I know I am in trouble, and I know you might not believe what I am about to tell you. But I swear that all of this is true. I could not have got out of trouble by inventing some convenient and completely believable lie, but you know I'm not like that. Okay, maybe you don't know I'm not like that, but it's true. I could have died. I could have been stranded on a galaxy a gazillion light years away from here. Worst of all, I could have been married. Anyway, this is my story.
Samit Basu is an Indian novelist best known for his fantasy and science fiction work
Samit's most recent novel, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, was published by Tordotcom in the US and Canada in Oct 2023.
His previous novel, the anti-dystopian near-future The City Inside (Tordotcom, '22) was on the Washington Post and Book Riot best SFF of 2022 lists and earlier shortlisted for the 2020 JCB Prize (India) as Chosen Spirits.
Samit's first novel, The Simoqin Prophecies, published by Penguin India in 2003, when Samit was 23, was the first book in the bestselling Gameworld Trilogy and marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. The other books in the trilogy are The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations.
Samit’s US/UK debut, the superhero novel Turbulence was published in the UK in 2012 and in the US in 2013 to rave reviews. It won Wired‘s Goldenbot Award as one of the books of 2012 and was superheronovels.com’s Book of the Year for 2013.
Samit has also written children's books, published short stories for adults and younger readers in Indian and international anthologies, and has been a columnist and essayist in several leading Indian and international publications.
Samit also works as a screenwriter and director. His debut film, House Arrest, was released as part of Netflix’s International Originals in 2019, and was one of Netflix’s top 5 most viewed Indian films that year. He wrote the film and co-directed it with Shashanka Ghosh.
Samit’s work in comics ranges from historical romance to zombie comedy, and includes diverse collaborators, from Girl With All The Gifts/X-Men writer MR Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran.
Samit was born in Calcutta, educated in Calcutta and London, and currently works between Delhi and Kolkata. He runs a newsletter, Duck of Dystopia (samit.substack.com) and can be found on social media at @samitbasu, and at samitbasu.com
Priti Hathiramani reviews the book on Goodbooks: "Intergalactic Idol is a light-hearted take on the numerous Idol TV shows scouting for new talent and on a schoolboy's imagination when he believes he is part of a musical contest among creatures from various galaxies. It makes you wonder at which point in our lives we lose the ability to spin a tall tale and fall back, instead, on mundane excuses when we miss a deadline.
Fortunately for us, the author, Samit Basu, has managed to escape falling into the abyss of boring factual adulthood. This book has oodles of imagination packed into it. The zany characters are brought to life by the colourful and almost psychedelic illustrations by Malavika PC." Click here to read the full review: http://goodbooks.in/node/7250