My Projects | Karavansara

11 February 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Discovering colonial women

As I think I mentioned in the past I’m currently following the University of Exeter‘s MOOC on the British Empire and its Controversies, hosted by Futurelearn.

My reason for joining this course are basically three.
First, MOOCs are to me much more fun than TV, and a pleasant diversion from reading or writing (two leisure activities that are turning into a job right now).
Second, I always had an interest in history, and British history in particular, and British Imperial and Colonial history at that.
Third, getting a more in-depth and structured instruction about British colonialism will be helpful in my work on the GreyWorld project.

So, both practical and leisure reasons.
This increasing overlap of leisure and work looks like the name of the game for me, right now. Continue reading →

1 February 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

GreyWorld.co

I mentioned my work on the new Savage Worlds setting in various previous post.
GreyWorld is a new universe that is being developed for Savage Worlds Italia, and I’m the main developer/content writer/jack-of-all-trades.
We are starting small, but have great plans (don’t we always?)
Today, the official blog for the project is going live…

GreyWorld.co will be a gaming blog, and it will collect all my game-oriented writing, ramblings and unrequired opinion. Not just GreyWorld news and designer notes, therefore. My hopes is that the blog will take a life of its own as a gaming site, not a project-propaganda site, and I’ll manage it as a personal/author blog of sorts.
GreyWorld will work in parallel with Karavansara, but the two blogs will remain separate and independent.
With the occasional cross-post.

If you are interested, check the blog out, and follow the project on Twitter and on G+.
Thank you!

20 January 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Steampunk Hands Around the World 2015

Just a quick heads-up – in February, I’ll be attending the second Steampunk Hands Around the World event.

Banner by Raydeen Graffam

Beginning Sunday, February 1st, and continuing until Saturday, February 28th, the group will demonstrate this year’s theme of Steampunk: Our Playground, Our Classroom, Our Workshop with how steampunks revel in their fun, their education, and their making of The Future That Never Was.

Considering that the GreyWorld project does have a significant steampunk component, it will be nice to meet the steampunks from all over the world, compare ideas and what else.
Time to connect back with the healthy elements in the steampunk community, so to speak.

I think I’ll contribute to the workshop by posting steampunk-related posts here and on the brand-new, currently-under-construction GreyWorld blog – whose launch will hopefully coincide with the start of the event.

The workshop is open, and if you are interested, there’s a page on Facebook where you can sign up, and you can also find further information on the Airship Ambasador blog.

14 January 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Things to come

Things are getting bigger, fast.
A quick recap.

I’m working on my new novel – working title, Matter/Energy, a hard science fiction adventure set in the Mediterranean area but aimed at an international audience.
I’m going at a nice clip, doing about 2000 words a day on the first draft (thanks, Scrivener), speed is increasing, and the thing looks promising: some good dialogue is developing, characters are fine, some great science and a very fun venue.
I’m also enjoying the fact of writing a novel with a strong woman as the main character.
Expect periodic updates as the project grows. Continue reading →

3 January 2015
by Davide Mana 5 Comments

My best failures of 2014

I’m stealing the idea for this post from Mike Brooks, and his podcast about his five biggest failures of 2014.
Mike notes that…

Of course I don’t see failures as a negative. To me failure is simply a necessary part of success.

It’s my sort of thing – I’m good at failure.

So – where and how have I failed in 2014?¹ Continue reading →

31 December 2014
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

The last day of 2014

It’s the last day of 2014.
Time for wrapping-up the year that’s going, and set down good propositions for the year to come.

But I do not believe that much in recaps and prologues… I’m taking a day at a time, doing the best I can.
At the moment, there is little else I can do. Continue reading →

29 December 2014
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Playing with Pencils

I often remark on my lack of skill when it comes to drawing.
Apart from some personal “problems” – my hand tends to be heavy – I think any artistic proficiency I had was fully eradicated in primary school: much as I loved dabbling with pencils and paper when I was a kid, the first two years of school were totally language-oriented. Sketching or “fooling around with pencils” was actively discouraged.
As a result, I’m good at words, but I can’t draw to save my life.

And yet…
Back when I worked in a call center, to pass the long idle hours of the night shift, I got me a handbook – the ten times excellent Keys to Drawing, by Bert Dodson ¹ – a drawing block and some pencils, and in a few months I went from completely helpless to not half bad at drawing still lifes and quick scenes.
Nothing worth writing home about, but from the absolute nothing that had characterized my life for twenty-odd years, it was certainly an improvement. Continue reading →