My Projects | Karavansara

19 March 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Getting away with murder

But in the end I did it – I was able to nail shut the box of my first Murder Party script, and the client was pleased enough to buy it.
I have opened a new market – and a paying one – and my first script sale will probably be represented in April.

what-do-you-mean-murder

Now, murder parties seem to be modeled on old episodes of Murder, She Wrote and I knew those long years spent watching reruns of the series during lunch break would one day pay.
There are some perks in being a fan of Angela Lansbury.

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My first script takes place at a new-age convention held in a Colorado ski resort, during the off season. A collection of quirky characters (including a medium that channels an ancient Egyptian sorceress called Amunet) are bickering and confronting each other when suddenly one of them turns up dead.
Murder or accident?
And really, can you get away with murder in a place filled with mediums and mind-readers?

It was as hard as hell, but also lots of fun.
Can’t wait to do it again.

18 March 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

News from the Mana Bros Skunkworks Shed

italia-doppelganger So, we were kicking around a few ideas for a roleplaying game or our own, or maybe four.
The real instigator was my friend Alex,that is having a nice success with his Italia Doppelganger RPG, based on the universe of a popular series of horror stories of his.
And I’ve been talking about an Aculeo & Amunet RPG for ages, now. And then there’s the idea of the RPG spin-off of AMARNA¹.
And a lot of other stuff – some projects I pitched and fizzed, some things I said “one of these nights I’ll do it” and we’re still here and waiting.
But not anymore!
So, let’s get to work.

Continue reading →

17 March 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Killer job

The toughest writing job I’ve had in ages is writing a script for a Murder Party.

what-do-you-mean-murder

This is a sort of live roleplaying game: the guests become involved in a murder, and follow the development of the story, and in the end they have to guess the name of the killer, based on the clues and the behavior of the actors laying the suspects.
Quite fun to take place in, but… Continue reading →

16 March 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Cheer Like an Egyptian

This post was shared with my Patrons, but it’s too good a story to keep for a chosen few. Also, this is the genre of anachronism thing that my friend Claire loves to hate, and I hope she passes hereabouts and enjoys the disaster.

Fact is, a friend forwarded me, three days ago, the preview of a book – I will not mention the author nor the title. The reason the pages were forwarded is simple, and three-fold:
. It’s a story set in Egypt, and therefore intersects my interests
. It’s a good example of bad worldbuilding (and I am currently teaching a course on the subject, so I need show-and-tell material)
. “See, you fool? You spend too much time doing research…”

Well, I do not.
I love doing research, and if it does not make my writing better, at least it helps with my Impostor’s Syndrome.

Ruling-ancient-egypt-dbf7890

Anyway, the extract is rather amusing, sort of like putting a rabid cat in a box and then sitting over it, and it will certainly make for a great handout for my course.
The names are at best wrong, at worst ridiculous, the action is wooden and stilted, and then the Egyptians shout

Hooray!

Really? Continue reading →

15 March 2018
by Davide Mana 4 Comments

News from Nennius Britannicus and the boys

I am happy to say that I have just signed a contract for the publication of the (first?) story featuring centurion Nennius Britannicus and his Contubernium.

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I am currently revising the proofs.
As soon as the story will be out I will post here (and everywhere else) the relevant links.
I am very happy (but I guess you guessed that).

15 March 2018
by Davide Mana 5 Comments

Caveman names

Let’s talk about names.
And not just any name – primitive names.
Names for cavemen – and I don’t mean Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.
My primitive fantasy story requires a hero, and a heroine, and what else… and if I have a way to play fast and loose with Atlanteans and Lemurians and assorted campers, the name of the hero is too important an element to improvise.

2Caveman

So, for “lost civilization” cultures, I’ll use a few Minoan names, shuffling a few consonants about.
And if Didikase and Kubaba are a silly name for bad guys, Kitanetos might work with a little adjustement.
And the female name Kitane is quite good.
But when it comes to the primitive Homo sapiens, that’s a territory that’s been explored in the past, and it’s hard to be original and effective. Continue reading →

14 March 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

At work on Central Station

25986774 With all the stuff that’s been piling up on my desk recently, I failed to post a note about the fact that I am having a lot of fun and a great time all around translating Lavie Tidhar’s Central Station for Acheron Books.
The novel’s so good and the author’s prose is so fluid that it is very easy to go through pages and pages of it almost without noticing.
Which of course means that I have to do a second pass to check all the small bits-and-pieces of the text.