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@SpeakingTiger

One of India’s most acclaimed independent publishing companies. www.speakingtigerbooks.com

@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:56

Tears of the Dragon - Author Ankush Saikia in Conversation.

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Hello, everyone. I'm Ramya, and today on the Ask an Author series of conversations, I'm joined by author Ankush Saikia. With a background in journalism and publishing, Saikia is the author of eight books, including the hugely popular Detective Arjun Aurora series. The latest in this series, Tears of the Dragon, published by Speaking Tiger, is just out and has been receiving positive reviews for the way in which it combines literary writing with so much depth with the elements of crime

#AskAnAuthor #authorspeak #authorinterview #crimefiction #books #writing

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@AnkushS
Ankush Saikia
@AnkushS · 3:42
Hello. Hi, Ramya. Thanks for having me on. Swell. And thanks for this segment on Tears of the Dragon. Well, to answer your question about how the idea for the book came about, th well, this is the fourth book in the series, which means obviously, there were three more before that. And after I had written the third book, I was sort of looking around and considering what I could write about and where I could send my detective
@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:43
Thank you, Ankush. That was very interesting. So, the novel is very atmospheric and set across so many places delhi, London, Kolkata, and, of course, China. And the descriptions of these places create a vivid sense of place in the reader and drop them right into this place where all this action is happening. So, as you said, you've been to China recently, you've visited London, and maybe the rest of the places as well
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@AnkushS
Ankush Saikia
@AnkushS · 2:48

@Ramya

Which is why, I suppose, that my books, in my writing, on my books, the setting is sort of very important in the sense that that sort of lays the groundwork for the atmosphere and for the characters. Move about. And so I think all that early work in observing accurately and noting things down, I think that has sort of helped me as I've moved along
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:21
I really appreciate the fact that you've based your book on an environment related crime. And without giving away too much about the plot, I'd like to ask you about the kind of research that you had to do while writing about the illegal wildlife trade and the whole ecosystem around it
@AnkushS
Ankush Saikia
@AnkushS · 3:35

@Ramya

I mean, you're not writing a nonfiction book, so no matter how much that you do, you also, I think, have to have this thing of putting down less than you know about it so that you don't end up distracting people or boring them while they're following the actual investigation
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:56
I'm curious, do you at times find the prospect of maintaining a series daunting? Because every time a book comes out, the expectation for the next book kind of goes up. Right. So how do you ensure that every story in the series has something unique to offer?
@AnkushS
Ankush Saikia
@AnkushS · 4:42

@Ramya

He sort of feels his way through the whole story, which I think then what happens is the reader gets a sense of that too, so it's satisfying for them, too. And coming back to the main point, since I never planned it for it to be serious, so now that it's sort of reached this point, there is the expectation of having to work on something better and more interesting
@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:43

Tears of The Dragon : An Arjun Arora Mystery https://amzn.eu/d/cVa1jcQ

If you have a question for Ankush, please leave them as a reply and I'm sure he'll be glad to take them on. Thank you once again for listening in and being a part of this conversation. Cheers
article image placeholderTears of The Dragon : An Arjun Arora Mystery
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