My Projects | Karavansara

26 September 2018
by Davide Mana 5 Comments

Good news on a September day

Two bits of news about today.
Three actually. Good news, and that’s good.

The first: as of today, September 2018 is the most successful month for this blog, ever. Lots of visits, lots of comments and shares.
Thank you to all comers, to the old timers and the new readers. Thank you, and welcome.
Karavansara has been slowly but steadily growing these last six years,and I will try and improve the offer of this blog, because… because I like blogging, and I want to do more for more readers.

And talking about readers… Continue reading →

26 September 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Authorial exhibitionism

In the last few months I did a few session of public writing. I did two online, using Google Docs, and one in public, with my friend Fabrizio Borgio on the other side of the table, both of us pounding on our respective typewriters¹.
Some compared this to exhibitionism, but I say, if it was good enough for Harlan Ellison, it’s good enough for me.

image typewriter

And the experiment was rather successful, so we decided to up the ante.

Continue reading →

24 September 2018
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Tits & Sand: Captain Sindbad, 1963

OK, let me get this straight – we are about to talk about a Tits & Sand movie shot in Munich, Germany, featuring the guy that played Zorro as Sinbad.
I am sure that it can get weirder than this, but still…

There are three men before whom a woman need have no shame: her husband, her doctor and her magician.

Capnsindbads

Captain Sindbad, produced in 1963 by the King Brothers, is a strange affair, an odd assortment of mismatched pieces: we get Guy Williams, that had played Zorro in a Disney-produced series, Pedro Armendariz, a class act that has a lot of fun as the bad guy El Kerim, and German actress and singer Heidi Bruhl, that in the same year represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest. TV mainstay Abraham Sofaer rounds up the cast as the dotty magician Galgo, complete with pointy hat and star-spangled coat. Continue reading →

21 September 2018
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

(Almost) One Year of Patreon

In two months it will be one year I am on Patreon, having launched my profile in November 2017.
A celebration is in order, especially considering I was told it would not work, and instead it did.

So, here’s a few items that are lined up for my Patrons.
I’ll expand on each one in the next days and weeks, but for the time being…

Loose Ends, part 1 – the caveman fantasy novella and the first Pelerine story will come in October and November, and they will be Patreon Exclusives.
The stories went on the backburner for a number of reasons, but now they are being polished and set straight.

Loose Ends, part 2 – the final Asteria novella and the final chapter of AMARNA, that will come in October and November too, and that my 5 Bucks Brigade supporters will get for free, and will otherwise be distributed as usual via Amazon. Once again, real-life problems caused me to put these two projects on hold, but they are ready to get going again.

The Karavansara Open Bar – I am experimenting with Discord, and the thing seems to work fine, and is supported by Patreon. Starting in October, I’d like to set up chats with my patrons on a regular basis.

A BUSCAFUSCO Christmas – in December, I’ll hit my patrons with a pack of Belbo Valley mysteries: Saints & Witches in English for my English supporters, and the first two Buscafusco novellas in Italian for my Italian supporters.

An as yet unnamed non-fiction book – history, supernatural, science, weirdness…? Nazis on Mars? Dinosaurs in the Hollow Earth?
Who knows? I think it’s high time for me to hit my Patrons with some non-fiction, and what better opportunity than the first anniversary?

And possibly more.
Much more.

So, watch this space and if you think it proper, spread the news.
I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, and if you have any suggestion about other perks, please use the comments.

19 September 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Hope & Glory – Talk Like a Pirate!

Ahoy, mateys!
Today it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I’d rather talk about pirates and other assorted ship-based scoundrels and adventurers.
And because I am still promoting like hell my game Hope & Glory, why not give a look at piracy in the skies. 251845
After all, Hope & Glory is a game that features airships.
And indeed, the scenario The Man that would be Quinn includes piracy in the sky lanes, the piracy in question being loosely based on South Cina Sea piracy.
And Emilio Salgari.
We’ve been there already, and you know the Tigers of Mompracem did have an influence on my game.

But really, let’s talk about pirates and adventurers, and Hope & Glory. Continue reading →

17 September 2018
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Hope & Glory – the criminal mind

Here is where a few topics we discussed in the last few weeks collide and then we download a free ebook.

6778502 A reader of mine (thank you!!) just sent me a book – a wonderful copy of The Sherlock Holmes Handbook, by Ransom Riggs.
The volume is a beautiful compact hardbound book, sturdy and very “Victorian looking”, and it covers the whole of the Holmesian lore concerning the Great Detective’s methods, tools and practices.
I am reading it very slowly to make it last, but it’s a perfect complement for a Sherlockian shelf, and it’s also the sort of handy reference one might need to check when writing.
Beautiful, and (hopefully) not too expensive.
I’ll do a full review as soon as I’m finished, but right now on my first impression, I feel like recommending it.
It might also be a good tool for roleplayer playing Victoria settings.
Just saying.

But there is another handbook I’ve been browsing that is worth mentioning.
I used it marginally as part of my research for Hope & Glory, at the very beginning – and maybe because of this I think it is not listed in the suggested reading list in the handbook. Continue reading →

15 September 2018
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French Naughtiness, General Pershing, and inspiration

There is an image, here on my desktop, I’ve been hoping to use as an inspiration for a short story for quite a while.
It’s called Les Surprises de la Vie de Chateau: La Revue Nocturne, that is Surprises of the Life in the Castle: The Night Review.
It’s a host of ghostly dames, in gorgeous Medieval dresses, examining with curiosity and bafflement the lingerie of a flapper girl as she spends the night in a castle’s bedroom.

ghosts