forthcoming stories | Karavansara

Can you write sword & sorcery with elves in it?
It’s not an idle question – to me, elves are usually a mark of high fantasy, and all in all, only the old Eberron setting for D&D came close to show me it is not strictly so. Well, OK, Eberron and Shadowrun.
But, what can I say, I’m about to hit the shelves with a novella – hopefully the first of a series, should the readers like it – that is sword & sorcery (because that’s what I do and that’s what the client requested), but also features an elf. There’s always a first time, right?

The work was done to fit an existing universe, so there was no choice – elves it was. And also a very straightforward game-style structure.
I like the challenge, I like trying to write something different.
In this case, game-related fiction that is also good enough to stand on its own legs, with standard tropes thrown in, but possibly subverted.

Continue reading →

Many years ago I spent a long night with some friends, eating Chinese and talking writing.
Fueled by Cantonese Rice and Flambé Dumplings, we came to the conclusion that the best ideas are those that feel completely crazy, and that make us a little scared, a little uneasy.
Not so much scared as in a John Carpenter movie, more scared as in “heck, how am I going to pull this one?”

If you can answer that question, you’ve got a good story idea in your hands.

So each one of us, that night, set down his own impossible story idea, and the morning after, these were forgotten.
Or at least tucked away in some dark corner of our memory.

That night, I invented Jack Nada. Continue reading →