xiao Chiye would love nothing more than to see Shen Zechuan dead–but against all odds, he clings to life. Rather than succumb to his family’s disgrace, he becomes a thorn in Xiao Chiye’s side, clawing his way into the cutthroat political world of the capital. Yet as these two bitter enemies beat against the bonds of their fate, they find themselves kindred spirits, unlikely allies…and perhaps something more.

We all love a good enemies to lovers plot-line. I was really impressed with this series. The story hooked me right from the beginning, and I wanted to see how Shen Zechuan navigated all the issues. I don't have a good read on what his motivations are right now, other than surviving and maybe getting revenge (but against who?).

Surprisingly, it seems like quite a bit of the political intrigue wraps up in this book. But knowing that there are going to be 8 books total, I'm really excited to see where things go next. The development of the "relationship" between Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan was fun to read since they always kept each other guessing. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, as they barely set aside their animosity when interacting with each other.

There are some really hard scenes to read, mostly due to the torture at the beginning and one scene of animal abuse. It definitely had the intended effect, but do keep that in mind.

You definitely need to pay attention while reading this book, as there are dozens of important named characters, but I actually like that. I got sucked into the intrigue right away.

I think this could easily become one of my new favorite series. I already have books 2 and 3, but I'm going to pace myself and read something more lighthearted next.

This is a list of all the blog posts I've made about Chinese "Light" Novels I've read. These posts are reposted from my Ranobe blog which has more detailed tagging.