Back when I was a kid in school, I loved ancient history and yes, mythology – and probably that’s where my earlier interest in fantasy and adventure stories came form.
The Odyssey is still one of my favorite stories, and myths are still a great source for story inspiration. And so, despite the fact that I have not a moment to catch my breath, I decided to start another online course – on Youtube, this time.
Here’s the preview…
Who needs sleeping anyway?
Calcutta was filmed in 1945, but released only in 1947. It is a noir movie that tries at being an adventure movie – or maybe it’s the other way around, an adventure yarn pretending to be a noir.
Neale, Bill and Pedro are three friends that soon after the end of World War Two are flying CNAC planes across the Hump, the flight route between Calcutta and Chungking.
Bill is about to get married, but is killed in Calcutta – strangled thug-style. Neale and Pedro start investigating. They will uncover a jewel-smuggling racket, and get into a lot of trouble.
And this is more or less it. Or maybe not. Continue reading
When I was but a little child, I had already a strong desire to see the world. Whenever I met a travelling-carriage, I would stop involuntarily, and gaze after it until it had disappeared; I used even to envy the postilion, for I thought he also must have accomplished the whole long journey.
I must thank my friend Angelo Benuzzi for introducing me to the remarkable Ida Laura Pfeiffer.
Born in 1797, Ida was an Austrian merchant’s daughter, and as noted in the opening quote, she had a great curiosity for the world and a yearning for travel – the fact that, contrary to the customs of the time, she was given “a boy’s education” probably had something to do with her desire to travel.
She had been in Palestine with her father when she was five, but she started to travel seriously much later, when she was 45. Continue reading
About one year ago I discovered Storium, the collaborative narrative platform, and spent some of my hard-earned cash to get me a one-year subscription.
I had big plans, and I was going to do a lot of things, what with AMARNA coming and such.
Then I had to face the harsh reality: days last only 24 hours, and sleeping at least six is good for you.
So part of my big plans had to be dropped or re-scheduled, and my Storium projects went on the backburner. Continue reading
I am happy to announce that the first… hmm, the first thing branded with the Mana Bros logo is about to hit the shelves.
As I mentioned a few days back, I’m working on a number of project, one of which is the translation of Il Sonno della Ragione, the indie horror/adventure game by my friend Alex Girola. The setting is very fun, and it’s the sort of gaming universe that gives you ideas.
Last night I went through a bout of insomnia – as it sometimes happens to me – and I started writing to pass the time. The end result is Welcome to the Neighborhood, a short story set in the universe of the game, and the first episode in a series that will go under the name of Funeral Point. Continue reading
I’m taking (slowly) a drawing course online, through Udemy. It’s a good way to reset my brain after a whole day spent writing at the PC.
Now one thing I noticed is, if you keep doodling, you slowly but steadily improve. You’ll never be a great artist, but you’ll be able to draw an apple that looks like an apple and not like a flat tire. Doodling one trains his hand to hold the pencil and follow instructions.
And it occurred to me that with writing it’s the same thing. Keep writing b its and pieces, and you’ll improve. No great quantum leaps, possibly, but a steady, if slow improvement is impossible to avoid.
And by doodling, and writing throwaway stuff, one stimulates idea generation, and that’s great, because ideas and plots and characters and stuff are always useful.
And it could happen like it’s happening now, that I started jotting down silly ideas, and now I have 2000 words of a story I don’t know what to do with.
But the night is still young.
Now a cup of tea, and then let’s see where this verbal doodling leads us.
In the meanwhile, you might be interested in this doodling tutorial… or maybe this doodling video…
But at the same time I am writing a story featuring the Count of St. Germain. The guy that Voltaire nicknamed The Wonderman.
The story is fully outlined but – for some strange reason – every time I sit down to start writing it, I get interrupted, usually by some nuisance that not only interferes with my writing work, but actually leaves me irritated and annoyed.
Go figure.
Now, I jumped at the idea of writing a story about St. Germain because he is one of the first mysterious characters I met as a kid, when I was reading books about mysteries and weirdness. I actually found him in a book I already mentioned in the past, Peter Kolosimo’s Cittadini delle Tenebre, sort of a young man’s primer on the occult, and a really fun book. Continue reading
Karavansara 