I have received as a gift the first volume of Gabriel Rodriguez’ Sword of Ages, a big, colorful comic book that lasted me back to the years spent reading Heavy Metal or L’Eternauta, and later 2000AD: science fiction, action and adventure in surreal, exotic locales, beautifully drawn and engagingly narrated.
Yesterday I posted an article for my Patrons, in which I tangentially compared this writing business to being an adventurer.
And I know, it’s a romantic notion, it’s me telling stories about myself to paint a veneer of glamour over the tight budget and the overdue bills, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it: writing for a living is like setting off on a long journey to find the ancient ruins of the Lost City, or crossing an ocean on a sailing ship.
Having recently discovered the works of Alastair Humphreys, I’ve been reading Ten Lessons from the Road, a motivational handbook based on Humphreys experiences during his four years travelling around the world on a bicycle.
Continue readingThe request comes from a fried: her nephew’s birthday is coming, and the kid loves Ancient Egypt (what kid doesn’t). She’d like to write him a Happy Birthday message in hieroglyphs.
Can we help?
Of course we can.
It actually took me two afternoons.
Continue readingYesterday’s microadventure was a great success. True, my legs feel like lead right now, but I’ve heard from a lot of people that would like to try something like that in these hills, I received suggestions and idea, and all in all it was quite beautiful, and fun.
Online.
Hereabouts reactions were a lot more conservative.
“You guys were lucky!” one of our neighbors said. “The hunting season’s open, they could have shot you guys!”
Much hilarity ensued, because I live in the kind of place in which your neighbors think it’d be a hoot should you get shot.
I also learned to some dismay that I evidently look like a boar in an aloha shirt.
And I mean…
Continue readingAnd so we did it. We left early this morning and walked all the way to the next village, that’s called Incisa Scapaccino.
We avoided the main road and followed a narrow road that snakes along the Belbo river, climbing up and down the hills and entering into deep thickets of wild trees.
In the last six months or so I’ve heard harsh criticism leveled at a number of books…
Books that spend too much time in useless description, with little or no action, and characters that spend more time talking than fighting. My usual answer, “What, then?” usually receives strange looks.
Continue readingYeah, I know, I said I’d take the weekend off and not post, but then, stuff keeps happening.
And today it’s the birthday of beautiful, spirited and talented Maureen O’Hara, Miss Technicolor herself, and one of the part-time muses of Karavansara as she is the one that coined the term Tits & Sand.
So tonight I think I’ll watch Sinbad the Sailor one more time.
Karavansara 