Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: My Projects


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Rejection slips

Last week a publisher informed me that a story I had submitted for their next anthology is not good enough to be included.
Oh, they were much more tactful, but the bottom line is just that – the story is not good enough.

And re-reading it, I must agree.
I could make a lot of excuses – I rushed the job because of the deadline, it was my first English-language story in almost a decade, the word-limit was very tight, I had no time for availing me of my indispensible proof-reader and sounding board, or call on beta-readers.
But that would just be making excuses.

not deadI’m much more interested, at the moment, in revising and rewriting the story as much as possible, without time or word constraints, and then try my luck again.
What’s more, I like the two main characters, and I’d love to do at least two more stories featuring them.
And anyway, submitting that story, for all its weaknesses, was absolutely indispensible – it was necessary to overcome the stagefright one feels facing a new market, a new public, a new world.

Which leads me to the interesting part – the fact that my first English submission bounced back caused some parties to get into told-you-so mode. Continue reading →


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Translating myself – slowly

220px-Robert_E._Howard_in_1923Back in 2009 I planned, almost completed and partially published a cycle of three alternate history stories centered on the character of Robert E. Howard, with H.P. Lovecraft as a co-star.

In The Ballad of Bobbie Howard, I imagined a universe in which both the author of Conan and the Providence Recluse are women.

Then, in The Shape of Things to Come (yes, I know, not very original, as a title), I imagined a universe in which both Howard and Lovecraft surviving their early demises, and living a long and productive life – REH as a Hollywood screenwriter and HPL as the director of Weird Tales.

Finally, in Lone Star, I wrote about a balkanizad post-depression America, in which Texas rebels led by Howard face their final showdown against the troops of President Lovecraft, leader of the pretty fascistic Eastern Coalition. Continue reading →


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Learning my history

“By 1937 almost 75 per cent of European trade was on a barter basis.”

Not bad, as a snippet of historical info, when you’re planning a story with a smuggler as the main character.

Researching historical details as background and framework for stories can be great fun.
In this case, it’s also long overdue.

When I was in high school, history stopped with the First World War.
This, for two main reasons
. the post-WWI history of our country is still a politically sensitive area
. post-WWI history is part of the second half of the last year, and it normally gets sacrificed to make room for more hours in the subjects that will be covered in the final exam. Continue reading →


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How I became a hack, part three

Yes, just like that...

Yes, just like that… sort of.

One day I’ll write a book called Mistress of Yamatai.
It will be a Burroughs-esque actioneer.
The story – a freak accident involving some ancient Japanese relics causes out hero (an anonymous orientalist) to slip back in time (and possibly sideways, too) to the ancient land of Wo, where he’ll have to face unspeakable lovecraftian horrors and shamanic magic, fight blood-thirsty barbarians and woo fiery-spirited, ample-breasted Himiko, the Mistress of Yamatai.
A classy thing, in other words.

I’ve got the story outlined, the characters sketched – the zip file including the lot resurfaced a few days back, after a slump caused a pile of old CDs to spill fan-like on my desk.

One day or another, I’ll write the book.
I made a promise.
In the meantime, here’s the story about Himiko, the Mistress of Yamatai, and about her Curse. Continue reading →


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Crusaders to Babylon

A short post just because.
Knights_Templar_SealChristendom (how pleasantly Medieval a word!) is cheering the election of the new pope – and turns out the family of the South American Jesuit now known as Francis the First was originally from the hills area where I live.
While the locals scramble to arrange something to surf the long wave of the Vatican election, I like to remember that from the Monferrato area a 13th ccentury crusade moved south and east, with the purpose of liberating Babylon from the infidels.
The crusade did not reach its purpose, or its destination, from the little I know – but it’s the sort of factoid Harold Lamb would have used as a starting point to weave a great epic tale.

The Monferrato territory was also seat of a number of Templar forts and churches.
Which is something I might explore – phisically – this summer.


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Mediterranean pulp?

mediterranean_food[I’ll explain the groceries in a minute…]
Now, there’s an Italian, a Spaniard and an American…
No, it’s not a silly joke.
It’s what happened in a quick exchange of tweets, a few nights back, with two fine gentlemen from America and Spain respectively.
The subject was pulp.
New Pulp, if you will.
The question was – what about stories not set in the United States?

What about some international setting?

I contributed tha suggestion that, preserving the time-frame (stories set somewhere between the ’30s and ’40s), and the overall structure (character-driven thrills and derring-do), the Mediterranean area would be the perfect setting.

Just consider…

Continue reading →