Pork Chop Express | Karavansara

20 October 2014
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Writing and piling up wood

Two metric tonnes of firewood.
That’s what distracted me from writing during the weekend – need to pile-up the wood, because as that guy said (was he from Gazprom?), winter is coming.

Sure it’s not like sitting at the PC, I was told.
The world’s full of stand-up comedians.

Fact is, as I tried to explain to the happy comedian, I do not sit at the PC.
I work at the PC.
It’s hard work – just like stockpiling firewood.
With a little difference – I can do both, he can only move the logs around.
He did not like it, put that way. Continue reading →

23 September 2014
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Dear spammer…

… thank you for your kind comment.
Just a suggestion: to pass my spam filter, maybe adopting a new nickname might help.
I think Buy Cheap Viagra, as a name, sounds vaguely suspicious.

Sincerely,
DM

10 September 2014
by Davide Mana 4 Comments

Firm-breasted lawyers

Once again about female characters in fantasy.

The painting here on the right is by the great Donato Giancola.
It’s my idea of a fantasy sword-woman done right.
She has character, she projects strength and toughness but she has class.
OK, so maybe there’s no reason in the ‘verse to handle a sword like that (or so they told me) but who cares – I can believe she’s a real woman.
No brass bikini, no empty, inflatable-doll-like curves to please an adolescent audience.

And the adolescent audience is what’s making me nervous.
And a quick survey of the fantasy and sword & sorcery field in my country* has been dis-heartening. Continue reading →

2 September 2014
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Market overview

One has to keep an eye on the market.
Know your public and all that.

So… a quick overview of the Italian-language Amazon Top 100 for Fantasy ebooks reveals that a successful fantasy novel on the Italian market… Continue reading →

21 August 2014
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Gamers versus Game Designers

OK, short rant.
I’ll make it quick, I promise.

Two days back I witnessed a lengthy discussion between roleplayers comparing the merits and flaws of two popular gaming systems*.

The thing went on for a couple of hours as the involved parties compared narrativist and simulationist approaches to the rules, whether one system “outperformed” the other, the rate of fluff and crunch in the respective handbooks.
It was damn boring, and supremely futile. Continue reading →

7 August 2014
by Davide Mana 3 Comments

Writing female characters

Now the title of this post is misleading but bear with me – will get there.

The lady in the photo here on the right is Anais Nin – and she wrote erotica.
Sorry… Erotica, capital E – she wrote Literature.
Now I do not know if this is true or if it is an urban legend, but I was told (or I read somewhere) that the first erotic novel of Anais Nin she wrote as a teenager, with a medical handbook close by for reference.

And I like that, because it confirms one of my ideas about writing:

write about what you know, no matter how you acquired that knowledge.

So, what has that to do with female characters?
Let me explain. Continue reading →

6 August 2014
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

All the right rules

Do you guys read reviews on Amazon, or Goodreads?
I do – not only those for my books, but also those for other people’s books.
I try and write a few reviews, too – feedback is important, and it’s good to try and help spread the word about good books.