Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Traveling without money

cover38852-mediumA mixed post today – both book review and media-rich.
Now, How to Travel the World for Free has nothing to do with the Silk Road or with pulp fiction, or fantasy – but it has a lot to do with travel.
That, and it being a good, fun read, are enough for me to point it out.

In a nutshell: German journalist Michael Wigge wanted to visit Antarctica, but did not feel like spending 15.000 dollars in tickets.
So he planned for one full year a long trip – through Europe, North and South America.
A trip he would make without money.

The book details his adventures on the road, and despite the title this is not a how-to book.
It does provide a lot of information, but it is still a travelogue at heart.
It’s a fast read, and highly entertaining.

For more details, let’s hear from the author himself (don’t be distracted by gorgeous Katy Perry)

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On the border – Liz Williams’ Snake Agent

Singapore is a city franchise.
Nanotechnology is replacing some areas of standard technology (there is a fantastic liquid personal computer).
There is an Afterlife, which conforms to the standards of Chinese tradition – a feudal paradise , a highly bureaucratized hell.
Gods and demons interact directly with humanity.
Detective Inspector Chen of Singapore Three police department deals with crimes on the border between the two worlds.
Now, someone is killing teenagers, kidnapping their virtuous souls to initiate them into prostitution in the alleyways of Hell.
And it may just be the tip of a very dangerous iceberg, in a plot full of political collusion and interdimensional speculations.

cover35998-mediumSnake Agent is the first novel in the series featuring Inspector Chen by British award-winning author Liz Williams.
The story is an unusual, heady mix of science fiction, urban fantasy, horror and thriller, reprising the classic “buddy movie” motif, when Chen joins his infernal counterpart , the Seneschal Zhu Irzh, a humanoid enough demon (whith something of the mantis) who is also on the trail of criminals.
Mystical combats, exorcisms, investigations – there’s it all, and then more.

The first Detective Chen novel is very well written, original, funny, with characters that are multi-faceted enough to transcend the obvious limitations imposed by the adoption of certain clichƩs.
Highly recommended.


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Creative Task – Tex Murphy and Me

This week’s Creative Task for the Future of Storytelling course requires me to write about my favorite video game.

Now, I used to play more on video in the past – both on my PC or on my old Playstation 2; these days, I stick to tabletop roleplaying games.

Texmurphy_largeBut in terms of fascination, involvement, sheer fun, I’m still very much a fan of the old Tex Murphy games created by Chris Jones in the ’90s – the trilogy Under a Killing Moon, Pandora Directive and Tex Murphy: Overseer.

The series started as standard point and click games with two early entries called Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum.
Both the games pushed the boudaries of gaming by being multi genre (Mean Streets was part side-scrolling game, part flight simulator, part point-and-click adventure) and by adopting high quality video cut scenes and dialogues.

But it was in the later titles of the series I mentioned that thing really got interesting. Continue reading →


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“What I do is write stuff that I think is cool, which is what every good writer does. A hack will write what he thinks will sell. A good writer will write stuff that he thinks is cool, to the best of his ability. There are a lot of things I think are cool. And cloaks and swords ā€” rapiers in particular ā€” are definitely on the list. That doesnā€™t mean every book has them, but thatā€™s what I gravitate toward.” [Steven Brust]


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Black Pulp

Black-PulpI’m currently reading Black Pulp, and a fine collection it is.
I like the idea, I like the execution.

Walter Mosley‘s introduction is a great love letter to the pulps of old – which is fitting for an anthology of stories that manage to update the old without throwing out what good was there in ancient (well, ok…) times.
The list of authors reads like a selection of the best writers in the field – Walter Mosley and Joe R. Lansdale, Gary Phillips, Charles R. Saunders, Derrick Ferguson, D. Alan Lewis, Christopher Chambers, Mel Odom, Kimberly Richardson, Ron Fortier, Michael A. Gonzales, Gar Anthony Haywood, Tommy Hancock…
All genres get covered, a gallery of great characters is deployed in the service of adventure.
Excellent.

It’s hard to single out one title in this selection of gems.
I’d be tempted to get my fanboy hat on and exclaim “there’s a new Dillon story in here!” – but it would be unfair to all the other fine stories between the covers of this great book.

And talking about the cover – the book is wonderfully designed, and it’s a pleasure to read.
Great work from the guys at Pro Se Press.
We want more.

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Trailers from Hell

A bout of insomnia last night led me to the discovery of a very fun thing caled Trailers from Hell.
Basically it’s directors, screenwriters and other noted professionals presenting and commenting the trailers of their favorite movies.
Nothing fancy, but really fun.

Here’s John Landis, and one of his (and my!) favorites, King Solomon‘s Mines…