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November 12, 2015

Book Blast: When Our Worlds Collide by Aniesha Brahma

About the Book:

Akriti has led a pretty much sheltered life. 

Zayn has been shuttled from city to city when he was growing up. 

She is comfortable watching her life from the sidelines. 

He wants to feel rooted to a place he can call ‘home’. 

They meet each other quite by chance. 

And both seize the chance to be someone they both need in their lives: 

For Zayn, it’s a 'Partner-In-Crime'. 

For Akriti, someone who just knows how to be there for her… 

When their worlds collide, 

It is not what either of them expected it to be. 

Zayn has a steady girlfriend. And Akriti has a crush on him. 

What happens when these two become friends? 

The biggest adventure of their lives? Or the road to heartbreak? 

What happens when two completely different people collide? 

Do they become friends? Or, is their friendship doomed from the start? 

'When Our Worlds Collide' is the story of two twenty-three-year olds, Who are finally growing up and finding their feet in the world. 

A tale of friendship and love, crushes and betrayals, messes and second chances, Marriage and divorce… and the elusive happily ever after! 


Book Links:

Goodreads I Amazon


What inspired When Our Worlds Collide? 
(Background of how I came up with the plot.)



I guess the thing that I intrigued me was the fact that it’s not always about the happy ending. Sometimes, it just the story that is more important. Because if every girl who fell in love with a guy, got her feelings reciprocated and rode off into the sunset, it wouldn’t be real life. It would be a fairy tale. I did not want to write a fairy tale. I wanted to write a story that seems real, that people could relate to.



So I thought about this girl called Akriti who develops a crazy crush on a guy she meets quite by accident. She realizes later on that she would never act on those feelings because he has a girlfriend. A girlfriend that I did not put in the story as an obstacle, but as something that is very much a part of our lives. How often have you heard the joke, “everyone I like is either gay or taken?”



When I first began to paint Zayn with words, he was not called Zayn. He was called Piyush. In a short story called, “The Walk” (which is up on my blog), Akriti and Piyush take an evening stroll through Gariahat, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen. But once I concluded that short story, I felt as though there was more to their story. They could not just be friends who met up, walked and talked.

I began to piece together their histories, how their lives would intertwine with each other, how they would be drawn to each other’s lives like magnets against all odds. I wrote out the entire plot outline, added the secondary characters of Ayoub, Suzanna and Surbhi. (Each of them scheduled to appear for an interview of their own on my blog.)



Akriti and Zayn’s story basically tests the limits of their friendship. I am sure people can relate to it. They would be able to relate to the drama, the fun and the heartbreak that accompanies crushing on your friend.



After fleshing out the story a little, I decided to do something that I had never done in my earlier works. I decided to introduce characters from another work of fiction of mine in this story. The other novella would then act as a companion to this novella. So, that was a lot of fun. We will let you guess who those characters might be because we want readers to tell us who they want to read about next!

A question that I am sure will be asked of me is if this story was based on real life. Well, I am always inspired by real life. In fact, sometimes I put people I know into my stories. One such example for this particular tale is Suzanna was inspired by Diptee di, and she picked out the name herself. Although she named her character after the Suzanna from Ruskin Bond’s short story and novella, Susanna’s Seven Husbands. I just insisted on using a different spelling.



As for who Akriti, Zayn and Ayoub are based on: well, some elements for Akriti were borrowed from some pretty women I know. Ayoub was a figment of my imagination, and Zayn had been based in part on someone that I used to know. But my imagination made him into someone I wanted him to be. Not the person that he really was.



Coming back to When Our Worlds Collide, I was determined to tell the story of a mad crush and how it ends realistically in the story. Do they get their fairy tale happy ending or don’t they? You will just have to read the novella yourself to find out.



About the Author:

Aniesha Brahma knew she wanted to be a writer since she was six years old. She was schooled in Dolna Day School and went on to pursue B.A., M.A., and M.Phil in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur Univeristy. She currently lives in Kolkata, with her family and five pet cats. The Secret Proposal was her debut novel, followed by The Guitar Girl. She was a contributing author with her story The Difference, in the anthology: Voices, Old & New. When Our Worlds Collide is her third work of fiction, and first novella.



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November 06, 2015

Book Blast: Faith Of The Nine by Sachin Dev


About the Book:

The Third Yuga is slowly drawing to a close. Nam – the greatest Empire on Janani – is going to face some fierce winds of change. Seers foresee omens of death and destruction in the return of the Banished One – A God who will claim the ashes of this world as revenge. While out in the streets, rumours abound - of older forgotten powers stirring.


Caught in this maelstrom of a power struggle between Gods are three ordinary lives: General Fateh, the most celebrated soldier in Nam who starts to question his faith, Ishan – a gifted orphan who struggles to comprehend his destiny and Abhaya – a young monk in search of truths about this world. Their choices and actions will shape the destiny of this scarred world that becomes the playground for vindictive Gods.


In a world where Rakshasas arise out of left-over traces of Maaya and twilight forms the portal to countless worlds around us for Daityas and Yakshis to dance through, a God is only as powerful as those who believe.And when Gods rise, faith of men will be tested…And broken.


Buy Links:

eBook: Newshunt * Google Play



Fantasy for Adults


When you usually ask around for
recommendations for Fantasy for adults, you end with Game of Thrones at the top
of the list. Followed perhaps by scores of Shannara books. (Which by the way
are still coming out! Terry Brooks is a phenomenal author!)

Because for most of us ( especially more so
in a country like India) we are wary of being found reading a book whose cover
looks like Chandrakanta the old Doordarshan series we used to watch as kids. So
we still get by with the Harry Potter series and sometimes don’t think much
beyond.
So I’ve been reading only fantasy (or
broadly speculative fiction that counts Fantasy as one of the main streams –
Sci-fi & Horror being the other mainstay besides countless sub-genres) for
the last fifteen years now. Ever since I picked up LOTR & Dune ( by Frank
Herbert. Masterpiece! ) in college. I’ve suffered looks of disdain by
colleagues/ fellow travellers as I was nose-deep in some fantasy western (Namely
– Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. Yes. He writes stuff outside of horror
too!) But I cared less than the backside of a rodent for such. I was living in
a different world and I was loving it.

So this, is an attempt to list down some
fantastic gems I discovered during this journey of mine and to let the broader
world be aware that Fantasy has come a long way from the tales of a young farm
boy setting out to find his destiny (which involved throwing a beautiful ring
into the volcanic fires of Mordor!) I will also try and slot them into
different sub genres as I know them. Makes it easier for recommending, right?

Epic
fantasy.  
Magic
that will leave you spell bound. Political manoeuvrings. Tricky backstabbing. Adventure.
Kingdoms or worlds at stake. All this and more!
Mistborn
Trilogy & the on-going Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson
. The on-going series is a massive ten part magnum opus and it
reflects all things great and fun about the genre. Cannot recommend enough of
this guy. He is prolific when it comes to writing. Churning out at least 1-2
books every year. Year after year.
Promise
of Blood ( Powder Mage trilogy # 1) by Brian McClellan
. Sometimes called Flintlock fantasy This guy is setting the fire to
the keg with this explosive debut novel in this series that deserves to be read
more.
Gentlemen
Bastards series by Scott Lynch
– Chronicling the
life and adventures of a thief and petty crook, Lock Lamora and his friends,
this is also one stunning piece of work that any lover of mayhem and adventure
should definitely be getting his hands on. Lies
of Lock Lamora
sets up the rollicking pace of this series and it’s on
book-3 now – with the rest of the books eagerly awaited. You should jump onto
this ship. 

Grim
Dark Fantasy.
This is modern fantasy with a lot of
writers jumping into bandwagon. Brutal, gritty, splashed with blood and gore –
and darker themes explored.
Malazan
Book of the Fallen
– 10 book series that is
COMPLETE and mind blowing by Steven
Eriksen
.
Any book by Joe Abercrombie. This guy is truly the emperor of this sub-genre
with his brilliant books setting out to explore darker spaces within a man’s
mind.
Broken
Empire by Mark Lawrence
. Be warned, this books may
be a bit too intense but are shining example of what a writer can do to twist
the readers into his dark worlds. It features a 11-year old sociopath who sets
out to conquer the world.
Prince
of Nothing trilogy by R Scott Bakker
. If you like
your fantasy philosophical, dark and heavy this is your one stop. His second
trilogy is incomplete and eagerly awaited.

Military
fantasy.  
Yes,
there is something like this. And Myke
Cole
’s first trilogy starting off with Control Point is a wonderfully
accessible entry point into such worlds. Combining the best of military fiction
with fantasy worlds.

Silk
Road Fantasy
. Again a recent phenomenon of readers
getting bored of medieval European settings for their fantasy tales. Notable
books are Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay,
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin
Ahmed
, The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.

There are multiple other books that are
genre-benders mashing up the good things in one genre with another. It’s a gold
mine out there and I would urge all readers who ultimately like a good story to
keep exploring beyond the walls and gates of Hogwarts. 


  
About the Author:

Sachin discovered Tolkien in his teens, alternative rock as a new adult and digital marketing in pretty much his late twenties. These still form a large wedge in his circle of life. Travel, radio and theatre have also figured in that ever-expanding and diminishing circle.


On perhaps a more prosaic note, he is an engineer from BITS Pilani and holds an MBA from Indian School of Business. Attribute the love for numbers and pie-charts to this. He is currently based in Bangalore and happily married to Harini. He spends an inordinately large amount of time chasing after his two dogs (who love the free life a bit too much) when he is not busy dreaming up fantasy worlds full of monsters. And beautiful Yakshis, of course.


He can usually be found ranting on twitter under the handle @xenosach, devouring books and talking about them on his blog. You can always stalk him online at his official website














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