I’m happy to leave the controls today to my friend Giulia, from the Free to Write literary blog, as she interviews noted Chinese mystery writer Qiu Xiaolong.
For a blog covering the East and popular literature, this is certainly a boon.
Without further ado, on with the interview!
Enjoy!
Continue reading
Last installment of this lengthy but fun overview of the connections between Krimi, Giallo and Slasher movies.
The previous three episodes can be found here, here and here.
And we are about to close with a bang.
But before the bang, I must once again thank Lucia Patrizi for her contribution, and wish you all a happy reading.
Last time we discovered Mario Bava‘s Reazione a Catena…
And yet, if analyzed in depth and compared to the Giallos by Argento (and in part with those by Martino), it is easy to notice how little of the formula is maintained, and what seeds of the future Slasher movie it carries within its frames.
So, let’s do it!
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Last week, we started discussing the strange legacy of the pulps, of German Kriminalfilm and of Italian Giallo on the development of slasher movies.
Lucia Patrizi, webmistress of the blog Il Giorno degli Zombi1, horror expert and an accomplished writer on her own right, is giving us a preview of her forthcoming essay on slasher cinema.
In case you missed the first installment, you can find it here.
Nowe, it’s time to meet the Master – and see how Mario Bava created a whole new genre of cinema.
Enjoy!
I was asked by a reader, a few weeks ago, about a post on the European tradition of crime movies and “Giallo”, and the connections thereof with pulp stories and later slasher films.
Great topic – but I’m not the right man for the job.
The right man is, actually, a woman – my friend Lucia Patrizi, that blogs the movie blog Il Giorno degli Zombi, and is currently writing a book about the evolution of horror movies. I asked her for a guest post, and she was so kind she donated the chapter about Kriminalromance and Giallo from her forthcoming essay.
The text – quickly translated by yours truly (and any mistake is solely my responsibility) – will be published as a series of posts.
Here goes the first.
Enjoy! Continue reading
I’m happy to post here the original interview with author and poet Fatima Bhutto, which was conducted by my friend Giulia, webmistress of the Italian literary blog Liberi di Scrivere.
Enjoy!
1. Welcome Fatima, and thank you for granting Liberi di Scrivere this interview. I will not ask you any question about your family (our readers are invited to check out your biographical essay, Songs of Blood and Sword). I’d rather ask you about your work as a fiction writer: The Shadow of the Crescent Moon (2013), is your first novel, a fictional work that reflects anyway everyday life in Pakistan, especially from the point of view of the younger generations. Does fiction help to better focus on reality?
I think fiction is very liberating. It allows us to discuss subjects that would otherwise be too frightening or too difficult to look at head on. It gives you a space free of judgment and that’s really important, especially when you are dealing with heavy political topics or sensitive issues. Continue reading
Here’s the second part of Ferruccio Gianola‘s top ten article about killer snakes.
The first part was marred by my horrid translation mistake – using poison/poisonous for the italian veleno/velenoso, instead of the correct expression, venom/venomous.
My apologies.
The mistakes have been corrected, and I thank again the surfers for their prompt correction, and their patience.
My apologies also to Ferruccio – who was not responsible for my mistake.
And now, the second part. Continue reading
This is an important first, for Karavansara.
This is the first guest post on these pages.
From the Italian-language blog OTIUM, guest blogger Ferruccio Gianola will entertain and inform us about the ten most lethal snakes in the world.
A subject that fits nicely (?) the theme of Karavansara – as a collection of informations about far away lands, and as a resource for adventure writers and readers.
Due to the length of the article, this top ten will be published in two parts.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ferruccio Gianola… Continue reading
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