We all know that American TV shows are hugely popular with Chinese audiences, but they've also inspired Chinese writers? Cai Jun has just released the first part of his four part (linked to the seasons) epic thriller Heaven's Secrets. The initial entry, entitled The Sleeping City is about a group of disoriented tourists in Thailand and their fears of life in a foreign environment. Cai says the book is influenced by ¨C what else? -- Lost, as well as Prison Break.
   In other thriller news, Zhou Dedong has released his latest book Qimen Dunjia, a love story named after the mysterious practices and magic skills employed in Chinese fortune-telling.
   Going the other direction -- from print to TV -- Bi Shumin is busy adapting her latest, extremely successful, novel The Female Psychologist for the small screen. She's also at work on her next book The Operation of Flower, about an army couple. Set in the 1970s, the story incorporates the author's own experience as a young soldier.
   Meanwhile, Wang Shuo's novel I'm Your Father has inspired a new book from Sun Rui, entitled I'm Your Son, his fifth. Appropriately, it's based on his Sun's relationship with his father, i.e., as a single parent in Beijing. Four years ago, Sun won fame with Living Like Grass, which employed language very similar to Wang Shuo's. Sun is also studying film at the Beijing Film Academy with the aim of adapting and directing his books for the screen. Sun, by the way, is not the only author inspired by Wang Shuo. Jiang Ni has just published Wang Shuo's Code, a collection of critical essays for which Jiang reportedly received a rather hefty advance -- RMB 3.65 million! Perhaps he will share the windfall with his mentor.
   In other cross-media news, actress and singer Yi Nengjing "recently released her new book Exercise Books of Love, the final volume in her love essay trilogy, following Last Words of Life and Life after Life.
   On a more serious note, it appears the subject of migrant workers is attracting more Chinese writers. Jia Pingwa (The Ruined Capital) has just published Happy, wherein the protagonist, Liu Gaoxing, makes his living collecting garbage. Jia says this book is more readable than his last one Qin Opera.