Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Fatigue

I’m facing a serious issue of tiredness.
Not burnout – ideas keep coming and I don’t know where to start first – but physical and mental fatigue.

fatigue

Since May, I have published a story a week – shorts and novellas, gaming scenarios and articles, a whole roleplaying game and a short novel, and there’s more here waiting to be completed.
I have published in Italian and English.
Under my name and under aliases.
Traditionally and as a self publisher.
It should have been a bang.
And it was, really – today a contact from Israel, currently in Cambodia, asked me when the English version of my latest short novel (that I self-published in Italian today) is coming out. It’s the sort of request that makes me feel real good, because it means what I am doing is of interest. Somebody likes it enough to ask.
And I must thank all my readers that gave me feedback, that asked questions or made requests, all those that buy my stories, all my supporters on Patreon and my readers here on Karavansara.
Because the sense of emptiness and futility is sometimes overwhelming.
It saps the energies and breaks the spirit.
But it’s just a passing thing, of course, because I have readers.
I need to nail shut the box of AMARNA, and deliver the fourth Asteria, and then move on to other projects.
Thanks for humoring me here on Karavansara and elsewhere.
We’ll get back to our usual program in a moment.


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Europe at a crossroads

Tomorrow the European Parliament will discuss the new copyright regulations, that include the filtering of uploaded contents and a linking tax.
In my country, the press and the media have been extraordinarily silent on the subject, while a bunch of “patriots” fought like rabid weasels on social media about the sacrality of Italian espresso and the opportunity off shutting down supermarkets on Sundays.

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Honobono and Dragon’s eggs

Honobono (仄々) is a Japanese word that is usually translated as “heartwarming” or “feel good”. It’s the sort of feeling associated with Hayao Miyazaki’s movies – stories full of adventure and excitement, but filled with decent people and built on healthy, affectionate relationships. The good guys win and the bad guys lose, and maybe some of them turn out not to be so bad either.

151366A few nights back, while in the whirlwind of the launch of Hope & Glory I discovered a Japanese roleplaying game called Ryuutama (literally, Dragonsegg), and I gave it a look and I was totally delighted.
Because it’s a good solid game, because it’s light on rules and strong on roleplaying, because it’s refreshingly different.
And yes, it’s honobono too, which is interesting. Continue reading


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The Karavansara Free Writing Course

writing-course-iconThis is a writing course.
It is free, and offered to all those that would like to learn how to write stories.
Write stories, mind you, not be a writer.
If you feel like this course is not a waste of time, you can buy me a coffee.
But that’s for you to decide. This course was designed to be free, because you can’t sell a writing course that works, and this one does.

The core of the course is based on a piece of wisdom I got yesterday from my friend Mauro, that is a fine writer and game designer in his own right. I added a little fluff here and there, and stole a line from Ray Bradbury and one from C.J. Cherryh.
I might update this course in the future, and maybe even an Italian version, but for the moment, here’s what you need to know:
Continue reading


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Hope & Glory – meet the Thuggee

This is sort of a triple package of a post – we’ll get a bit of history, some literature, and then a movie.
Nice way to spend a Sunday, right?

This week we have been talking a lot about Hope & Glory, but I hope I kept it varied enough you were not bored out of your socks.

Now, when we put together Hope & Glory I knew we’d have to put the Thuggee in. The Deceivers are such a big trope in Indian adventure that leaving them out would be unthinkable – and in general, whatever is fine in an Indiana Jones movie is also fine at my gaming table.

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This leads us to a gentleman by the name of Sir William Henry Sleeman, KCB. Continue reading