I’ve just submitted two stories to the same magazine – they accept multiple submissions, they pay ten cents a word, and they have only one slot open, so it’s really a long shot. Very hard market, lot of competiton from people that’s way better than me. Why not double the chances?
In fact I had mailed just one story, two days ago, but then I got caught in a discussion about paying and non-paying markets and…
Ah, I’m a bad person!
I am lucky: there’s people out there that give me books as gifts. I am really moved by this, because it means these persons recognize my addiction, and have enough compassion to want to help me stay sane by keeping me well provided with reading matters.
So yesterday I got a digital copy of Alastair Humphreys’ My Midsummer Morning. The person that sent it to me (thank you!) knows I am a fan of Humphreys’, and knew I was curious about this book – that chronicles the author’s travel through Spain, on foot, living on the earnings of his busking.
Humphreys’ offbeat adventure was inspired by another great book, Laurie Lee’s classic As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, which chronicles Lee’s crossing of the Spanish peninsula, while busking with his violin to make a living. Lee’s adventure took place in 1934. He would return in Spain in ’37 as a member of the International Brigade.
Humphreys’ book is all about finding adventure by facing what causes us anxiety and fear – because if it’s all fun and games, it’s not a challenge, and cannot be a proper adventure.
Hence his idea of travelling as a busker while having no previous experience as a violin player but a few months of lessons and frustrating exercise.
Yes, it’s a wild, crazy idea, but one that works, and does make a sort of sense.
And never before as in these days we needed to be able to face what causes us pain and anxiety.
Books will help, and music. And a certain mental attitude, that allows us to discover adventure in adversity.
So here I have the ebook on my reader.
But in case you are curious, the author also shot a documentary of his adventure, and here it is… enjoy!
A few months ago I set up something that was to be called Seven Lives – a collection of my unpublished stories, seven, all with a cat somewhere, to be treacherously handed to my supporters on Patreon (because it’s good to be my supporters on Patreon ) and then to be grouped in a single volume, to be sold to raise funds for two stray cat shelters.
Arrived at the sixth story, three things happened
And so my plan for one story a month went hiwire, but only a little – and so the seventh story, which was scheduled for March, came out only today.
Continue readingThe Cat with No Name, a feral cat that used to hang around our courtyard, was killed last night when someone run it over with a car. On a private side road, in a small village, during lockdown, the list of suspects is very short, and yet it is impossible to nail the person responsible.
The Cat with No Name used to come to the courtyard when my father sat outside in the evening, looking at the stars. It was feral, but it liked humans, and it was very sweet. It asked for food, it liked to be cuddled.
Today is a very bad day.
That’s how usually it begins. You are there minding your own business, watching a movie, say, or reading a book, or listening to some music, and all of a sudden this idea pops up. Wouldn’t it be fun…?
And you are in rouble, because usually it would be fun – or at least you think it would be, and you start writing and… ah, that’s how it begins.
Case in point…
Almost everybody out there, if I must trust (and I shouldn’t) what I get through mi social media, is using the lockdown time to catch up on movies, TV series, books, comics and videogames. And really, why not?
We live in a media-rich landscape, and our old life forced us to leave behind a lot of stuff.
And while I was never a fan of binge-watching, as I mentioned previously I’ve been supporting myself on a steady diet of Chinese horror/adventure web series these days, courtesy of a Youtube channel that streams subtitled episodes. And I must say that in general I am impressed by the quality of the products I’ve seen so far.
So, the twenty episodes of The Weasels Grave gone in two nights of insomnia, I am now getting ready to start with The Wrath of Time.
Once again a story of grave robbers, monsters, curses and two-fisted archaeology, and being part of a franchise whose instalments apparently go back in time, this time the story is set in Chinese Republican times – back when warlords ruled and the China was in chaos.
I mean… it’s got to be fun, right?
I’ll keep you posted (especially considering that watching these series has given me a few ideas about writing I need to digest).
Two weeks ago I spent a weekend binge-watching Candle in the Tomb, a Chinese web-series about the exploits of a team of grave-robbers trying to find (and loot) an ancient lost city in the Gobi Desert. Despite the sometimes rough humor and the clunky SFX, it was a great fun – and for this reason, I moved on to the follow-up series, Candle in the Tomb: The Weasel Grave.
A long weekend approaches, and this is just what I need to keep my spirits up during my long sleepless nights.
Continue reading
Karavansara 