Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Adventure and what passes for ReaL Life

Distraction for the frustrated proles?

Distraction for the frustrated proles?

This is – almost literally – a pork chop express.
Yesterday (while travelling on a train) I was told that writing or reading adventure stories is a cheap form of relief for those that are not moneyed enough to pay and live actual adventures.

Teaches me to try and write on a train.

But apart from this obvious lesson, the attitude of my conversational partner got me thinking.
And no, not just thinking about getting me a pointed stick.
And it did not even get me thinking about adventure reading/writing (not directly, at least).

No, what I started thinking about is – are there really out there people so stupid they think they can buy an adventure package and live an honest-to-goodness, planned adventure?

If this is thursday, those must be our cannibals.

C’mon! Continue reading →


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Do It Yourself

Two or three years back I was in the audience at a panel, held during the Turin Book Fair, whan one member of the public asked a well known editor “What would you suggest to a kid that wants to become a writer?”
The editor replied “Don’t!”
And then expanded, explaining there’s already too many writers out there, while readers are getting scarcer by the day.
He came across as an all-around jerk, but they tell me that’s the persona he loves to show to the world, so I guess it’s ok.

Two days ago I was asked the same question.
Which was pretty awkward – I mean, I’m not exactly Stephen King, I can barely hold my own writing, who am I to give suggestions?
Anyway, I tried my best.

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Hunting sunken treasures

The first comment I got when I shouted “Wow! This is just great!” was along the lines of “Sounds like the sort of junk Clive Cussler writes.”
Talk about feeling alienated.
But let’s proceed with order.

1111bigOne of the few perks of living smack in the middle of Southern Piedmont is, in two hours I can be on the Cote d’Azure.
The sun, the sea, acres and acres of nubile, scantly clad young women stretching on the beaches…
And I normally end up in some antiquarian bookstore.
They even publish (or used to) a map of antiquarian bookshops in the Nice area.

So a few years back I was browsing the stalls of one such small Alladin caves of librarian wonder, and I caught me the three volumes of the Born Free series, first edition, and to round up the bill, I threw in a weird little book called Treasure Diving Holidays, by Jane and Barney Crile.
The book – a 1954 first edition – once bought and brought home, was placed on a high shelf together with other sea-oriented books, and soon forgotten.
Which is all right – I’m quite convinced books should be read at the right moment, so sometimes forgetting them on a high shelf is just what’s needed.
Then, when the time comes… I need some color and information for some seafaring stories I’m planning, and I go and rediscover this hidden gem.

What’s it all about? Continue reading →


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Peter Fleming

“São Paulo is like Reading, only much farther away.”

imageI admit a long-standing fascination for espionage at its most basic – not james Bond ultratech but Deighton spycraft, in other words.
Espionage as people, not gadgets.
From the Elizabethan Secrert Service to the black ops of recent years, I’ve collected books, handbooks, stuff.

And in terms of espionage, one has to wonder at the personnel of the WW2 British secret outfits.
David Niven and Christopher Lee working with commandos and Information Services…
Occult bestseller author Dennis Wheatley churning out plans and fake papers to be leaked to the Germans (including a complete plan for the invasion of Europe, written on a single weekend, fueled only by champagne and turkish cigarettes)…
Rosita Forbes travelling the world and taking notes, Elizabeth David (the food writer) wandering through the Mediterranean and Southern France…
John Blofeld, sure, and of course the Fleming Brothers, Ian and Peter.

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Let’s face the music, and dance

This is not exactly the post I had in mind – I’ve been posting an awful lot about writing, recently, and I guess my readers might like some variety.
But, bear with me, this one is really a spontaneous, straight away thing.
And it somewhat connects with the post I did about themes.

ModernTimesEndingIt all started because the post my friend Chiara did on her blog, about happy endings.
And because of a long talk I had with The Guys*, about women, broken hearts and expectations in a relationship.
So, yes, expect something weird…

Let’s start by stating that my friend Chiara does not believe in “perfect” happy endings.
The dread “What Next?” is there to unsettle the balance.
And I somewhat agree with her – happy endings tying together neatly all the loose ends and de facto stopping thestory, are not my kind of thing, either.
But, on the other hand, I am highly suspicious of “downer endings” – those which basically tell us that it was all for nothing, life sucks, and nothing ever goes as planned**…
I am suspicious because it feels (often) as a way for the author to wink at the reader, suggesting they both are so world-weary and blasé they can laugh at such romantic notions like happy endings.
Sometimes the tragic ending is as dishonest and manipulative, and fake, as the best (…) happy endings out there.

And yet Continue reading →


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I am told that my Italian language blog, strategie evolutive, was nominated for the Prix Italia for science fiction – the Italian equivalent of the Hugo Award.
In the final ballot, my old blog (now in its sixth year) received one vote only.
I am deeply grateful to the lonely madman that decided to cast his vote for strategie evolutive*.
That single vote counts to me more than the prize.
Thank you.

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* or the lonely madwoman that decided to cast hers, of course.


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The way they do it

Rogue Blades Entertainment has a strong track record as far as I’m concerned – I have a few of their anthologies here on my shelf, and they never failed to deliver as promised: entertaining, original, solid no-frills sword & sorcery.

9780982053683_covSo I was extremely interested when Writing Fantasy Heroes was announced – a multi-author collection of essays on sword & sorcery writing, from one of my favorite purveyours of sword & sorcery, edited by J.M. Waltz.
What could go wrong with that?

Well, first there was the fact that the Italian Amazon does not carry the book.
Then, the delivery guy was unable to find my house (it happens, I live in the wilderness), and sent my copy back to the international seller from which I had ordered it.
With the refund, I got me a second copy.
And it got to my house two days before Easter, and waited in the pouring rain, hanging halfway out of my (flooded) mailbox, for my return home from the hospital.

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