Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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The RPG Shelf: Ex-Machina

Before I left for Pinerole, I went through my roleplaying games shelves to look for some books to put up for sale at the traditional auction that closes the gaming event.
In the last years I have started coming to terms with the fact that sooner or later I’ll have to let go of my gaming collection, and the Pinerole Gaming Auction felt like a good opportunity for a general rehearsal of what’s to come, and also a good way to recap part of the money I was spending to go to the convention.

While I was looking for suitable candidates for the auction, I found a book I did not remember I had.
It felt weird.
First, the what the heck is this? moment.
Then the instant recollection, and the soft pang of guilt, because this was a game I liked a lot, but I have not been playing for over ten years.
I had all but forgotten about it.
The game is called Ex-Machina, and it offers me a hook to talk about an issue that’s close to my heart, wherever it may be right now.
Continue reading →


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Karavansara Free Library: Robert Byron

A few days back I asked for opinions about the contents of this blog. I have been asked to do more posts about games, and about travelers and explorers.
And I say, why not?

So here’s a post about a writer and world-traveler I discovered during my second year in university, and he remains a favorite of mine. His books have contributed to fuel my interest for the Silk Road and the adventures and experiences of travelers in the years between the two Wars.
And you can get his books for free, so I think I’ll give you a brief introduction, and then let you enjoy the guy’s writing. Continue reading →


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Working on the “Don’t Look Back Method”

I have been observing myself, comparing the difference between my straight writing sessions and my online/public writing sessions.
The question is: why given the same time and in general the same level of preparation, I can write 2/3000 words in two hours when streaming and only 1500 when I am alone?
I had noted the difference in output a while back, and was curious. And here’s the result of my little survey.

image typewriter

When I am writing on my own, so to speak, I jump up and down the text a lot. I correct, change, revise. I check sources. I do a lot of little adjustments. Cut and paste. Delete and redo.
When I am writing online I just go, saving most of the revisions for later. Granted, I stop once in a while to retro-fit what I wrote before, but most often than not I just add a note to remind myself I should do a revision, and then keep going.

This seems to be the main cause for the difference in productivity.

Now one thing I will try and do – first experiment tonight – is to see if, by applying the same don’t look back method while offline, and by using a distraction-free interface, I can improve my output.
It would be nice, because never like these days I need to write a lot, and fast.
I will keep you posted.


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Karavansara Free Library: The Well of the Unicorn

I’m writing a story.
Big deal, you say.
But no, wait, because it’s interesting.
The story is set in some unnamed American town, somewhere in 1948 or maybe 1949. As the story opens, the main character works as a reader for an old lady who’s losing her sight. My character spends three afternoons every week in the old lady’s parlor, reading her aloud from a book.
What book?
The_Well_of_the_UnicornNow, the book is not essential in the story. It’s just a prop, something my character can cling to as the events in her life suddenly start twisting in a whole new direction.
A hardback, then.
A good solid hardback she’ll be able to clutch to her chest like it’s an armor in that single scene right at the beginning.

And so I did a quick check.
I just needed a hardback published in 1948.
And Fletcher Pratt’s The Well of the Unicorn was published in that year.
Bingo.
There is something good, for me, about a young woman reading aloud from The Well of the Unicorn, and then embarking on a life-changing adventure. Continue reading →


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Hope & Glory review and a bit about utopia

THE world is undergoing immense changes. Never before have the conditions of life changed so swiftly and enormously as they have changed for mankind in the last fifty years. We have been carried along—with no means of measuring the increasing swiftness in the succession of events. We are only now beginning to realize the force and strength of the storm of change that has come upon us.(H.G. Wells, The Open Conspiracy, 1928)

40651289_1844226848964225_7031900626594299904_nThe first full review of Hope & Glory is in and it is just great – you can read it here, on the Ars Rolica blog. It’s in Spanish, but as usual Google Translate is your friend.

The review really made me happy and I was particularly happy of the fact that the reviewer started out cautious and a little diffident, but finally was captivated by the setting.

All the elements are perfectly interwoven with each other and, as I said before, once that initial caution is saved, it is very easy to get carried away by the exciting combination of genres that Hope & Glory presents.

… and I thought, we made it!

I am extremely grateful to Ars Rolica for their great and in-depth review of our game; I am sure I can speak for my long-suffering partner in this adventure – Umberto Pignatelli, that had to put order and numbers on my somewhat sprawling world – and the guys that did art and graphics. Thank you, Ars Rolica!

There was also a bit that caused me to pause, and laugh, and then an idea for a post, and here I am… Continue reading →


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From Seoul to Ancient Rome, and back

Back from the con, and beached with a bad case of cold.
Happens every time – I am getting too old for this sort of things.
The cold led to some experimentation: hot tea from the local supermarket, brewed real dark, added lemon juice, sugar and powdered ginger. Maybe it will not help with the cold (I put my trust in aspirin) but it’s certainly good for the soul.

seoul

Also, I got an open call for a story set in Seoul (no, the two things, the call and the cold, are not related).
Now, the closest I got to Seoul was when a colleague from Seoul University visited the University of Urbino while I was doing my doctorate. But I have friends in Fukuoka, Japan, that’s pretty close to Korea. I could work out something.

The considerations above had two consequences: Continue reading →