Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, a popular Chinese novelist known for her multi-volume queer romance novels, is topping some of the biggest publishing lists in the U.S.
With the announcement of her three series’ first official English-language translations by light novel and manga publisher Seven Seas Entertainment, MXTX’s work has seen viral popularity across the past week—and widespread sales. Two of her upcoming translations lead Barnes & Nobles’ top 100 bestsellers book list, while all three claim top-10 places across Amazon’s various manga genre listings.
On Barnes & Noble, volume 1 for Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi takes first place, while Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu takes second. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong’s first volume claims sixth.
Meanwhile on Amazon, all three books claim the top three slots on Amazon’s “Romance Manga” section. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation leads the romance chart and also sits at first on Amazon’s “Yaoi & LGBTQ+ Manga” section, “Action & Adventure Manga” category, and “Mystery Manga” list.
Heaven’s Official Blessing scores second across the “Action & Adventure Manga” books category, “Asian Myth & Legend” section, and “Fantasy Manga” physical books list, while The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System claims third across the “Mystery Manga,” “Romance Manga,” and “Fantasy Manga” physical books’ ranks.
While all three works are popular among anime and manga fans, MXTX’s works are categorized somewhat incorrectly; none of them are comics, nor are they from Japan. All three are Chinese novels with interior art.
Seven Seas announced MXTX’s series would be translated last week. Shortly after the announcement, all three books debuted on Amazon’s top 20 list, according to the publisher. MXTX also claimed all three slots on B&N’s top bestsellers page that same day.
MXTX writes within a genre of Chinese literature called danmei. These stories revolve around romantic relationships between men, predominantly for a female audience. While the medium is “primarily derived from Japanese [boys’ love],” Fanlore notes, danmei “has its own genre conventions and homoerotic literature in China [that] predates Japan’s literary traditions.”
Danmei stories generally start as online novels and may gain adaptations into donghua or manhua, or Chinese animation and comic series, respectively. MXTX’s three series remain some of the most popular in the genre and have received various multimedia adaptations over the years.
All three series’ first volumes release in English on Dec. 7, 2021.
