“Breathing fresh life into mythical tales”: Reader Zahir’s review of my Ramayana Series
Excerpt from a brief review by reader Zahir on muskorzahir blog.
It IS an Epic Undertaking, one that demands keen insight sieving through the herculean task of accessing.. grasping.. sifting.. breathing fresh life into mythical tales that few get to read.. yet retaining their ’soul’.. their essential values unobtrusively enmeshed as a ‘lifestyle’ within the folds of time.. aspects of characteristics coming alive in quiet reflections of ourselves..
Banker’s back! And I’ve got some news for you! :-)
UPDATE: Have revised this post. Watch this blog for further updates.
Hey there. A big warm hello-hug from me here in aamchi rain-blown wind-washed wave-tossed Mumbai.
Some breaking news from the Bankerverse.
AKB Books is an imprint designed to bring back books by me that have fallen out of print but are still in demand with readers – and will be mainly sold online in a new ebookstore being set up as part of my revamped website right here at www.ashokbanker.com.
Some of you have written to ask me if the titles issued under the AKB Books imprint will also be available in bookstores. As of now, the answer is possibly, yes – but not just yet. The whole point of AKB Books was to make it possible to buy books directly from my website, online, on a demand basis. It was never meant to be a publishing business in the usual sense. Merely a facility for readers to get copies of my out-of-print books, and rare collections of stories and works that never made it into printed form.
For instance, the first book in the imprint is going to be VORTAL: Shockwave, the long-awaited print edition of my online serial fantasy thriller that I began in 2000 and finally completed in 2008! (See cover image below.)
But as time passed and the requests for books and editions piled up, I had to expand the scope of my plans.
So as of now, AKB Books will also include international editions of books to which I haven’t sold foreign rights, or choose not to sell foreign rights to, for various reasons.
For example, as of now, my Ramayana Series is published exclusively in India. I have taken back the world rights from the various publishers and all those rights (apart from Indian publication rights) vest with me.
So the final two books in the series, Vengeance of Ravana and Sons of Sita will be published under the AKB Books imprint, alongwith AKB Books editions of the first six books, with smart new covers, and fully revised, corrected and enhanced text! (For those of you in India, it may not make much of a difference, but for those of you who have read US, UK, German, French, Bulgarian, Thai Bhasha, Japanese, or other foreign editions of any of the first six books, the difference will be at least 10% of the text, and in some editions, as much as 30%! Yes, that’s how much the foreign editors and publishers chose to alter, cut, revise and otherwise maul.)
The entire series of Ramayana Series graphic novel adaptations, one graphic novel for each of the eight books in the series, will also appear internationally under the AKB Books imprint.
Then my upcoming new novel GODS OF WAR, the first part of five, will be published internationally under the AKB Books imprint. (In India, it will be published in a separate exclusive edition by Penguin Books.) The cover image below is the final cover flat of the AKB Books edition. 
AKB Books will ship worldwide for nominal postage charges, and will be published to the best professional standards. Professionally edited, designed, typeset and overseen by yours truly. The first book is already in hand, and if it’s any indication, then I have to say, AKB Books is going to be an imprint you’re going to take note of and remember!
Author at Work!
Hi there.
I’m currently embarking on another long writing schedule. This one may last weeks, or months, or several months, can’t really say for sure right now. I’ve already shut down my social networking completely as of today and will only check the Readerswrite Page on this blog very occasionally. So please don’t feel upset if I don’t reply as promptly as I used to, or don’t reply at all.
My advice would be for you to leave your comments without expecting a response – if you do get a response, consider it a bonus!
As you know, I’ve been interacting nonstop with readers for the past several years, and as the counter on the Readerswrite Page attests, I’ve personally been contacted by and replied to well over 20,000 readers to date! I think you’ll agree that I’m entitled to some ‘time off’.
Meanwhile, my books will continue to speak for themselves.
Penguin India, August 2009You’ll find up-to-date information about new publications here on this blog, as well as on my official website which is undergoing a major redesign – Epic India should be up and running by late July or early August, and it will feature lots of new material, info about my books, other projects, and in time, insights into my writing process, research, and various matters related to Indian culture, myth, and itihasa.
So even if it seems like I’ve gone underground for a while, and become even more low-profile than usual (no-profile is probably a better way to phrase it), don’t worry. The work will still keep coming out, and it will speak for itself.
In fact, it’s because I want to focus more on the work that I’m reducing my online time and interactivity. So in the end, you stand to benefit the most.
As always, thank you for your continued support of me and my work. You make it possible for me to write and publish books that I truly believe in and feel passionately about, and I always appreciate that fact.
Be well. Love all. Find Peace. And Read some good books…not just mine! 
Ashok K. Banker
Andheri (W)
Mumbai, India
Sold out on pre-order! 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 