Christmas before time: yesterday my brother gave me two books as a gift, and I already started reading one, because it looked quite interesting – an impression that was confirmed by the first chapters.
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BUSCAFUSCO: Fun & Games
While the Amazon oompa loompas do their job, Fun & Games, the third novelette in the BUSCAFUSCO series is up on Gumroad, in pdf, epub and mobi format, DRM-free. heck it out.
Useless to say, my Patrons in the Five Bucks Brigade get it at a discounted price, and my upper tier patrons already got their free copies.Â
Because it is good to be my Patrons.
ADDENDUM: both Women & Children and Ghosts & Shadows, the first two BUSCAFUSCO adventures, are now available through Gumroad as pdf, mobi and epub, DRM-free files.
Leigh Brackett’s Birthday
Today is the birthday of Leigh Brackett, one of the most influential authors in the field of space opera and planetary romance, or if you prefer of sword & planet, a hard boiled writer and screenwriter, and the wife of Edmond Hamilton.
I first discovered Brackett in the mid 80s, with an Italian translation of The Sword of Rhiannon. Only twenty-odd years later I’d find out that the translation was heavily manipulated, but even in that unfaithful version, I was hooked.
The Skaith books followed – in English, the three Ballantine-Del Rey volumes. And then anything else, in whatever form I was able to find.
It is reading Leigh Brackett that I was made aware of the connection between pulp science fiction and hard boiled fiction. Someone observed that all of Brackett’s heroes were, in the end, Humphrey Bogart, even when they walked the alien dust of distant planets. And this is not a bad thing. By coupling the sense of wonder of the Golden Age of Science Fiction with the melancholy and cynicism of hard boiled, Brackett created a universe that had an incredible stopping power, and feel fresh and exciting seventy years on.
But instead of reading my ramblings, check out this article, called Queen of the Martian Mysteries, by the Michael Moorcock.
And afterwards, check out Black Amazon of Mars, and judge by yourself.
Trigger, by Courtney Alameda
Having happily completed BUSCAFUSCO:Â Fun & Games, and while I let it rest for a few hours before I hand it over to the Amazon oompa loompas, I decided to award myself a little diversion. And as far as A Job Well Done treats go, the Tor.com ebooks are absolutely perfect.
In case you missed them, these are stories – in the novelette/novella range – published as ebooks for cheap by the digital branch of Tor Books, purveyors of fine imaginative fiction.
They offer a wide selection of authors and genres within the science fiction/fantasy field, both well established and up-and-coming, and they are both a great, quick, affordable read and an excellent way to remain current with the latest authors and trends in the field. Â
So I splurged 83 eurocents and got me a copy of Courtney Alameda’s Trigger, a tough and yet finely nuanced horror tale set in a San Francisco infested by a number of strange creatures.
The Helsing family is charged with commanding the special units of Harkers that hunt down and kill the monsters.
The story mixes horror and action, features a number of easter eggs for horror fans, and delivers a promising worldbuilding. The ebook promises a folow-up to this short piece, in the form of a novel, and I’ll be there to read it as soon as it’s out.Â
In the meantime, Trigger is quite fun, and a perfect way to finish a long night of writing and insomnia. Â
Typewriters
The reason I like typewriters is, exactly like bicycles, they are a sort of hands-on technology. You can actually get to work on them using a screwdriver and a wrench, get your hands dirty, set them straight if they break. Works for PCs and old cars, too – but not for smartphones and recent automobiles. And let’s not get started on the issue of software.
There is actually a spreading grassroots movement that demands manufacturers to allow access to the tech of their products, so that they can be repaired and updated instead of thrown away and replaced. It’s an interesting approach, and it has my full support. My grandfather was a tinkerer, and he taught me it’s OK to get your hands dirty while fine tuning a piece of machinery.
I think this approach also applies at the way I write, but let’s save that for another time. Let’s talk typewriters.
Continue readingA good day for my stories
Yesterday was a good day for my stories, and for my writing in general, for a series of quite unusual reasons.
First I got an excellent review – really, really flattering – for my story The Smell of Empty Places, the cover story in the collection Dark Italy by Acheron Books.
This is particularly pleasant because, first, the praise comes from a well respected colleague, and it is always good to be praised by people in our own tribe; and second, the English version of the story is currently being considered for a reprint in a Canadian anthology – and receiving such a brilliant review makes me hope for the best.Â
Next, I was mentioned in a list of Italian sword & sorcery authors, thanks to my Asteria Chronicles, and that led to a few sales for some pretty old titles. Let’s hope it fosters a return of interest in Asteria by the Italian readers, as two more stories are about to hit the Italian-language market.Â
The fun bit is, the list originally did not include me (apparently I am not good enough), but it was reprinted by a blog, and the blogger decided to add my name and my work to the list (because apparently, I am good enough).
It was extremely kind on his part.
Incidentally, the fourth Asteria story went on the back-burner for a while, but I’ll make sure it gets published by Christmas, or by New Year’s Eve at the latest.
Then – and here things get pretty weird – someone sent a paperback copy of my collection of historical sketches, La Storia Fatta coi Cialtroni, to an unsuspecting recipient.
Yes, basically, this lady I do not know received a copy of a book of mine from an anonymous, and she posted about it on Facebook. The good news is, she is actually liking the book very much.
Now I can only hope the mysterious book-bomber keeps up the good work and keeps pushing my books on the unsuspecting public.
A little extreme, as a publicity stunt, but you’ll have to admit it’s pretty original.Â
And finally, I got commissioned a few more articles by a high class magazine, and am now doing a bit of historical research.Â
All in all, quite a good day.
Karavansara 