Jeff Pepper – författare

"The Rise of the Monkey King" is the first book in the multi-volume "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk".

Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films.

The full story of Sun Wukong''s adventures is told in Journey To The West, an epic 2,000 page novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Cheng''en. Journey To The West is probably the most famous and best-loved novel in China and is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer''s epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. Wikipedia sums up the book''s role perfectly, saying "Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation."

Journey To The West is a very, very long story, consisting of a hundred chapters. It is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang''an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book Xuanzang and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

This book, The Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of this epic story. We learn how the little stone monkey is born, becomes king of his troop of monkeys, leaves his home to pursue enlightenment, receives the name Sun Wukong (literally, "ape seeking the void") from his teacher, and returns home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster. Future books in this series will tell more stories from the life of this famous monkey and his companions.

Because of this story''s importance in Chinese culture, we''ve made every effort to remain faithful to the original while retelling it in simple language suitable for beginning Chinese learners at the HSK3 level. We have tried to not add or change anything, though of course we''ve had to leave out a lot of detail. Wherever we had to use a word or phrase not contained in the 600-word HSK3 vocabulary (which for example does not include the word "monkey"!) or that has not entered common usage since the HSK lists were created, those new words are defined in footnotes on the page where they first appear. New compound (multi-character) words and expressions are, whenever possible, chosen so that they use characters already in HSK3. An English version of the story is included for reference at the end, as well as a complete glossary.

In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it''s important. By including the pinyin, the English version and the glossary, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here.

Our website, www.imagin8press.com, contains many helpful study aids, including an audio recording of the book, downloadable word lists, study questions and exercises for classroom use, and links to other books you might enjoy, including other books in this series as they become available.

"Trouble In Heaven" is the second book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk".

 Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films.

In this book, the second story in the "Journey to the West" series, we cover the events of chapters 3 and 4 in the original epic. Things begin to unravel for Sun Wukong, as he starts to see the consequences of his outrageous actions. While trying to defend his troop of monkeys, he manages to offend the underwater Dragon King, the Dragon King''s mother, all ten Kings of the Underworld, and the great Jade Emperor himself. Finally, goaded by a couple of troublemaking demons, he goes too far, calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and setting events in motion that will cause him some serious trouble.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.

"The Immortal Peaches" is the third book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven" and "The Young Monk".

Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films.

In this, the third book in the "Journey to the West" series, we wrap up the story of Sun Wukong''s early years, before he joins the monk Xuanzang''s little band of travelers and journeys to the West. Once again the Monkey King''s unlimited ambitions and uncontrolled appetites land him in deep trouble. He is given a job in heaven taking care of the Emperor''s Garden of Immortal Peaches, but he can''t stop himself from eating all the peaches. He impersonates a great Immortal and crashes a party in Heaven, stealing the guests'' food and drink and barely escaping to his loyal troop of monkeys back on Earth. And in the end, he battles an entire army of Immortals and men, and discovers that even calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven does not make him equal to everyone in Heaven.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.

"The Young Monk" is the fourth book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven" and "The Immortal Peaches".

This book is based on chapters 8 and 9 of Journey To The West, an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen''en. Journey To The West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang''an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of the original 2,000-page novel. The first three books in the series all focus on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. We tell the story of his birth, his early years, and his adventures in Heaven and Earth that lead, ultimately, to his capture and his centuries-long imprisonment under Five Finger Mountain.

In this, the fourth book in the series, we leave the imprisoned Sun Wukong behind, and tell the story of Xuanzang, the monk chosen by the Buddha to undertake the dangerous journey westward to India and bring sacred wisdom back to China. Unlike the previous books which told of Sun Wukong''s great adventures (and misadventures) across heaven and earth, this story deals with smaller, human-scale events and the traditional themes of love, loyalty, treachery and revenge. Our story begins with the Buddha''s decision to bring his wisdom to China. Then we meet the young couple - Guangrui and Wenjiao - who become Xuanzang''s parents. We witness their terrible ordeals around the time of Xuanzang''s birth, and we then jump ahead to when he turns eighteen, learns of his true parentage, and avenges his parents.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.

"The Emperor In Hell" is the fifth book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk".

This book is based on chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Journey To The West, an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen''en. Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of the original 2,000-page novel.

Journey To The West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang''an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

This book, the fifth in the series, tells the final series of stories that lead us to the actual journey to the west, which starts in Book 6. It is by far the darkest and most frightening of all the stories we''ve told so far, with a series of horrifying visions of after-death punishment of evildoers that are reminiscent of those in Dante''s Inferno.

The story starts innocently enough, with two good friends chatting as they walk home after eating and drinking at a local inn. One of the men, a fisherman, tells his friend about a fortuneteller who advises him on where to find fish. This seemingly harmless conversation between two minor characters triggers a series of events that eventually cost the life of a supposedly immortal being, and cause the great Tang Emperor himself to be dragged down to the underworld. He is released by the Ten Kings of the Underworld, but is trapped and must escape with the help of a deceased courtier named Cui Jue.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.

"The Journey Begins" is the sixth book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles are "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches", "The Young Monk", and "The Emperor in Hell".

This book is based on chapters 12, 13 and 14 of Journey To The West, an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen''en. Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of the original 2,000-page novel.

Journey To The West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang''an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

This story, the sixth in our series, marks the end of the first section of the novel, as we wrap up the preliminaries and begin the actual journey. Several threads and key characters from earlier books come together.

Taizong, the great emperor of the Tang Dynasty who spent most of Book Five trapped in the underworld, selects the young monk Xuanzang to undertake the journey, after being strongly influenced by the Buddhist teacher Guanyin. Xuanzang (now called Sanzang) sets out on his journey and receives help from Guanyin and from Bright Star of Venus, who previously appeared in Book Two. The Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, who in Book One was Sun Wukong''s adversary and was forced to give him his Jingu Bang (golden hoop rod weapon), is now Sun Wukong''s old friend and gives him some life-changing advice. And near the end of the book Sanzang''s path crosses that of Sun Wukong himself.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK 3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.