esoteric cultivation fiction

[goretex]

I've taken a break from fiction over the past couple years, but I'm lining up some reading for the near future when it beckons 

I've recently become aware that there is a genre called occult fiction. Given that there's a whole slew of cultivation novels now, what cultivation fiction if any might be analogous to occult fiction, what do we consider to be a cut above the bar in terms of elucidating the esoteric aspects.

 

An example of occult fiction might be:

Journey to the West might be the quintessential esoteric cultivation novel: 

A few suggestions of web novels, I'm not sure if they meet our bar, but I'd be curious if anyone has read these and have opinions.

 

And we also have @dwai's book of course

 

[goretex]

Some more examples of "western" occult fiction cataloged from browsing a variety of sources (note, haven't read anything in this post).

 

classic: The Golem by Gustav Meyrink  

modern anthology: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25700829-penumbrae  not sure how good this is, but it is published by an occult book company. reviews are mixed. 
modern graphic novel: Promethea by Alan Moore https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/821800.Promethea_Vol_1

Alan Moore released a non-fiction magical grimoire last year as well.  

 

This taxonomy of "Chinese fantasy" genres is helpful 

https://forum.rpg.net/threads/wuxia-vs-xianxia-vs-shenmo-vs-xuanhuan-distinctions-and-recommendations.894247/ 

Quote

So, wuxia (martial heroes) is the primarily kung-fu genre more or less invented in its modern form by Jin Yong in the 1960s (no, I know he wasn't the first one but damn if he isn't the most influential) and arguably made most accessible and iconised for Western audiences by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lots of sub-genres but, basically, low fantasy - lots of kung fu, chi blocking, lightfoot etc. but no demons/dragons/gods etc for the most part. Quite a lot of cultivation, but not as much as:

Xianxia (immortal heroes) seems to be a newer more high-fantasy genre, especially among Chinese light novels and manhwa in the last twenty years or so. Very Taoist, lots of cultivation, lots of fantastic elements such as demons, monsters, magic, and so on. Of course, it's older than what I just wrote - arguably the first xianxia was written in 1932 and was turned into a famous film version in 1983 as Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain.

Shenmo is short for shenmo xioashuo (fiction about demons and gods) which is probably the actual oldest genre here. Another high-fantasy genre, less Taoist and more about, well, gods and demons. Journey to the West is probably iconic here.

Xuanhuan (mysterious fantasy) is another fantasy genre, apparently more focused on folkloric elements, like fairy tales. Bridge of Birds (while not a Chinese tale) is probably a good example.

 

Classics:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/158770.Three_Kingdoms not sure if there's much cultivation in here? 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/155054.Strange_Tales_from_a_Chinese_Studio 

 

For something off the beaten path — modern tantric buddhist web novel: https://buddhism-for-vampires.com/the-vetalis-gift not sure if it's considered "cultivation"