Displaying posts written by
Plum Staff
who has written 872 posts for KaiMen.
19
2022
11
2022
5
2022
Formation of a Wushu Student: Andrea Falk’s New Book
Plum represents a LOT of books, among them some real treasures. Typically, when we talk about the best ones, they usually share certain qualities having to do with technical information: a teacher generous enough to reveal principles, methods, even “secrets.” Andrea Falk’s newest book, Beijing Bittersweet, certainly includes gems of instruction from her own teachers, […]
7
2022
Sifu Jack Yan Teaches Mandarin (Plus a Whole Lot More)
Sometimes, here at Plum, we circle back and take a second look at a book or DVD we rediscover in our own catalogue. Adding almost 4000 items over the years has, hopefully, matured our tastes and understandings, and we often find nuance and new meaning among the treasures. But today, it is not a stack […]
1
2022
Spring Cleaning’s Treasures
OK, so here’s the deal: we already represent Sifu Zhang Guangyu’s excellent series on Yiquan in VCD format, plus we carry an entirely different series of his in DVD format. However, our Spring Cleaning has revealed one set matching the DVD representation of the VCD series (but not the other DVD series). Got that? Well, […]
30
2022
Going, Going, Gone
At least monthly, we discover that Kung Fu books and videos that were previously abundant and available are now out of print. Unfortunately, we rarely hear about these things BEFORE they disappear. Back in the day, Unique Publications was one of the two main American publishers of martial arts books, along with Ohara (Kodansha and […]
8
2022
Our First Love
Although we are smitten by many truly wonderful contemporary texts we represent on Plum, our first love was the older manuals: dusty copies found on the bottom shelves of poorly lit bookstores in Chinatown. These books telescoped us back to earlier times and teachers. Now, more than 50 years later, some of what was contemporary […]
19
2022
Hawk Splits Sky: Good News and Great Reviews
Good news! Hawk Splits Sky: Jibengong Practice, Bagua Zhang Mastery is back in stock after selling out the first printing, and available to order. Good reviews! In the shameless praise department, we are delighted to read what people have to say about our new book/DVD package. Here’s a new sampling: It’s a masterpiece. I’m not […]
6
2022
No One Is Perfect: Books That Go Bump In the Shipping
Honestly, considering the amount of shipping we do, both sending and receiving, it is remarkable how few bumped corners we have to report. But things DO go wrong, every once in a while. Take, for instance, a recent order from Taiwan. A few lovelies received minor bruises, hardly anything to rise up over but still, […]
2
2022
A Lucky Red Envelope From Plum
Happy Year of the Water Tiger! You are probably all setting off firecrackers and slurping up your Longevity Noodles, so we won’t keep you. Just wanted to invite you all to stop by, visit Plum and place an order anytime from Thursday, Feb 3 through Monday, Feb 7, and we’ll send you a Lucky Red […]
10
2022
Gao Style Baguazhang
We have been receiving some exceptional Bagua material lately, so if you think we’ve been a little tilted toward the Bagua circle, you would be correct. Bagua Rubbing Bagua linked Palms Compiled, at least of this writing, is the last for a while, but it is a mighty nice offering on which to pause. Lionbooks, […]
1
2022
25
2021
A Different Boxing Day
At Plum, we know that Boxing Day does not celebrate OUR kind of boxing. But it is so perfectly named for martial artists, we thought we would take advantage with a Boxing Day Sale. As a matter of fact, why keep it to only one day? Let;s celebrate with a Boxing Week! 10% off […]
24
2021
Essence of Baguazhang Back in Stock
Just a quick note, since a lot of you are waiting: just got our copies of “Essence of Baguazhang: The Biography of Liu Yun Chiao” back in stock. They are going fast, but we did get a nice stack of them, so hopefully they will last for all orders… And if you do decide to […]
21
2021
First Reviews of Hawk Split Sky Have Landed
Our new book, Hawk Splits Sky: Jibengong Practice, Bagua Zhang Mastery, is selling well. This is always good news to us as both authors and publishers, but the truly great moment comes when the first few reviews come in. Here they are: The Hawk splits the sky arrived this morning. I have to compliment both […]
15
2021
It’s Alive!
Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor covid has been able to stop our new book by Sifu Ted Mancuso, “Hawk Splits Sky: Jibengong Practice, Bagua Zhang Mastery,” from publication. But it’s not like the forces of nature haven’t tried really hard. Nonetheless, the boxes of books and the spindles of DVDs are now arrived, […]
13
2021
Our (hopefully) Last Pre-Announcement of Plum’s New Bagua Project
It is storming today in Santa Cruz, California, where we live and work. Except for one small detail, the rain is welcome in our drought-starved area. That one small detail? The storm is delaying the arrival of the DVDs we await to complete our new Bagua Book/DVD package. In the meantime, here is a short […]
3
2021
Kittens, Newbies, and an Old Favorite
Sort of hard to believe it is already December. In-between projects and cataloguing and writing articles, we have been keeping an eye on our two new wrestlers, Uxmal and Notte, a 6 month old (kitten) sister act who have taken up permanent residence in our home (and hearts). When they are not sleeping or eating, […]
10
2021
Sifu Paul Koh’s Tiger Crane Matching Set
So happy to see another volume in Paul Koh’s expanding series on Southern Shaolin Tiger Claw. This one is special, in that it is instruction and background for a matching set, in this case the famous Tiger Crane Two Person Routine. As with Sifu Koh’s other books, the set is traditional in its approach, while […]
4
2021
Liu YunChiao’s Bagua Zhang
We received several requests for this book before we even saw it, so we are pleased to actually have it in hand. And what a book! We have seen other memorials to Liu YunChiao, all admirable, but this book, Essence of Baguazhang, honors him especially by including both written remembrances, by those who studied with […]
