Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: My Projects


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Things are not what they seem

Jim Thompson said,

“There is only one plot—things are not what they seem.”

901b0c53655174228f0d3537ff46948c--bond-girl-mont-blancWhich sounds a little extreme, maybe, but it actually works, you know, and it kind of gave me a sense of relief last night.
Let me tell you about it…

I stumbled on some comic book fans venting their disappointment at a recent Tim Burton movie featuring the ever gorgeous Eva Green. The cause of their irritation: the movie is set in a school for kids with special talents.
Which makes it obviously a rip-off of the X-men movies.
Sarcasm ensues.
But… really?

Continue reading →


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3000 in 4

The pleasure of nailing a 3000-words historical dark fantasy in a single afternoon!
It’s the sort of thing that makes one feel good.
Sort of what the heck, I can still do it!

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It is not that hard, really.
In fact, you can do it too. Here’s what you’ll need:

  •  a basic story idea
  • Wikipedia to check historical facts
  • 3 Mars bars (or cheap knock-off), to be awarded one every 1000 words
  • the full knowledge that the work won’t be paid, so you better get it out of the way fast

And I know, I know

writer = guy that gets paid for writing

Sorry to let you down, folks.
Indeed the payment was one of the first thing that was promised me, but then the money sort of fizzed. So it turned this job into another sort of work – just showing off, a cheap (ah!), childish display of writing prowess: one full story, 3000 words long, in one afternoon, from empty page to finished first draft.
what the heck, I can still do it!


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Aculeo & Amunet on the Road to Babylon

So I am currently writing a new Aculeo & Amunet story.
It’s good – I like the guys, and it’s like taking a vacation.
I’d love to have three or four stories for a new collection to publish for Christmas – I’ve one ready, and another I am writing right now… let’s say I’m sort of halfway there..295f12a6feb1e0d8e3cfbfe76f0e75f5

The story I’m working on right now is very loosely based on a 1976 song called The Road to Babylon, from an album called The Roaring Silence, by the Manfred Mann Earth Band.
As I said in the past, I use a lot of music for inspiration, background, soundtrack and assorted distractions when I write, and listening to this one really got me going. Continue reading →


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Alfonso Azpiri, 1947-2017

Spanish comic artist and illustrator Alfonso Azpiri passed away a few hours ago.
Azpiri was one of the many graphic artists whose works I cherished.
Wikipedia classifies him in the “adult oriented” field, but his stories, that ranged from science fiction to horror, while often incredibly racy, were also a fun mix of caricature and satire, and his pneumatic, big-haired trademark female characters were both sexy and absurd, sultry and silly.

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With the character of Lorna, he created a silly, naughty mix of Star Wars and Barbarella.

Here is a small gallery of his works, in memoriam.
And yes, depending on where you are, some of this might be considered NSFW. Continue reading →


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August reading

I spent most of the last two weeks reading instead of writing.
Granted, three books of mine came out in the last four weeks, so I can’t really complain, but I know there will be hell to pay to hit deadlines and be good. And yet, right now fatigue both physical and mental was such that I needed to stop and recharge my batteries.
I’ve found out I slowed down somewhat, and gone are the summers in which I’d read three or four novels per week. But it’s not a race, so it’s OK.

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My friend Claire over at Scribblings did a post on her reading week, and I thought, why not?
A simple list of what I’ve been reading recently.
Just for fun. Continue reading →