Arcx

Vajra Chandrasekera returns to Arcx for our season finale. Since we last spoke, Vajra has won a Nebula award, as well as Crawford and Locus awards for his debut novel, The Saint of Bright Doors. He has also been nominated for Le Guin, Ignyte, Hugo, Lammy, and British Fantasy Awards—and we’re sure there are more in the pipeline!

Vajra’s short stories, poems and articles have appeared in many publications over the years, including Clarkesworld and West Branch. He has also worked as an editor for Strange Horizons, and Afterlives: The Year’s Best Death Stories.

In this episode, we delve into his second cross genre novel, Rakesfall, exploring the complexity of this fascinating novel that follows two characters across space, time, and life cycles and explores themes of power, resistance, and connections. We also discuss political oppression, genocidal playbooks, shifts in the publishing industry, South Asian writers, the flattened postcolonial world we live in, and much more.

You can follow Vajra Chandrasekera on X @_vajra

Read Vajra’s Work:

• The Saint of Bright Doors (2023)
• Rakesfall (2024)
• The Translator, at Low Tide
• Theses on the Scientific Management of Goetic Labour
• Rhizomatic Diplomacy
• Terminus
• Running the Gullet
• On the Origin of Specie

Authors, Books and Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
• The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The works of Mervyn Peake
• The works of M. John Harrison
• The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh
• Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta
• The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa
• The City Inside by Samit Basu
• The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

This week, host Anjali Alappat chats with SF author, physicist, and transdisciplinary scholar of climate change, Vandana Singh. A professor of physics, Vandana’s writing combines science and social issues in thought-provoking ways. In recent years, her work has been climate focused, a stark acknowledgment of the crisis we are currently enduring.

Her work includes Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories (2018), the first work by a South Asian author to be a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award; The Woman Who Thought She was a Planet and Other Stories (2008), part of Zubaan’s Classic series, and most recently Utopias of the Third Kind (2022). Vandana was a Climate Imagination Fellow at Arizona State University in 2021. In addition to her contributions to science fiction, she has also written for children, most notably her Younguncle books. She has also been recognised with Parallax and Otherwise Honor awards for her work.

In this episode, we discuss the micro and macro of the ever-evolving climate crisis, the commercialised space race, techno billionaires, writing character led stories, acknowledging privilege and learning from marginalised peoples, the capitalist desire to maintain the status quo, and socio-economic death cults.

You can follow Vandana Singh on X @singhvan.

Read Vandana’s Work:

• Three-World Cantata
• Mina’s Dream
• Travelers’ Tales from the Ends of the World
• Ruminations in an Alien Tongue
• Delhi
• A Subtle Web: A Tale From the Somadeva Chronicles
• Yakshantariksh
• Life-pod
• Wake-Rider
• Three Tales from Sky River: Myths for a Starfaring Age
• Cry of the Kharchal
• Left to Die
• Utopias of the Third Kind (2022)
• Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories (2018)
• The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet: And Other Stories (2008)

Authors, Books and Media Referenced in this Episode:

• The works of Enid Blyton
• The works of Isaac Asimov
• The works of Arthur C. Clarke
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Tom Swift series created by Edward Stratemeyer

This week’s guest is R.R. Virdi, the author of The First Binding (2016) and the recently published, The Doors of Midnight (2024), the first two books in an epic fantasy series, The Tales of Tremaine. The books follow the exploits of a young protagonist who is slowly becoming a legend. It’s set in a beautiful secondary world filled with magic, myths and folktales inspired by South Asian storytelling.

Virdi published his first book, Dangerous Ways, an urban fantasy novel, in 2016. He has since authored several books including the Grave Report series, the Books of Winter series, and the Shepherd of Light series. His work has been nominated for Nebula and Dragon Awards.

Join us as we discuss stories within stories, the beauty and breadth of South Asian myths, the high cost of becoming a legend, complex magic systems, and complicated relationships.

You can follow R.R. Virdi on X and Instagram @rrvirdi.

Read R.R. Virdi’s Other Work:

• The First Binding (Tales of Tremaine, #1)
• The Doors of Midnight (Tales of Tremaine, #2)
• Star Shepherd: A Space Western (Shepherd of Light Book 1)
• Dangerous Ways (The Books of Winter, #1)
• Grave Beginnings (The Grave Report, #1)
• Grave Measures (The Grave Report, #2)
• Grave Dealings (The Grave Report, #3)

Authors, books and media referenced in this episode:

• The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.
• Panchatantra (Indian folktales).
• The Nightside Series by Simon R. Green.
• Iliad by Homer.
• Odyssey by Homer.
• One Thousand and One Nights (folktales).
• Mahabharata by Vyasa.
• Ramayana by Valmiki.

Kritika H. Rao, speculative fiction and children’s book author, joins Anjali to discuss her critically acclaimed novel, The Surviving Sky, and its recently released sequel, The Unrelenting Earth. Having lived across the world in India, Australia, Canada, and the Sultanate of Oman, Kritika’s stories are heavily influenced by her own experiences.

In her books, she often explores deep philosophical themes such as self vs. the world, the nature of consciousness, and the vagaries of identity.

Join us as we discuss main character syndrome, toxic relationships, the importance of community, complex magic systems, writing fantasy novels at thriller-like pacing, and what society really values.

You can follow Kritika on Instagram @kritikahrao.

Read Kritika’s Other Work:

• The Surviving Sky
• The Unrelenting Earth
• Shivi’s Big Leap
• The Legend of Meneka (Coming Soon)

Authors, books and media referenced in this episode:

• The Amar Chitra Katha comics.
• The works of Enid Blyton.
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.
• The Vedas.
• The Upanishads.

In this episode, host Anjali Alappat sits down with Gourav Mohanty, lawyer, writer, and stand up comedian. Born in Bhubaneshwar, the City of Temples, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Gourav seeks to reimagine and redefine the myths and magic of the past. In his first novel, Sons of Darkness, Gourav plunges headfirst into the grimdark genre with an epic retelling of the Mahabharata. Filled with political power plays, ambiguously grey characters, mythical monsters emerging from the mist, history being written by victors, and assassins who do yoga—it’s where India meets Westeros.

Join us as we discuss the ugliness of war, the freedom to create backstories, charming anti-heroes, George R.R. Martin and more.

You can follow Gourav on Twitter @MohantyGourav7 or on Instagram @thekingbeyondthewall.

Authors, books and media referenced in this episode:

• A Song of Ice and Fire series by G R.R Martin.
• The works of Brandon Sanderson.
• The films of Sanjay Leela Bansali.
• The films of Anurag Kashyap.
• The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
• Naruto (TV series).
• Dragon Ball Z (TV series).
• The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
• Underworld (Film).

Today’s guest is award-winning author and journalist, Bina Shah. Her first sci-fi novel Before She Sleeps was published in 2018, followed by the sequel The Monsoon War in 2023. Bina’s work explores women’s rights, societal issues, technology, education, and freedom of expression. 

Additionally, Bina has authored four novels as well as two collections of short stories. Her work has been translated into several languages including English, Spanish, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, Urdu, Sindhi and Italian.

Bina’s writing has also been carried in major publications like The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Dawn, and more. She has won Pakistan’s prestigious Agahi Award for excellence in journalism twice. Her short story, The Living Museum, won the Dr. Neila C. Sesachari prize from Weber University’s literary journal, Weber – The Contemporary West. And in 2022, she was presented with the insignia of a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an honorary award granted by the French government. 

Join us as we discuss grappling with grief through writing, the nuances of feminism, seeing the world through the western gaze, women in politics, future federations, and A.I

You can follow Bina on Instagram at @Bina_Writer or on X @BinaShah.

Read Bina’s Other Work:

• Animal Medicine
• Where They Dream in Blue
• The 786 Cybercafé
• Slum Child
• A Season For Martyrs

Authors, books and media referenced in this episode:

• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank