New Year Special – The Taiwan Joss: The Shadow and the Pirates – S5-E50

新年快樂 (Xīnnián kuàilè) from Formosa Files! As we head into the Year of the Horse, we have something different: pirates in the Taiwan Strait, both factual and fictional. We look at a Japanese woman who became a notorious pirate leader (muse.jhu.edu/article/761160/summary) in the 1930s. And we follow the Shadow, a mysterious crime-fighter whose 1945 novel The Taiwan Joss (goodreads.com/book/show/35080227-the-taiwan-joss) centers around a jewel-studded statue of Koxinga (the Ming loyalist who defeated the Dutch in Tainan in the 1660s).

Speaking of fiction, Plum Rain Press (plumrainpress.com) – our publishing side-venture – released three new titles last year: China Running Dog (plumrainpress.com/product-page/china-running-dog), The Cuttlefish (plumrainpress.com/product-page/sahar), and The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers (plumrainpress.com/product-page/the-wondrous-el…). Readers thirsting for a historical novel set in Taiwan should get our debut release, A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa. (plumrainpress.com/product-page/a-tale-of-three…)

Other Formosa Files spin-offs which might be of interest are: the Chinese-language version of Formosa Files (youtube.com/watch?v=AyLNVySQA2g&list=PLziW…) which American Eryk does with Taiwanese Eric. John is involved with two other podcasts: Bookish Asia (podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/bookish-asia-wit…)with Plum Rain Press, and more recently the Books on Asia podcast (open.spotify.com/episode/0oXuYK0Jg4dZBaSt3h9YAL). And Eryk has launched an English-language newspaper (kaohsiungtimes.com) for southern Taiwan.

Warm wishes from the Formosa Files team,
Eric, Eryk, and John