Luigi Pascal Rondanini's Blog

Crafting Suspense in West London

Exciting News: "Hybristophilia" Coming Soon!

Dear readers,

I'm thrilled to share an update on my latest psychological thriller, "Hybristophilia." After months of intense work, we're on the verge of completion. While the official release date is still under wraps, I can't wait to share this gripping tale.

Cover Reveal

I'm excited to announce that the cover art is finished! I hope it captivates you as much as the story within.

A Glimpse into "Hybristophilia"

Set against the backdrop of West London, "Hybristophilia" plunges you into a world where nothing is as it seems:

- A young man's life shatters when he kills his father during a heated confrontation

- Witness the collapse of his world as dark secrets emerge

- Prepare for twists that will challenge your perceptions of truth and reality

What's Next?

As I dive back into the final editing stages, I'm more excited than ever to share this journey with you. Stay tuned for the official release date announcement and more teasers in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your patience and support. The wait will be worth it!

LP

Discovering Wonder —Seeing the World through a Child's Eyes

I am thrilled to tell you about my latest e-book, “Discovering Wonder: Seeing the World Through a Child's Eyes". It represents the sum up of the techniques I have used to adapt notes and outlines I have taken during almost thirty years of life. I condensed it into a step-by-step journey that adults can go through in their quest to recapture what we all had when we were kids — eyes with which you see magic at every corner.

As a writer of children's, tween and teen books for over three decades, even if I started publishing recently, I have lived in the minds of young people. This is not a book on how to write for children, but rather an invitation for grown-ups dedicated to their craft that invites them back towards the childlike wonder and curiosity we all too soon leave behind.

"Discovering Wonder" is perfect for:

1. A Yearning For The Awe-Inspiring, Amidst Humdrum Adult Routines

2. Parents looking to tap into a child's picture and see the world more like their offspring

3. Active seekers of Life with New Eyes and Fresh Hearts;

4. Creative professionals in search of inspiration

5. People who are seeking personal growth and want to find joy in their everyday life

The book touches on various states of the childlike mind, from rekindling curiosity and illustrating a fanciful imagination to feeling one's emotions and detecting wonder in the ordinary. A treasure trove of insight and exercises to help readers relate this enlightened perspective to their everyday adult lives.

"Discovering Wonder: Seeing the World With a Child's Eyes" is on sale on many marketplaces. I've intentionally made this as cheap as I could, to make sure that it is out there for everybody who desires to experience this small miracle.

You will learn from this how children see the world and hopefully apply that same sense of wonder and openness in your own adult life. I hope “Discovering Wonder” will help you look at the world with a fresh perspective, rekindle your love of learning and appreciate even life's little pleasures.

As I mentioned in the book's intro and on the marketplaces, I am no shrink or pedagogic, but I used those few techniques to write my books, finding it beneficial also in other fields, including my Finance and Technology day job. It's a small booklet and it might be the start for some.

Get your copy of Discovering Wonder: Seeing the World Through a Child's Eyes and begin your journey home to wonder today!

Vanished Echoes - Southport, Merseyside, England

 Just yesterday, the seemingly peaceful north-western town of Southport — Merseyside — erupted in violence when a local 17-year-old male, carrying some bladed weapon, entered a nearby Dance School and began stabbing indiscriminately. Three little children were killed, and a few more were hospitalised.

 Social media was quickly inundated with unconfirmed reports of the identity of the assailant. Even without the dissemination of official details, it was quickly “assumed” by many that the killer was a Muslim Syrian refugee. It was a powder keg of latent prejudice and fear.

 Armed with this misinformation that probably themselves had spread, right-wing thugs migrated by the dozen to Southport. What would have started as an expression of misguided protest degenerated into riots as anger and fear spilt into the streets as attacks against… anything.

 But the truth remained elusive. Because the attacker was under the age of 18 at the time of his hideous crime, police were legally obliged to withhold his identity and details, sparking a speculative frenzy and a propaganda-feeding storm among those seeking to point the finger at Muslims or immigrants.

And as an author, I couldn’t help but be haunted by the oddly familiar theme. My first novel, Vanished Echoes, begins with a kidnapping that spills over into a wave of xenophobic rhetoric and intermittent violence. Riots spread throughout London as well as other parts of England after a Bulgarian man is [falsely] accused of the crime.

 In the fantasy world of Vanished Echoes, current events are merely scaffolding – but by making fiction out of plausible real-world incidents and by retelling them through the eyes of liberal protagonists, I hope that it will still have the effect of a cautionary tale – that it will alert readers to the ease and quickness with which we dismantle the rights of random, vulnerable communities, on the most spurious of evidence, and in the cause of immediate and irrational fear. Fiction does not look so fictional after all, but it is prescriptive.

Here’s a passage from my book’s epilogue:

 

Through this dramatised narrative, I intended to underline the societal issues that presently grip Britain – a nation of escalating division and eroding compassion.

In the climate reflected herein, a missing native child elicits greater outrage than racist brutality against foreign innocents. Little provocation kindles prejudice and protest.

And

I hope that thought-provoking stories like this can serve as cautionary tales to reinstate human decency before it becomes too late. Holding up a mirror to modern ills takes the first step towards righting them. If this work prompts a subtle rethinking of these themes, its intent has been fulfilled.

 

 Just a year ahead of his time, these words seem to capture the essential lesson from the actual events in Southport, highlighting the importance of expanded, explicit empathy, tolerance and responsibility in the wider community.

 Yet, the media has a crucial role because they can significantly skew public perceptions. We have fiction and real-life examples where selective emphasis and exclusion have bypassed empathetic reframing and unwittingly deleted individualisation or decentring. By creating a difference, erecting a wall or cage, you also invite the addicting endorphins of crude pleasure derived from a belief in “their” inferiority.

 Our response to both the tragedy in Southport and its aftermath must be to resist the urge for easy answers and scapegoats in favour of fact-checking, interrogating assumptions and extending that compassion, not least, to those who share the same name.

 Echoes of hatred and division can be erased only if we all agree to broadcast a message of unity and understanding. When tragedy strikes, let us not forget one another. Only in this spirit can we hope to steer our world away from these needless acts of brutality and towards a society that respects and cherishes all of its citizens.

 

Rest in Peace, angels.

 

Godspeed

LPR

Pazzigno A/R - I Fantasmi del Passato è su Kindle

Cari amici,

come preannunciato, il mio nuovo libro è ora disponibile si Kindle Unlimited e Kindle in tutto il mondo.

Spero che lo troviate di vostro gradimento.

Alla fine del libro c'è una preghiera molto esplicita: Lasciate una recensione. Una recensione onesta.

Grazie.

Questo è il link

Buona lettura!

LPR

Dall'atto unico al romanzo: Il viaggio metamorfico de 'I Fantasmi Del Passato'

Cari lettori,

Oggi voglio condividere con voi l'affascinante viaggio creativo dietro il mio prossimo libro. Tutto è iniziato con "I Fantasmi Del Passato", ideato originariamente come romanzo. Tuttavia, mentre scrivevo, la mia passione per le arti visive, mi portava sempre più a vedere i protagonisti su un palco o in TV.

Ho macinato pagine e pagine per settimane per poi dichiararmi sconfitto ed ho messo da parte il progetto originale estraendone un copione per un atto unico. Nonostante la sua durata di circa novanta minuti sul palco, sulla carta era poco più di un tema scolastico. Ho quindi deciso di arricchire la trama aggiungendo due atti, creando così una storia più intricata e avvincente.

Oggi, nove mesi dopo, sento di nuovo il desiderio di tornare alle radici del progetto. Ho ripreso in mano il romanzo originale ed ho deciso che andava pubblicato per quei lettori che vogliono leggere un romanzo e ai quali, una piece teatrale sta stretta. Ergo, presto quel progetto sarà disponibile. Avrà un titolo diverso, ma manterrà lo stesso sottotitolo della piece teatrale. A differenza di quest’ultima, il romanzo includerà un quarto capitolo, per cui anche chi ha letto la prima o la seconda edizione de I Fantasmi, potrà leggere qualcosa di diverso che, in un certo senso completa la versione teatrale. Non dico altro.

Circa la pubblicazione ho preso alcune decisioni:

1. Il libro sarà disponibile esclusivamente in formato ebook in italiano. Al momento non è prevista una versione in inglese.

2. Per scelta, non ci sarà una versione cartacea.

3. Sarà accessibile su Kindle Unlimited in tutto il mondo.

Questo progetto è la dimostrazione lampante di  come un'idea possa evolversi e trasformarsi nel tempo, passando da un formato all'altro arricchendosi di nuovi elementi.

Anche in questo caso, la copertina sarà di mia creazione usando una foto gentilmente concessami da una delle mie sorelle.

Grazie per avermi seguito finora e vi terrò aggiornati sugli sviluppi del progetto.

Restate sintonizzati per ulteriori novità.

LPR

The mystery of publishing: a guide for cautious authors.

When it comes time for publication, every author must answer one of those key questions: should I give into my ego and release it on my own (self-publishing), sell it to a deceiver of men (vanity press) so that I can see my name on a cover, or keep trying for the brass ring (traditional publisher) and see my manuscript rejected by all the editors whose names I copied down at a writing conference months ago.

But watch out: the author's responsibilities have changed radically. Writing is no longer enough. In the world of social media, the author has to get involved in promoting the book as part of the product: fairs, interviews, meetings with readers—all those activities are hard to achieve for the person not made for meetings, whether by nature or chance.

So before you shackle yourself to a publishing house, it is worth knowing how they ask you to shackle yourself. By this, I mean that publishers rightly tend to like the authors who sell. But putting them in that position can create real problems.

Let me put out a concrete example. Here is my own case: I live in England and look after my home and family while my wife is working, so travelling around Italy, one of the markets I target with my Italian books, for an endless series of fairs and signings would be neither logistically nor economically viable for me, and this can clash hard with the perceptions (and requests) of a traditional publisher.

So, dear fellow authors, before choosing your next publisher, consider carefully:

1. What kind of promotion do they offer?

2. How many (and sometimes which) books do they suggest you buy?

3. Are you willing and able to attend in-person events?

Unfortunately, if the answer to the last question above is a big ‘NO’, a possible solution could be self-publishing. The money saved from travel could be invested in advertising online, making a film trailer, virtual meetings with readers, etc.

Remember that where self-distribution allows greater control over sales, cases of authors disagreeing with publishers regarding their accurate numbers are not unknown: I recently read of a writer who was convinced that he had sold at least 70 copies of his book. He discovered (after much door-bashing, apparently) that only 7 showed up in the publisher’s annual accounts. Thus, the matter has now reached the law courts.

If you decide to go with a publishing house (a traditional path to publication), ensure it’s a fair and transparent publishing business. Otherwise, self-publishing your way might well be the best option. Either way, know your options and limitations and choose what fits your personal and professional situation best.

Il mistero del pubblicare: una guida per autori cauti

Nel mondo dell'editoria, tutti gli autori si trovano di fronte a una scelta cruciale: self-publishing, vanity press o case editrici tradizionali? Mentre alcuni optano per l'autonomia del self-publishing o cedono alle lusinghe delle vanity press pur di vedere il proprio nome su una copertina, altri persistono nella ricerca di un editore tradizionale, spendendo mesi, se non anni, nel tentativo di piazzare il proprio manoscritto.

Ma attenzione: il ruolo dell'autore è profondamente cambiato. Non basta più scrivere; nell'era dei social media, agli autori viene richiesto di partecipare attivamente alla promozione del proprio libro. Fiere, interviste, incontri con i lettori: tutte attività che possono risultare di difficile attuazione per chi, per natura o circostanze, non è portato per le apparizioni pubbliche.

Prima di legarsi a una casa editrice, è fondamentale comprendere cosa ci si aspetta da voi. Gli editori, comprensibilmente, tendono a favorire gli autori che generano più vendite. Ma questo approccio può creare notevoli difficoltà.

Lasciatemi parlare del mio caso personale: vivo in Inghilterra, mi occupo della casa e della famiglia mentre mia moglie lavora. L'idea di girare l'Italia per fiere e firmacopie è per me impossibile, sia per questioni logistiche che economiche. Questa realtà può scontrarsi duramente con le aspettative di un editore tradizionale.

Quindi, cari colleghi autori, prima di scegliere il vostro prossimo editore, considerate attentamente:

1. Che tipo di promozione offrono?

2. Quanti (e a volte quali) libri vi suggeriscono di acquistare?

3. Siete disposti e in grado di partecipare a eventi in presenza?

Se la risposta all'ultimo punto è negativa, forse il self-publishing potrebbe essere una valida alternativa. I soldi risparmiati in viaggi potrebbero essere investiti in pubblicità online, creazione di video promozionali o incontri virtuali con i lettori.

Ricordate anche che il self-publishing offre un maggiore controllo sulle vendite. Non sono rari i casi di autori che si sono trovati in disaccordo con gli editori riguardo ai numeri di vendita. Ho letto di un autore che, convinto di aver venduto almeno 70 copie, ne ha trovate solo 7 nel resoconto annuale dell'editore. Ora la questione è finita in tribunale.

Ergo, se optate per una casa editrice tradizionale, assicuratevi che sia seria e trasparente. Altrimenti, il "fai da te" del self-publishing potrebbe rivelarsi la scelta migliore. L'importante è essere consapevoli delle proprie possibilità e limiti, scegliendo il percorso che meglio si adatta alla propria situazione personale e professionale.

Il vostro successo come autori non dipende solo dalla qualità della vostra scrittura, ma anche dalla vostra capacità di navigare le complesse acque dell'editoria moderna. Scegliete con oculatezza e a ragione veduta e non abbiate paura di esplorare strade alternative se quelle tradizionali sembrano irte di ostacoli.

Les Fantômes du Passé

Chers lecteurs francophones,

dans quelques semaines, "Les Fantômes du Passé", déjà publié en italien et en anglais, sera également disponible en français sur Amazon.

Il s'agit d'une pièce qui, derrière sa simplicité, cache des significations profondes auxquelles beaucoup d'entre nous peuvent s'identifier.

Dans un bar de la banlieue de Naples, Antonio retrouve son vieil ami Giorgio, avec qui il n'a pas parlé depuis des décennies. Tous deux décident de passer la journée ensemble, entre souvenirs et confessions, pour un voyage au plus profond de leur vie et de leur passé tumultueux. Antonio et Giorgio se souviennent de leurs années d'adolescence, lorsque leur amitié a été soudainement interrompue sans raison apparente. Ils retracent les choix et les parcours de vie qui les ont éloignés l'un de l'autre. Ils font face à de vieilles rancunes, des jalousies, des malentendus.

J'espère que l'appréciation que j'ai eue pour les précédentes versions sera la même pour la version française.

LPR

AvA SiLiCa's Ghost in the Machine on Audible

Dear friends,

I am excited to announce the publication of "Ghost in the Machine" by AvA SiLiCa on Audible.

I am the proud narrator of this book, and I invite you all to listen to it.

It's a dialogue between the author and an AI tool known as Claude AI.

I hope you will enjoy it!

LP

Inspiring the Next Generation of Engaged Citizens with "Politics for Young Minds"

I am a politico, a civic nerd, and I am passionate about convincing young people to be, too. They are the leaders of tomorrow, after all. So, I am very proud to announce my latest book, Politics for Young Minds (12+).

And given that political polarisation and fake news are destabilising democratic governments and political parties worldwide today, young people are more important than ever to be grounded in the essential principles of how governments and political systems operate. Politics for Young Minds covers all the fundamental bases, from the origins of politics in ancient civilisations to the role played by political parties, elections, legislatures and more.

This book delves much more profoundly than listing facts. By using a funny writing style, incorporating real-life examples and lots of questions, and using them and their families to help children relate to the subject, I’ve tried to make these topics enjoyable to read about. After all, when did learning by rote ever ignite genuine curiosity?

The thing to which I am perhaps most attached in the book is the deliberate way in which I lay out two sides of an issue fraught with controversy. I wanted to avoid the sort of dogma that can be preached to young people, or anything that persuasively makes a case for one simplified view of an issue, and instead encourage kids to create their shades of grey through their own mind’s eye once they encounter a spectrum of information. I think it’s so valuable for them to see these multiple views of things: to source fact, to have nuanced arguments, to hear what people have to say and to be able to listen respectfully to alternative viewpoints.

A book about the importance of both technology and social media? A book about the role of race, sexuality and gender in politics? One that considers how you can be a good citizen, even when it seems everyone is shouting at each other? It’s not exactly a series that fits into a college catalogue! But I would hope that, just as they’ve built up a foundation of political knowledge, students would also build up a lifelong interest in being an informed citizens.

As the saying goes, ‘the children are the future’ – but I would say they are also very much the present. Young people’s voices and perspectives must be listened to and included in policy-making because they are integral members of society and deserve a say. The earlier we encourage political literacy and engagement among young people, the sooner they will grow up to demand a better world.

Thus, I recommend Politics for Young Minds to any teen readers who think they can be ‘the change they want to see in the world’, parents wanting to encourage their children’s political engagement, or teachers seeking a new pedagogical stimulus. Let’s create a generation of politically astute, activist-minded citizens who can lead us into a better world.

What’s your first memory of politics or government affecting your life? I’d love to hear your stories! Contact me by any possible means. I always reply to my readers, especially the young ones. For more information on the book, go to Amazon!