Ask the Author: C.Y. Gopinath
Answered Questions (6)
C.Y. Gopinath
I'm afraid the book seems to be out of stock. However, I just checked in amazon.com and it seems used copies in pretty good shape are available. You can see them here at —
http://tinyurl.com/ybryzeze
Best of luck.
http://tinyurl.com/ybryzeze
Best of luck.
C.Y. Gopinath
The last man on earth sat gloomily in his single room cabin.
Suddenly — there were three slow knocks on the door.
Suddenly — there were three slow knocks on the door.
C.Y. Gopinath
Yes, I did. How odd that you should remember that story.
C.Y. Gopinath
C.Y. Gopinath The book I've just finished is in some ways a literary coup. With Hoyt's War, I've done something most authors would never consider — I took a story set in one country and culture and rewrote it entirely within the completely different political and socio-cultural setting and geography of another country. Both stories were mine.
The story is set in 2020, after four years of President Codbag's government has made America the most reviled and ridiculed nation on earth. President Codbag — who is so much like Donald Trump that I risk being called opportunistic — is standing for re-election after bringing America to its knees in four years of his presidency.
Now he must surpass his own madness, confuse the country even more, and sow such chaos that he will get away with four more years while everyone is trying to figure out what hit them.
My characters are American, the politics is American, and I promise you, you will feel uneasy even as you laugh at the madness. A State Department of Regrets to admit to and apologize for the President's catastrophic lies and mistakes. A tax on America's most popular pastime, sex. The decriminalization of rape, on the grounds that it builds women's character. Turning America into a monarchy, with King Codbag on top. And many many more atrocities.
Creating characters and detailed settings in a country that I have only visited, never lived in has been an extraordinary and exhilarating exercise. I have described in detail — and authentically — places I've never visited, like Tribeca in New York, a plantation in Shongaloo in Louisiana; a circus town called Gibsonton near Tampa, Florida; and the streets of Miami. To mine authentic details, I spent weeks with Google Street View exploring American neighborhoods that featured in my story.
I don't want to spoil your fun, but the book is a mixture of George Orwell and Lewis Carroll, with six impossible things at every turn.
Please read it, Please recommend it. Please share with Democrats and Republicans. It will delight one, and madden the other.
Please give a copy to your local congressman.
The story is set in 2020, after four years of President Codbag's government has made America the most reviled and ridiculed nation on earth. President Codbag — who is so much like Donald Trump that I risk being called opportunistic — is standing for re-election after bringing America to its knees in four years of his presidency.
Now he must surpass his own madness, confuse the country even more, and sow such chaos that he will get away with four more years while everyone is trying to figure out what hit them.
My characters are American, the politics is American, and I promise you, you will feel uneasy even as you laugh at the madness. A State Department of Regrets to admit to and apologize for the President's catastrophic lies and mistakes. A tax on America's most popular pastime, sex. The decriminalization of rape, on the grounds that it builds women's character. Turning America into a monarchy, with King Codbag on top. And many many more atrocities.
Creating characters and detailed settings in a country that I have only visited, never lived in has been an extraordinary and exhilarating exercise. I have described in detail — and authentically — places I've never visited, like Tribeca in New York, a plantation in Shongaloo in Louisiana; a circus town called Gibsonton near Tampa, Florida; and the streets of Miami. To mine authentic details, I spent weeks with Google Street View exploring American neighborhoods that featured in my story.
I don't want to spoil your fun, but the book is a mixture of George Orwell and Lewis Carroll, with six impossible things at every turn.
Please read it, Please recommend it. Please share with Democrats and Republicans. It will delight one, and madden the other.
Please give a copy to your local congressman.
C.Y. Gopinath
In my newest book, Hoyt's War, I've done something that is probably a literary first — I took a story that I had already published, and rewrote it entirely within a completely different socio-cultural setting and geography.
The Book of Answers, a sharp political satire of the extreme right set in India, was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Best Fiction — but in India, its sales were in the hundreds, possibly because of sloppy marketing.
In 2013, after my literary agent in the US told me that the India setting was making it a difficult sale in the US, I began re-writing The Book of Answers as an American story. — the result was Hoyt's War, one sale now at amazon.com.
It was an extraordinary and exhilarating exercise. The book unwittingly mirrors the roughhouse lunacy of American politics in the age of Donald Trump. My US president, Barry Codbag, is so much like Trump that I risk being called opportunistic, but the truth is that Codbag came before Trump.
The story is set in 2020, after four years of Codbag's (read: Trump's) government has made America the most revile and ridiculed nation on earth. I don't want to spoil your fun, but the book is a mixture of George Orwell and Lewis Carroll, with six impossible things at every turn.
I wrote about places I've never visited — Tribeca in New York, a plantation called Shongaloo in Louisiana; a circus town called Gibsonton near Tampa, Florida; and the streets of Miami. I did it by spending weeks with Google Street View to explore American neighborhoods that featured in my story.
My characters are American, the politics is Americans, and you will feel uneasy even as you laugh at the madness.
Please read it, Please recommend it. Please share with Democrats and Republicans. It will delight one, and madden the other.
Please give a copy to your local congressman.
The Book of Answers, a sharp political satire of the extreme right set in India, was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Best Fiction — but in India, its sales were in the hundreds, possibly because of sloppy marketing.
In 2013, after my literary agent in the US told me that the India setting was making it a difficult sale in the US, I began re-writing The Book of Answers as an American story. — the result was Hoyt's War, one sale now at amazon.com.
It was an extraordinary and exhilarating exercise. The book unwittingly mirrors the roughhouse lunacy of American politics in the age of Donald Trump. My US president, Barry Codbag, is so much like Trump that I risk being called opportunistic, but the truth is that Codbag came before Trump.
The story is set in 2020, after four years of Codbag's (read: Trump's) government has made America the most revile and ridiculed nation on earth. I don't want to spoil your fun, but the book is a mixture of George Orwell and Lewis Carroll, with six impossible things at every turn.
I wrote about places I've never visited — Tribeca in New York, a plantation called Shongaloo in Louisiana; a circus town called Gibsonton near Tampa, Florida; and the streets of Miami. I did it by spending weeks with Google Street View to explore American neighborhoods that featured in my story.
My characters are American, the politics is Americans, and you will feel uneasy even as you laugh at the madness.
Please read it, Please recommend it. Please share with Democrats and Republicans. It will delight one, and madden the other.
Please give a copy to your local congressman.
C.Y. Gopinath
I actually wait it out. In my case, writer's block usually happens when I am unable to resolve a plot point or story direction in my novel. I find patience very useful. It's a little like requesting a book at a library and then waiting. The librarian potters around inside, you don't know exactly where, and finally emerges with the book you wanted.
It's similar. I think things are being worked out inside when I have writer's block. If I wait, a moment comes when the book resumes itself.
It's similar. I think things are being worked out inside when I have writer's block. If I wait, a moment comes when the book resumes itself.
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