Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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A story for which the world is not yet prepared

Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, … It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.

holmes_wildcardThe reference to adventures that the good doctor never wrote down is one of the fun elements of the Sherlock Holmes canon.

As a Holmes reader I went through various phases – at first enthusiasm then irritation, and finally acceptance.
I will never be a Sherlockian1, meaning, I can’t quote you chapter and verse of Holmes adventures, but I like the Sherlock Holmes stories – and I saw the Basil Rathbone movies before I read the books, so there.
When it comes to the written word, I detest doctor Watson with a vengeance, but I’ve come to appreciate and respect Sherlock Holmes: anyone that can stand Watson as a housemate for any length of time is quite obviously a better man than I am.

And then there is the Gian Rat of Sumatra, which has that nice pulpy feel to it that it’s really a pity the facts concerning the Matilda Briggs were never published. It is obviously Holmes moonlighting in the territories in which his counterpart Sexton Blake was more at ease. Continue reading →


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The Desert Island Whatever, part two: music

desert-island-adsSecond part of the Desert Island Whatever game… after the books, the records – music, that is, sounds to have on a desert island.

And if I cheated with my kindle adding a few thousand titles to my one crate of essential reading, well, when it comes to music cheating is even easier.
Just give me an internet connection, and on my desert island we’ll never be short of music.
But ok, it’s a game, we play it anyway.

My desert island records… there’s a lot of them. Continue reading →


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The Desert Island Whatever, part one – books

desert-island-adsThere is this game, you know about it of course. It’s the Desert Island Whatever… books, records, movies…

The idea is, you are stranded on a desert island, what books (or records, or movies) do you bring with you?

Now, let’s look at the thing from another perspective: you are sitting in a room filled with books, just like the one in which I’m sitting, and in a short while, say two or three weeks, you will have to take it to the road, and you’ll be able to carry with you just a small box filled with books, that you’ll be able to park somewhere – your uncle’s house, for instance.
All the rest you will have to leave behind.
What do you take with you?

I’ve been playing this game, that is still just a game, in the last few days, and it’s as hard as hell.
Because if you are a book lover, and you grew up with books, you have a connection with each and every book in your library, and losing them, or leaving them behind, is a soul-rending experience.
But anyway, let’s play the game. Continue reading →


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War in Space with Star Eagles

My friend Andrea mentioned it in a comment below, and I realised I have completely forgotten to point you in the direction of the Star Eagles Kickstarter by Ganesha Games.
Silly of me.

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In the creators’ own words

Star Eagles is a science fiction action game of futuristic space fighter combat using highly detailed 1/285 scale miniature spaceships.

And it looks like a million dollars.
And it is set in a very interesting universe, so that you get not only the Zap! Pow! excitement of the fast-paced battle game, but you can also catch a glimpse of a deep setting, one that is granted to intrigue you.
It certainly intrigues me, so much so that I’m seriously thinking about writing a story set in the Star Eagles universe. I have a soft spot for the Osprey class gunboat…

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For full disclosure, you should probably know that I was asked to write some fiction snippets to make sure those glimpses help the players get into the setting, and it was a blast.
But for the time being, check out the Kickstarter, and if you like science fiction and miniature games, be sure to back this project.


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The Karavansara Blog Mailing List

Par_avionAs you probably noticed, I’ve added a mailing list to the Karavansara Blog.
I’m using Mailchimp, that seems to work just fine1.
The idea is to use this tool to keep my readers… to keep YOU, in other words, up to date about my activities – new ebooks and podcasts, new stories in magazines, online events and what not – and get you the information before I post about it on the blog… if I will post it on the blog at all.
This won’t be a high-volume mailing list, and it will not have a regular schedule.
You’ll get a mail from me in your mailbox only when there’s something I think might interest you.
And no spam, absolutely no spam.
And I’ll include mailing-list-exclusive special offers, Smashwords tokens and discounts on my ebooks, or free contents – because nobody can resist a bribe, right?

And for starters, should you subscribe (and I hope you will!), you’ll get a zip file with my short story Interesting Times in both epub and mobi formats, DRM-free.

interesting cover

It’s a weird story, vaguely decopunk, somewhat lovecraftian, quite pulpy, set in Shanghai.
Because you know I’ve got a thing about Shanghai.
So, sign up for the Karavansara Blog Mailing List, and get your free story.
Have fun!

  1. but please, let me know should you experience any problem withe the mailing system! ↩


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Falling forward

Things happen.
Yesterday my publisher let me know that the first Hope & Glory novelette is doing pretty badly.
There’s still five novelettes to go, on the other hand, and now I’m curious to see what will come down next.
But let’s be honest – it’snot the sort of thing a writer likes to hear.
In the meanwhile, The Guardian published a short piece, by an anonymous writer, called What I’m really thinking: the failed novelist.

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Now I cannot and I will not make light about the obvious distress and pain that transpire from the Guardian piece.
I do not subscribe to the opinions presented and the choices made by the writer, but what the heck, I do respect those anyway, because, as the poet said

two things you should be slow to criticize
a mans choice of woman and his choice of work

Or their decision to quit that work, I add.
But there’s something I’d like to add… Continue reading →