Other People’s Pulp | Karavansara

7 February 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Gordon’s Alive!

Yeah, I know, the title’s not that original, but let me explain.
I am not a huge fan of the Flash Gordon movie. As I said in the past, I much prefer the animated feature, or the original Alex Raymond comics.
And if it’s the comics or the animation, then I love Flash Gordon.
I was therefore very excited when, back in GenCon 2016, Shane Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment announced that there would be a Savage World of Flash Gordon RPG.
I waited with growing anticipation, and I was ready to back the Kickstarter, but my bank had other ideas, and only now I’ve been able to get my hands on the actual thing. And boy is this thing a beauty.

gordon

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28 January 2018
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Viy: dark-fantasy swashbuckling adventure from Russia

viy-forbidden-empire-2014-poster On the second of February, barring accidents, a Russian film will hit the screens (in Russia, if nowhere else) that features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Rutger Hauer and Charles Dance.
And it’s a sequel.
So, while we wait for the second serving, let me introduce you to an adventure movie you might have missed, and that, while not exactly a masterpiece, still is well worth a viewing if you feel like a serving of weird action fantasy, with a side of Hammer-like horror.
So, as we wait for Viy 2: Journey to China, let’s talk about Viy: Forbidden Empire.

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27 January 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Gotham by Gaslight

One of the many perks of having a high-speed web connection is that (finally) I can access streaming media and acquire digital downloads without the risk that my registration or purchase money will be wasted due to connection collapse.
And so I decided to celebrate a good start of the year and got me a copy of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.

I bought the comic back in 1992 (it had been published in 1989), attracted by both the steampunkish setting and the art by Mike Mignola, and I was both excited and worried about the movie adaptation.
But all in all, it turned out to be a good way to spend 75 minutes. Continue reading →

26 January 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Robert Arthur and the Mysterious Traveler

Ratyping I was a fan of Robert Arthur Jr before I was a fan of anybody else. Robert Arthur Jr came before Jack Williamson and Robert Howard and Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny and Michael Moorcock and all the rest.
This because the first books I cut my teeth on were part of the series The Three Investigators, that were credited to Alfred Hitchcock but were actually written by various authors – and Robert Arthur Jr wrote the first dozen or so.
24992 Robert Arthur also edited a number of anthologies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Ghostly Gallery, that was – as I mentioned a few days back – the book that started my long-time fascination with ghost stories.
The volume included three stories by Arthur, The Haunted Trailer, The Wonderful Day and Obstinate Uncle Otis. Very good stories, that remained in my memory these 39 years. Continue reading →

22 January 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Robert E. Howard’s Birthday

It is Robert E. Howard’s birthday.
Is there anything I can say about Howard that was not said already, and better than I ever could? Unlikely.

I could once again say that Howard was one of those writers that I read as a kid, and made me say

This! This is what I want to write.

And I did – I wrote some horrid Conan pastiches when I was fifteen, and they are dead and buried, and it’s better that way. Continue reading →

19 January 2018
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Ghosts from the East

nightbird cover Let’s leave Egypt behind for a while.
Last week my friend Lucy published her new novel, the first with Acheron Books. It’s called Nightbird and it’s a ghost story¹.
So we had the opportunity of talking a lot about ghost stories, and our favorite novels, movies and what not. It was fun. It also turned out that Lucy would love to write a vampire novel, while I’d love to write a few ghost stories. And as we talked about books, I realized that while I love Peter Straub’s Ghost Story or James Herbert’s David Ash books, what I really like is ghostly short stories. The sort you can read in one sitting, and be scared and entertained.
And so I started compiling a list of my favorite collections of ghost stories. Continue reading →

18 January 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

The Breakfast Club in the Jungle

Two nights ago I was so desperate I watched Jumanji – Welcome to the Jungle.
Now, first things first: I don’t like to original Jumanji.
OK, Robin Williams, great special effects, fun premise and all that but I guess I was too old when it first came out.
When the new movie came out, I saw the usual hue and cry on Facebook, people tearing their hair off because someone was killing their childhood, and other people complaining about the female lead’s costume.