INTERVIEW: Indra Das on his debut novel The Devourers

Indrapramit (Indra) Das is an author from Kolkata, India who writes in the fantasy/science fiction genres. I reviewed his debut novel The Devourers when it came out in India last year. Indra is now working as the Speculative Fiction editor for Juggernaut Books, a new publishing company focused on mobile content. I caught up with him after his publicity tour for the US version of The Devourers, published last month by Del Rey.

I know you just finished your US publicity tour for The Devourers. How did it go? 

It went very well indeed, thank you for asking! I went to New York City for the launch, and met my American editor, Mike Braff, along with the entire team behind the book’s publication, promotion, etc. at the Del Rey / Penguin Random House offices. I had a lovely time with them all, and they held a gathering for me at a bar with free copies of the book for the launch. Then I joined them at San Diego Comic-Con, where I was on a couple of panels, and had three signings, and generally promoted the book at the Del Rey booth on the Con floor along with other writers published under the imprint. From there, I went to Seattle for a couple of readings at the University Bookstore and the Two Hour Transport reading series at Café Racer. And finally, Vancouver for one night for a reading at my favourite bookstore there, Pulpfiction Books. It all went so well (thanks greatly to the heroic efforts of the Del Rey team, and the generosity of my friends in all three cities), Comic-Con was as marvelously brain-frazzling as reputed (we sold out all copies of The Devourers at the Del Rey booth), and the panels and signings went better than I could have hoped. None of which necessarily says anything about the future of the book’s long-term cultural impact or sales, but it was a lovely start.

Have you noticed any differences between the novel’s reception in India and the US? 

Absolutely. The book is doing decently for a debut in India, but it’s not had much of a cultural impact, with not many writers or publications talking about it or writing about it (I am of course eternally grateful to the writers and publications who did). It got good reviews, certainly, but I didn’t get the impression that cultural gatekeepers were very interested in looking past the pitch - ‘werewolves in India’— to talk about it as a cross-genre novel rather than declare ‘oh hey, another Indian fantasy novel, those are pretty rare, right?’ and leave it at that.

Crowdfund This: The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Volume 3

If you've spent much time browsing through this blog, you may have noticed how much of a Blaft Publications fan I am. This independent publisher based in Chennai, India specializes in translating the truly forgotten works of literature - the pulpy novels filled with violence, ghosts, detectives, curses, possessions, sex, drugs, and anything else that don't quite fit most people's idea of "quality literature."

The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction series is probably the best example of Blaft's unique selection. The first volume, featuring a wide range of short stories that are primarily detective fiction, was one of Blaft's first publishing endeavors. The second volume featured longer stories, including a complete novel by one of my favorite authors. I have reviewed both volumes here and here.

Now you can help fund a third volume of this fantastic series via Indiegogo.

It will reportedly feature (according to the Indiegogo page) a science fiction epic involving "a race of nitrogen-eating aliens, a disembodied brain, and extraterrestrial encounters with Bill Gates and Angelina Jolie"; another novel by Rajesh Kumar, the world's most prolific living novelist; two detective stories, one involving a psychic informant; and a story by Indra Soundar Rajan, my favorite Tamil pulp author, about a murder and a possessed girl. Sounds exciting!

And, of course, since this is crowdfunding there will be perks! $5 buys you an ebook copy of the published novel. For $8 (India) or $15 (international), you can get a print copy of the published novel.

For $300, Rajesh Kumar will write a novel starring you!!!! Unfortunately, it will be in Tamil, so you're out of luck if you can't read Tamil.

Unless you give them $600, in which case they will translate the Rajesh Kumar novel starring you into English!!!

But wait, there's more! If you give Blaft $1200, you'll get 10 paperback copies of your novel translated into English, with a special painting of your face on the front!!! How cool is that?

Check out the crowdfunding page to see these and other perks. Please help out with getting the 3rd volume of this awesome series published.

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INTERVIEW: Krishnarjun Bhattacharya on Scifi/Fantasy publishing in India and his novel Tantrics of Old

Krishnarjun Bhattacharya is the author of the dark fantasy novel Tantrics of Old, which features an alternate, dystopian version of Kolkata. After writing my raving review of this wonderful novel, I knew I needed to talk to him about his work and the state of fantasy/sci-fi publishing in India.  He was kind enough to agree to an interview, and I'm happy to present our discussion here.

Apart from writing brilliant fantasy novels, Krishnarjun-da has dipped his hands in many areas of art and performance. He has degrees in film direction and video editing, and is also interested in graphic design, photography, and gaming. He was a videogame reviewer for the national magazines SKOAR! and Yuva for more than four years. As part of a residency at Khoj International Artist's Association, he developed a fully functional board/card game in which "every person plays as a Mythical Entity racing each other on the road to Reality, towards and for the right to exist." Playable characters include Cthulu and Edward Hyde. (Readers, if this game sounds as interesting to you as it does to me let me know; maybe we can get Krisnarjun-da to share it with us!) He used his knowledge of film and directing to make a great book trailer for Tantrics of Old, and also designed a shadow play in collaboration with Fourth Bell Theaters to celebrate the book launch.

Pulling on his deep interest in horror, the supernatural, Krishnarjun-da's new project, "Stories of the Supernatural," seeks to explore the power of storytelling. He invites you to join him for "intimate, invisible-campfire sessions" in which you can disconnect from the world and lose yourself in passionately told spooky stories, about the dead, ghosts, wraiths, and spirits. You can contact him for more details about this newest project.

Finally, he is working on the second novel in the Tantrics of Old trilogy, Horsemen of Old, which he hopes will be released by late 2015. This will be followed by the grand finale Myths of Old.

Without further ado, on to the interview: 

Thank you for taking time to talk about your work!

Thank you for your interest! What would you like to start with?

First, could you say something about the state of Science Fiction/ Fantasy publishing in India? Did publishers think that your book would sell? Why or why not?

SFF is having a difficult time in India. The internal workings of the genre, the machines and cogs—these might be getting more attention because of the recent surge in television series delving in fantasy (Game of Thrones comes to mind) but it’s still TV. I think the habit of reading in itself is diminishing. People simply don’t have the time, and if they do, they refuse to invest in a book. The numbers say people don’t want books that make them think. A badly written romance, for example, is easier to read, finish, and possibly throw away.

When you talk about publishing, things are difficult, and publishers are not really supporting SFF authors wholeheartedly (sometimes not at all). I wish they would, and take the genre forward rather than sit back and play it safe with their innumerable grammatically incorrect paperbacks. Like everything else, the market governs the priorities.

 I make it sound extremely dark, don’t I? No, there’s hope. There are people still reading voraciously, a rare species of reader who reads SFF like there’s no tomorrow. I often get letters from them, and I make it a point to remind them how much they matter. SFF authors are also rising in India, and some of them have extremely interesting things to say.

My publisher, Fingerprint! is extremely supportive—I don’t know how much they trusted Tantrics of Old to sell, but they took more than a few leaps of pure faith with me and my harebrained schemes. The Shadow Play, the Book Launch, the Brochure, the publishing of the book itself—they’ve been doing their bit for me. We don’t have funds to rent billboards, of course, but the little things matter the most. We’ll get there if we keep trying, we still need to do more.