In The Works–My Unpublished Symphonies

UPDATED: NOVEMBER 2007

The question I’m asked most frequently these days–and in fact, since my Ramayana series first broke into print–is ‘When is your Mahabharata coming out?’ I’m still not able to answer that question because, as I’ve explained on the Mba Page, until I submit the manuscripts to a publisher, they can’t schedule a publication date. And as I’ve been hinting recently, that might be a while yet. Not for another year or so still, I’m sorry to say, but I’m sure you understand that something as epic as a retelling of the world’s greatest and largest epic takes time, and hopefully, the series will be well worth the wait.

But some of you, a fair number now in fact, are aware that I’ve been working on various other books and projects. I’m told there are ‘fan groups’ on Orkut with a few hundred members dedicated only to speculation about these various books and projects. I’ve even read rumours and gossip on the net about what such-and-such book is about, when it’s likely to be published, and so on. All this is very flattering, and I’m constantly bemused by all this fuss over what’s essentially just one man sitting alone and writing what he feels like when he feels like it. But then the reader I am taps me on the shoulder–or elbows me in the ribs–and says, ‘Hey, they must like your work, or they wouldn’t give a damn.’

So for those of you are interested, here’s a list of works in progress with short notes on where they stand in terms of manuscript completion, revision, publication possibilities, and most of all, the likelihood of their ever seeing print. As those of you who’ve corresponded with me regularly know by now, with me the biggest hurdle is getting myself to agree that a manuscript is publishable, only then does the equally hard search for a publisher begin. I’m relatively blessed right now, thanks to the success of my Ramayana series, to have a publisher in India who loves my work (and those sales figures don’t hurt either) and is willing to publish any good book I write next. There’s no question that the one they (and several other publishers in India) want next is my Mba, but they’re willing to settle for any other good book as well. But that still doesn’t mean I’m going to just give them anything I’ve completed, just because I’ve completed it. Hell, I actually have completed books lying around that I have publishing contracts for, and which my editors think are terrific and want to publish, but I still won’t let them. That’s me.

Anyway, here’s the list. Remember, don’t get too excited. Some or all of these may never see light of day, especially if Banker the Bandmaster vetoes them even after years of research, writing and revisions. On the other hand, they exist, and that’s the point of this list, to tell you that hey, Ashok Banker has written this book about… Now, if only the dude will turn it into his publisher and let it go through the presses, then we can all decide for ourselves whether it’s worth a read or not.

To which I say, sabar ka phal meetha… In other words, patience, dudes and dudettes.

ASHOK BANKER’S WORKS IN PROGRESS

Title: VENGEANCE OF RAVANA: BOOK 7 OF THE RAMAYANA SERIES
Description: Seventh book in the Ramayana series, direct sequel to King of Ayodhya, describing the events that follow immediately after the end of the War of Lanka. Also answers several pending questions raised in the earlier volumes of the series and finally reveals the mystery of the ‘Riddle of Ten’, the real reason why Ravana allowed himself to be vanquished so easily by Rama at the end of the war, and why Ravana began his whole campaigne of persecution against Rama and the moral realm. In this book, Rama also discovers his own true identity at last. How these revelations affect Rama and change him, and his subsequent dilemma when he is faced with the choice of exiling Sita to ‘uphold dharma’ in Ayodhya form the core of this book. Meanwhile, Hanuman, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrugan and Rama’s other friends and allies do battle against a powerful resurgence of forces released by the killing of Ravana and the final accomplishment of the Lord of Lanka’s brilliant campaign. Will Rama and his loved ones withstand and survive the ‘vengeance of Ravana’? Will he succumb and exile Sita unfairly and in defiance of all he feels and believes as a man, a husband, a father-to-be simply to obey his ‘dharma’ as a king? All questions will be answered in this, the seventh and most crucial volume of Ashok K. Banker’s Ramayana series! Dan-dan-dan!
Status: First Draft complete.
Publication: Watch this space.
Forecast: If submitted by Ashok to his publishers, and if accepted by the latter, then it could be published as early as mid-2008. Watch this space for updates.

Title: SONS OF SITA: BOOK 8 OF THE RAMAYANA SERIES
Description: Eighth and final volume of the Ramayana series. Direct sequel to Vengeance of Ravana. I won’t tell you too much about the plot of this one to avoid ruining the suspense of the seventh volume. But the name pretty much telegraphs what you can expect, apart from lots of battles, high drama, and the final resolution of all questions, all conflicts, all mysteries and riddles and enigmas, in this the last and perhaps the most moving and memorable book in the series.
Status: First draft complete.
Publication: If Vengeance of Ravana is submitted and accepted for publication, Sons of Sita will follow close on its heels, nipping sharply. Publication could be as early as late 2008.
Forecast: It’s up to you. See the ongoing discussion on the Readerswrite Page, leave your vote of support, and help nudge Ashok into sending it in to his publishers. For the love of Rama!

Title: SHOCKWAVE: A TALE OF THE VORTAL (aka VORTAL)
Description: Contemporary fantasy thriller, planned as first of a series. Original storyline loosely linked to Iron Gods and AKB’s overall ‘Epic India’ cycle.
Status: Manuscript 100% complete, much-revised. Ready for submission but unsubmitted.
Publication: Uncontracted. Unsubmitted. Originally commissed for and published in multimedia CD-Rom ‘Mahazine’ in 1999-2000. An early draft was later revised and serialized online by AKB himself at Vortal and Vortal Archives. More recently, Puffin Books India editor has read a part of the manuscript and selected an excerpt which will appear in the forthcoming YA anthology titled ‘Shockwave & other Cyber Tales’.
Forecast: Ashok’s 14-year old daughter Yashka is a huge fan of this story and has urged her father to please, please, please publish it soon. Ashok is now ready to submit it to a publisher…someday.

Title: UNTITLED “KALI” GRAPHIC NOVEL for DC/Vertigo Comics (working titles “Age of Kali”, “Road to Kali”, “Becoming Kali”)
Description: A monthly comic book written in multiple-issue story arcs (which will be collected periodically in graphic novels). Story projected to take about 150 monthly issues. Teenage Indian-American becomes reluctant avatar of Kali and, accompanied by unlikely companions, embarks on mission to free the devas who are enslaved on Prithvi-loka by the asuras, find Shiva who has gone missing for millennia, and mate with him to birth Kalki, the last avatar at the end of the Day of Brahma. Your basic let’s save the world by destroying it first story, set in contemporary India (with plenty of side-trips to the mythical as well as historical past), edited by the legendary Karen Berger, illustrated by Peter Gross (of Lucifer fame), and published by DC’s Vertigo Comics division. Film and media rights optioned by Warner Bros.
Status: First story arc written, pencilled, inked and coloured, awaiting final lettering.
Publication: Scheduled for early 2008.
Forecast: Watch this space for publication dates.

Title: IRON GODS (aka The Ganesa Palindrome: Book 1: Palimpsest)
Description: “Post-Mythology” novel, possibly first of a series of 5, original storyline but broadly connected to my overall ‘Epic India’ cycle.
Status: First Draft 75% complete. Unsubmitted.
Publication: Contracted to Penguin Books India. Unsubmitted as of September 2007.
Forecast: AKB intends to relook at the first draft, revise it thoroughly, then finish the end (which he always leaves for last). Hopefully, he’ll do so before end-2007.

Title: VETAAL: THE FIRST VAMPIRE
Description: Original graphic novel. A contemporary supernatural urban thriller which references elements of the Simhasana Dvatrimsika and Vetalapancavinsati to explore the idea that the Vetal of Indian folklore and legend was in fact the first ‘vampire’ and inspired the western myth of the vampire during his travels abroad with the migrating Indian banjaras (a.k.a. ‘gypsies’ to the western world) while fleeing his arch-nemesis ‘Yogi’, the most powerful Sadhu of all time. Also planned as a series of short interlocking thriller novellas.
Status: Graphic novel script partially written.
Publication: No plans. Unsubmitted.
Forecast: Would love to write this further, but where are the publishers willing to take on original graphic novels in India?

Title: GANDHI’S WAR (“Indus Trilogy”)
Description: An alternate history/counter-factual historical fiction series. In the future, India is effectively ‘colonized’ by a clever combination of MNC’s with full-fledged defense authority (much like the East Indian Co. was given permission to maintain standing armies to ‘protect’ their ‘commercial’ interests in India). Everybody is either a consumer or a ‘non-con’. A group of unlikely rebels against the chaffing military-backed commercialism of the western ‘companies’ bands together to find a solution: they accidentally stumble on the scientific basis for the ‘dev-astras’, the legendary weapons of the gods from ancient lore. They then travel back in time and ‘gift’ this secret to a scientist ancestor of one of the group, who happens to be a friend of and supporter of Gandhi and other freedom fighters. The possession of the astras enables Gandhi and the others to confront the British and demand Indian independence without compromises. When the British refuse, partly because of the impending WWII, the more militant faction of the Freedom Fighters, acting expressly against Gandhi’s wishes, unleashes the brahm-astra on English soil to demonstrate their power. This show of power results in WWII being prematurely halted, with several major historical changes resulting–Hitler remains alive and in power in Germany but no Jewish pogrom ensues, no nuclear weapons are detonated in Japan, Russia remains belligerent but unvictorious, the US never enters the war or mobilizes (no Pearl Harbour, Midway, etc), and in the following decades, India becomes the dominant world power, led by Mahatma Gandhi himself. The first book ends with Gandhi praying that the power given to him and his countrymen will not be misused and that the world will finally be at peace, moments before he is assassinated and dies with the words ‘Hey Ram’ on his lips. The second book in the series, set some decades later, opens during the rule of Indira Gandhi with her son Sanjay Gandhi playing a prominent role, in a world dominated by and infused with Indian influences–even in the smallest towns in America and Europe, Bollywood films, music, stars are the rage, and desi food, fashions, styles and thought influence everybody everywhere. ‘Brand India’ is the mantra of globalism, but veiled in a ‘left liberal’ socialist facade. An incident over a movie released in USA which mocks ‘outdated, antiquated’ American and western values and culture, becomes the flashpoint of a major violent confrontation between the western world and their Indian ‘oppressors’. At this point, America revolts and starts a war against India, and the various nations align themselves on either side, some using the opportunity to settle their own old scores (Russia-Germany, Japan-Korea-China, Iran-Iraq, Israel-Middle East, etc, etc) with WWII resulting. Prime Minister and de facto ‘World President’ of the UN, Indira Gandhi, alongwith her spokesperson and Foreign Affairs Minister Sanjay Gandhi, sanction use of the dev astras against the ‘rebels’, leading to global devastation. War, war, and more war results. The third book deals with the assassination of Indira and Sanjay and the rise of a new order of young Indians who seek to end all war and maintain peace through a harmonious co-existence of cultures, both western and Indian, and about their struggle to succeed despite the warmongering of various bloodthirsty revenge-driven factions. The series ends where it began, with a very different world now in place, both better in many ways, and worse in others, and the original group who started it all questioning whether they achieved a better world or worse.
Status: Concept only. Copious notes and research on the historical periods and events and characters, some passages written.
Publication: Hope to write the first several chapters and then decide how to proceed. Unsubmitted.
Forecast: Check back here again in early 2008 to see progress.

Title: SWORD OF DHARMA
Description: The tale of a being who is reincarnated through infinite avatars to do battle against a variety of enemies in different ages, different worlds. (Earlier this was the working title of the follow-up series to my Ramayana books, but I later decided that those books–Vengeance of Ravana and Sons of Sita would be listed as part of the Ramayana series. Sword of Dharma is now a completely independent storyline, and is currently being developed simultaneously for a variety of media, including film, console gaming, MMOG, etc. In fact, it may not be released as a book or series of books first at all, although it’s quite likely that that will follow at some point.
Status: Working.
Production: Development stage.
Forecast: Look for an update in mid-2008. Also keep in touch with The Official Sword of Dharma website.

Title: UNTITLED FANTASY NOVEL (a.k.a. “First To Die”)
Description: A full blown fantasy adventure story set in a non-historical India about three young men who leave their comfortable ’spoiled rich young brat’ lives go on a quest to prove their worth to their fathers, and get tangled in a series of fantastic adventures. Planned as a stand-alone fat fantasy novel.
Status: First draft written.
Publication: Not planned. Unsubmitted.
Forecast: Check back again from time to time.

Title: THE KRISHNA CORIOLIS (aka THE BOOK OF KRISHNA, )
Description: A science fictional retelling of the life and adventures of Krishna, from before his birth to after his death, set in a world where the ancient asura ‘maya’ has developed into a highly sophisticated form of techno-magic that can power interplanetary pushpaks (spaceships), advanced weaponry (astras) and enable great feats of engineering and the construction and maintenance of fabulous cities. The followers of ‘maya’ are allied against the forces of the traditionalists who believe in the old, non-maya ways (Sanskriti) and worship the ancient asuras (e.g. Mahishasura, Prahlada, Ravana, etc) as true Aryas who were denied their rightful place by the power-hungry devas. The followers of Maya are led by Ugrasena’s son Kansa and his allies Bana and others. Into this scenario enters Krishna, an avatar-clone sent down by the devas to wipe out Kansa and his faction and restore the Sanskriti of prithvi-loka. All advanced technology–’swords’ that cut through any substance, spaceships, cable-less elevators, flying chariots, etc–are driven by the force of brahman misapplied by maya.
Status: Draft written. Needs revision.
Publication: Not yet planned. Unsubmitted.
Forecast: Check this space in a few months.

Title: THE PASHA OF PEDDER ROAD
Description: Mainstream novel in the vein of my earlier novels Vertigo and Byculla Boy. Set in Mumbai in the mid-to-late Seventies, the story revolves around a small group of young characters and their families, their experiences in growing up in Mumbai in those eventful years. Disco and Emergency, fears of another Indo-Pak war, or a China invasion. Skylabs falling out of the sky, sexual awakening, rock and roll, Walkmans and VCRs. It’s about parenting and growing up, dreams and death, music and madness. Politics. Families. Ideals. Disillusionment.
Status: A very long first draft and a somewhat shorter second draft exist.
Publication: Unknown.
Forecast: Need to revise the whole book, possibly rewrite it, before offering for publication (if at all). Possibly my best work in the realistic Vertigo vein, if not actually my attempt at writing the “great” Indian novel. Therefore, expect it to take at least another few years before I even figure out what to do with this beautiful monster.

Title: BEAUTIFUL UGLY
Description: Autobiographical script for a documentary adapted to a prose book.
Status: Draft written, needs polishing and revision.
Publication: Unknown.
Forecast: I had spoken about the documentary to the media around mid-2005 when news leaked out about it. The resulting hype that resulted made me decide to never speak about it again, and so, as and when it is completed and released, it will happen without a word of warning from me, or any promotional support. This is a project that is about Ashok the person, not Ashok the author. And whatever I have to say about it, I will say in the book and the documentary, nowhere else. Enough said.

And to see how these and other works all fit together into my overall lifetime writing plan, see the next post, below: The Epic India Library.

Nov 22, 2007 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »