Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


by 2 Comments

Non-Native English Writers

Something bizarre just came up.
For the third time in two months, an article was published – this time by no less than WIRED, and penned by Bruce Sterling – about Italian genre fiction available to the English-speaking public, and for the third time my work was ignored.
Even in articles written by Italian writers.
And not just my self-published stories were ignored – which would not be strange1, considering those articles completely ignored any self-published book anyway.
No, even my traditionally published work was ignored, even when the articles talked wonderful things about the other books from my English-language Italian publisher, Acheron Books.
The other books, but not mine.

Which caused me to pause and ask myself…

C’mon, does my stuff suck that bad?

And mind you, that could well be the case – even if I am not convinced.
Not completely, at least.
So, what gives? Continue reading →


by 2 Comments

Through the corridors of Souffre-Jour

livres-les-chroniques-des-crepusculaires-310As I said a few days back, I’m currently reading Mathieu Gaborit’s Chroniques des Crepusculaires, and if the going is very slow – about one hundred pages in about one week – I must say that I am impressed.
No, not impressed by my ability to actually read (very slowly) a pretty literary novel written in French.
The volume is actually the expanded edition of three original novels: Souffre-Jour, Les Danseurs de Lorgol and Agone
No, what impresses me is the book, its style, its worldbuilding.
And mind you – being now about one fifth of the way through, there is still a lot i must discover, as this is one of those books that start by piling questions upon questions on the reader, and then drag him in.

This is a fantasy, but also a mystery of sorts, and a strange phylosophical tale.
With swordfights. Continue reading →


by 2 Comments

Belated birthday post

With all the things going on these last few days, yesterday I missed Edgar Rice Burroughs’ birthday, so I am posting this belated piece to make up somehow.

21272135_10155749750386180_78890968929201884_n

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a master storyteller and one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. Live with that – his impact on popular culture was second to none, and he was probably the first true transmediatic author.

And he was (most of the times) quite good.
Don’t believe the naysayers – if you never read Burroughs (really?!), and if you think Tarzan is just Johnny Weissmuller, check out one of ERB’s books (I’d suggest either The Land that Time Forgot or At The Erath’s Core or The Master-mind of Mars) and have some fun.

Incidentally, you can download these books for free from the Gutenberg Project of Australia.

ERB was a writer and a storyteller – let’s celebrate him by reading one of his stories.
There’s no better way to make writers happy.