Mukul Deva's new book launches on Wednesday

The third in the action thriller series from India’s ‘literary storm trooper’, Mukul Deva is launching at Delhi's Promenade Mall on Wednesday, February 3.

Blowback follows Lashkar and Salim Must Die.

A warlord in the rugged Tribal Areas of Pakistan pushes his way to the crest of the jihadi wave, seeking to forge an alliance of terror groups to take on the American surge. One of his allies appears to be Pakistan’s ISI. But are they using him to attain their own goals? Or is he using them? And for what?

Facing the brunt of this deadly double game is the spirited Force 22 represented by Iqbal and Tanaz, just back from Pakistan after their search-and-destroy mission to eliminate Salim, who are catapulted into action as lethal intelligence operations begin to unfold. The third in the action thriller series from India’s ‘literary storm trooper’, Blowback will keep you riveted with its tight plotting and heart-stopping pace.

Coelho's new book to release on April 22

Brazilian author Paulo Coelho's new novel, The Winner Stands Alone is to release worldwide on April 22. And for a change this will be date of launch for India too. prior to this, Coelho's books have come to India fairly after it has been launched in the West.

Coelho's Brida was launched last year. The book will be available in leading bookstores across India and the world from April 22 onwards.

Coelho, whose bestseller The Alchemist has been or is a #1 bestseller in 74 countries, received the 2009 Guinness World Record for the most translated author of the same book. Now, in his 12th novel once again returns to the themes that have inspired millions around the globe: the search for our true self, the fear and price of fame, and how wealth, excess, and superficiality can lead to the loss of relationships and spiritual values.

Brida was a huge success in India. According to Lipika Bhushan, Marketing Manager HCI, “We sold a whooping 75,000 copies of his earlier title Brida and are looking to double the figure with The Winner Stands Alone.”

The Winner Stands Alone is set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema. Taking place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival, it is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa. Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. The conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and as the novel unfolds, morality is derailed.

Language rights of Solo sold in 6 countries

After being successfully published in the English language by HarperCollins Worldwide in February 2009, Rana Dasgupta's second novel, Solo will now be published by Gallimard Publisher in France, Karl Blessing in Germany, Janet 45 in Bulgaria, Signatuur in Netherlands, Aschehoug in Norway and by Feltrinelli in Italy.

The book has garnered unprecedented media attention worldwide and has had excellent reviews in major literary spaces. In India, the book is already in its first hardcover reprint.

Solo is a kaleidoscopic novel about the life and daydreams of Ulrich, a one hundred-year-old man from Bulgaria. Before the man lost his sight, he read a story in a magazine. A group of explorers came upon a community of parrots speaking the language of a society that had been wiped out in a recent catastrophe. Astonished by this discovery, they put the parrots in cages and sent them home so that linguists could record what remained of the lost language. But the parrots, already traumatised by the devastation they had recently witnessed, died on the way.

Wondering if, unlike these hapless parrots, he has any wisdom to leave to the world, Ulrich embarks on an epic armchair journey through the twists and turns of his country’s turbulent century – and through his own lifetime of lost love and failed chemistry. Set in a country that has belonged sometimes to Asia and sometimes to Europe, Solo is a book about lost roots, broken traditions and wasted ambitions – and the ways human beings overcome those failures.

Harper launches business imprint

HarperCollins launched its business imprint "Collins Business" on April 8.

Its first original title is Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen - 11 Indians Who Pulled Off the Impossible by Porus Munshi. The aim was to bring more indigenous business books in the Indian market, the publishers said.

Krishan Chopra, publisher and chief editor of Collins Business, said the imprint reflected the creative verve and the new global business environment as it competes with and wins against the best in the world. "Most business books in the market are American or British imports. There is a need for Indian books with local case studies. Collins Business aims to meet that need. At the same time, Collins Business will bring the best of international publishing relevant in the Indian context," Chopra said.

HarperCollins chief executive PN Sukumar said Collins Business would contribute to at least 10 percent of the total list of titles published each year. "We are looking at an average of 5,000 copies for titles released under this imprint," Sukumar said.

Forthcoming titles include Branding India: An Incredible Story, Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement, More than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places, and Breakthrough Initiative, the statement said.

Advaita Kala turns to scriptwrting

A media report suggests the Almost Single author, Advaita Kala will turn to scriptwriting for Bollywood. While she apparently refused to divulge any details, apart from the fact that it is romantic comedy (what mainstream Bollywood isn't), and that it will be ready in April.

The author claimed she did not watch movies and "that's what makes it so interesting. The story, about the Indian Gen Next, is not based in India. It is like the stuff I write."

Almost Single, which is a semi-autobiographical take on the life on a 20-something hotel executive (Kala worked for the hospitality sector earlier), came out in 2007. She has since been promoting book, which was one of the first chicklit to be published in India, besides working on a sequel.

Don't be a bystander

Salim Must Die
Mukul Deva
Harper Collins
Rs 225, Pp x + 417

Rating (on 10):
Plot: 5
Idea: 6
Style: 5
USP: Updated on geopolitics. Placing India on the thriller map.

A military thriller from a an ex-army man. And a follow up to Lashkar, one of India's first Ludlumesque thrillers, which was written in response to the 2005 bombings in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market.

Well, Salim Must Die takes the tale forward. Some of the character remain - Salim of course, besides Colonel Anbu and Iqbal, though in a peripheral role. This one far more ambitious, and the reach is global. Salim and his henchman Cheema have a lethal plan to exceed '9/11' and they plan to do so by using biological weapons on kaffirs - at ten leading destinations including Delhi.

The story takes a while to start, as nearly a third of the book is expanded on politically correct sounding bytes on how terror is a global phenomenon not limited to any religion, how terrorists have no religion, how people are divided into -"idiots, wimps, bystanders and terrorists" - figure out where you are , dear reader! Unfortunately, as the novel progresses, Muslim minorities across the world become the actualised breeding grounds for those who can carry out the deeds of terror. And they are drawn from the Uighur minority in China to Muslim immigrants in the US, Canada, UK, Jamaica, India, Denmark, Germany etc.

The build also takes time as it introduces characters on the Indian intelligence side - most of whom are caricatures and unremarkable despite attempts to add colour to their histories. Salim remains the pivotal figure in this cops and robbers tale.

Interestingly Bush comes out very badly. And Osama dies. It is instead the shadowy Salim who is wreaking havoc with the help of his henchman Cheema. With the help of a Chinese scientitst.

As a thriller, it works. Editing, plot could all be better. But as pioneering steps from the expanding Indian literary firmament, these are good steps. the publisher and the author need to be congratulated.

Harper announces new imprint

Publishing giant Harper Collins has announced that it is starting a new imprint, It Books, which will cover pop culture, sports, style, internet content etc.

The imprint is scheduled to launch in the second half of the year with 21 titles. The move comes about a month after announcing a restructuring in the company, which had caused layoffs and the shuttering of an entire division.

Carrie Kania, currently publisher of HarperCollins’s paperback unit, Harper Perennial, will head the imprint. Upcoming titles include The Style Strategy by Nina Garcia, a judge on Project Runway, and Chocolate, Please, a memoir by the comedian Lisa Lampanelli.

'Indian publishing has opportunities'

At a time when the world seems to be focusing solely on the financial crisis, there are regions where the talk is about using that very fact as an opportunity!

This also rather succinctly sums up the Publishers’ Round Table “Global:Local” held February 27, organised by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German Book Office New Delhi. With the presence of arguably the local industry’s most significant publishers and other players, as well as international participation from Argentina, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, China and the Arab World, the one-day round table represented a hitherto seldom experienced platform on the Indian subcontinent.

“Global vs. local” was the theme that set the ball rolling by questioning the whole notion of publishing for a local market and the need to be thinking globally. Moderated by publisher Karthika VK of Harper Collins India, this particular session had speakers like Ajay Shukla talking about the success of STM publishing. He illustrated the global reach of a nation like India, where content is now being developed not only to cater to the indigenous market but also to global markets. Insights were also offered on local experiences in different parts of the world like China, Morocco and South America.

The second session focussed on publishing services. The key word for globalisation in the last decade has been outsourcing. With its huge knowledge base and skilled manpower, India has been tapping into this opportunity rather well. Similar trends in China and South America were observed, as well. Naresh Khanna, publisher of Indian Printer and Publisher, moderated the discussion and also presented his research on the huge and unexplored potential of the Indian market. The session was then steered into a rather animated discussion about the competence of outsourcing companies and service providers. Richard Charkin of Bloomsbury cited his own experience of printing in India, which was not such a profitable activity for his own publishing house.

The session after lunch dealt with the role of independent publishers in a global scenario. Urvashi Butalia moderated the discussion and pointed out the challenges and advantages of being an independent publisher, as opposed to a multinational publisher which is governed more by market forces, minimising risk and slow decision making processes. This view was immediately countered by Mike Bryan of Penguin who said that the reverse is true for them. Their passion and risk taking is sometimes much greater than that of the independents. Interestingly, it was later discussed that both these publishing houses have also found a harmonious way of co-publishing which is a good marriage of the global and local!

The last, highly anticipated session was about the global financial crisis and its impact on publishing. With input coming from every part of the world, the picture looks rather fuzzy. Richard Charkin established that the UK is witnessing a very bad slump, primarily due to the breakdown of retail. Ana Maria Cabanellas from Argentina pointed out that publishers in South America are already coping with the crisis by coming up with innovative models. Haissam Fadel remarked that the Arab World, when it comes to trade publishing, is rather new in the field and, hence, still hasn’t seen good days to be able to talk about bad ones. Stella Chou from China was very optimistic and considered this to be a very temporary phase. The opinion from India was on the one hand similar to the UK with a huge slump in retail but in the words of the major educational publisher Dhanesh Jain of Ratna Sagar, this is also clearly a time for opportunities: “If mobile telephony can reach 400 million people, then books or content of any sort has a huge potential.”

Positively associated with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the platform was well received by Indian publishers as an activity for bringing people together and creating an exchange. Prepared by the German Book Office New Delhi, the event, in the words of Richard Charkin, “is the very essence of publishing having a global consensus”.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world – with more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries. It also organises the participation of German publishers at more than 25 international book fairs and is associated with the Cape Town Book Fair in South Africa and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. It maintains the most visited website worldwide for the publishing industry at http://www.book-fair.com/. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association.

Publishers' meet in Delhi

A day-long round table by organised by the German Book Office (GBO) in Delhi saw a number of participants - including most of India's leading publishers and printers, engaged in rather spirited discussion over the future of publishing in India.
The usual divide between the multinational subsidiaries and independent publishers was a part of the story. The meet looked at whether publishing was local or global - and there was this realisation that while publishing had to be essentially local, the main tasks for publishers was to find the next big author who could transcend boundaries and languages.

Among the participants were Juergen Boos, President, Frankfurt Book Fair, who has been visiting India fairly frequently in recent times. Another interesting participant was an old India hand, Richard Charkin, executive director, Bloomsbury, in the past with Macmillan in India.

Among the Indian publishers present were Mike Bryan (Penguin), SK Ghai (Sterling), VK Karthika (Harper), Urvashi Butalia (Zubaan), Thomas Abraham (Hachette), Renuka Chatterjee from Westland, Pramod kapoor (Roli), PM Sukumar (Harper).