THIS BOOK BLENDS ITS SCI-FI NARRATIVE WITH MAGICAL REALISM

Chirdeep Malhotra . Updated: 4/14/2021 2:45:30 PM Books and Authors

Author Interview: Anandajit Goswami and Debashis Chakraborty

Anandajit Goswami is an Associate Professor and HOD, Department of Economics and Social and Political Studies, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies. Debashis Chakraborty is teaching for the last one and half decades at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, after studying Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Anandajit and Debashis have co-authored the book “Lucy 3: Lucy And The Rise Of The Parabola”, which is the third book in the Lucy Series. In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, they talk about their book, science fiction, their favourite books and authors, and much more. Read on!



Hello, Anandajit. Congratulations on the third book in the Lucy Series. When did you decide on penning the third book in this sci-fi series?

Anandajit Goswami: When it comes to LUCY series, I think I never decide about penning a book on LUCY and her journey. Whenever, I feel the acronym of L (Love), U (Understanding), C (Creativity), Y (Youthfulness), I try to measure the language of expression of my life and I see a visual act of LUCY in a line. So, the days they happen, the lines are born; the days they don’t, the lines are also not there. In this way the process moves on.



Hello, Debashis. You have co-authored this book with Anandajit. What was the collaborative process between you two co-authors like?

Debashis Chakraborty: It has been a good teamwork. This is the second book in the Lucy Series that we are writing together. We usually have a round of discussions before the writing starts, so that once Lucy begins her journey forward there is no turning back. One good thing is that our academic training as well as popular fiction reading habits are somewhat similar, so we usually always are on the same page as far as the plot is concerned. What sometime differs is the presentation of our perspective on Lucy’s choice of action at the junctures, and we keep debating that part a lot in between as well. I would say we complement and counterbalance each other on appropriate occasions.



Tell us more about your book “Lucy 3: Lucy And The Rise Of The Parabola”.

A G: “Lucy 3” is the third step after “Lucy and The Train” and “Lucy Meets Artificial Intelligence”. The book begins where the mystery of the first two ends. It is about more drama, plots, twists and turns adding to the layers of Step 1 and 2. The book also is fraught with multiple explanations and doorways of never-ending thought processes for readers playing with dark fantasies, positivity, aspirations and magic realism set within the context of a futuristic world. I will not break the mystery of the book. However, the third step begins from where the first two end, and then it will confuse the reader more in the third step with multiple plot lines as tributaries to a main perennially flowing plot line with different character shades which have tinges of magic realism, and dark fantasies.



What kind of research did you do for the book?

A G: I had to read regularly about every new development happening in the field of astrophysics, quantum mechanics, black hole theories, religion, spirituality, culture and politics. And most of these readings were coming from journal paper readings in the respective field domains. However, after reading all of these, what comes out is an experience and a measure of life.



Can you recommend five books from any genre, for our readers to add to their reading lists, that you particularly cherish?

A G: I get very confused when one genre is being asked to pick up. The other day only when someone asked me to pick books from a genre, I got so confused that I actually started reading more on the theory of literature that defines – “Genre”. So maybe I will recommend people to first read – Rene Wellek, Austin Warren and the following books to first understand what is a Genre and the books are – “Theory of Literature”, “A History of Modern Criticism”, “Concepts of Criticism”, “The Attack on Literature”, and “Sociology of Literature”. However, these are the books only to understand Genre from the perspectives of New Criticism, Formalism, Structuralism, Post Structuralism, Marxism, Feminism, French Feminism, Post Colonialism, New Historicism, Deconstruction and Reader-Response Criticism. To understand the word – “Genre”, this reading will be incomplete if we don’t read a book called – “African American Vernacular Tradition”. So when it comes to reading, I am random, chaotic with a reading list of all types. However, the simplest way is to first understand the politics of the word – “Genre” itself and then may be the reader will herself/himself decide and they will not need any recommendation from anyone. That is the ideal world we are striving for!

D C: I keep reading books of diverse genres and hence will not stick to any specific line of literary/fiction/non-fiction work. My recommended list goes as follows: (1) “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, (2) “Sophie's World” by Jostein Gaarder, (3) “The Foundation Series” by Isaac Asimov, (4) “The Republicans: A History of the Grand Old Party” by Lewis L. Gould, and (5) “The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya” by Ramachandra Guha.



Would there be a next book in The Lucy Series?

A G: As I said, if the measures of life come more often, then it will be borne, otherwise not. The motivation is not another next book surely. The driver is the measure of life!



Anandajit, you also run a blog called Geekonomist’s Diary. Can you tell us more about it?

A G: I started writing in my blog – geekonomistdiary.blogspot.com. The blog met me in 2009, when I was literally wriggling in pain to express my words, music, lyrics, poetry which was tormenting me every-day and night. It still continues to do so and I go and meet the “Geek” in the geekonomistdiary.blogspot.com.



Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?

A G: This is a quote that I tell to myself – “All you need is an infectious light.”

D C: My personal favourite quote is – “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much of Today.”


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