Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Other People’s Pulp


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In Cuba, during the war

It can be argued that Ernest Hemingway was one of those authors that turned their own life into a story they were writing and selling.
Whether it was a conscious effort or an unplanned consequence of a number of circumstances I cannot say, but it’s certain that “Hemingway” was not just a set of books, but also a style, an attitude, a lifestyle.
A brand and a platform, modern marketeers might say.
Look at all those photographs.
We don’t have as many shots of, say, Raymond Chandler or Dorothy Parker, they are not so widely circulated.

Ernest_Hemingway_Aboard_the_Pilar_1935-840x420

It is not surprising then if Ernest Hemingway became the subject of other people’s fiction. Continue reading →


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The new Magnum

So I went and watched the first episode of the new Magnum PI TV series. The reboot of the old one, the one with Tom Selleck. And I thought I’d write a review.
But first, two observations.

Observation the first: I was 14 when the original series was broadcast for the first time in my country. A lot was made of the location and the Ferrari, so much so that I actually skipped the first few episodes. I was a Rockford Files fan, and I did not care for a billionaire detective. And we had Hart to Hart covering that angle, right? Only later I found out about the car and the villa being on loan, and considering the enthusiastic reaction of my friends, I gave it a look, and liked it a lot.

Magnum-P.I.

Observation the second: I can’t stand those people that whine ceaselessly when a remake or a reboot is made about some old series they liked. The recent hubbub about the new She-Ra cartoons was embarrassing. Get a life, and give the new stuff a chance before you start tearing your hair off, that’s what I say. It’s OK not to like a remake or a reboot, but first look at it. Not at the trailers, not at the production stills. Judge the product based on the frigging product.

So I went and I checked out the new Magnum PI.
And I did not like it.
I’ll try to discuss why, now. Continue reading →


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Karavansara Free Library: The Well of the Unicorn

I’m writing a story.
Big deal, you say.
But no, wait, because it’s interesting.
The story is set in some unnamed American town, somewhere in 1948 or maybe 1949. As the story opens, the main character works as a reader for an old lady who’s losing her sight. My character spends three afternoons every week in the old lady’s parlor, reading her aloud from a book.
What book?
The_Well_of_the_UnicornNow, the book is not essential in the story. It’s just a prop, something my character can cling to as the events in her life suddenly start twisting in a whole new direction.
A hardback, then.
A good solid hardback she’ll be able to clutch to her chest like it’s an armor in that single scene right at the beginning.

And so I did a quick check.
I just needed a hardback published in 1948.
And Fletcher Pratt’s The Well of the Unicorn was published in that year.
Bingo.
There is something good, for me, about a young woman reading aloud from The Well of the Unicorn, and then embarking on a life-changing adventure. Continue reading →


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Going Noir in Faeryland

42989848_10215692319757653_2014258310848446464_nLess than 12 hours after the paintings by Astor Alexander started making the rounds, a call hit the usual suspects, for an anthology of pulp retellings of faery tales.
The only rule: not the ninbe princesses portrayed in the original paintings.
Which is a pity, because I love Pocahontas – Private Eye.
Anyway, that’s what writing to a call means – you go with the publisher’s requests.
And so I did some research, dug out Giambattista Basile, and sent a pitch straight away (and this makes three submissions to three different publishers this week). Continue reading →


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Robert E. Howard’s Horror Stories

51eN0cpzVXLA very quick heads up – apparently Amazon is selling the Del Rey collection The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard for a lark, a lark being roughly two bucks and change.

This is a wonderful volume, almost 600 pages and illustrated, and features a lot of excellent fiction by Two-Guns Bob.
It is likely that you already have most of these yarns on your shelf, but in case you missed some, or you just want all of REH’s horrors in one neat, high-class package, check this book out.
It’s an excellent book to usher in the Halloween season.

I don’t know how long the offer will last.