Samit Basu » hear ye

Preorder the first Morningstar Agency book!

Samit Basu — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:09:09 +0000

Read the first chapter here.

The book is currently no.1 on the Top new releases on the Flipkart homepage. The book page is here.

It’s fun. Promise.

And the Facebook group is here.

Update:

Just adding a few more sites where online ordering is possible:

Filed under: books, buy, hear ye

Terror on the Titanic cover

Samit Basu — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:02:37 +0000

So, this is my first YA novel, out in June from Scholastic. Turbulence is out from Hachette in October. More info on Terror on the Titanic and the Morningstar Agency series closer to publication date. It’s going to be a fun year.
Cover design is by the supertalented Priya Kuriyan.

Filed under: books, hear ye

I aten’t dead

Samit Basu — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:39:41 +0000

Just working/travelling/living. And meeting truly exciting people. Two films and a book and a comics series to write, all due yesterday, and another book and art project to work on, so the idea of MORE typing is killing. But yet again, I resolve to try.

A comic I’ve been hugely excited about working on (because I pretty much worship my co-writer) is coming out soon. As is another Scholastic book of short stories, Witches and Wizards, which looks like great fun.

Also, Indrajit Hazra’s book is out. Go buy. And Rimi B. Chatterjee’s novel City of Love is launched at the Attic today, 630 pm. See you there.

Unwaba launch, Delhi

Samit Basu — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:09:14 +0000

Date:	Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Time:	7:00pm
Location:	Amaltas Hall, India Habitat Centre

Do come. And bring your friends. There’ll be a short video thingie where I talk about my influences, a quick reading, a discussion with the mighty Nilanjana S. Roy, and ~~drunks~~drinks.

Will post about other events when dates and times are confirmed. Calcutta is Jan 22 at Crossword, more details to follow.

Other new releases

Samit Basu — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:13:49 +0000

Das Fest der Zwerge

This is an anthology of fantasy stories from my German publishers, Piper. One of these stories, The Year of the Ape, starring the Silver Dagger and Kirin, is mine. It’s also in German, and also features a story by (ahem) Ray Bradbury. The theme of the anthology is Christmas/year-end feasts. Available here.

The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma #1

This is a new series from Virgin Comics, written and created by me and drawn by the excellent Ashish Padlekar, who also drew Dave Stewart’s Walk In. It’s not a rewrite of the Panchatantra; it’s a story about characters from old, unfashionable stories trying to survive the onslaught of new mass-market franchises. So the heroes are anthropomorphic representations of central Panchatantra characters – I’m particularly proud of Jack(al) and Bandra, a gun-toting, building-leaping monkey-woman – and their enemies are parodies of cute little monsters, boy wizards, and so forth. Available here.

…And we’re off.

Samit Basu — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:24:35 +0000

So, I went to Khan Market for lunch and then sauntered into a bookstore to look at the New Arrivals section and mourn the fact that my book was missing. Having done so, I was greatly surprised to see that the book, while not amongst the New Arrivals, had nevertheless actually arrived and was lurking in the Indian section, trying not to draw attention to itself.

Go to.

ok, it’s out in Delhi now, which means it might be out this weekend elsewhere, and if it’s not you can yell and break stuff. I will.

Update:

And here is the first piece on it, on IBNlive.com

On the move

Samit Basu — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:31:59 +0000

This is still very tentative, but I believe the wheels are finally moving. Advance copies are here, and so the book should – should – be out within a week. None of this is confirmed, but possibly this weekend in Delhi and early next week for the rest of India. A couple of sites – NBCIndia and Vanish Books – are listing it for sale already, which means stocks should be in. Will post again as soon as I know something definite.

And again, thanks for writing in and asking and looking for the book. Believe me, no one wants to see it on shelves more than I do.

Oh, and also, if you’re in the US, another of my Virgin Comics series is out. The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma, it’s called, and the first issue was published on the 28th of November, says the Internet. Will post more about that soon.

Coming soon…

Samit Basu — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:14:03 +0000

Happiness

Samit Basu — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:29:10 +0000

…is suddenly finding out you’ve been mentioned in a Michael Moorcock article

Indeed, we’ve recently been through a period of restoration and reconsideration rather than a period of experiment and I think there are real economic and social reasons why this is so. While mainstream publishers have become more open to publishing synthetic work, including fantasy and science fiction, they have become less interested in encouraging or supporting experiment. Always somewhat cautious, not to say feeble, about publishing new work, they are further discouraged by booksellers’ increasing reluctance to put genuinely idiosyncratic fiction on their shelves. They are perfectly happy to stock hundreds of copies of bestsellers, like Susannah Clarke or Michael Chabon (both of whom are admittedly of a very high quality) but offer no space at all to writers like Steve Aylett, Stuart Hall, Samit Basu, Sebastian Doubinsky, Zoran Zivkovic and scores of others who are not using so many familiar tropes from either sf or literary fiction. What’s more, these corporate booksellers dictate increasingly to publishers what they can and can’t publish if they wish to stay in business.

Read the whole thing.

Thanks very much Vibhor, who let me know about this, and Sarnath, who was the reason Mr. Moorcock found out I existed. I’m really thrilled. And glad I’m home alone, because I’m going to be horribly smug for the next two hours.

Calling Indian SF and Fantasy writers

Samit Basu — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:10:50 +0000

I’m putting together Indian/diaspora short stories, SF and Fantasy, for an anthology.

3000-6000 words. Deadline 12th November. Payment in royalties in exciting foreign currencies if your story makes it through.

Previously published work is fine. Multiple submissions also fine. Email me your stories with a brief bio.

Also, if you’re a member of a writergroup, or through other interesting circumstances know people who write SF/Fantasy, please let them know as well.

Thanks.