On this episode, I give a brief update on the book’s status, which should be in your hands by mid-November. And also, Rob returns, joining the podcast from France to talk about what he has been up to and also to chat with Lee about the book. 

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Transcript generated by AI

 My name is Lee Moore, and this is an addendum to the Chinese Literature podcast that you’re about to hear right after this. So we have a special episode coming up, a special guest that I guess some of y’all are going to recognize. The reason I’m adding this addendum is because I want to tell y’all about the book.

I actually had been holding this podcast much longer than I wanted to. I originally was gonna post this podcast at the end of September when the book was originally supposed to come out. The publication date was supposed to be September 30th, but. ’cause we’ve had some problems with the publication process.

It’s gonna be late. The good news is the book is still coming out. It’s just gonna be a little bit late. Last night I got word from the publisher editor Don Russo over at Unsung Voices books, who’s been working hard to make this book happen. He talked with the typesetter, the person who actually puts the words on the page and makes it look professional.

The typesetter said that the book is bigger than they had anticipated. That just means it’s packed with a lot more fun history that y’all are gonna enjoy, but it also means that it’s taking a little bit longer than they expected to do the type setting. Right now, it’s looking like the book will ship physically, like leave.

The printer in the US Postal Service on November 7th or eighth, so it should be in your hands a little bit after that if you already pre-ordered the book. So we’ll be there in time for Christmas presents or. If it’s your jam Thanksgiving presents, I will keep y’all updated on the publication status using the podcast.

I apologize for this. This is my first time getting published. I’m still learning the ropes. I think that the compromise that we ended up making being a little bit late, but having a really, really good book, that’s a trade that I would make any day of the week. But I understand this might be throwing some of y’all.

Off. I actually had someone write into me, they were giving the book as a birthday present and the birthday falls on November 4th, and she was really bummed out that the, the book wasn’t actually gonna be out until a little bit after the birthday, but we talked and I just sent her a copy of the cover that she’s gonna print out and put a note.

In the present saying, Hey, you know, this book is coming, but it’s gonna be a little late. If me getting the publication day late has caused you some issue like that, don’t hesitate to send me an email, Chinese literature podcast@gmail.com. I’m gonna do anything within reason to to fix the problems that I caused.

If I can send you a sticker with my autograph on it, so you. Stick that sticker onto the cover of a book. So your copy is kind of an autographed copy. I can do that. I thought about actually doing a promotion for the book where I write su PO’s fart worthy poem. And if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, make sure to go back to the March 29th, 2025 podcast.

The greatest fart joke in Chinese history. So I thought about doing a promotion where I actually wrote. Fart poem into the book itself. I bow my head to the heaven of heavens. That tiny ray of light that is Buddhism shines on the vast universe. The eight winds cannot move me. I sit up straight like the purple golden lotus.

And I was also gonna write. The cover, the response that pol received from Zen Master Buddhist stamps, which is literally just fart fart, FPFP. But of course, in, in Chinese fart means not just fart, but also it’s like calling BS on someone. So I was thinking about doing a promotion where I wrote the poem and fart, fart.

In the cover of the book, but it, it just turned out to be kind of difficult to coordinate that. But if I messed up a birthday with this late publication, send me an email, Chinese literature podcast@gmail.com. Show me the receipt where you. Pre-ordered the book and I will hand write that poem for you in the response of Zen Master Buddhist stamp on a sticker and send it to you so you can slap that right in there and you can know what kind of FAPE this book really is once you get it.

Okay. Just to sum everything up, the publication date originally, September 30th, 2025, but it’s probably gonna be mid-November before the book is actually physically in your hands. I’ll keep you all updated on the podcast, so keep listening. Okay, that’s enough for the addendum. Let’s get to the real thing.

Here it goes. I’m Lee Moore. And I’m Rob Moore. And this is the Chinese Literature podcast. Rob, you’re you’re back. It’s been a while. It’s been, it has been a while. A really long while. Actually. 2020 years. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. It was, it’s three years ago. Three years ago, four years. Three. What is that?

Three? I think we’re showing our, our literature cards by not being able to do basic arithmetic on our podcast. Was it three or four? I don’t remember. What’s five minus two? Rob, it’s great to have you back. We’re gonna catch up on where you are and we’ll also talk about. Where my book is in this podcast.

So originally we planned to have this podcast come out on the publication date of the book, which officially that is still what’s happening. We’ll talk a little bit about that. Yeah. China’s backstory, the history Beijing doesn’t want you to read officially. It’s set to be published on September 30th, but we are still rushing to get the books out to you.

I have seen a copy of the first round of proofs. I’m waiting on the second round. Proofs are. Rob, I know you’ve worked in the publishing and industries. Yeah. So you probably know this proofs are just where you read over a copy of the book to make sure everything’s exactly right before it goes to the printer.

So for those of y’all who have ordered it. When will it actually be coming out? Probably mid-October, but don’t hold me to that. This is my first time getting published so officially, this is my first rodeo. I’m still on a learning curve. We’ll talk a bit more about that in the podcast, but Rob, you’re in France.

I am in France. How are things? Things are great. I love being in France and I, I don’t say that in the, wow, I’m sure, glad I’m not in the US right now way. It’s just great to be in France. I enjoy France. I work at a bilingual Montessori school. It is not exactly the same career path I had when last we were podcasting, but it’s a great fit.

’cause you know, you and I talked a lot about enjoying teaching and it’s great that that’s, that’s what I do. That’s pretty much all I do all day long is teach in different subjects, different times. So it’s, it’s a lot of fun. You’ve talked about teaching a ton. What is it about teaching that you really like?

I think the biggest high in teaching is that moment of discovery or, and you know what I’m talking about. When you can, you can see something click like a student says something like, oh, the moment of discovery in them. Yes. Okay. In them. Yes. Yes. And the student. There’s nothing like that and there’s nothing like getting to introduce people to stuff that you really are interested in.

And I love to read so much. Anytime a kid is like, what’s this book about? I’m like, yes. Yes. Let’s talk about that book. Let’s do it. You know that those are the things. That’s what I, that’s what I live for at the university too. When we were doing the podcast regularly together, you told me that you would, if you could just teach at a university and not do any research, is that kind of what you’re doing now?

Kind of, yeah. I’m not teaching the same kind of stuff and occasionally I do sometimes miss the literature or the history and stuff. There is something incredible about working with kids. I work with kids between about the ages of six and 12, watching them ask certain questions for the very first time.

You know, one of the things that the university got kind of old is, and, and again, I’m preaching to the choir here, but you know, the, the students who are crying to sound much smarter than they are. The ones who are like, I think this symbolizes the following thing. And in internally you’re thinking you don’t even.

Oh, dude, just ask the question you wanna ask, which is, I’m sorry, I don’t have any idea what we’re talking about. What are we talking about? You know, and 60, this age group will say things, they’ll just look at you and be like, what are you talking about? I’m like, ha, good question. Let me see if I can rephrase that.

You know, there’s a lot of honesty in that age group. You’re, so you said it’s bilingual? Yes. You’re not using Chinese, it’s French and English, right? Correct. Okay. It’s a, it’s a big qualifier. Yes. French and English. It would be cool if you could do it in French and Chinese. That would be cool. That would be super cool.

I, it’s too hard for my brain to move between French and Chinese. English and Chinese is okay. French and Chinese is like one part of my brain. Does all the foreign language stuff and that side goes, Ooh, this is gonna be tricky. Every time I tried to speak French while in China, and I, you know, I knew I, I studied for a couple of years, my brain, by the end of the sentence, would always slip into Chinese.

Yeah. It’s, it’s really difficult to juggle. Yeah. When