My Projects | Karavansara

9 September 2015
by Davide Mana 4 Comments

Dwarves, Halflings and Mushroom-men

A brief post to show you the wonderful cover for my forthcoming novella, A Storm Brewing, set in the gaming universe created by my friend Andrea Sfiligoi for his company, Ganesha Games.

This will be my first all-out “traditional”, high fantasy story in about fifteen years.
And given my tastes in fantasy and Andrea’s A Song of Blades and Heroes universe, it will not be that “traditional”, after all. Nor it will be very high, probably.

I love this cover, by the way. It’s absolutely perfect.
And yes, that’s an eyepatch-wearing, pig-riding whip-cracking halfling redhead girl in the background. Continue reading →

29 August 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Beaucoup de Bruit pour Rien

A short little post today.
I stumbled on this fun video from Tokyo Incidents.
It’s called Much Ado about Nothing, but in French.

And I decided it’s time to start writing the sequel to The Ministry of Thunder.
Now I have an opening track.

5 August 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Return to the Crossroads of the World

My first pulp history essay, Avventurieri sul Crocevia del Mondo (Adventurers on the Crossroads of the World) hit the shelves of Amazon almost exactly two years ago.
The collection of characters and events from the Silk Road between the wars was highly successful and spawned two subsequent books, and a number of other events – lectures, games, whatever.

Now it’s high time the old Crocevia got a facelift, an update and a Second Edition.

I got a lot of feedback on the book, and I noted each constructive observation.
Now it’s time to put the good advice in practice.
And get a new cover. Continue reading →

13 July 2015
by Davide Mana 11 Comments

Stuff to do, and a call to action

Yes, there’s going to be a call to action in this post.
That would be me asking you to speak up your mind.
But let me explain…

I was doing some math with my brother during lunch.
Looks like, in the next 8-12 months period I’ve ten projects slated, all of them in various stages of development.

Ten, not counting my blogs.
Now, if I don’t consider what’s already in the hands of my editors or publishers, we get down to seven, but that’s still a big number. Continue reading →

8 July 2015
by Davide Mana 6 Comments

Buy me a coffee?

Yes, there’s a Buy Me a Coffee button in my sidebar.
It’s been there a few days, and it looks like this…

Should you click it, you’ll be offered the opportunity of… well, as you can guess, buying me a coffee – or more than one, should you feel like – through PayPal.
And since I don’t drink coffee, I might use those money to, say, buy a domain for Karavansara, or a better template; or I might employ that cash to promote online my ebooks, or buy cover art for my ebooks, or to buy gifts for my long-suffering editors… you get the idea.

Now, I was told so many times that putting donation buttons, Amazon product links and Amazon shops and other commercial links on a blog is in poor taste… Continue reading →

6 July 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

New & Overdue

I’ve been pretty absent these last few weeks.
Because of various familiar mishaps I had to give less time to my blogs.
The little time I had I devoted to my writing.
And also, I was unable to complete two of the MOOCs I enrolled in earlier this year.
But here’s the good news, sort of: now that the situation stabilized, it’s too damn hot (44°C) to do anything but stare at a screen while enjoying the cold stream from the fan… so why not go back and complete what I started?

I hate leaving matters unfinished.
Which also means I’ll have to write a 1000-words non-genre story… by tomorrow night.

And – as I was getting in gear to pick-up my courses again and see the end of them… well, you know how it happens.
I stumbled upon a big list of very attractive summer courses and I decided that, as soon as the backlog has been removed, I’ll get two more courses – one in academical/non-fiction writing, and one in editing.

Because it’s hot as hell hereabouts, but that’s no excuse to have an idle mind.
Or something.
Now I just need a few hundred liters of ice-cold tea.

15 June 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Thinking in lifespans

So I have a new idea for my next novel
This writing thing is going to my head.
But anyway – thanks to a sleepless night during a thunderstorm, I set down the basic premise, placed two or three ideas on the map, have a few scenes rather vividly painted in my mind, and I’ve started collecting references and stuff.

And a funny thing happened.
The story I’m planning will be a historical fantasy – looks like that’s my game, these days – set in the 18th century.
The exact time frame is somewhat problematic, and I’ll have to make some hard choices – choosing a certain year instead of another means my characters will be dealing with different historical characters and events.
Anyway… Continue reading →