History and time traveling to the past are favorite themes in recent publications that cater to the taste of the popular books market in the country.

Compared to the Chinese ones, critics believe Adam Williams suggests a new and different mode of writing historical fiction through his novel The Emperor's Bones.

"I found that a lot of Chinese historical novels separate the history and the characters clearly, without a sound combination," says critic Xie Xizhang, "but in Williams' novel we see a natural entity of personal background together with historic incidents."