Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Back to Planescape, sort of

I loved the Planescape setting for the old AD&D.
Somebody described it as “philosophy with sticks”, and it was all right with me. I liked the way in which the game setting was presented, with the incredible Tony Di Terlizzi Illustrations and all the little bits of fun such as the slang, and the strange mix of Elizabethan, not-exactly-steampunk, sword & sorcery and, yes, philosophy.
Planescape was the sort of setting in which you ended up investigating who had actually killed a god, but in the meantime had the opportunity for a lot of weird shenanigans, swordplay and wordplay.
It was great.

My small collection of Planescape books is still here on my special RPG shelf, and sometimes I fantasize about setting up a new campaign.
Shake the pillars of creation for one last time.

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The fun part of the impostor syndrome

So I am going to be “one of those guys that write Sherlock Holmes pastiches” – my adventure about the Manchester Mummies was accepted, and I am well pleased with this fact. It was a lot of hard work getting the story out, due to my deep antipathy for doctor John Watson.
But the editor liked the final result.

Now there’s one thing I found out I’m doing when my stories are accepted for publication – I never paid it any attention, but this morning I finally noticed: as soon as I got the acceptance mail and replied it, I went and re-read the story.
To see if it’s really any good, if those holes I remember thinking over I finally filled and stopped.
And of course I did, and the story is fine, or it would not have been accepted, and yet…
I need to see for myself.
That’s impostor syndrome at work, I guess – but at least it’s an innocuous expression of it. Might even learn something, re-reading the stories that actually sold…


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The Rose and the Sword: Flesh + Blood (1985)

Rutger Hauer’s gone, and I wanted to rewatch one of his movies. I would have liked to watch Soldier of Orange, one of his earlier works, but I do not have a copy, so I settled for second best – Paul Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood, from 1985. Also known as The Rose and the Sword.

And I’ll open with a disclaimer – the movie is popular today mostly because it was the inspiration of Kintaro Miura’s fantasy manga Berserk, and I think this is a pity – because the movie stands on its own merits, and it is worthy of being watched and enjoyed as something more as the inciting event of a comic book (I am not a fan of Miura, and I find his fans insufferable, so sue me).

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Rutger Hauer, 1944-2019

I have just learned of the death, five days ago, of Dutch actor Rutger Hauer. He is famous for portraying the character of Roy Batty in Blade Runner and Etienne Navarre in Ladyhawke, but is also remembered for classics like Soldier of Orange, The Osterman Weekend, The Blood of Heroes, Flesh + Blood and The Hitcher.
A former combat medic with the Dutch Army, he had founded the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, an AIDS awareness organization.
He was 75. He will be sorely missed.


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Making changes (still writing -related)

After the bout of bad health I suffered through early this year, I decided to make a few changes. After all, my life has changed: I was a researcher working in a lab, a teacher moving between universities, now I am a writer spending most of his time sitting in the dark in a room full of books, typing.
So, different life, different problems, time to make some changes.

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Not all the boxes were red, back then

I keep seeing posts on social media about people that wax nostalgic about the wonderful time they had as kids, playing D&D Red Box – what was at the time known as the D&D Basic Set. The long hours spent with their friends, the simple joy of adventure in a more innocent time, the thrills and the laughs and the excitement of being heroes in their own adventures, fighting monsters in a fantasy world.

My memories are somewhat different.

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