Karavansara

9 June 2020
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Write what you know

Back in the days of yore (meaning, for all practical purposes, the summer of 1993), with my brother we got this strange idea of joining the Friends of the Egyptian Museum in Turin. It made perfect sense: we were both interested in archaeology, and my brother was taking a university course in Egyptology. We spent a lot of time in the museum, that at the time was still in its old, “classic” configuration.

So we went looking for the Friends of the Museum office, and were quite surprised when we discovered

it was only open one morning per week
it was not open even then

But being young and persistent, and this being summer and we on vacation, we basically staked out the place, going there every morning for two weeks, until we finally found the door to the office open, and walked in.

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8 June 2020
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Hard-Boiled

A few days back, talking about James Garner’s Marlowe, I talked about how I grew up on (among many other things) The Rockford Files. And I said I share the belief hard-boiled fiction can help a lot, when you are a kid in your early teens,and need role models – especially a certain kind of hard-boiled. Hammett rather than Spillane, for instance.

So, in my lunch breaks, I’ve been re-watching the first season of The Rockford Files, because I wanted to see whether the series was really as good and fun and all that, and in general my memories were validated.
Yes, there’s a car chase in every episode (what was this obsession with cars in 1970s America?), but the mysteries are fun, there’s an incredible supporting cast and a roster of guest stars, and James Garner is very good at doing his thing.

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6 June 2020
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Small pleasures

A number of years ago, I wrote a scenario for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, that was published in a collection by Chaosium, called Strange Aeons II. The scenario was called Cursed be the City (a title I pilfered from Henry Kuttner), and pitted a bunch of Neanderthal player characters against an ancient curse. And Tsatthogua.
Because everything’s better with Tsatthogua.

Two days ago I was informed my old adventure was discussed briefly on Reddit.

One sometimes wonders, what of all my work after I’m gone?
Well, something will be remembered.

5 June 2020
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

A new short story for my Patrons

They say it’s good to be my Patrons, but really, it’s good to have my Patrons – and this is the reason why I give them exclusive contents: like a short story I just posted to them, both in Italian and English.

I also added a little piece about how I wrote it, why, and using what building blocks, one of which is the following photograph.

Yeah, it’s good to be my Patrons.

4 June 2020
by Davide Mana 4 Comments

You must be a f#cking moron or, how I liked the Sword of Shannara

In my long and somewhat undistinguished life so far, only three times I have been called “a f#cking moron” because of my tastes (or lack thereof) in matters of music and literature. And before you ask, yes, I have a very long memory for certain things.

The first time was when I candidly admitted that I’d rather listen to J.S. Bach than to W.A. Mozart.
The second time was when I expressed my preference for Jefferson Airplane over Pink Floyd.
The third time was when I said I had actually liked The Sword of Shannara.

And this being Karavansara, you will guess what I am going to talk about next.

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3 June 2020
by Davide Mana 6 Comments

Return to Joiry

They say we need to turn our negative experiences into opportunities for good – and I have found that it’s an excellent advice.
So, having just wasted eight minutes of my short life watching one of the most asinine “video essays” I ever saw, what can I take away from it and turn into an opportunity?

Well, the tragically inadequate “nerd expert” that wasted eight minutes of my life explaining to me what sword & sorcery is, said

sword & sorcery deals with rough, uncouth, muscular barbarian heroes wielding big swords

And I thought of Jirel of Joiry.
And thinking of Jirel and C.L. Moore is always a good thing.

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2 June 2020
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

A piece of the action

I am very happy to announce that the new issue of Aurealis magazine, one of Australia’s premiere SF/Fantasy magazines, is out now, and in it you will find my science fiction story A piece of the action.