Karavansara

19 October 2015
by Davide Mana 5 Comments

New covers for Aculeo & Amunet

One of the best features offered by ebooks is the option of updating the files.

In the last few days we’ve been hard at work on some new covers for my Aculeo & Amunet ebooks.
Reader feedback has been pretty consistent in the past months – the readers love the stories, but they don’t like the covers.

And we know it’s the covers that sell the stories.

So, in a few hours the ebooks will be up with new artwork¹ – the work of Italian graphic master, Luca Morandi.
And the readers of Karavansara can take a glimpse at the first of the three new covers, right here and now.

Continue reading →

18 October 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Pat Novak for Hire

A few days back I posted a silly infographic about being in a film noir.
In the comments, Bill Ziegler suggested I check out Pat Novak for Hire, a radio show from the ’40s I knew nothing about.

I checked it out. And it’s a great show.
The stories are tight and off-beat, the tone is ironic in the way old hard boiled detectives were ironic.
Lots of great one-liners.
The stars Jack Webb in the titular role, and we all know Jack Webb from Dragnet.
Pat Novak is a man for hire, an unlicensed detective, in the same vein of Travis McGee.
The sort of character that I like very much.

So, here’s a sample.

Two separate series were done – one in ’46/’47, and a later series in ’49 (with higher production values but basically the same cast). The scripts were by Richard L. Breen, that would go on to win an Oscar as the screenwriter of 1953’s Titanic.
If you’re interested, you can legally download a fair chunk of the series through the Internet Archive.

And a big thank you to Bill, for pointing me in the direction of this great show.

16 October 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Ron Fortier reviews The Ministry of Thunder

Now this feels… strange.
But good, too!

You see, Ron Fortier‘s Pulp Fiction Reviews was the first blog I started following when I decided to get deeper into this pulp thing. You’ll find a link in the blogroll here on the right, and Ron’s reviews blog is still my first stop when I’m looking for something to read.
Heck, the man has sold me dozens of books! – including a handful that have become my faves.

So try and imagine my reaction when, checking my feed today, reader, I found this…

“The Ministry of Thunder,” is a rollicking tongue-in-cheek over-the-top pulp winner that completely won me over within its first few chapters. It’s Indiana Jones meets Bill Barnes with a touch of Kung-Fun thrown in to spice things up. It is the first Davide Mana book we’ve read and we certainly hope not the last.

This is more than graduating.
This feels like getting a PhD in pulp writing.

And yes, I do hope Sabatini will be back, too.

Check out Pulp Fiction Reviews‘ full piece about The Ministry of Thunder.

Me, I’m throwing a little party.
Later!

16 October 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Great (Free) Read about the Silk Road (and more)

I’m having lots of fun with the latest issue of Archaeology Worldwide, the Magazine of the German Archaeological Institute.
The mag is available for free, in both German and English, in pdf format.

The current issue covers a topic that’s close to my studies as a paleontologist – the applications of Natural Sciences to Archaeology.
But the title story, “Metropolises and Empires”, is a great selection of articles to subjects of interest to Karavansara readers: from Alexander the Great to the Mongol Empire, starting with a highly interesting piece on the Sogdians and their commerces as a way station along the Silk Road.
Plus, a wonderful feature on lost or forgotten pieces of Roman art in old archive photographs.
Food for thought and germs of ideas for stories and gaming scenarios – but also a good way ti spend a few hours exploring the world from my chair.

The whole, with some gorgeous photographs included.

Well worth a look!

feral cat

16 October 2015 by Davide Mana Leave a comment

15 October 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Days Off

I’ve been writing a lot these last few weeks, and so I’m taking a short vacation.
A busman’s holiday, you might say – I took the weekend off to write without plan… no outlines, no pitches, no planned cover, no contract.
Just writing – because I still find it fun, after all, and it must stay fun.
A little like somebody going to work every day on a bicycle can find solace in a bicycle trip in the hills on a Sunday.
And today, I’m taking the afternoon off to read an intriguing little book – the cover of which you see here on the right. A pretty pulpy number – shades of Holmes, Dracula and Doc Savage…
More news tomorrow.
Have fun!