Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: My Projects


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New life for an old dinosaur

ttexI am happy to announce that I have just signed a contract and that my old weird western, Tyrannosaurus Tex, will be turned into an audio drama.

I am very excited about this – because it’s good to see there’s still life in the jolly old animal, and most of all because as a fan of old time radio and radio dramas, it’s always been a little dream of mine to see (or hear!) one of my works dramatized for audio.

As soon as the work will be available, I will happily post links and what not.
For the time being, you can of course read the ebook – which is available for cheap on Amazon.

Cheers!


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I’m stupid, but it’s all right

Yesterday I decided I am stupid, and it’s all right like that.
You see, I was handed a book for review purposes; the thing’s printed by a major Italian publisher and touted as the Second Coming of adventure writing. So yes, I was curious.
Pity the research backing the action was probably limited to re-watching a pair of old movies to get the fake accents right – there’s mountains smack in the middle of the greatest floodplain on Earth, there’s a lot of made-up archeology and anthropology that do not even try to look plausible, there’s a main character so derivative even his name is second-hand. The book apparently is selling in cartloads.

All of this, and I’ve been spending the last week looking for the floorplans of the Cairo Museum in the ’50s, to get the opening scene of my new Corsair story just right.

Cairo and district, Egypt. The Egyptian Museum. Interior of m...

So yes, I felt stupid, but I decided it’s all right like that. Continue reading →


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Back in the game?

Two firsts, tonight.
First first, after a long delay and lots of experiments and failed attempts, I’m running my first online gaming session – using Google Hangouts and my shaky connection.

This is very important to me – ever since I moved in this God-forgotten village in the hills of dreary Astigianistan, my regular gaming schedule has been disrupted and, later, canceled.

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One can’t drive 80 km to play three hours, and then drive 80 km back once a week.
Apart from the stress and the fatigue – and the short gaming time – the costs in terms of fuel are insane1.

So, will my connection hold and allow me to game online with my friends in Turin?
I really hope so2. Continue reading →


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Looking for Pauline

MTE4MDAzNDEwNzI0NDIzMTgySome things start just like that…
Despite my very busy schedule, I’m going to try and track me down a copy of The Perils of Pauline, the 1914 serial featuring Pearl White (I guess that was not her true name1).
Fact is, you see, I’ve been told in detail how movie serials were a phenomenon in ’40s and ’50s American cinema, by yet another expert that apparently failed to check out Wikipedia to get the full story.
I heard that and thought… but what of Pauline?2

Continue reading →


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Other People’s Pulps: A… for Assassin

I am proud to announce that my translation of Ernesto Gastaldi‘s award-wining thriller, A… for Assassin, published by Raven’s Head, is available for purchase through Amazon.

a for assassin

Originally an award-winning play, Gastaldi’s story was adapted to the screen in 1966, an original giallo that while forgotten by some, still has its small but faithful cult following.

 

A COME ASSASSINOI had lots of fun translating this unusual, tongue-in-cheek, cruelly amusing work.
The plot is carried most by the witty, crackling dialogue – and short, vivid descriptions hit the reader almost by surprise.
Part old dark house mystery, part family plot, and set in a 1960s England that is a place of fantasy, A… for Assassin plays like a twisted Elizabethan tragedy in which no one is innocent, and hides a nasty sting in its tail.

I really hope that the readers will have as much fun reading A… for Assassin as I had translating it.
It’s not that they don’t make them like this anymore – actually, they never made them like this.
This is a unique tale from a unique author.


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My Greatest Failures of 2015

62d133a7cdbe52686487bc5d6a34f604I did my first Best Failures post on the third of January 2015, and people apparently liked it.
So much so, that six months later, a guy on Facebook threw that post in my face as the “demonstration” that my writing career (if any) was a complete disaster.
Some guys have no sense of humor.

Anyway – a Best Failures post is a great way to put a year in perspective, and to find new opportunities to jump-start the new year.
Because, as ever, failures and disasters are not the end of the run, they are a starting point.
No matter what Facebook users may to think.

So, here goes a short retrospective of My Best Failures in 2015. Continue reading →