Author Interview : Charu Aganpal

Author Interview : Charu Aganpal

Hello everyone,
Today I am going to introduce you to the author of 'Budding Thoughts'

Let's start!

1)Can you tell me a little bit about yourself ?
My name is Charu Aganpal born and brought up in Delhi. A psychologist by profession and writer by passion. I believe in the mantra that no hill is tough to climb so see you at the top.

2)When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer ?
Well, I used to be fascinated reading quotes and writer’s name along with it in my school days and that’s where I realized that may be one day I would want someone to go through my writings and be inspired to walk on the same path.

3)When did you start writing ?
I started to write in my school days, I initially started to write quotes, then poetry and finally tried my hand on writing short stories on life.

4)What is budding thought about ?
Budding Thoughts is a book on short tales if life. It is an amalgamation of different rushes of emotions like happiness, pain, ecstasy etc which teaches us to embrace them all. Above all this book will revive your faith in humanity.

5)What motivated you to write this book ?
Things that motivated to write this book are : firstly, to inspire people with my words , to make my identity visible and to spread a deep message about humanity.

6)Are all the stories in this book of same genre or different ?
The stories in the book put light on different emotions in a deep way be it happiness, pain, sadness, ecstasy, all are well highlighted in the book and the readers can connect to it naturally.

7)What is the best experience you’ve gained through writing ?
The best experience I believe any writer can gain through writing is putting forth one’s deep emotions on a piece of paper and giving it a life and a soul in a way that one can connect and identify  to all the characters .

8)How do you handle negative feedbacks ?
Well, I believe everybody has an opinion, so positive feedbacks are icing on cake , whereas negative feedbacks makes you understand where you can improve in your writing, until and unless they really mean to  convey the genuine improvements that are needed and not the hate messages or the trolling per say.

9)Who is  your favorite Indian and foreign author?
My all time favorite authors are : Robin Sharma (A Canadian author of Indian origin )for hois inspiring writings  and Paulo Coehlo for his super mesmerizing novels.

10)What are your future plans ?
Future plans are to do more justice to my career as a psychologist, grow further in my field of writing and successfully get on the path of self growth spreading love and humanity.

11)How soon can your readers except your next book ?
Hopefully, in a span of few months as my next book is on collection of poems and I believe with God’s grace I will present  my second book to my readers real soon.

12)Any message to all aspiring authors ?
Don’t calculate your writing, as emotions if calculated like mathematics  will loose it’s essence and purity, just pour your heart out on a piece of paper and the world will have an add on to the list of great writers. Wish all you aspiring writers Goodluck.

Thanks for reading.

Book Review : Victims for Sale

Book Review : Victims for Sale

Title - Victims For Sale
Author - Nish Amarnath
Publisher - Harpercollins
Genre - thriller/fiction
Pages - 324
Format - paperback
.
.
The story revolves around protagonist Sandhya Raman, stringer for the BBC, who lives as a paying guest with a decent  family, the Sawants. Everything appears normal but suddenly Sandy finds something mysterious and abnormal about the family members.  One thing leads to another and Sandy soon finds herself involved in an investigation which places her and her friends under the threat of losing their lives . Grab the book and read the nerve chilling mystery!
.
.
Review -
1) The cover of the book is eye catching and perfect.
2) The title of the book is totally relevant to the content.
3) The plot of the story is interesting and spectacular. It is a perfect blend of crime, suspense, thrill with lots of twist and turns.
4) The story is a perfect emotional drama and all the emotions have been beautifully narrated by the author.
5) The author has amazingly described the places and circumstances as the story is set in London.
6) The book is divided into 17 chapters  and is  reader-friendly.
7) Language used is simple and lucid.
8) The characters are well developed and described by the author. Sandy's character is portrayed well.
9) The flow of the book is fast paced which keeps the readers hooked till the end.
10) Overall, a page turner,  psychological thriller.
.
.
Rating - 4.3/5
.
.
I recommend this book to all, specially thriller lovers out there.

About the Author

Nish Amarnath debuted as an author at eighteen with The Voyage to Excellence, a critically acclaimed business biography. She has received awards for her short stories from Scholastic and Infosys, among others. Amarnath was managing editor at Euromoney Institutional Investor and a senior journalist at S&P Global, formerly McGraw Hill Financial, where she was nominated for the Alerian MLP Awards [AMMYS] in 2017. She previously led a public diplomacy mandate for the UK Government on behalf of an affiliate of French multinational, Publicis Groupe. Her articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Street, International Business Times, India Today, The Hindu, The New Indian Express and Times of India's city supplements, among others. She holds post-graduate degrees in media communications and journalism from The London School of Economics and Columbia University, where she was a James W. Robins reporting fellow. Her enterprise story, 'Citi and its Scuffle with the Watchdogs', originally a Master's thesis for Columbia University reviewed by Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind, was published separately as a book in 2014. A former Londoner, she now lives in New York City.

Thanks for reading.

Author Interview : Sambit Daspatnaik

Author Interview : Sambit Daspatnaik

Hello everyone,
Today I am going to introduce you to the author of 'The Last War'.

Let's start!

1)Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Sambit: I started writing at a young age. I used to experiment writing on a broad range of genres. As I grew up, I was attracted more towards science fiction. In science fiction, my writing interests are in ancient aliens, mythology and space travel. I am also a painter and love photography.
I did my schooling from St. Francis De-Sales (SFS) Higher Secondary school, Nagpur. I completed Electronics Engineering from Nagpur University and Post Graduate in Business Management from Symbiosis, Pune. I am an IT software professional currently residing in Hyderabad, India.
My debut book “The Last War & Other Stories” is a mythological science fiction story. The book also includes many short science fiction stories in different genres of thriller, mystery and suspense.

2)When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Sambit: It was way back in my childhood when I wrote a mystery story that got appreciation in my circle. My first science fiction story was printed by my uncle Mr. A.K Hazra in the yearly Durga Puja souvenir. I was in school then, and at that time, getting a story in print form was a big thing. I was excited. And like it happens, that further grew my motivation into writing.

3)When did you start writing?
Sambit: I took writing seriously during the professional phase of my life. I had shared a few sample stories with my friends and relatives who really liked it and motivated me to get them published. Due to my professional and personal commitments, I would write whenever I got time. Finally I decided to publish my first book last year. That’s when my family and especially my sister Mrs Sunya and my wife Ishita stood by me and helped me with the proof reading and editing.

4)What is 'The Last War and Other Stories ' about?
Sambit: I recently launched my debut book ‘The Last War & Other Stories’. The book has a main story (It’s more of a Novella) ‘The Last War’ which is a mythological science fiction war thriller. The rest of the stories are short science fiction stories dealing with different concepts such as spirituality, space travel, infinite energy and resurrection of a dying star. I wrote these stories at different periods of my life. The reason to publish them together was to give my readers a variety of genres to explore with.
I self-published my book with the help of my publisher Evincepub publishing (https://evincepub.com/).  Special thanks to my publisher (Aashi, Vikram and Neha) for making my book launch a success.

5)What motivated you to write this book?
Sambit: We have a spiritual environment in our family. I grew up listening to mythological stories from my grandmother Bishnupriya, my mother Alaka and my father Santanu. At the same time, my inclination has always been towards science and future technologies. So, my main story ‘The Last War’ reflects on a scientific touch to mythology. For that matter, the story ‘The Holy Temple of Eula’ has a deep spiritual message. The story ‘Blink’ was influenced by my wondering ‘what if’ humans had feline eyes.

6)Are all the stories in this book of same genre or different?
Sambit: My book deals with different genres within science fiction. The main story ‘The Last War’ is a ‘mythological science fiction’ that deals with our ancient past from a scientific perspective. It suggests possibilities of us humans, being constantly guided by the Sky Gods and being advanced spiritually and scientifically. As far as a war is concerned, even the Gods take the decision on wars after pondering a lot over it. In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna tried his best to manage a truce between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. War was the last resort to protect dharma (righteousness). After the Mahabharata war was over, it led to pain, agony due to the loss of near and dear ones. There was a dark age for a generation since most of the kingdoms across Bharata were without a king to lead and rule their people. There is a special mention of Arjuna going across the land on the advice of Lord Krishna to re-establish the kingdoms.
My story ‘The Holy Temple of Eula’ has a deep spiritual message that makes the reader realize that true answers lie within, irrespective of how far we travel in the universe. My story ‘Blink’ raises the hope of every individual to think beyond the situational crisis that life offers at times, be it even in the midst of a space travel. There are other short science fiction stories like the ‘Genesis’ and ‘Resurrection’, which makes the readers to explore different possibilities and question ‘What if’. I experimented on the amalgamation of various genres within science fiction realm to provide the readers with a lot of variety. 

7)What's the best experience you've gained through writing?
Sambit: I think the best experience through writing has been to reach out to the readers through this medium to share knowledge, learning and experience through the stories. I personally believe that we can share wisdom and learning subtly through storytelling, as it helps connect more with the readers. I love the interactions that I am having with my readers.

8)How do you handle negative feedbacks?
Sambit: In life we get feedbacks from our parents, guardians, mentors and seniors in both personal and professional life. That helps us to improve ourselves as an individual and as a professional. So, it’s important for us to learn especially from negative feedbacks too. My book has received a lot of positive feedback. There have been a few negative constructive feedbacks from my readers. I thank them for that. In fact, I am humbled with the negative feedbacks as it helps me reflect on what can I do better in my next piece of work. Also, we must appreciate the fact that every individual has his/her own perspective.

9) Who are your favorite Indian and foreign authors?
Sambit: I read more of non-fictions compared to fictions. Also, I do not restrict myself to any specific genre.
Paulo Coehlo (The Alchemist is my all-time favorite), Rhonda Byrne (The Secret), Dr. Brian Weiss (his series of books on past life regression therapies), Devdutt Pattanaik (on mythology) are some of my favorites. I also loved the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.

10) What are your future plans?
Sambit: Of all my science fiction genres, I enjoyed writing on the mythological and spiritual genres. So stay tuned for more on this.

11) How soon can your readers expect your next book?
Sambit: Many of my readers have approached me on this subject as they are eager to read more, especially on ‘mythological science fiction’. I write whenever I get time from my hectic work schedule and family priorities. Nevertheless I love writing. I hope to come out with my next mythological science fiction probably in a year’s time.

12) Any message to all aspiring authors?
Sambit: The message I want to put across to the readers and authors is to read a lot of books early in their lives. Writing is a beautiful medium to let your ideas and inner voice take shape. Keep writing and you never realize when you are ready to publish your book. If you are keen on mythological or historical fantasies, you need to research a lot. As far as writing science fiction thriller is concerned, explore the unexplored and continuously question “what if?” … and most importantly, stay humble.

Thanks for reading.

Links to buy - 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.in/dp/9389774721

Flipkart - https://www.flipkart.com/last-war-other-stories/p/itm237afb272ca2f?

Book Review : A Chase for evermore

Book Review :  A Chase for evermore

Title - A Chase for Evermore
Author - Alvin Joseph k
Genre - romance/thriller
Pages - 101
Format - kindle
.
.
Jerry and Hima are young lovers who live in the same apartment complex. Call it destiny or coincidence, their love story takes a turn when their lives get intertwined with another couple and they get pulled into the vortex of something big, the gravity of which neither of these couples understands.
From the pen of Alvin Joseph K, the author of What day is Someday, A Chase for Evermore is a fast-paced thriller, set in the backdrop of Kochi, packed with suspense that will make you finish it in one sitting.
The story revolves around young lovers Hima and Jerry who lives in same apartment complex. One day their love story takes a turn when they coincidently get intertwined with another couple Nila and Roy.
To know what are the turns?
What are the coincidences?
And what happens next?
Grab and read the book.
.
.
Review -

1) The cover of the book is eye catchy and the title of the book is mysterious.
2) The plot of this novella is interesting and it is a perfect blend of romance, mystery, thrill with lots of twist and turns.
3) The story is set up in the backdrop of Kochi and description is nicely done.
4) This short novella is divided into 23 chapters which is readers friendly.
5) Language used is simple and flowing.
6) Characters are well developed and described by the author.
7) It is a fast paced thriller which keeps the readers hooked till the end.
8) Overall, an amazing read. Awaiting it's sequel.
.
.
Rating - 4.2/5
.
.
I recommend this book to all adventure and suspense lovers.

Thanks for reading.