Tag: Bulgaria

Kajanga by Lubomir Nikolov

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

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.

How to climb K2 and Everest – Silvia Azdreeva’s journey

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

I read “To Conquer Yourself” by Silvia Azdreeva yesterday. A woman who likes hiking goes to the Himalayas and climbs Ama Dablam, with no prior high-altitude experience. It’s 288 pages of captivating insanity and by far the best book I had a chance to read in 2024. Makes “Into thin air” sound sane or rookie, with its mild insanity levels, and lack of ambition or real achievement.

You can’t turn a page without thinking that this couldn’t possibly be happening, that it’s made up, that she’s going to give up, or even die. But the evidence is clear – it did happen, and a series of difficult adventures were endured by a woman made of steel, blood, tears, vomit, and a gigantic bowl of emotions. Reading it made me cry several times and then enthusiastically promote it to friends and family, although it looks like mountaineering is not exactly a hot topic out there.

The book is not yet available in English but it should be because it’s powerful and unusual. 5/5.

Skyward

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

A world, surrounded by flying broken machinery. Humans, hiding underground, and under constant attack by alien spaceships. The future is grim but for the youngsters, it all looks like a game and plays like a game. And they, Spensa in particular, will try to game the system. The brand new book 4, published over the last couple of days, might be the conclusion where they’ll defeat at least some of the evil.

The Bulgarian edition is on a very hard cover. Like hardwood cover. I’m not very sure what material they’re made of but it is wood-like, very thick. It’s rough and painful to hold. Perhaps gypsum plasterboard? It is pretty if you don’t look from the side. Paperback was also available but I paid respect to the weird choice by the publisher and bought the strange one. I should remind myself to ask them about the material at the next book fair.

It’s one of the better series by Brandon Sanderson, I recommend it, although I’ve not started “Defiant” yet and don’t know the end. I hope it’s not a tragedy.