More thoughts about leaving Italy behind and self-publish for the world, from the blog of Angelo Benuzzi.

Author/publisher – the language barrier

This one is too good and pulpy not to post it here.
C’mon… lost Nazi treasure, hints at the location coded in a piece of music, underground mysteries…?
It qualifies as an extra Writing Prompt, to me.

Is underground ‘anomaly’ a trove of Nazi treasure? Filmmaker believes he’s broken code

29 September 2013
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Why did the chicken cross the road?

“I have the answer,” said the terrifying voice. “ ’Tis not unlike the one that Thiazi baffled Grotnir with, five hundred winters agone. See you, mortal, a chicken is the human soul, and the road is life which must be crossed, from the ditch of birth to the ditch of death. On that road are many perils, not alone the ruts of toil and the mire of sin, but wagons of war and pestilence, drawn by the oxen of destruction; while overhead wheels that hawk hight Satan, ever ready to stoop. The chicken knows not why it crosses the road, save that it sees greener fields on the far side. It crosses because it must, even as we all must.”
[from Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson]

28 September 2013
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Firing Up “Ignition”

I’m posting a short ad, here.
My friend Marco Siena is crowdfunding the English version of his novel Ignition (in Italian, Ignizione) – the first installment of a quirky, highly entertaining steampunkish trilogy.
Marco plans to get enough to hire a professional translator and other help, then hit the English-language market full tilt.
He already has a very good story, and a great cover (here’s a detail):

The novel is well worthy of the effort – and it would be a nice opportunity for international readers, to learn about a different approach to imaginative fiction.

So, take a look at the Indiegogo page, and if you feel like, do your part.

28 September 2013
by Davide Mana 11 Comments

Escape from the Old C Block

Last night my friend Claire launched her English-language blog – Scribblings.
Now Claire being Claire, I guess her new blog (she already runs one in Italian) has been meticulously planned, insightfully designed and thoroughly tested, the pros and cons carefully evaluated.
I point this out not to make fun of Claire (who, apart from being a fine writer and a dear friend, is also one of my gorgeous but unflinching editors); I’m pointing it out to explain that I think Claire started working on her new blog well before the summer, early in 2013.
Which is more or less when Karavansara was launched (with far less planning and thought, admittedly), and when a lot of other Italian bloggers I know started looking at the outer world – some opening a new weblog, others simply starting to post in English on their old platform, some alternating posts in Italian and English on their blogs, others posting bilingual content, experimentally. Continue reading →

Good, simple advice for those awkward moment when your story goes pear-shaped.

5 Quick Fixes for a Story that Goes Wrong

26 September 2013
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Original ideas do not exist

Foiled again!
But enjoy your fleeting triumph while you can, J.O. Quinliven!
Next time, I will get to the title first!

LOL!
And i actually changed the title of my story!

Thanks to my friend Andrea Sfiligoi for pointing out this old cover to me.

Oh, and in case you are curious (what the heck, I was!), there’s a great collection of mr Quinliven’s stories from the thirties (including Brides of the Swamp God), available through Amazon.com: Terror Tales J. O. Quinliven
Check it out!