Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Books


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The Mask of Dimitrios

I was rather surprised, a few hours ago, finding out that Eric Ambler is almost forgotten in my country.
What a strange fate for one of the fathers of espionage fiction, author of novels from which popular movies were made, and he himself an Academy-nominated screenwriter.

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Finding out about this strange state of affairs made me go back to the The Mask of Dimitrios, a novel I read in my first year in university, in a well-thumbed used copy I bought somewhere.
I was familiar with the 1944 movie adaptation featuring Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, but the novel was quite a discovery. Continue reading →


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Swashbuckler is not dead: On Guard, 1997

ThreeMusketeers_w302_5077Two days ago I had to suffer through some pretty asinine observation about swashbuckler fiction, by a lady that claimed that swashbucklers, being sad violent misogynistic poorly written drivel without a decent female character, had fizzed out and died, and good riddance.
The Three Musketteers? Gone and forgotten, with all the rest of the rubbish that poor hapless hack Dumas published.

To which I begged to differ, of course, but my opinions did not carry – apparently – enough weight in that refined circle.

For sure, I find it hard to believe that someone would pronounce the swashbuckler genre dead while at the same time enthusing about the Pirates of the Carribean franchise.

But that’s fantasy

… was the dismissive remark.

In a desperate attempt at defending the genre – which I happen to love – I finally summoned a movie, one of my all-time faves, based on a swashbuckler novel that represents the perfect defensive argument. It’s a story set in Paris and in France at large, and it’s about a hunchback… Continue reading →


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Conan, Temple of the Black One

51N8uOWY4hL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_According to the author’s introduction, Conan, Temple of the Black One began its life as an outline Robert M. Price sent to Lyon Sprague De Camp, for a hypothetical Conan apocryphal novel to be published by Tor.
When the Conan novel line fizzed, what with Sprague De Camp’s death and all the rest, the outline was left in limbo, and finally Price decided to flesh it out and turn it into a short story, that was finally made available a few weeks back “as fan fiction”.
And I got a copy.

Why?
Well, because Conan.
And because Howard.
And because Robert M. Price, a man responsible of some of the best anthologies of supernatural horror I have here on my shelf.
So there. Continue reading →


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Things readers do: the wonder box

download (2)Compulsive book-buying.
Are you familiar with the phenomenon?
Now, ever since I moved to the wild hills of Astigianistan, I drastically reduced my trips to the bookstore, but back when I was living in Turin, I was a regular fixture in a number of bookstores -a few of which have since shut down and been replaced by fashion franchise stores.
I’d go in for a look at the shelves, and usually get out with two or three paperbacks.
I am a very curious sort of person, so my book bag would include fantasy novels, mysteries, history and science essays, media essays and the classic “hey, look at this thing! I wonder what’s inside… wow, only five bucks!”

Amazon did just make excess buying easier, and ebooks made it cheaper and faster.
Thank goodness I’m broke and bankrupt, or I’d be still spending money on books. But on the other hand, now I get them from free promotions, and in bundles and discounts.
More books than I can read – and before I’m gone through this last bundle, there will be more accumulating!
So, here’s a thing I started doing back when I was in my first year of university. Continue reading →


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Writing Advice

As you probably know – or maybe you don’t – I collect books about writing.
I have over one hundred, and in truth I can tell you, there’s a lot of good advice in each and every one of them, even if not a single one is the final world, The Book, the stone tablets of the Law, dictated by the God of Literature Himself.

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Right now, I’m having a lot of fun reading Chuck Wendig’s 250 Things You Should Know About Writing that, like all of Chuck Wendig’s writing books, is fun, informative and filled with the sort of common sense and down-to-earth advice that a lot of writing courses seem unable to muster. Continue reading →


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A Waiting Game – the wait is over

And so it’s out, my friend Shanmei’s A Waiting Game, which I translated in the past weeks.
If you like mysteries and the east and the early 20th century, this might be your cup of tea.
The story is very loosely based on a real character, but the story is entirely fictional – a small mystery, with a touch of espionage.
Hopefully, more is to come, with Shanmei already working on a new story, and plotting a full-blown novel.

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In the meantime, A Waiting Game goes for one buck and a half, and it reads like a breeze.
Check it out.