Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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The Keyword is Survival on the New Frontier

A brief post to point out the latest offering from Humble Bundle, the aptly named Survive Anything bundle, featuring books by Skyhorse Publishing.
For a very small price you’ll be able to download a full library of survival-oriented handbooks – the lowest rung, that will cost you a buck, includes a general survival handbook, a first aid handbook, and five other interesting titles.
The complete package will set you back fifteen bucks, but will land you 23 books, including guides to homesteading, and survival guides from both the Army and the Navy.

books

Now I’m not the survivalist type – but I like hiking and stuff, and therefore the first aid book is something I’m likely to keep on my smartphone. Ditto the guide about getting lost and getting found again.
Also, I am a writer, and a writer of adventure – and the skills in these books are the sort of skills my characters have or need to learn fast to survive what I put them through. So, research!

You might have different interests, but give the bundle a look – as an added bonus, your money will help the International Rescue Committee.
And I have to admit that helping International Rescue sends a shiver through my old Thunderbirds fan bones.


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Into the Badlands

My brother asked me why I never did a post about Into the Badlands. Because my memory is like a sieve, was the only possible answer.
But now that I have been reminded that I have been intending to do a post on the series, why wait?
Here we go.

Into the Badlands is an original TV series produced by AMC. It started in 2015, and it is currently in its third season. And I like it a lot, and I highly recommend it to anyone sharing my interest in adventure, science fiction, action, intrigue and a good solid entertainment, with a brain.

What are we talking about? Continue reading


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Old and new dinos

It all started with a movie clip.
This movie clip.

It’s from the 1975 The Land That Time Forgot, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel of the same title, and adapted for the screen by Michael Moorcock and Nigel Cawthorn.
I first saw this in the parish cinema the priests had put up to attract the kids that would not be hooked by the football field by the church.
In the end, I never became a good Catholic kid, but I did develop a passion for Edgar Rice Burroughs, dinosaurs and old movies. Continue reading


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The Wuthering Heights of July 1978

I have just sold a piece to a music magazine about an old record that’s part of my youth.
I am quite happy, thank you.
And now, I don’t often speak about music on Karavansara, but when I do, it’s about artists that tell stories with their songs. In the end, if I look at the records and artists that I consider part of my education (for better or for worse) I find that, while often very different for genre and approach, they all are, in one way or another, storytellers.

kick-coverCase in point, Kate Bush, and her record The Kick Inside, the 1978 debut album I have just retro-reviewed for a magazine.
I will not get into an in-depth analysis or whatever. Re-listening to it I realized the amount of storytelling, and the sophisticated, jumping-POV technique Kate Bush used.
Now, truth to be told, my favorite Kate Bush record is Never Forever, from 1980. It was the first Kate Bush record I bought, and I had to smuggle it in my house, because my mother hated Kate Bush, and this is the story I want to tell you. Because it’s fun, it’s weird, and I couldn’t put it in my article. Continue reading


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Lizardmen vs the Mole People

I’ve just presented a very early first draft for a new project. There’s not much I can say about it right now, but let’s say there’s dinosaurs in it, and a lost world of sorts, and I’m trying not to do a rehash of The House of the Gods, and have fun.

My outline includes Mole People.
Because I loved that old movie, and Mole People are just cool, and I’d love to do a bit, as part of this project of mine, called Queen of the Mole People – featuring a character I cannot but envision as Sza Sza Gabor.

But it was suggested I use Lizardmen instead. Continue reading