In Sun Tsu’s classic Thirty Six Stratagems (that Sun Tsu may or may have not written), my favorite chapter must certainly be the Sixth and last, which is called Desperate Stratagems.
Great title.
After all, I love adventure fiction.

I was re-reading Sun Tsu, last night, and I thought the stratagem called Měi rén jì (The Beauty Trap) is absolutely splendid from the point of view of fiction, as a starting point for a story – and also offers an excellent insight on the sort of ruthless bastard Sun Tsu was* … Continue reading →