I was delighted to hear that the 154th Founder’s Day celebrations of my alma mater, The Lawrence School, Lovedale,would have a unique event this year. A Book Reading Festival has been organized in which Old Lawrencians who have written books in recent years would get an opportunity to show case their writing. On May 2 and May 3, five authors , including yours truly, will participate in this event which culminates in our formally presenting our books to the School Library.
Tag: Books
I thoroughly enjoyed Peter Colaco’s “Bangalore :A Century of Tales from City & Cantonment.” Perhaps since I have been a long time resident of Bangalore, including some years in the Fraser Town/Cox Town area, every page of the book resonated with me. The illustrations by Peter Fernandes are splendid and go a long way in enhancing the visual appeal of the book.
I picked up ” Survival Of The Savvy” by Rick Brandon, Ph.D and Marty Seldman, PhD, from our Club library. The byline on the front cover proclaims ” High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success.” That’s great so far. The copy in my hand was published in May 2007 and is a Free Press Export Edition from Simon & Schuster.
On the back cover, the first quote is from Ramalinga Raju, Chairman Satyam Computer Services Ltd. he writes,” Global leaders today recognize the significance of being connected…candidly and openly discusses the political health of an organization, beginning with the important lessons of closed shop, and the demand for a high-integrity culture.”
Below that, Rama Raju, Managing Director of Satyam writes, “Our commitment at Satyam is to recognize the impact of corporate power and influence and to orchestrate a climate of politically savvy leaders”
I don’t blame the authors one bit because they weren’t astrologers to predict the future. In January 2009, a scandal hit India which many observers believed was unprecedented in its audacity or scale. I speak of the Satyam Computers scandal which created a huge furor in the minds of corporate India, the investing public and the employees of that company.
How ironic it sounds to hear the Rajus say what they did! For greater perspective, here’s an insightful article by Prof. Sudhakar V. Balachandran of the Columbia Business School in Forbes. Sure, things have changed at the erstwhile Satyam over the last couple of years.
But coming back to the importance of back cover copy, isn’t it essential for the publishers to change the quotes in that back cover copy? They may have done so already. If they have, good for them. If they haven’t, my sympathies lie with the authors. I am sure they would not, even in their wildest dreams have imagined that the Rajus, who wrote so glowingly about the book would have ended up where they did.
I first met T.G.C. Prasad more than twenty years ago when I was responsible for Corporate Human Resource Development in Wipro Corporation. It was my responsibility to manage the recruitment of freshly minted MBAs from the different graduate schools of business in India. He joined us as a topper from Mumbai’s prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences. I was delighted to read his book ” Unusual People Do Things Differently.” A disclaimer. No, he didn’t send me a copy for old times sake. I bought a copy like anyone else! Continue reading “Congratulations, T.G.C.Prasad!”
How important is your book title? Shouldn’t it grab the attention of your potential buyer? Does a one-word title work better than longer options, especially in the genre of mysteries and thrillers? Last but not the least, how should your back cover copy or synopsis seize the interest of your reader?
“Only Men Please” is an anthology of 35 short stories written by 35 writers, and they are all men. The anthology is edited by Meenakshi Varma and published by Unisun Publications. In her introduction, Meenakshi writes, ” The stories are extremely vivid and varied, perhaps because of the fact that the writers themselves come from varied backgrounds.with regard to occupation and nationality. I don’t know if it is a co-incidence, but in all the stories the protagonist is a male.” Continue reading ““Only Men Please””
“Lucky For Some, Thirteen” is the title of my to be published thriller. It came out of my participating successfully in NaNoWriMo 2010. This will be the second thriller that I have written, the first being my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You.”
I wrote recently about back cover copy. I would like to share the back cover copy that I wrote for “Lucky For Some, Thirteen.”
“Is the only good terrorist a dead one? When she captures two fanatic fidayeen after their sensational terror strike in Goa in January 2010, little does Major Mohini Nair, of India’s elite counter terrorism force, the National Security Guard, realize that they will come back to haunt her and the nation later that year.
In September 2010, in another audacious, chilling attack, some of Bangalore’s rich and famous are taken hostage in “Opulence” that last word in luxurious living, in a place and at a time they least expect. Clearly, the best of technology has crashed before base human emotions of greed and fanaticism. Ransom money is not what the mysterious terrorists want. They want the release of their two comrades and safe passage in exchange for the hostages. The blood-curling brutality of the perpetrators, who include the beautiful Alice Hatchman, petrifies the hostages driving the story to a fever pitch.
Relishing the gruesome to show her power is easy for Alice as she loves no one. Rescuing the hostages is made more difficult for Mohini, as amongst them is the man she loves. Can the 13th floor penthouse of “Opulence” prove to be lucky for some?”
I would welcome your comments. This book is likely to be published around May 2012. To follow its progress, do see its Facebook Page.
Having been a huge fan of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse for over 45 years, it’s not surprising that I chose to write about his works for my first foray into non-fiction. Let me explain what I have in mind. There have been many biographies about him. The ones by Frances Donaldson and Robert Crum come readily to mind. I decided to follow another route, the one taken by renowned experts like Jaggard, Garrison and Hill, which is to compile a compendium of his works. Continue reading ““A Toast To Plum- Celebrating P.G.Wodehouse””
Article first published as “P.G.Wodehouse-A Life In Letters” Edited by Sophie Ratcliffe on Technorati. I am eagerly awaiting this new book, based on letters written by P.G.Wodehouse, edited by Sophie Ratcliffe.
Today I write about a few blog posts that caught my attention. They were informative to me and added to my knowledge and perspective on topics I would like to follow. The first one was an interview with Barry Eisler in the New York Observer. Mr. Eisler speaks of how he views the future of publishing. Continue reading “What Caught My Attention”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 