Meet Samit Basu, India’s first and youngest fantasy novelist and the first well-known Indian author to cross over into comics. He is the author of an extremely popular trilogy of fantasy novels, the GameWorld Trilogy, comprising The Simoqin Prophecies (2004) The Manticore’s Secret (2005) and The Unwaba Revelations (2007). The Simoqin Prophecies was written when he was only 22. He has also written comics for Virgin Comics in India. Outlook featured him as one of the Indians under 25 to watch for. He got inspired to start a career as an author during a dull class at IIM (Ahmedabad) while pursuing his MBA.

His most famous work, The GameWorld Trilogy is written in a witty and crisp style that makes you beg for more. He liberally uses puns, tangential references, and situational humour and draws inspiration from Indian and Greek mythology, folklore, and occasionally even from movies. His latest book Turbulence is about a group of people who acquire superpowers and their struggle to do the right thing while facing the 21st century Indian subcontinent in all its insane glory - F-16s, Bollywood, radical religious parties, nuclear plants, cricket, terrorists, luxury resorts, crazy TV shows et al. As Ben Aaronovitch (Doctor Who, Rivers of London) rightly commented, ‘You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll gasp and you will demand a sequel.’

Read on to find out what this talented writer is all about.

Q.1 You dropped out of IIM (Ahemdabad) and decided you'd rather write. If you could live your life one more time, would you make the exact same choices all over again or would you want to change anything, aynthing at all?

I'd want to change everything. It's a good thing we don't get to rewrite our lives; we'd never stop, and I'm one of those people who always wish they'd done something else.
That said, I've never regretted dropping out of B-school. But there are many, many other ways I wish life was different.

Q.2 As a kid, did you aspire to be an author? No kid really does, so, what was your original plan?

I actually did aspire to be an author. Clearly movie star and Barcelona football player were out of the question, as were superhero and detective. Actually, I could have become a detective I suppose, but I'd have been the sit-at-home kind of detective, which I sort of am anyway I suppose.
Otherwise, yes, I wanted to be a writer from when I was about 6.

Q.3 I have read and re-read the GameWorld trilogy multiple times and it captivates me every single time. I have to ask, where did you get the idea to combine so many different myths, fantasies and cultural references to create something that is both brilliant and refreshing?

What a kind question. I wanted to write a book where I could pour in every kind of story, every sort of character I'd loved over two decades of reading. The direct idea was to create something between Terry Pratchett and David Gemmell. The loose plan was to create a similar world, but have a more high-stakes, contemporary story. Ben Aaronovitch, a writer I deeply admire and one of Turbulence's earliest readers, told me that he had a name for my kind of work: throw-in-the-kitchen-sink literature. That's basically what GameWorld was - I threw in everything.

Q.4 Did you mean for The Unwaba Revelations to end so abruptly? Is there even the slightest intention on your part to resurrect the GameWorld trilogy?

I meant everything in those books.
Yes, why not. I'd love to get back to the GameWorld, but it would have to be something on a very grand scale. Maybe when something more has happened on the international front.

Q.5 How far along have you reached with the second book in the Morningstar Agency series?

I have an outline. Current wordcount is 0. I'm quite easily distracted; I think I like starting series more than I like finishing them.

Q.6 Have you drawn inspiration for any of your characters in your books from real people in your life or are all of them just figments of your fantastic imagination?

Real people, people in fiction - books, films, comics, videogames, the Internet - and entirely new people. That's the mix for every character in every book.

Q.7 Another question that has to be asked. If you were on Flight 142, what supernatural power would YOU acquire?
 

I want Tia's power. The ability to live many lives, have any experience possible, and essentially never have to make choices. 

Q.8 Which do you enjoy working more on? Comic books or regular books? How is writing comics different from writing novels? Which one of the two, according to you, is more challenging?

I enjoy writing regular books most, because you're in complete control, there's no one else involved. Which is not always a bad thing - with the right collaborators, the final work is much better than its individual creators. But books allow you to be director, actor, cinematographer, editor, everything - and when it's a project you have definite ideas from, books let you tell your story like no other medium. Writing comics is completely different. It's all about constraints there - tell your story efficiently, give the artist elbow room, make sure every panel has direction and purpose. Writing comics is the most challenging kind of writing I've encountered so far, screenplays are far easier. Comics teach you a lot about writing; about pace, structure, character movement. Turbulence and Terror on the Titanic would have been much longer if I hadn't done comics in between. But books are the most fun to do; an infinite sandbox. 

Q.9 Word is out that Turbulence is going to be made into a movie, with Mr. Ravi Udyawar as director. What actors do yo have on your wish list to play the main characters - Aman, Vir, Uzma, Tia and Jai?

Apparently if you pick an actor other actors get to hear and don't want anything to do with the project. So my wish list is exactly what the actual cast will be if the movie ever happens. All that is Ravi's department anyway. I'm just really glad we found each other's work.

Q.10 Are you excited about the movie? Will your other ongoing literary projects be put on hold because of the movie?

Tremendously excited. Bollywood has really changed over the last decade, and I want to be a part of it. It's going to be a long and arduous road, but we've actually taken some steps, which is a first for me. I remember, about five years ago, doing a bunch of meetings with some producers who wanted to do Gameworld films and actually telling them that I didn't think going ahead was a good idea; they said they'd never met a writer who didn't want his book to be adapted before. The reason I said no was I simply didn't think there were directors around who could do those stories properly - and if there were, they didn't have access to the kind of budgets it would need. Turbulence is much more film-friendly, and directors like Ravi have arrived, so let's see what happens.
Other ongoing literary projects will happen when they do. It's going to be many months before things happen on the film front, so let's see.

Q.11 Is Turbulence definitely going to have a second part? If yes, when is it scheduled to be out?

I'm not sure yet. I know what happens if a second part happens. But I'm not going to say anything until I've signed up for it.

Q.12 If there was one 'pearl-of-wisdom', so to speak, that you could give to all the young aspiring authors out there, what would it be?

Well, this would probably seem obvious, but figure out why you're writing a book. If it's to be rich, or famous, please do something else. If it's not, good for you. Now learn to be very, very patient.