Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Growing up with Yoko Tsuno

Today my heart broke for the second time for something that happened a long time ago – sometimes in the mid ’90s, my collection of Yoko Tsuno comics, the first ten volumes, was lost – my mom, god bless her, decided it was time to clear some space, and gave the books away, as a gift to the son of a friend of hers.
I was serving in the Air Farce at the time, and when I found out, it was too late.
Heart broken.
And today, a friend reminded me of Yoko, and my heart cracked again.

For the uninitiated, Yoko Tsuno was the main character in a series of comics created by Belgian artist Roger Leloup in 1970 – a series of science fiction thrillers featuring a young Japanese woman, an electronic engineer, as the main character. The series had a run of 29 volumes, the last being published in 2010. Leloup also wrote a novel about the character (and that I still have – hooray!)
The first adventure was The Curious Trio – in which we were introduced to the heroine, her team-mates and the blue-skinned aliens that would become a fixture of the series.

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The Poor Writer’s Dinner

I was talking with a friend, today, about a book I always liked a lot – Elizabeth David’s An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, a classic collection of food writing and other wonders published in ’84 and compiling a selection of thirty-odd years of the writer’s articles on magazines and newspapers.

I was also celebrating the fact that yesterday, for the first time in over six weeks of lockdown, I was able to find eggs at the supermarket.

This led to talking about food, and the fact that I have learned to eat well on a very tight budget, and thiis led to the the idea of a challenge – can I prepare a good simple dinner for two people, spending less than 3.50 euro each, that is 7 euro in total?
Considering that a Margherita pizza is 4.50 and a pack of crisps at the local grocery is 2.50, what could I do?, I was asked.

Well, I said, I’ll show you what I can do…
And this is quite interesting, as my #StoryADayMay from a few days back asked me to compile a list, and give it a meaning. So, here’s to killing tow birds with a stone. This is the Poor Writer’s Dinner.

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Writing a pitch with the LAYER system – part 1

I have a week to hit my publisher with a detailed pitch for a 10.000-words story I hope will be the first of a new series. So today I spent some time doodling on a notebook while I was waiting in line at the supermarket. This is something I learned over thirty years ago, from a series of articles by Piers Anthony. Be able to write anywhere, and use your dead time.

As I have a limited time (I’d like to mail te proposal by the weekend), I decided to try and use the Plot Gardening method by Chris Fox – I got the book of the same title a few days back (as you know I collect books about writing), and it looks like it might be my sort of thing.

In particular I am trying to apply the LAYER System, as outlined by Fox, that requires me to define

  • Lead – the hero of the piece
  • Antagonist – the main antagonist
  • Yard – the setting
  • Engagement point – where it begins
  • Return – how it ends

This is the basic set-up to get a viable story on the way.
Once this is done, I’ll outline the story – the request is for as detailed outline as possible – and wait for the publisher to tell me how much he likes my idea.
Hopefully.

I am still in high seas where the reasons of the characters are concerned.
But I’ll work that out as I add more layers to the cake.


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Hellebore ‘zine

This morning the postman balanced the envelope containing the digest-sized second issue of Hellebore magazine on the top of my mailbox. I found it as I went out a moment before lunch, to see if the feral cats had come to pay a visit.

Featuring articles about the Great God Pan (the guy himself, not just the Machen novel), the Wild Hunt, and an interview with Alan Moore about folk horror, Hellebore #2 (the Wild Gods issue) is a fine selection of curious things and if you are interested in mythology and folklore, folk horror, fantasy and ancient traditions, you should probably check it out.

And as you are at it, maybe also check out the first issue (The Sacrifice Issue), about which I wrote in the past (I’m sure WordPress will place a link at the bottom).

The reason why I am writing this post is very self-serving – I love Hellebore, as it’s the kind of beautifully designed, slightly weird magazine one reads for fun and research. The magazine was planned to be a quarterly, but a short paragraph at the end of the editorial intro of Issue #2 is pretty clear – a small-scale endeavour, Hellebore might not survive the current recession. It would be really a pity – I want my magazine!

And so I am putting this post here – check out Hellebore, and think about buying a copy. Let’s help this strange, beautiful project stay afloat.


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The birthday of the Baron

I have just been aware of the fact that today is the birthday of Baron Hieronymous Karl Friedrich von Munchausen, that was born in Bodenwerder this day in 1720. Having been a long-time fan of the esteemed Baron, I thought it would be appropriate to post a brief note on my blog.

For those that are unfamiliar with this great man’s biography, I cannot recommend too warmly his memoir, Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, as compiled and edited, in 1786, by Rudolf Erich Raspe. A different edition of the memoir, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, again edited by Rudolf Erich Raspe, can be downloaded from the Project Gutenberg pages in a variety of formats.

It’s been three hundred years, and the old man is still doing pretty well.


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Witches

I have just started working on a new project, translating a book of essays and stories about witchcraft and witches. I at in the very early stages of the job – as in, copying and pasting the original text in Scrivener and breaking it up into chapters – but the book is quite good, the author is an excellent person, and we are going to have this baby ready for Halloween.

After months of gruelling work for the Client from Hell (R), this is going to be like a vacation. It’s a complicated job – lots of local terms to render in English, a few adjustments to be made after consulting the author – but at the same time it feels like taking a much deserved (and needed) vacation.