Full Disclosure: “The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers” was published by Plum Rain Press, the printing arm of the Formosa Files podcast. Eryk Michael Smith is the editor of the Kaohsiung Times, and, with John Ross, co-hosts the Formosa Files podcast.
Shownotes:
The first emperor of China dispatched expeditions to the world’s far corners with a life-and-death task: find and bring back the elixir of immortality. Most famous among these explorers was a Taoist priest named Xu Fu, who sailed into the Eastern Seas. Xu Fu and his fleet vanished. Some legends say he settled in Japan. In Tim McGirk’s novel, Xu Fu goes beyond Japan, traversing the Pacific Ocean and landing upon the shores of the land of the Maya. In this fun Bookish Asia podcast conversation, John Ross and Tim McGirk discuss Xu Fu, Tim’s novel, and his work as a foreign correspondent for Time magazine.
