Lee Yeongdo
Encyclopedia
Lee Yeongdo is a Korean novelist known for his work in fantasy and science fiction
genre. He is best known for his Dragon Raja
series of fantasy novels which is also his debut work, serialised on an online forum from 1997 and published on its completion in 1998.
At the time Dragon Raja was first published, Korean readership for fantasy genre(specifically its medievalist form) was considered unsubstantial and unaccounted for by press. But Dragon Raja has sold close to 2 million books in 4 languages.
This was a significant feat for the fantasy genre in Korea where the annual circulation of domestic literature
and fiction
titles as a whole, ranges between 12~20 million copies.
Dragon Raja's success has prompted a rapid growth of Korean fantasy and science fiction genre, and contributed to the growing acceptance of works written online, known as Internet literature, both by the country's general public and literary world.
Lee is currently one of the best-selling, if not the best known fantasy writer in Korea.
, South Korea, the first child of two brothers. When Lee was 2 years old, his family moved to Masan
in South Gyeongsang Province where he has lived since. As a child he read heavily in various subjects. In 1991 he entered Kyungnam University where he studied Korean language and literature.
He started writing seriously from 1993, but didn't think that he would be writing novels.
in United States
(but different in its interface being text-only) were emerging, and Lee joined one such provider, Hitel, to start posting on its Serial
forum what would be the first chapters of Dragon Raja.
Lee serialized Dragon Raja from October 1997 to April 1998, referring to himself as "typer" for he typed and not penned his work. The chapters quickly gained popularity and readers began waiting online for Lee to post the new ones, usually well after midnight. Lee's readers called themselves zombies, and Lee the Necromancer summoning them online every night.
Through its 6-month running, Dragon Raja accumulated 900,000 hits, and its publishing rights were soon taken by Golden Bough, an imprint
of Minumsa Publishing Group. Beginning in May 1998, the novel was published in 12 paperback volumes.
In the midst of his debut success, Lee began typing his second novel Future Walker, a sequel to Dragon Raja. Future Walker was serialised on the same forum from October 1998 to June 1999, and published in August by Golden Bough in 7 paperback volumes.
Lee continued to use Hitel's serial forum for writing his novels such as Polaris Rhapsody, The Bird That Drinks Tears
, The Bird That Drinks Blood
and a few short stories. All of these stories were published upon completion(and deleted from the forum) or collected in later publications by Golden Bough, which remains Lee's publisher today.
This practice of online serialization and getting published based on its popularity (estimated by the work's view counts) surged in fantasy, science, romance fiction in Korea. Online forums dedicated to these genres opened in hundreds by 2000 attracting prospective writers, and caused the boom of the Internet literature.
Outside the forum he published a short story, Over the Horizon as an e-book
in 2000, and wrote a series of children's stories for study books.
After the forum was closed in 2007 Lee said in an interview that he was searching for a place to serialize his work online, saying that "the realtime feedback from the readers is a big joy, and I miss that feeling."
But he found it difficult to find a replacement to the old text-only forum, which was "easier for [him] to access because [the forum]'s white text on blue limited one's expression to text,
and it enabled [him] to show individuality purely through words." The web's increased sense of community and of the writer's presence thereby, made it more difficult for him. "I believe words and people are separate," Lee said, "some people may like a writing and want to find about the writer, but I don't."
Between 2005 and 2008 Lee wrote several short stories for science fiction magazines, including Regarding the Translation of KAIWAPANDOM which has been translated into English.
There were talks of publishing Dragon Raja in the United States in 2006, to which Lee's response was "I don't want to disgrace our country."
Lee's publisher Golden Bough has run an online community from 1999 where the publisher and Lee's fans discuss and actively participate in publication of Lee's current and upcoming works. There the publisher ran limited edition campaigns for Polaris Rhapsody in 2000 and for Dragon Raja 's 10-year annivarsary in 2008. In 2011, a campaign for the new hardback edition for Future Walker has been announced.
Not much is known about Lee's life outside writing, other than that he helps out at his parent's persimmon farm in his spare time.
He enjoys intellectual play in his works, constantly twisting words and philosophical concepts. Lee says "the way I like is, even if it becomes difficult, separating what can be separated."
Lee is quoted to say that "fantasy is better when read as fantasy." He explains this in a Naver interview that "treating The Lord of the Rings
as a shoddy allegory
to reality and reading it as Orientalism
literature where Gandalf
the 'White' crowns the returned king of the 'West'
, would leave a lot of the novels to be missed. (If you admit such, almost outrageous logic, because humanity becomes extincts many times, Kurt Vonnegut
would be anti-humanism, sadly.)" He explained "fantasy is fantasy, and not the reality's narrow allegories or scary simulacra; it is neither reality in disguise nor does it expel the reality and take its place." Lee described reading fantasy as "going into fantasy to gain something, or to give something, and we simply return to the reality" giving Michael Ende
's The Neverending Story
as a great example for this. Lee says on the other hand, being "fantastic" has little to do with quality of a fantasy work.
, often involving metaphysical
conversations among characters. Philosophical discourse plays a major part in the plot of his novels.
Lee's play on words applies to characters' names as well. From Dragon Raja and Future Walker Karl Heltant has a sharp mind and a first name that is a Korean word for knife(칼 kal), while Sanson Percival's hands are strong in battle, or ssen son(센 손). Two brothers in Polaris Rhapsody are named Sopala and Sosara, or Sellcow and Buycow, while another two in The Bird That Drinks Blood are named Saramal and Paramal, or Buyhorse and Sellhorse.
Lee examines and questions human nature, which affects the destiny of human race in his stories. In Dragon Raja series the human race is defined by its power and will to cause change. While other races like elves, dwarves and dragons are defined by their characteristics and strength, they are described to lack the ability to change as humans do. Thus human race is empowered to change the world (in human-centered ways) and to cause its time to go on. This power the humanity has over the world is explored in Future Walker. In Polaris Rhapsody Lee incorporates the humanity's desire for revenge and for freedom in feudal conflicts and pirate wars. This conflict of revenge and freedom also involves Highmasters of Pandamonium
, similar to Seven princes of Hell
, who cast a vote to decide the human race's destiny.
Lee's novels also investigate religion and politics. In Polaris Rhapsody a Church that is similar to Catholic Church in the Middle Ages
coexists with the Highmasters who are heavily involved in the human warfare and politics. Gods play an essential part in the people's life in The Bird That Drinks Tears. The novel's title means someone who would drink the tears of others; the ideal ruler who would take away the sorrows of the people. The concept of an ideal ruler, referred to as "the king(왕), commonly appears in Lee's works. In The Bird That Drinks Tears the human race is characterized by its search for the king, and the sequel The Bird That Drinks Blood is about an empire that one such king has given the birth to. The empire accomplishes peace and order, ruled over by a grand flying capital. The story is told by various characters in different groups, who have different purposes in relation to the empire and its absolute power over people.
and halfings, and also upon D&D in its system of magic.
Each novel's stories differ greatly from one to another, the last novel Marks of Shadow taking place a thousands years after Dragon Raja and Future Walker.
--Nagas, Lekons, Dokkaebi
s and humans. The series has been acclaimed for its use of old Korean language and allusion to Korean medieval history and mythology in the world's creation.
, Dragon Raja Online, or DRO. The game began development in 1998 with the investment by Samsung Electronics
, and was released in 2000 in South Korea, and later in 10 countries including Taiwan
and China
as 龍族.
where the novel was published in the same title and marketed along with the game.
After a series of M&A
of its developing company over the years, DRO's Korean service was closed in 2011. The English version of the game however, can be accessed at here and the global service has remained live. (August 2011)
Dragon Raja Mobile, or DRM, was released through KTF
's mobile game
services. The game's storyline of 15-hours playtime on average, was based on the beginning chapters of the novel.
series Genesis of Aquarion
.
The online versions of Lee's short stories Regarding the Translation of KAIWAPANDOM and Regarding Starknitting include a few illustrations.
Lee's short story About the Robot that Became a Savior was adapted into a short comic by Onesound
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genre. He is best known for his Dragon Raja
Dragon Raja
Dragon Raja is the first series of fantasy novels written by Lee Yeongdo, one of the most famous fantasy novelists in South Korea. The books chronicle the adventures of a 17-year-old boy Hoochie Nedval, his mentor Karl Heltant and his friend Sanson Percival, all of whom are from the poor town of...
series of fantasy novels which is also his debut work, serialised on an online forum from 1997 and published on its completion in 1998.
At the time Dragon Raja was first published, Korean readership for fantasy genre(specifically its medievalist form) was considered unsubstantial and unaccounted for by press. But Dragon Raja has sold close to 2 million books in 4 languages.
This was a significant feat for the fantasy genre in Korea where the annual circulation of domestic literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
titles as a whole, ranges between 12~20 million copies.
Dragon Raja's success has prompted a rapid growth of Korean fantasy and science fiction genre, and contributed to the growing acceptance of works written online, known as Internet literature, both by the country's general public and literary world.
Lee is currently one of the best-selling, if not the best known fantasy writer in Korea.
Early life
Lee was born in 1972 in BusanBusan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...
, South Korea, the first child of two brothers. When Lee was 2 years old, his family moved to Masan
Masan
Masan was a formerly a municipal city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The city was situated on Masan Bay , approximately 35 km west of Busan. It was known for its textile industry, and it was the site of Hite Brewery's production facilities.During the control of the Mongolians, the...
in South Gyeongsang Province where he has lived since. As a child he read heavily in various subjects. In 1991 he entered Kyungnam University where he studied Korean language and literature.
He started writing seriously from 1993, but didn't think that he would be writing novels.
Beginnings of the "typer"
Mid-1990s were when fantasy and science fiction literature was just being introduced to Korea. Lee remembered that "if you asked people what is fantasy, they would say 'Isn't that like western martial arts'" in a 2008 interview. He found the genre attractive and decided to try a story with it. It was also when various online service providers similar to CompuServeCompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(but different in its interface being text-only) were emerging, and Lee joined one such provider, Hitel, to start posting on its Serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
forum what would be the first chapters of Dragon Raja.
Lee serialized Dragon Raja from October 1997 to April 1998, referring to himself as "typer" for he typed and not penned his work. The chapters quickly gained popularity and readers began waiting online for Lee to post the new ones, usually well after midnight. Lee's readers called themselves zombies, and Lee the Necromancer summoning them online every night.
Through its 6-month running, Dragon Raja accumulated 900,000 hits, and its publishing rights were soon taken by Golden Bough, an imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
of Minumsa Publishing Group. Beginning in May 1998, the novel was published in 12 paperback volumes.
In the midst of his debut success, Lee began typing his second novel Future Walker, a sequel to Dragon Raja. Future Walker was serialised on the same forum from October 1998 to June 1999, and published in August by Golden Bough in 7 paperback volumes.
Lee continued to use Hitel's serial forum for writing his novels such as Polaris Rhapsody, The Bird That Drinks Tears
The Bird That Drinks Tears
The Bird That Drinks Tears is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
, The Bird That Drinks Blood
The Bird That Drinks Blood
The Bird That Drinks Blood is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
and a few short stories. All of these stories were published upon completion(and deleted from the forum) or collected in later publications by Golden Bough, which remains Lee's publisher today.
This practice of online serialization and getting published based on its popularity (estimated by the work's view counts) surged in fantasy, science, romance fiction in Korea. Online forums dedicated to these genres opened in hundreds by 2000 attracting prospective writers, and caused the boom of the Internet literature.
Outside the forum he published a short story, Over the Horizon as an e-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
in 2000, and wrote a series of children's stories for study books.
After Hitel
Advent of the internet caused the decline of Hitel and other commercial online services, and Lee's readership on the forum was greatly reduced. But Lee continued to use Hitel forum to 2005, completing The Bird That Drinks Blood, the last of his multi-volume novels as of August 2011.After the forum was closed in 2007 Lee said in an interview that he was searching for a place to serialize his work online, saying that "the realtime feedback from the readers is a big joy, and I miss that feeling."
But he found it difficult to find a replacement to the old text-only forum, which was "easier for [him] to access because [the forum]'s white text on blue limited one's expression to text,
and it enabled [him] to show individuality purely through words." The web's increased sense of community and of the writer's presence thereby, made it more difficult for him. "I believe words and people are separate," Lee said, "some people may like a writing and want to find about the writer, but I don't."
Between 2005 and 2008 Lee wrote several short stories for science fiction magazines, including Regarding the Translation of KAIWAPANDOM which has been translated into English.
There were talks of publishing Dragon Raja in the United States in 2006, to which Lee's response was "I don't want to disgrace our country."
Lee's publisher Golden Bough has run an online community from 1999 where the publisher and Lee's fans discuss and actively participate in publication of Lee's current and upcoming works. There the publisher ran limited edition campaigns for Polaris Rhapsody in 2000 and for Dragon Raja 's 10-year annivarsary in 2008. In 2011, a campaign for the new hardback edition for Future Walker has been announced.
Not much is known about Lee's life outside writing, other than that he helps out at his parent's persimmon farm in his spare time.
Writing (or Typing)
Since his debut with Dragon Raja Lee became known for his prolific writing, publishing 40 books including 6 novels in 7 years. When asked about his speed in writing, Lee said "it just gets written, and once started I can't contain it and sometimes write as much as [29 pages] a day" but that "each line after line is hard still" nevertheless.He enjoys intellectual play in his works, constantly twisting words and philosophical concepts. Lee says "the way I like is, even if it becomes difficult, separating what can be separated."
The Korean fantasy genre
Lee is credited as one of the pioneers for Korean fantasy and its (slowly) growing acceptance by the literary world, due to the political and philosophical discourse and the huge scale of the created world in his works. His own response to this tends to stay non-opinionated.Lee is quoted to say that "fantasy is better when read as fantasy." He explains this in a Naver interview that "treating The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
as a shoddy allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
to reality and reading it as Orientalism
Orientalism (book)
Orientalism is a book published in 1978 by Edward Said that has been highly influential and controversial in postcolonial studies and other fields. In the book, Said effectively redefined the term "Orientalism" to mean a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the...
literature where Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
the 'White' crowns the returned king of the 'West'
Aragorn
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
, would leave a lot of the novels to be missed. (If you admit such, almost outrageous logic, because humanity becomes extincts many times, Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
would be anti-humanism, sadly.)" He explained "fantasy is fantasy, and not the reality's narrow allegories or scary simulacra; it is neither reality in disguise nor does it expel the reality and take its place." Lee described reading fantasy as "going into fantasy to gain something, or to give something, and we simply return to the reality" giving Michael Ende
Michael Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German author of fantasy and children's literature. He is best known for his epic fantasy work The Neverending Story; other famous works include Momo and Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver...
's The Neverending Story
The Neverending Story
The Neverending Story is a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in 1979. The standard English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983...
as a great example for this. Lee says on the other hand, being "fantastic" has little to do with quality of a fantasy work.
Style and major themes
Lee plays on words and heavily uses defamiliarizationDefamiliarization
Defamiliarization or ostranenie is the artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar...
, often involving metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
conversations among characters. Philosophical discourse plays a major part in the plot of his novels.
Lee's play on words applies to characters' names as well. From Dragon Raja and Future Walker Karl Heltant has a sharp mind and a first name that is a Korean word for knife(칼 kal), while Sanson Percival's hands are strong in battle, or ssen son(센 손). Two brothers in Polaris Rhapsody are named Sopala and Sosara, or Sellcow and Buycow, while another two in The Bird That Drinks Blood are named Saramal and Paramal, or Buyhorse and Sellhorse.
Lee examines and questions human nature, which affects the destiny of human race in his stories. In Dragon Raja series the human race is defined by its power and will to cause change. While other races like elves, dwarves and dragons are defined by their characteristics and strength, they are described to lack the ability to change as humans do. Thus human race is empowered to change the world (in human-centered ways) and to cause its time to go on. This power the humanity has over the world is explored in Future Walker. In Polaris Rhapsody Lee incorporates the humanity's desire for revenge and for freedom in feudal conflicts and pirate wars. This conflict of revenge and freedom also involves Highmasters of Pandamonium
Pandæmonium (Paradise Lost)
Pandæmonium is the capital of Hell in the epic poem Paradise Lost by the 17th century English poet John Milton."Pandæmonium" stems from Greek "παν", meaning "all" or "every", and "δαιμόνιον", meaning "little spirit" or "little angel", or, as Christians interpreted it, "little daemon", and later,...
, similar to Seven princes of Hell
Seven princes of Hell
The seven princes of Hell are, in Christian demonology tradition, the seven highest demons in Hell.The seven demon princes can be seen as Hell's equivalent to the Seven Archangels of Heaven.Often, each demon prince corresponds to one of the seven deadly sins...
, who cast a vote to decide the human race's destiny.
Lee's novels also investigate religion and politics. In Polaris Rhapsody a Church that is similar to Catholic Church in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
coexists with the Highmasters who are heavily involved in the human warfare and politics. Gods play an essential part in the people's life in The Bird That Drinks Tears. The novel's title means someone who would drink the tears of others; the ideal ruler who would take away the sorrows of the people. The concept of an ideal ruler, referred to as "the king(왕), commonly appears in Lee's works. In The Bird That Drinks Tears the human race is characterized by its search for the king, and the sequel The Bird That Drinks Blood is about an empire that one such king has given the birth to. The empire accomplishes peace and order, ruled over by a grand flying capital. The story is told by various characters in different groups, who have different purposes in relation to the empire and its absolute power over people.
Dragon Raja series
Dragon Raja series consists of 2 multi-volume and 1 single-volume novels, 3 short stories and a children's story. The stories take place in a fictional world on an unnamed continent which draws upon the works of J.R.R. Tolkien in its presence of dragons, elves, orcs, dwarvesDwarf (Germanic mythology)
In Germanic mythology, a dwarf is a being that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting...
and halfings, and also upon D&D in its system of magic.
Each novel's stories differ greatly from one to another, the last novel Marks of Shadow taking place a thousands years after Dragon Raja and Future Walker.
Novels
- Dragon RajaDragon RajaDragon Raja is the first series of fantasy novels written by Lee Yeongdo, one of the most famous fantasy novelists in South Korea. The books chronicle the adventures of a 17-year-old boy Hoochie Nedval, his mentor Karl Heltant and his friend Sanson Percival, all of whom are from the poor town of...
(드래곤 라자) (1998) - Future Walker (퓨처 워커) (1999)
- Marks of Shadow (그림자 자국 Geurimja Jaguk) (2008)
Short stories
Collected as A Scene from a Laboratory, these are prequel to Dragon Raja and Future Walker.- GolemGolem (short story)"Golem" is a comical short story written by a Korean author Lee Yeongdo based on the world of his novel Dragon Raja. It is a part of a series of short stories Yeongdo wrote known as "Sceneries Of Laboratory." The story portrays and questions human-based borders and limits and their meaning through...
(골렘) (1998) - ChimeraChimera (short story)"Chimera" is a comical short story written by a Korean author Lee Yeongdo, based on the world of the novel Dragon Raja written by the same author. It is one of the three short stories known as Sceneries Of Laboratory...
(키메라) (2001) - The Source of Happiness (행복의 근원, Hængbog-ui Geun-won) (2004)
Chidren's story
- Wisdom of the Desert (사막의 지혜, Samag-ui Jihye) (2008) An illustrated book published as a part of Dragon Raja 's 10-year anniversary limited edition.
Bird series
The Bird series is set in a world of four deities and their four races of chosen peopleChosen people
Throughout history and even today various groups of people have considered themselves as chosen by a deity for some purpose such as to act as the deity's agent on earth. In monotheistic faiths, like Abrahamic religions, references to God are used in constructs such as "God's Chosen People"...
--Nagas, Lekons, Dokkaebi
Dokkaebi
Dokkaebi is a common word for a type of spirit in Korean folklore or fairy tales.The Dokkaebi is a mythical being that appears in many old Korean folktales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking sprite or goblin. These creatures loved mischief and...
s and humans. The series has been acclaimed for its use of old Korean language and allusion to Korean medieval history and mythology in the world's creation.
- The Bird That Drinks TearsThe Bird That Drinks TearsThe Bird That Drinks Tears is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
(눈물을 마시는 새, Nunmul'l mashinuun Saeh) (2003) - The Bird That Drinks BloodThe Bird That Drinks BloodThe Bird That Drinks Blood is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
(피를 마시는 새, Peeru'l mashinuun Saeh) (2005)
Other novels
- Polaris Rhapsody (폴라리스 랩소디) (2001)
- Over the Horizon (오버 더 호라이즌) (2004) - Collection of three stories. The first story, Over the Horizon is available in English as an iTunes app.
Short story cycles
- Spring Is HereSpring Is Here"Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical I Married an Angel , where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal.-Notable recordings:...
(봄이 왔다 Bomi Watda) (2005) - Regarding the Translation of KAIWAPANDOM (카이와판돔의 번역에 관하여 Ka-i-wapandom-ui Beon-yeog-e Gwanha-yeo) (2005) - English translation available here
- About the Robot that Became A Savior (구세주가 된 로봇에 대하여 Gusejuga doen Robos-e Daeha-yeo) (2006)
- About the Meaning of Teleportation (순간이동의 의미에 대하여 Sungan-idong-ui Uimi-e Daeha-yeo) (2007)
- Regarding Starknitting (별뜨기에 관하여 Byeoltteugi-e Gwanha-yeo) (2008)
- Esoril's Dragon (에소릴의 드래곤 Esoril-ui Deuraegon) (2009)
- Shangpi's Miners (샹파이의 광부들 Syangpai-ui Gwangbu-deul) (2009)
Short story collections
- Lee Yeongdo's Stories of Fantasy (이영도 판타지 단편집) (2001)
- Over the Horizon: A Collection of Lee Yeongdo's Fantastic Stories (오버 더 호라이즌 - 이영도 환상단편 소설선) (2004)
Other short stories
- Mysterious Stories (신비로운 이야기 Sinbilo-un i-yagi) (2000)
- The Eye Looking at Me (나를 보는 눈 Nareul Boneun Nun) (2008)
Dragon Raja Online
Lee's Dragon Raja world and its main characters have been used as a basis for a MMORPGMMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
, Dragon Raja Online, or DRO. The game began development in 1998 with the investment by Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul...
, and was released in 2000 in South Korea, and later in 10 countries including Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
as 龍族.
where the novel was published in the same title and marketed along with the game.
After a series of M&A
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
of its developing company over the years, DRO's Korean service was closed in 2011. The English version of the game however, can be accessed at here and the global service has remained live. (August 2011)
Dragon Raja Mobile
In 2004 a mobile RPGRole-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
Dragon Raja Mobile, or DRM, was released through KTF
KTF
KTF was a South Korean telecommunications firm, now merged into Korea Telecom, specializing in cellular, or mobile, phones. Since 1999, it has also developed extensive overseas operations. The company is credited with developing customised ring back tones...
's mobile game
Mobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
services. The game's storyline of 15-hours playtime on average, was based on the beginning chapters of the novel.
Illustrated novels
The Japanese edition of Dragon Raja and Future Walker are illustrated by Eiji Kaneda who is known for his works for the animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Genesis of Aquarion
Genesis of Aquarion
is an anime TV series written and directed by Shoji Kawamori, produced by Satelight.The science fiction series is a homage to the Super Robot shows of the 1970s and 1980s, executed with modern animation techniques and aesthetics...
.
The online versions of Lee's short stories Regarding the Translation of KAIWAPANDOM and Regarding Starknitting include a few illustrations.
Comic books
Dragon Raja was an inspiration for a series of comic books by Son Bong-gyu of the same title.Lee's short story About the Robot that Became a Savior was adapted into a short comic by Onesound