Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Ethical Authors

I found the following bouncing on the web, and I think it’s worth to share it.
The idea of authors being “unethical” is often used when it comes to self-publishers and independents.
The sum of all that’s wrong in publishing, self-publishers are said to be sloppy, poorly edited (if edited at all), greedy (selling short stories at high prices), unprofessional and, when everything else fails, unethical.

And granted, there’s people like that around.
But that does not mean that everybody’s like that.

So, here’s a simple set of rules. Continue reading →


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Valancourt Books and the future disaster of my finances

401260Toghether with my friends Lucy and Claire we spent a few moments cursing against an unfair universe, a few nights back. The blame, of course, goes to Black Gate, one of the best sources out there for fantasy and sword & sorcery, and one of the main reasons my finances are shaky.
Last week they did a piece on Valancourt Books.
And this led us to sigh and despair for the safety of our bank accounts.

Valancourt Books describe itself as “an independent small press specializing in the rediscovery of rare, neglected and out-of-print fiction”.
And their catalog is just plain terrific. Continue reading →


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My blogging strategies (or lack thereof)

daily-blogging-beatOK, let’s say that blogging about blogging is something I try and avoid as much as I can: blogging, as any other form of writing, works best when it’s done, not when it’s talked about.
On the other hand, when we find something that works (or seems to), sharing the knowledge is a good idea.
We do not live in a vacuum.

So, here’s what I found out.

If you read a lot of those articles and handbooks about the best way to keep on blogging no matter what, and have tons of readers, millions of comments, make money like, in cartloads… When you go through those how-to lists and infographics, they all seem to agree on three points Continue reading →


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Fear of the future

I joined a new MOOC last saturday.
For those not in the know, MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course.
I’m an enthusiastic supporter of online education, and I think learning something new is still one of the best things you can invest your time in.
And when you’re stuck in the backwoods of nowhere, it helps feel a little less intellectually isolated.

So starting on the second week of January, I’ll be taking a 12-weeks course called Disasters and Ecosystems: Resilience in a Changing Climate.

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This is a pretty tough course, judging from the program, but it’s also very much up my alley – I’m an environmental scientist, and resilience has been one of my pet topics (my first research project proposal – that was obviously refused as “too complicated” – was about using plankton fossils to gauge ecosystem resilience).

It will be fun. Continue reading →


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A Robert McGinnis gallery

mcginnisI’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time browsing the gorgeous The Art of Robert E. McGinnis.

Now, Robert McGinnis is the first artist I learned to recognize and actually actively seek on the cover of the books I read – before Frazetta, before Hannes Bok or Virgil Finlay, or Michael Whelan.
In the early ’80s there were a lot of Italian editions of thrillers and adventure novels that used McGinnis’ artwork – and I soon learned to associate his trait with “interesting read”.

And every single image suggested a story in itself – and they still do: to browse through the artbook is to be flooded with story ideas.

So, to celebrate this artist that was certainly instrumental in putting the idea in my head about writing adventure books, I’m posting a small gallery of his varied, always extraordinary, works.

Enjoy! Continue reading →