My Projects | Karavansara

5 May 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

The Ten Virtues of Tea

So my next short story will be set in India (aha!) and will be a steampunkish mystery caper sort of thing somewhat related to my GreyWorld project.
So far I only have an idea or two, a single character sketch and a deadline – and a very strict deadline it is, because the story will be submitted to a publisher.

Also, I have a theme: my story will deal with tea.
And I like this, because I am a tea drinker, and drinking tea is part of my writing process… because it’s a good way to take a pause, and think about something else. Continue reading →

22 April 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Back to Old Shanghai

And just when it looked like I was well on my way to spending the next six months solid reading and writing about India (and steampunk) for GreyWorld, the Paris of the East lures me back again.

I’m currently doing some very preliminary work on a new project that promises to bring me back to old Shanghai¹.

And yes, it does feel like some kind of obscure Oriental curse.

Obviously, first I’ll have to nail shut the box of my second novel, and my work on GreyWorld will continue, writing both the game setting and some setting-based stories.
And yes, there’s the minor matter of a new Aculeo & Amunet story, and one – or possibly two – new stories in the Asteria series.
Oh, and one, maybe two small-but-sweet gaming-related projects.
And a pitch I really need to have ready by August².
But while all this stuff is cooking, I’m taking the Shangai books and maps and notes, photo references and everything else out of the storage box.
It will be fun.
Who needs sleeping anyway?

and no, dear reader, it is not a new Sabatini story. ↩
yes, I’m keeping busy. ↩

15 April 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

An eye for details: Fortunino Matània

I wonder if they ever called him ‘Nino’.

The fine gentleman in the photograph is Fortunino Matània (sometimes spelled Matania, without an accent).
He was born in Naples in 1881, but spent most of his life in London, and he worked as an illustrator – the family trade. He published in such magazines as L’Illustrazione Italiana, Illustration Francaise, The Sphere and later The Illustrated London News.
He did some editorial illustration, but today he is mostly remembered for his paintings of scenes from the Great War – he was in the field, working as a war artist (basically an artist following the troops and sketching from life scenes from the battlefield -not exactly a relaxing job).

But if today he’s remembered for his war paintings, in hist time he really became famous after the war Continue reading →

14 April 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

It keeps you running

Strange week, this one.
Bad health, and that weird, sort of sudden vacuum that plops around you as you fall into that strange territory between projects.
Spend half a day on the trains, and go down with cold and sore throat – that’s me.
So I’m trying to get back on my feet, and in the meantime I catch up with my reading, and plan for things to come.

A few days back I heard a colleague wax lyrically about what you do when you finish your novel.
I was surprised at the sting of irritation I felt.
What you do when you finish your novel? What a silly question…
You start the next one, because bills won’t pay themselves.

Well, actually it’s a little more articulated.
You can take an afternoon off, and maybe prepare yourself a cup of hot chocolate to celebrate.
Watch a few old episodes of Department S.
Listen to the Doobie Brothers.
Then you start on the next one.

That might non be a novel, but maybe a short story, or a novella or a game project, or something else.
Or all of those, in any sequence you feel like.
Like the Doobies said, it keeps you running.

8 April 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Running on ice

What a week! What a month!
Bad health, broken PC, various mishaps, then…
Just out of the easter weekend, I had to take a quick jaunt in Milan to give y lecture about writing and gaming, then back – two days to finish the complete draft of my novel (that still misses a proper title! Damn!!), then I’ll hop on not one, not two, but three trains to get me to Modena for the Play Festival, where I will spend two days (and one night, probably) gaming.
Then back – to see if a project that I finally was able to get underway this morning is giving any fruit, and to plan future conquests.
And work on my writing den – which will mean redesign and refurbish a room here in my old house – and do it at zero cost.
Then, a little peace.
Until the 24th of April, that is – when I’ll be giving a presentation about my non-fiction books here at the Castelnuovo Belbo Library.
And then back to Milan on the 28th, for the final lesson in the Acheron Books Writing Course (that has been so far a success, thanks to great teachers and students).
And then May will loom on the horizon.

A few nights back a friend was asking how I manage.
The answer, plain and simple, is – I wing it.

Am I getting anywhere?
Well, hopefully yes.
And if sometimes feels like I’m running on ice, well, it’s still a good way to keep in shape.

I promise I’ll post more coherent contents in a few hours.

1 April 2015
by Davide Mana 4 Comments

Meet the new system – same as the old system (but faster)

And so we’re back to normal.
The delivery boy delivered (that’s his job, right?) a big box that turned out to be mostly fluff and a smaller box in which there was my new PC – black and with a big power button that turns blue when pressed.

The bad news: this new PC thing set me back of a nice amount of cash, and I would have happily done without the expense.
The good news: buying online a no-brand machine without a pre-loaded operating system meant spending exactly one third of what the local big chain dealer asked for the same set-up.

So, all in all, I could have done without the expenditure, but it was not that painful. Continue reading →

29 March 2015
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

In praise of Scrivener (in the face of catastrophe)

And so my much vexed, five years old PC finally kicked the bucked and went dead on me.
Utterly completely dead.
Dead dead dead.

Which is bad – considering I have a lot of things going right now, and all the work in progress is currently buried in my dead hard disk.
It’s still there, mind you, safe and warm.
Only, I need a new PC to get to it.

But not everything’s lost. Continue reading →