Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: My Projects


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Weird weekend

This week saw my debut as a music critic (yes, you are allowed to laugh) on a real music magazine, and also saw a few more projects pop up and take their place in the queue.
Now I just need a way to stop sleeping.
Forever.

I have finished reading the new edition of Steven Alten’s MEG, and am now ready to go and see the movie.

1118561279In a related department, I’ve been reading Cetacean Paleobiology, one of those strange cases in which the profession written on my documents and what I do to pay my bills (when I manage to pay them!)
I still approach most of my writing “the science fiction way” – I need to document what I write, and keep it as real as possible. So what better than a book about the evolution of big frigging sea monsters as a source while I am writing a book about big frigging sea monsters?

And really, writing ancient megafauna books is great when you are a paleontologist – double the fun, double the excitement.

Now that I think about it, there’s a lot of ancient megafauna in my books.

And the book about sea monsters is going great – I might be able to finish the first draft this weekend.

Lambert et al

But I am also planning other entertaining things.
I did a piece on rural horror and weird fiction on my other blog, and now my fingers itch to write a short horror story. So, should I be able to clear my desk by 9 PM CET tomorrow night, I think I’ll fire up Google Docs and do a public writing session. Writing in public forces me to keep writing.
Can’t promise anything, but should I make it and do it, I’ll post a link here.


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Lizardmen vs the Mole People

I’ve just presented a very early first draft for a new project. There’s not much I can say about it right now, but let’s say there’s dinosaurs in it, and a lost world of sorts, and I’m trying not to do a rehash of The House of the Gods, and have fun.

My outline includes Mole People.
Because I loved that old movie, and Mole People are just cool, and I’d love to do a bit, as part of this project of mine, called Queen of the Mole People – featuring a character I cannot but envision as Sza Sza Gabor.

But it was suggested I use Lizardmen instead. Continue reading →


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Work in progress, June 2018

1966-200Just a quick roundup for those that like to keep track of what I am doing.

I am currently working on four big projects:

  • AMARNA is about to close, and the last episode will hit the shelves at the end of the months. Then work will start on the Italian translation and on the one-volume special edition. Basically, in 12.000 words from the end of this story, and it feels pretty emotional, all things considered.
  • LIVYATAN is shaping up nicely, and I plan on delivering it to the publisher by the end of the month, give or take a few days. Having found the right structure, this is writing itself pretty nicely.
  • MARTIAN ROULETTE (working title) needs to be ready by the beginning of July, and I am working on it in a rather different way from my usual, outlining it in depth, and then I will write it in two or three sittings tops. Being a 25.000-words story, it’s feasible.
  • THE MINISTRY OF LIGHTNING is going to be published as a serial on Patreon, and is probably the fastest writing I ever did. It’s a bit like having Felice Sabatini sitting here by my side, dictating his memoir. Right now, I’ve completed the prologue, and I’m looking at old maps, in search of the right place to set up a stunt I’ve been dreaming about since I was in high school. Last night we had a terrible storm here, and thunder and lightning chased each other across the sky for hours. I see it as a sign of approval from the Esteemed Personages in the Ministry of Storms.

Also, I’m writing short stories – I still owe one to my Patrons, and there’s a few submissions I’d like to hit.
To avoid the meltdown and explosion of what’s left of my brain, I’m working on a very strict schedule, morning and afternoon. In the evening, I’ll be doing some translation work, because the bills keep coming.


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Vergil and Med Fantasy

51M68AP5CQL._SX303_BO1,204,203,200_The last time we met Avram Davidson we were visiting Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania in the company of Doctor Eszterhazy. True, we met him briefly, too briefly, when we crossed paths with Marco Polo, and that was it.
Avram Davidson was an excellent writer, one whose style was his and his alone. He is responsible for some of the most memorable short stories in the history of the genre – like the one in which he describes the life-cycle of bicycles, from larval paperclips to wire coat-hangers, to full bicycles.
It feels deeply unjust that Davidson and his works have somehow fallen off the public’s radar. Granted, Gollancz reprinted some of his best works as cheap ebooks, and Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis curated a collection of his short stories a few years back that should still be available, but it looks like there’s a few of us that remember. Continue reading →