Skyfire Paperback – 20 Oct 2016

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May 2012. India is hit by a series of freak weather disturbances and startling epidemics that threaten to bring the country to its knees. At the same time, children are disappearing from the slums in the capital and nobody seems to care. 

Stumbling upon these strange and seemingly unrelated incidents, journalist Chandrasekhar, historian Meenakshi Pirzada and intelligence operative Syed Ali Hassan start upon a trail that leads them into the drawing rooms of Delhi’s glittering high society before reaching a terrifying climax in Bhutan, where they come face-to-face with a force of unspeakable power and evil. 

Bestselling author Aroon Raman’s third novel, Skyfire, is a heart-stopping thriller that will chill you to the bone. 

Praise for the Shadow Throne: 

‘A racy read … distinctly etched, the plot engaging and the writing taut’ Hindu. 

Praise for the Treasure of Kafur: ‘Another bestseller in the making’ New Indian Express.

Product Description

About the Author

Aroon Raman is a Bengaluru-based serial entrepreneur and author. He ran his family companies for many years, winning critical acclaim for developing scientific talent at the grassroots. After successfully divesting both ventures, he now divides his time between consulting for corporates, non-profits, writing and travel. He is the author of the national bestsellers The Shadow Throne (2012) and The Treasure of Kafur (2013). He regularly contributes columns to Outlook magazine and other publications. He can be reached at www.aroonraman.com

From the Publisher

A Conversation with Aroon Raman

Q1. How did you arrive at the idea for Skyfire?

A1. Aroon Raman: When I was trekking a few years ago in Nepal, I suddenly saw a mountain to the left; it soared high into the sky, with a jagged peak of snow and rock. Just above it, a cloud seemed to be literally boiling: pulsing and twisting as if it was a living thing. My first thought was ‘it looks almost man-made’. And with that single thought, the idea of Skyfire was born.

Q2. This is your third book in the thriller genre, what can the readers expect differently from Skyfire?

A2. Aroon Raman: Fast paced action but with two intermeshed themes: children disappearing and freak weather events that threaten the entire nation. All based on some elements of actual fact! The reader will find the pace of Skyfire even more compelling.

Q3. In Skyfire readers will encounter freak weather disturbances, epidemics and unusual natural occurrences that are out of the ordinary. Is there any real science behind some of these incidents that you describe in the book and the theories that you postulate?

A3. Aroon Raman: Absolutely. We have to understand that weather manipulation in the form of cloud seeding has been around for a long time. The Chinese, for example, have a large effort and did a huge amount of ‘cloud shattering’ to keep the skies over Beijing clear for their Olympics. However, less understood tools of weather modification are being explored: hurricane engineering, spraying the chemicals in the atmosphere to cool the Earth and other even more sci-fi sounding theories are being explored. The military applications of some of this work are obvious.

Q4. Are there any common themes that run across the three books that you have written so far, which your readers will recognize?

A4. Aroon Raman: Armageddon scenarios where the nation’s fate hangs on the balance, a cast of believable characters, a well – researched backdrop that draws the reader into a make-believe world and finally a plot that grips the reader and will not let him or her go till the last page!

Q5. Skyfire has three main characters: journalist Chandrasekhar, historian Meenakshi Pirzada and intelligence operative Syed Ali Hassan. Does the book have one central protagonist? Whose story is it?

A5. Aroon Raman: The story in both The Shadow Throne and Skyfire has these 3 characters. The story squarely belongs to all three: they all bring unique qualities to the fore as they struggle against the enormous forces ranged against them. Chandra’s physical courage and doggedness, Meenu’s razor-sharp detective abilities, and Hassan’s spy skills complement each other in the final struggle of good versus evil. Good cannot triumph without all three working together.

Q6. Which character do you identify the most amongst your three main characters?

A6. Aroon Raman: I would have to say ‘Chandra’. The other characters are also close to my heart, but he’s the guy I write in first person about.

Q7.Does Skyfire have a larger message? What is it?

A7. Aroon Raman: Not really. I think a thriller is just that: it is supposed to excite the reader and provide escapism in the best sense of the term. Any attempt to do otherwise often doesn’t work. If a message comes through, it has to be co-incidental. But I have appended a short note at the end of the book on the dangers of climate manipulation.

Q8. You don many hats, other than being an author you are also an entrepreneur as well an educator and mentor to budding scientist, how do you balance all these roles? Is it difficult for you to find the time to write?

A8. Aroon Raman: When one has many interests, I guess time too divides itself accordingly! Time is always a challenge, but managing it well is something one learns gradually over time. I work to clear calendars each week; a good sense of what I want to do and how much time I will spend on all of it over the next 7-day period. Reflection on the way we allocate time itself brings its own discipline.

Q9. The literary establishment does not consider thrillers as serious writing. Why do you think this is the case? How can this perception be changed?

A9. Aroon Raman: It’s hard to respond on this question. Should we take Harry Potter more seriously than what Rowling intended? Tolkien himself said he had no great pretensions to writing literature; what he wanted to do was write a story that moved the reader. Le Carre would have agreed. I don’t even think the thriller should seek to be considered serious writing; to be a well-written thriller that entertains and does it well should be the goal.

Q10. What’s next for you?

A10. Aroon Raman: A thriller based in New York and maybe just maybe to make a film.

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