Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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76 pages in 12 hours

But in the end I did not make it.
I went through a ferocious bout of insomnia, and when I finally could not stay in bed any longer listening to the wind outside, I got up, fired the PC up, and wrote a book.

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Not a big book. A short handbook for writers.
Ten thousand words – 76 pages in paperback.
I uploaded it on Kindle about two hours ago, and then as I was at it, I also prepared a paperback copy. It will be on sale in two or three days – in Italian.

Well, OK, I cheated – I had the notes for my courses and workshops here on my hard disk already, so I only had to pick the bits and pieces that I needed, and fit them together, and then add a few examples, and create a cover.
And now I have my own writing handbook – very short on theory, but with lot of exercises, and a quirky approach to prompts, character creation and worldbuilding.
Nothing too original, admittedly – but original enough to be unique on the Italian market, as far as I know.
And hopefully it will serve as a good advertisement for my forthcoming workshops.

And really, back in the days when I created my folk-horror series, I was used to write a story, create a cover and publish the ebook over a weekend.
In the last three weeks I’ve published three ebooks.
Looks like I’m on my way back to the old standards.


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The Devil Under the Sea for preorder

I am very happy to announce that the long overdue second episode in the adventures of Leo Martin, aka The Corsair, will go on sale through Amazon on the 10th of August.

The novella, The Devil Under the Sea, that can be enjoyed as a standalone1, will be available both in DRM-free ebook format and as a paperback volume. Both the ebook and the paperback are being processed as you read this post, and will be ready for preorder in a few hours.

Read on to learn more and view the cover of The Devil Under the Sea

Continue reading


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BUSCAFUSCO: Women & Children

And so the first BUSCAFUSCO story is out.
It’s called BUSCAFUSCO: Women & Children, and you can get it, DRM-free, through Amazon – just click on the links.
It’s 12.000 words story, sort of a warm-up run, something I did in two days trying to get the recurring characters on the page, getting a first taste of the setting, and testing what I’d like to use as a typical story structure for the series, having my character tackle two different and unrelated “cases” at the same time.

All in all, I had quite some fun writing this story, and barring accidents I will try and do another as soon as possible, treating this as a T V series, with two episodes – at least – per month.

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I hope you’ll enjoy BUSCAFUSCO: Women & Children – please leave a review on your review website of choice, and let me know what you think. This is not just vanity, it’s actually what I need to fine-tune my stories.
Cheers!


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Within Wet Walls: A (short) Review

www-cover-3-frontI was invited to the launch party for Lily Childs’ Within Wet Walls, yesterday, and on my way there, I got me a copy of the ebook.

I love ghost stories, I read a lot of them in the winter (the atmosphere is right) and this one was presented as the sort of gothic delight I was looking for.

Later last night I read it in one sitting, and I was so completely fascinated that I decided a short review here on my blog was in order.
Here goes. Continue reading


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E. Hoffmann Price

n19191As I explained a few days back, I set myself a series of rewards for completing various chunks of my story – sort of a bait to force me pour more words on the page.
It’s easy, innocuous, inexpensive – and it seems to work.

Having reached the 50.000 word mark, I awarded myself an ebook – the Wildside Press ebook edition of E. Hoffmann Price‘s The Jade Enchantress.
The book was originally published by Balantine/Del Rey (and you see the cover here on the right). Continue reading


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Two Bottles of Wine and a Box of Biscuits

avventurieriLast night I did a presentation based on my first ebook, Avventurieri sul Crocevia del Mondo – an informal look at the history of the Silk Road and at the weird chaps that ran along it between the First and the Second World War.

The venue was the hall of the UniTre – the Senior Citizens University – of Incisa Scapaccino, a town roughly three kilometers from where I live.

I did a two hoours gig, the audience was well pleased and entertained and I was asked to do some more presentations on a number of subjects.
It was done pro bono – actually, it was done for two bottles of fine wine and a box of local pastries.

Now, I’ve been called a few weird names – online, mostly – because I do this sort of free gigs, and yet I often affirm the writer must be paid.
Some have called this a double standard.
I do not think it is – the fact that I am doing free voluntary service for my community, basically paying back the welcome I have ben given in these hills when I moved from the big city, does not make me particularly dishonest when I ask a fair price for my work.
Two bottles of fine wine and a box of biscuits is a fair price for my time, in this particular situation, as it is the warmth of the welcome that was given to me.
I’m liable to ask higher fees when dealing with a publisher – it’s not that weird, I think.

And yet, some people do not seem to understand.
Usually, they are those requiring professional services for free.

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Bride of the Swamp God – the cover

OK, let’s try and amp the hype a little.

Here’s the cover of my forthcoming ebook, Bride of the Swamp God.
Which, as I think you can guess, has something to do with Ancient Egypt, and with tentacles.
And swamps and brides, I guess.

The cover uses some free resources provided by zememz – check out her pages on DeviantArt.

The lettering is by Giordano Effrodini.

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