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The Last Dragoners of Bowbazaar
About the Book
BRITISH FANTASY AWARD AND SUBJECTIVE CHAOS KIND OF AWARD WINNER, AND FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARDS, THIS IS A HAUNTING, MOVING COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF IDENTITY AND BELONGING.
Ru is a boy from nowhere. Though he lives somewhere—the city of Calcutta—his classmates in school remind him he doesn’t look like them, and must come from somewhere else. When Ru asks his parents, they tell him he is descended from nomads. But even nomads must come from somewhere. The question, forever on the mind of the boy from nowhere, is where.
Ru dreams things that wouldn’t seem out of place in the fantasy novels his father read to him when young. Fragments of a culture that doesn’t exist in this world, but might in another, where sky and sea are one, and humans sail this eternal ocean on the backs of divine beasts.
He dreams of dragons, of serpents impossible. Perhaps Ru remembers dragons.
Alone in a city doesn’t feel like home, Ru befriends Alice, his neighbour from the nearby Chinatown. They grow as their friendship does, and Ru finds that Calcutta may yet be a home for him. But with his best friend starting to realise that Ru’s house and family truly do hide secrets, the question haunts more strongly than where is his family from? Are they truly from nowhere, migrants to this reality? And if so, what strange wings brought them across the vast reaches of impossibility to here—and what is their purpose?
About the Author
Indrapramit Das (aka Indra Das) is a writer and editor. He is a Lambda Literary Award winner for his debut novel The Devourers (Penguin Random House), and a Shirley Jackson Award winner for his widely anthologised short fiction, which has appeared in various publications, including Reactor, Clarkesworld and Asimov’s Science Fiction. He currently resides in his hometown, Kolkata.
BRITISH FANTASY AWARD AND SUBJECTIVE CHAOS KIND OF AWARD WINNER, AND FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARDS, THIS IS A HAUNTING, MOVING COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF IDENTITY AND BELONGING.
Ru is a boy from nowhere. Though he lives somewhere—the city of Calcutta—his classmates in school remind him he doesn’t look like them, and must come from somewhere else. When Ru asks his parents, they tell him he is descended from nomads. But even nomads must come from somewhere. The question, forever on the mind of the boy from nowhere, is where.
Ru dreams things that wouldn’t seem out of place in the fantasy novels his father read to him when young. Fragments of a culture that doesn’t exist in this world, but might in another, where sky and sea are one, and humans sail this eternal ocean on the backs of divine beasts.
He dreams of dragons, of serpents impossible. Perhaps Ru remembers dragons.
Alone in a city doesn’t feel like home, Ru befriends Alice, his neighbour from the nearby Chinatown. They grow as their friendship does, and Ru finds that Calcutta may yet be a home for him. But with his best friend starting to realise that Ru’s house and family truly do hide secrets, the question haunts more strongly than where is his family from? Are they truly from nowhere, migrants to this reality? And if so, what strange wings brought them across the vast reaches of impossibility to here—and what is their purpose?
About the Author
Indrapramit Das (aka Indra Das) is a writer and editor. He is a Lambda Literary Award winner for his debut novel The Devourers (Penguin Random House), and a Shirley Jackson Award winner for his widely anthologised short fiction, which has appeared in various publications, including Reactor, Clarkesworld and Asimov’s Science Fiction. He currently resides in his hometown, Kolkata.
119 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 24, 2025
4 people want to read
About the author
Indra Das
21 books220 followersSee also Indrapramit Das.
Indrapramit Das (aka Indra Das) is a writer and artist from Kolkata, India. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in several publications including Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and Tor.com, and has also been widely anthologized. He is an Octavia E. Butler scholar and a grateful graduate of Clarion West 2012. He completed his M.F.A. at the University of British Columbia (class of ’11) in Vancouver, where he wore many hats, including dog hotel night shift attendant, TV background performer, minor film critic, occasional illustrator, environmental news writer, pretend-patient for med school students, and video game tester. He divides his time between India and Canada.
Indra has written about books, comics, TV and film for publications including Slant Magazine, VOGUE India, Strange Horizons and Vancouver Weekly.
Indrapramit Das (aka Indra Das) is a writer and artist from Kolkata, India. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in several publications including Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and Tor.com, and has also been widely anthologized. He is an Octavia E. Butler scholar and a grateful graduate of Clarion West 2012. He completed his M.F.A. at the University of British Columbia (class of ’11) in Vancouver, where he wore many hats, including dog hotel night shift attendant, TV background performer, minor film critic, occasional illustrator, environmental news writer, pretend-patient for med school students, and video game tester. He divides his time between India and Canada.
Indra has written about books, comics, TV and film for publications including Slant Magazine, VOGUE India, Strange Horizons and Vancouver Weekly.
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