Dragons, elves and assassins: these are the Marches of the fantasy magician Gregorio Antonuzzo, aka G.McAnton, creator of Fiastra Fantasy and Keemar, a highly successful trilogy and initiative that has transformed our territory into a cradle of fights epic. All with the aim of illuminating the region hit by the 2016 earthquake with a new and different light, a fantastic light. Among the recognitions, the first prizes at Lucca Comics in 2019 and at the Marche Chamber of Commerce in 2023.
G. McAnton, what is Keemar and what happens at Fiastra Fantasy, the event you created which attracts thousands of visitors every year from all over Italy and beyond?
“Keemar is a kingdom and a trilogy of fantasy books to experience, as well as read. It is the anagram of the name of the Marche and it is no coincidence that the geographical shape of the Marche returns in the wings of the dragon that stands out on the logo of the world of Keemar. I moved from Germany to this fantastic territory as a teenager with my family. I am a fantasy writer and the beauty of these landscapes inspired me with incredible stories, including orcs, dwarves and necromancers. I had the idea of making my characters come to life creating events like Fiastra Fantasy, which every year give anyone the opportunity to enter the kingdom of Keemar, that is, into a fantasy adventure, as a hero, choosing their own destiny as in a role-playing game, and therefore interpreting the plot in a personal way in the places that inspired the stories”.
However, the purpose of Fiastra Fantasy is not just recreational…
“No, the meaning of Keemar is civic: when the Marche region was hit by the 2016 earthquake, I thought of an event like Fiastra Fantasy that could help it rise again. In the last Fiastra Fantasy we almost reached ten thousand attendees and this facilitates a recovery of tourism I also organize Keemar events in Morrovalle, San Ginesio, San Liberato. The style and spirit is always the same: literature in the territory, the territory in literature”.
How did your passion for writing begin and how did you go at school?
“When I arrived from Germany, I was disoriented; I started writing to fill the loneliness, and also because, in the world I created, I could make everything go the way I wanted. At school, Italian was the most difficult subject for me. I still remember my essays as “lakes of blood” full of errors, but I am living proof that a weakness can become a strength.”
Did the city of Macerata in particular inspire you for any setting of your trilogy?
“Yes, I can reveal that the stairs and the square in which Black Petal and Reogard move in the second chapter of the first book of the Trilogy are inspired by Piazza della Libertà with the very suggestive Clock Tower”.
Advice for young writers?
“The “bones” of every story, that is, the skeleton, are more or less always similar but a good text lives on changes and emotions, like us: a story is interesting when something messes up the cards and when the reader manages to identify with the protagonists, which is why we need to work a lot on the psychology of the characters.”
Ludovica Apolloni, Sonia Cavallini, Nicoli Cespedes, Ludovica Frattari, Dario Giorgini, Lucrezia Lorenzetti, Elena Mariottini, Adelaide Moschini, Flavia Quaranta, Leonardo Salvucci, 3rd C
