One of the perks of living in a rural area in depressed Northern Italy is the easy availability of cheap, high-quality hats.
People hereabouts still wear a hat every day – and if the dread agrochemicals-sponsored baseball cap is spreading as the standard working headgear of tractor-riders, slowly replacing the straw trilby with a sponsored band, out of the fields a lot of people still favor what goes under the name of lòbia.
The standard Borsalino hat.
What’s universally known as a fedora hat1.
And this is good, because in these autumn days I need a new fedora.
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Tag Archives: Indiana Jones
Ron Fortier reviews The Ministry of Thunder
Now this feels… strange.
But good, too!
You see, Ron Fortier‘s Pulp Fiction Reviews was the first blog I started following when I decided to get deeper into this pulp thing. You’ll find a link in the blogroll here on the right, and Ron’s reviews blog is still my first stop when I’m looking for something to read.
Heck, the man has sold me dozens of books! – including a handful that have become my faves.
So try and imagine my reaction when, checking my feed today, reader, I found this…
“The Ministry of Thunder,” is a rollicking tongue-in-cheek over-the-top pulp winner that completely won me over within its first few chapters. It’s Indiana Jones meets Bill Barnes with a touch of Kung-Fun thrown in to spice things up. It is the first Davide Mana book we’ve read and we certainly hope not the last.
This is more than graduating.
This feels like getting a PhD in pulp writing.
And yes, I do hope Sabatini will be back, too.
Check out Pulp Fiction Reviews‘ full piece about The Ministry of Thunder.
Me, I’m throwing a little party.
Later!
Five Things I learned Writing “The Ministry of Thunder”
My first novel, The Ministry of Thunder, is six months old this week, and I thought it was high time I did some new post to bore you to death about it.
This will be a week of celebrations.
In case you missed it, The Ministry of Thunder is a pulp/fantasy novel set in 1936 China, in which a stranded Italian mechanic tries to recycle himself as an Indiana Jones-style adventurer.
Cue to mysterious artifacts, beautiful women, evil masterminds, Taoist magic, Chinese ghosts, lost cities, and the Ministry of Thunder and Storms.
And ninja.
So, I normally say that everything is part of the learning process – what did I learn (if I did), writing The Ministry of Thunder? Continue reading
March the 8th – Along Comes a Woman
So today is the International Women’s Day.
Here’s our small contribution.
Enjoy!
Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Idol
A short movie tribute to Indiana Jones.
Can there be any better way to start a Sunday?
This is Fran Casanova’s Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Idol, and is an impressive, fun, atmospheric short feature, true to the spirit of the original series, shot in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Enjoy!
Character Profile – Felice Sabatini
“Don’t overestimate me.”
Things are moving fast. Time to talk about the hero of The Ministry of Thunder, the big guy himself, Felice Sabatini.
The official version states that the character of Felice Sabatini came to me after I found out about the Chiang Kai-shek government contracting a squadron of Italian fighter pilots in the 1930s, in a strange dress rehersal of what would be the adventure of Claire Chennault‘s Flying Tigers.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it – but it’s only part of the story.
Let’s see… Continue reading
Writing Prompt – Write a Joke
Nothing long and complicated here – just write what’s the joke.
The comments are open.
Karavansara 