Publishers and flabbergasters!

Last year, I completed the last chapter of Kroniikles. The climax of the book was still reverberating in the annals of my mind when I started searching for publishers. I had searched for publishers once before, almost a year ago when I thought the book was ready. I did loads of research on what a literary agent was and who a publisher was...I found out what goes into considering a proposal, I learnt that I should approach only those publishers who are willing to consider fantasy fiction as opposed to text books ( a strenuous form of prose that leaves young minds drained of all imagination!).

My search was renewed again today, instigated by a simple e-mail from a well known publishing house that they cannot entertain my work because it does not fit into their publishing profile. I was aghast and flabbergasted (if that is at all humanly possible) with good reason. Nevertheless, they have their reasons and I have my woes and thus I began to replenish the depleting stock of publishers in my database. Lo and behold I found that in India we actually have literary agents! I came across several names, smart websites et all and I proceeded with vim vigor and vitality to communicate with them.

What is the point you may well ask to this prepondering note, just that I find the face of publishing slowly changing, why there are self publishing services as well I learnt with pleasant surprise (surprise can at times be unpleasant without being shocking, like bumping into an ex-beau)!

There it goes, another attempt to perk up my resolve and to publish the work that I am very proud to have authored.
Cheerio
Vadhan

Trigund- The Anomaly
Trigundalok, Universe of Venusudhan
Dark!
An inky blackness that was all consuming, light could never penetrate the shadow. It was a cover, a shield, a thick coagulated cloak of utter malignancy that was never meant to reflect illumination.

In the darkness was a presence, so severe was the annulus of that presence that it could wilt a full grown man into a puddle of shriveling mass in the blink of an eye. It was impossible to see through the darkness, it was impossible not to feel the presence within. A dreaded impression was created of a large predator, dank breathe floated out of the inky cloak, immortal, stale, reverberating with primordial impatience.

Palpitating heart, throat dry, choking in fear and repugnancy!

An impression…of a beast in the garb of a King, dressed in dark Royal attire that was no less than pretence, for it was no King hiding within the shadow of its own evil. It was no servant of his subjects, rather a being of lust and retribution. He was an Elder of Creation no doubt but it was an Elder like no other for Kroni cared little for the Creation he had a hand in. When he spoke it was chilling …for when he was heard for the first time, it was difficult not to imagine how such a beast, a dreadful shadow, an anaerobe such as he, could have a melodious voice, a sound of sheer beauty and seduction, deep and resonating.
_____________________________________
“Trigund Rise!”
“My Lord Kroni, I am your humble servant”
“I gift you Jagam, destroy it”
“Yes My Lord”
“Destroy all places of semen and uphold all places of power”
“Yes My Lord”
“You are feminine and therefore you shall have the courage, might and sustainability far greater than anyone else for none that know you know it”
“My Lord”
“I grant you my power, it is a power none can equal for there is nothing like it…prove yourself worthy of it”
“Thank you My Father”

Kroniikles

Kroniikles was inspired by two great works of ancient India, A primordial evil described by a south Indian sect, that is supposed to bring about end of days and the ringing questions in a obscure poem of the Rig Veda. It started as a flash, an idea that rang around inside the empty recesses of my head until it resounded stoutly with innate matter converting it magically into my mind. The idea became a thought and then a collection of thoughts flooded forth like a river in spate and having no dam to contain them, these thoughts began flowing out in words through a powerful and arcane medium, the word processor!

It has humble beginnings for the fabled fable started as a bed time story for my son. It did not start with grand designs but merely as a collection of short, action oriented stories to excite my son's imagination and to lull me to sleep! Then the unthinkable happened. Leaving these stories ringing in my mind and the puppies that I had bought for him behind, my son left me to go live with his mother. There was this vast cold vacuum created in me and I was lost in a place that was bleak and foggy with the road no longer visible. To fill this vacuum I started writing the story of the warrior mage and his friends and their destinies.

Somewhere along the line, the story grew into something wondrous and fulfilling and I realised that after a long long time I was enjoying myself and the second miracle happened, I realised I had made a midlife discovery about myself, such was the power of this discovery that it became an obsession.

So...in between managing and growing a fledgling company from a one room affair to a multinational business venture, entrusted to my care by my trusty bosses, falling in love with a dark sultry beauty (who is now my wife and my biggest constructive critic with my eternal gratitude for her support) and managing the daily humdrum of life between the economic reality of limited resources and unlimited wants (!) I was able to complete hundred and four chapters of fantasy fiction that has Dragons (slightly modified to be a dragon-snake), Gandharvas (love torn nature spirit), Yakshas (Really...really angry powerful nature spirits), Immortal warrior mages (blessed and cursed), Sages (Quirky if you ask me!), Asuras (only have one thing to say ... these guys are awesome!), Devas (Very good lookers, wily and very cool) , Humans (sad past, cynical, free will...the usual) and a Bull God (he loves his plums!) all fighting an evil that is beyond time itself. They have to face Rakshas, anamolous beings, mordant slimes and the abhorrent Elder from beyond creation.

My son and daughter are of course very excited about the book and follow its progress with avid interest, insisting that I should have it published.

Many Indian legends and myths have inspired me on the way and continue to do so. Researching for Kronicles became a road to self discovery about me, my past, my heritage and what I am as an Indian, it also brought me closer to my loved ones and I hope one day in the not too distant future I will reach out to my aeonian readers as well.

Vadhan