11 Saturday Nov 2017
Do you remember when I told you about my copper mask – oh well, the Chorus’ copper mask in Shakespeare in Words? And how my friend Davide – he of Karavansara – said there was a story in there, and he’d write it for Halloween?
Well, he’s done it.
Not that I’m terribly surprised, mind: the man has proved again and again that he can put together a good story by whatever deadline he gives himself – and so a Halloween story it was… Continue reading
25 Thursday May 2017
Posted in Things
And so, my friend Dave over at Karavansara nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award… In truth, he did some ten days ago – but back then I was swimming in chaos, what with Shakespeare in Words approaching fast, and two talks, and everything else. So I asked leave to give a delayed response: and here we are.
Thank you very much, Davide – for the award itself, and for the patience… Continue reading
27 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in Scribbling
Tags
This post on Karavansara made me jump: good heavens above, is it that time of the year again already?
And of course it is, and it will be November in a few days, and so it is even late to begin to think about doing NaNoWriMo – but the fact is that, even if I had not lost track of time and planned ahead… er. It’s always the same story: much as I like the notion of a month-long concentrated effort with an artificial but solid enough deadline, November is always about the very worst time for it. Continue reading
24 Thursday Mar 2016
Posted in Things
I’ve posted something very similar on my Italian blog, yesterday, but I want to do it again here, because…
Well, because terrible things keep happening, and everything seems to indicate that they will keep happening for Heaven knows how long. I was musing about it yesterday, and thinking how small, how inadequate it feels in such moments to sit down and write of history, and theatre, and books…
Then I found on Karavansara a quote of Charles De Lint’s, saying how writers keep shining little lights in the gathering darkness.
And I thought: yes, this is it. This is what I want to do too. Light up a little flame, and hope it will make readers think. Not to make them think something in particular – that readers can agree or disagree with what they read is a given… just think. And wonder, and ask questions, and maybe read up some author or historical character, or read a new book, or argue, or get angry, and light another flame… One hopes to make think – and to keep thinking, even in the midst of all the terrible things.
So yes – this is what we do with the stories, and history, and books, and theatre, in the firm belief that a thinking world will be better equipped against the darkness, and even the smallest light can help.
06 Saturday Sep 2014
Posted in History
Tags
Aculeo & Amunet, Davide Mana, Historical fiction, Karavansara, Lindybeige, Schola gladiatoria, Skallagrim
This is from Karavansara, my friend Davide Mana’s great blog of pulp and historical adventure, with an Asian slant. It’s not for nothing that Davide subtitled the thing “East of Constantinople, West of Shangai.”
While doing research for his wonderful Aculeo and Amunet stories (check them out, if you’ve never read them), he stumbled across some great video resources about ancient weaponry, and collected a few in this post.
When you are writing historical fiction (or historical adventure), you never have enough of this sort of things – because it’s damnably easy to mess up… And of course, a novel is a novel, and not a treatise on ancient hoplology – but it’s so much better if, while providing great characters engaged in interesting action and meaningful stories, you also get your swords right, isn’t it?
Scribblings 