Deathway begins, two new Short Stories, Independence Day U.S.A.

So this week there’s several exciting things to talk about! Like the blog post from two weeks ago, here’s a list of content to scroll down to the different parts more easily:

• Deathway
• Short Story 1 – Extraneous Encounter
• Short Story 2 – The Saga of Nobunaga
• Independence day – U.S.A.

Deathway

After about four months of writing, followed by a good month of a break from it, I’ll now begin publishing the chapters as I edit them. I thought I was going to be able to start doing this about a week sooner, but there were other more pressing concerns in my personal life to attend to (plus this gave me time to catch up on some old ideas for short stories!)

My biggest request (and you can read more about it on the Deathway title page as well) is if anyone would be so kind to read it and provide feedback. In turn, I’ll include you in the acknowledgments section once the book is ready for print.

What else can I say here? I’m extremely excited that this is my second novel and I hope whoever is reading this will enjoy it as much as I did writing it (and now editing). As of the writing of this post, I have created the title page, index, introduction and prologue – first chapter to follow soon!

Start reading it here.

Extraneous Encounter

Read Extraneous Encounter here.

This short story is a complete rewrite. I’m going to be honest and say I have no idea where I wanted to take the original concept I had years ago. I never published it and only written a part, with “to be continued…” at the end. I suppose “continue” morphed into “rewrite”, but other than that I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Anyhow, like I previously wrote, I enjoy short stories because they allow me to experiment with different ideas and styles and I can safely say this one is somewhat unique in how it is presented (at least I think so). And because of its structure, it is also perhaps the most open-ended story I’ve ever done. And yes, I did that on purpose; I think it fits the whole narrative nicely.

The Saga of Nobunaga

Read The Saga of Nobunaga here.

Ahh, Sid Meier’s Civilization. The turn based strategy game that has a deep love for human history. And while it’s not an accurate portrayal (units can live for hundreds of years if not thousands), it does teach very well how a civilization works. From humble beginnings to massive conquests, this game series offers it all. I’ve actually played the very first one at my neighbors house (I was mostly observing, really) and then continued to follow the series over the years.

And if you’ve played the fifth installment (Civ V), you might have recognized Oda Nobunaga from the title of the story, as the leader of the Japanese civilization.

Several years ago, me and my neighbor and good friend Andrea were playing Civilization together (V and then VI), just having some fun against A.I. opponents and discussing between turns on what to do. Good times. During one of such plays, he suggested I should write a short story about it. I don’t remember who came up with the title, but it was catchy. I took some notes and wanted to develop a whole story about it.

Well, that never happened. I read the notes recently and decided once again, like with a lot of other old writing material, to start from scratch. The short story includes some nods to the legendary series that inspired it, but there’s plenty of liberties that I took as a writer, morphing it in its own thing.

As a side note, since I’m talking about this series it would be a crime not to mention the phenomenal composer, Christopher Tin. Amazing soundtrack. My favorite one being the Civilization VI title theme, adapted from Leonardo da Vinci’s lyrics – Sogno di Volare. Love it.

Independence Day – U.S.A.

A little over a week after Slovenian Independence Day, July 4th 1776 commemorates the declaration of independence in the United States of America. I’m currently living here as a legal alien (such a funny terminology – I never thought I’d be an alien!), married to an amazing American woman.

What I will say, is something that echoes Joakim Brodén, the lead singer from Sabaton. At a concert in Kentucky a few years ago that me and my wife went to, he proclaimed that “We Europeans sometimes take this for granted. But if it wasn’t for you guys, we’d all be speaking German right now.” – alluding of course to the fact that ultimately the U.S.A. played an important role in toppling the Nazi Germany.

So all in all, there are missteps and mishaps that every country on planet Earth is guilty of, but I can say without a doubt I am definitely glad the United States of America exists. As a side note, this week I watched America: The Motion Picture and reviewed it.