Cats, good books, AI, and religious walking in the city of Sofia
Something makes my name difficult to say and hear. English speakers tend to confuse it with a random Russian last name, the Greek Vasilij, or Vaseline. Bulgarians improvise around it, surprised when they hear it.
On the photo – Vasilen, actually not a bad interpretation because it’s close to a real name. 4/7
Somewhere around the Technical University.
At the heart of Sofia. To the left is a place called Koloni (columns), and ahead is Garibaldi. The clock tower of the long gone KTB bank would still ding enthusiastically. You have a choice of fast food, confectioneries and book shops. It’s ordinary.
Reusing old tires for gardening purposes is very common in Sofia, especially for protecting plants and small trees. The results are of varying quality. Here’s a tire swan.
5pm on a warm Sunday. I’m about to visit a book signing for a genre of books that almost ceased to exist in the late 90s. It’s in Lozenets, an expensive neighborhood located on a hill, in what looks like a residential building. There are no signs. I’m looking left and right. Am I at the right place? I see a door open and decide to get in. 10-15 meters after, there is another door that appears to be locked and a staircase leading downstairs to the right. I see bookshelves everywhere seemingly unattended. Perhaps I’m at the right place. Shall I keep going down to page 17? Or perhaps I should force the door (page 27)? In case I carry a little angry dog in my backpack, turn to 7.
This is the wiring style of gamebooks, and the new one is a 2nd edition of a rare book published in the 90s by Lubomir Nikolov, most copies of which have been lost or thrown away.
I kept walking down and found a large room, perhaps a bar, full of folks about my age. Why would anyone build such a large room 2-3 floors under a residential building?
I entered, got my book with an autograph, chatted with people, and it was fine.
The first game book published in Bulgaria was by the same author Lubomir Nikolov – Fire Desert. It started a genre and a community that inspired me to write and later to code. I’m not a very active member of this community but I buy the new books to support it and read some of them. If you want to try that but don’t speak Bulgarian, try Blood Sword.
Veselin.blog 