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The Simoqin Prophecies
''The Simoqin Prophecies'' (2004, Penguin India) is a fantasy novel in English written by Indian author Samit Basu, and is the first novel in the GameWorld trilogy. It has also been published in Swedish, German and Spanish. Other novels in the Gameworld Trilogy are ''The Manticore's Secret'' (2005) and ''The Unwaba Revelations'' (2007). On the surface, without considering the allusions, revisionist writing and parodies, The Simoqin Prophecies is a motley mix of eastern and western fantasy featuring a huge bestiary of creatures from mythic traditions from all around the world, both ancient and modern – , dragons, manticores The manticore or mantichore (Latin: ''mantichōra''; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern fa, مردخوار ) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in western European medieval art as well. It has the ..., rakshases and various others, often with interesting twists. The story revolves around two prophecies ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samit Basu
Samit Basu (born 14 December 1979) is an Indian novelist and filmmaker whose body of work includes science fiction, fantasy and superhero novels, children's books, graphic novels, short stories, and a Netflix film. His most recently published novel is ''The City Inside'', an anti dystopian near future science fiction novel set in Delhi and published by Macmilan imprint Tordotcom. Its previous Indian edition ''Chosen Spirits,'' published 2020, was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature. He currently lives and works in Delhi and Mumbai, India. Biography Born 14 December 1979 in a Bengali family, Basu grew up in Calcutta, where he studied at Don Bosco School, and later Presidency College, Kolkata, where he obtained a degree in Economics. He dropped out of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to write The Simoqin Prophecies and then went on to complete a course in broadcasting and documentary film-making at the University of Westminster, London. Writing Basu is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Then, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Novel
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy is a subgenre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these genres overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were written, however, since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', the '' Harry Potter'' series, '' The Chronicles of Narnia'', and ''The Hobbit''. History Beginnings Stories invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year."About Penguin – company history" , Penguin Books. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), Woolworths and other stores for Sixpence (British coin), sixpence, bringing high-quality fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. Its success showed that large audiences existed for serious books. It also affected modern British popular culture significantly through its books concerning politics, the arts, and science. Penguin Books is now an imprint (trade name), imprint of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Manticore's Secret
''The Manticore's Secret'' (2005) is the second novel in Indian fantasy author Samit Basu's GameWorld trilogy. Characters * Myrdak, of the house of Aegos, a ravian warrior. * Peori, of the house of Hanash, a ravian warrior, wise and strong, a scholar as well as a warrior. * Behrim, veteran of the great war was assigned the task of slaying Danh Gem reborn, destroying the rakshas lords and thus restoring the honour of the ravians. Plot summary The book begins initially by showing the return of the ravians to the world, which they now call Obiyalis. The vamans loyal to the ravians (called the rebel union of marginal labour) and Manticore open the ravian portal to this world. Three champions of the ravians, Myrdak, Peori and Behrim, promptly kill the vamans so as to make sure there are no traitors to inform the world of the return of the ravians. Meanwhile in the newly constructed dark tower of Izakar, Kirin is facing trouble. Most of his council of rakshases are issuing mad order ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient mythology, myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic (paranormal), magic or other supernatural elements as a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swedish Language
Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countries overall. Swedish, like the other Nordic languages, is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Written Norwegian and Danish are usually more easily understood by Swedish speakers than the spoken languages, due to the differences in tone, accent, and intonation. Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Language
German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italy, Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a co-official language of Luxembourg and German-speaking Community of Belgium, Belgium, as well as a national language in Namibia. Outside Germany, it is also spoken by German communities in France (Bas-Rhin), Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Poland (Upper Silesia), Slovakia (Bratislava Region), and Hungary (Sopron). German is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch language, Dutch, English language, English, the Frisian languages, Low German, Luxembourgish, Scots language, Scots, and Yiddish. It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic languages, North Germanic group, such as Danish lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of List of countries where Spanish is an official language, 20 countries. It is the world's list of languages by number of native speakers, second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's list of languages by total number of speakers, fourth-most spoken language overall after English language, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani language, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance languages, Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico. Spanish is part of the Iberian Romance languages, Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Unwaba Revelations
''The Unwaba Revelations'' is a 2007 Indian fantasy novel written by Samit Basu. It is the third and final novel in the Game World trilogy after '' The Simoqin Prophecies'' (2004) and '' The Manticore's Secret'' (2005). The "Unwaba" is a chameleon, borrowed from a similar creature in the Zulu tradition, which acts as a narrator to the story. The novel was a critical and commercial success. Characters Reception Devangshu Datta of ''Outlook'' said that the novel "leans on both Tolkien and Pratchett in terms of format, while liberally borrowing from the Ramayana, John Brunner, George Lucas, Lovecraft et al." Parizaad Khan of ''Mint'' gave a positive response and called it a "delicious read". Ramya Sarma of ''Daily News and Analysis'' said, "Basu’s latest offering is worth reading, if only to find out how the ends left loose in the first two novels are tied up." A review carried by ''Hindustan Times'' wrote: "Epic battles between the gods and the bad guys (demons, in this case) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanara
In Hindu, Vanara ( sa, वानर, , forest-dwellers) are either monkeys, apes, or a race of forest-dwelling people. In the epic the ''Ramayana'', the Vanaras help Rama defeat Ravana. They are generally depicted as humanoid apes, or human-like beings. Etymology There are three main theories about the etymology of the word "Vanara": * Aiyanar suggests that ''vanara'' means "monkey" derived from the word ''vana'' ("forest"), Literally meaning "belonging to the forest" Monier-Williams says it is probably derived from ''vanar'' (lit. "wandering in the forest") and means "forest-animal" or monkey. * Devdutt Pattanaik suggests that it derives from the words ''vana'' ("forest"), and ''nara'' ("man"), thus meaning "forest man" and suggests that they may not be monkeys, which is the general meaning. * It may be derived from the words ''vav'' and ''nara'', meaning "is it a man?" (meaning "monkey") or "perhaps he is man". Identification Although the word Vanara has come to mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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