More background from my novel – that time the Italian Fascist Regime sold some planes to the Chinese Republican government.
My interview for the launch of The Ministry of Thunder has been published on the Acheron Books blog.
Featuring a ghastly portrait of yours truly, it touches upon some of my interests and quirks.
In case you’re interested, it can be found here…
This is the Christmas week, and Karavansara will slow down a bit – we’ll stick to schedule, with little variations or extras.
All things considered, I’m pretty tired, and I’ll take the opportunity to shut down all unnecessary systems, lay low, and try to recharge my batteries.
So, as for the next ten days, I will… Continue reading
I mentioned in the past that – despite what Raymond Chandler said about people working with the radio on – I use a lot of music as background when I’m writing.
This means that my stories have a sort of soundtrack.
Yesterday, thanks to my brother, I discovered I can share my soundtracks pretty easily – using a free service called Kaseta.co.
So, here goes – the official soundtrack for my novel The Ministry of Thunder, courtesy of the fine guys of Kaseta. A selection of the tracks that were playing in background as I wrote and revised, and some songs that I associate with characters and situations.
As usual, WordPress won’t allow me to embed the cassette (curses!) – so I’ll just give you a link here (you can also click on the cassette here).
It’s my novel re-imagined as a movie, and the soundtrack features modern and old-time jazz, some world music, and like the soundtracks of those action movies I used to watch as a kid in the 80s, there’s a great song on the end titles.
Below the jump, you’ll find the scene/track list.
Enjoy!
Great post by Violette Malan about revisions – I look forward to the next installments…
Painting by Bertha Lum
According to some unconfirmed rumors, between the (virtual) pages of The Ministry of Thunder hides a fox woman.
So, what about her?
Why not try and tell her story?
According to Chinese bestiaries, such as the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas, a strange creature exists in the wild, which is called the Shanhui …
There is a beast here at Penal-Law Mountain whose form resembles a dog but with a human face. It is adept at throwing things and laughs when it sees people. It is called the Shanhui. It moves speedily like the wind, and if seen by people is an omen that great winds will blow throughout the world.
Now this passage stuck with me as I was looking for creatures for my story, The Ministry of Thunder.
What caught my attention, I think, was the idea of a dog with a human face; hybrid creatures are popular in supernatural and fantasy fiction, and the Shanhui reminded me of Brown Jenkin, from H.P. Lovecraft‘s The Dreams in the Witch House.
And so, the green* devil dog of the ancient Chinese bestiaries entered my book – first as a dire warning, then as a nightmare, then as a beast in the dark, and finally as a dangerous monster trying to… Continue reading
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