Press release, Images, Events, Reviews below this book intro

THE BEST ASIAN SPECULATIVE FICTION, introduced and edited by Rajat Chaudhuri 



Between singing asteroid stations with a secret, and chilling visions of dystopia, between mad sorcerers with an agenda and time-travelling phantoms perplexed by the rules of afterlife, this volume of stories offers a unique sampling of flavours from the infinite breadth of the Asian imagination. If science fiction, horror, and fantasy are the genres you swear by, but miss Asian voices and settings, then this anthology is your oyster. Call these stories speculative, sff, or by any other name, they are really tales well told, and they always take off at a tangent from the big, blustering real. Here the imaginative spirit is aflame, casting a rich lovely light. 

Tales from sixteen countries of Asia plus the diasporas. Freshly minted, told by seasoned writers and new talent—a smörgÃ¥sbord of Asia's finest speculative imagination. The Best Asian Speculative Fiction includes stories by Shweta Taneja, Bae Suah, Priya Sarukkai Chabria, Xu Xi, Eliza Victoria, Eldar Sattarov,  Tunku Halim, Kiran Manral, Soramimi Hanarejima, Mithran Somasundrum, Lijia Zhang, Chris Mooney-Singh, Tan Kaiyi, Timothy Yam, Samim Ahmed, Rochellle Potkar, Joseph Nacino, Carlo Flordeliza among others. (Selected, edited and with an Introduction by Rajat Chaudhuri) 

ISBN: 978-93-86906-52-6
Published by Kitaab (Singapore)
Where to buy: Buy at Kitaab Store
 Amazon Amazon (India) | Amazon Kindle

Press release, Images, Events, Academic references, Reviews, Listings:

Review in  SOUTHEAST ASIAN REVIEW OF ENGLISH (DECEMBER 2019) , Malaysia ((ISSN: 0127-046X)) by Agnes S. K. Yeow

The Best Asian Speculative Fiction (edited by Rajat Chaudhuri) is referred (pp.322-332) in the book Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. by Robert M. Geraci, Oxford University Press (2022)


Cited in the book `Star Warriors of the Modern Raj' (University of Wales Press) by Sami Ahmad Khan.

Mention in The Hindu. (Shweta Taneja's nomination for French award)

The Best Asian Speculative Fiction was released at Singapore Writers Festival, 2018.

Introduction to the book The Best Asian Speculative Fiction published in Scroll.


Review in The Telegraph


Review in Kitaab magazine

Listed with a notice in Pune Mirror (Times of India)


Press release at Kitaab


Listing in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database 




Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Audeince at the  book release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)


Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)

Book Release and readings at Singapore Writers Festival (9th Nov, 2018)


Reviews of Spellcasters

Chaudhuri's prose is lucid; unexpected twists inform this part psycho-logical thriller and part climate fiction.' The Telegraph


Reviews of Multispecies Cities

Listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List’' Grist (US)

`Joyously ambitious solarpunk ... excels when entwining relational nuance with keenly handled futurist ideas ... number of gems for fans of climate fiction' Publishers Weekly

`Filled with a polyphony of voices ... Engaging introduction' Leanne Ogasawara, Books on Asia (Japan)


Reviews of The Great Bengali Poetry Underground

`Excellent translation ... Hard to find flavour of a culture in ferment' Scroll

`Translator seems to have masterfully reproduced in English the sting and beat of the original Bengali versions' Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi)

`What comes across in the translations, from the very beginning, are the poems' distinctive Bengali origin' Daily Star (Bangladesh)

`Social-existential cares are interwoven with allusions to local or national issues ... will subtly shift our perception as to the currents of Bengali underground poetry' New Indian Express


Reviews of Calcutta Nights

`Masterfully translated' The Telegraph

`Important from the point of view of culture studies' Indian Literature journal

`Fascinating as a document of the 20th century city'  Trisha Gupta, India Today

`Flawless translation ... retains racy flavour' Sajni Mukherji, Outlook magazine

`Translator craftily balances archaic words with new ones, never upsetting the tonal authenticity of a period piece.' Scroll

`A unique cosmopolitan setting' Business Standard

`Excellent translation ... a crisp read' Ganesh Saili, New Indian Express

`A tale of beauty and decadence' South China Morning Post

`Interesting ... for readers interested in history and the Asian experience of transition to modernity.' Asian Review of Books, Hong Kong

`A guidebook to the dark dens of eeriness' Press Trust of India (PTI)

`What a punch this little volume packs' India Abroad News Service of India (IANS)


Reviews of The Butterfly Effect

`Propels the accumulated anxieties of a city into a shape-shifting future vortex' Anjana Basu, Outlook magazine 

`Explores a Ballardian near-future' Amy Brady, Words Without Borders

`Genre-bending' Amy Brady, Houston Chronicle, USA

`Projects the tropes of a new politics of imagination ... a new eco-sophy is created'Krishnan Unni. P, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi 

`Indian novel's story parallels the deadly coronavirus outbreak' Times of India (news)

`Compelling' UNI

`A magic box ... brings Allan Poe to mind' Scroll

`Ten Works of Environmental Literature from Around the World' Book Riot, USA(listing)

`A wild ride, with brilliant and Ballardian descriptions' Eco-fiction

`Vivid storytelling dovetails with a playful structure' Bengaluru Review

`Fifty Must-Read Novels about Eco-Disaster' Book Riot, USA (listing)

`Around the World in 80 Books' Dragonfly Ecofiction (listing)


Reviews of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction

`A necessary and successful conglomerate' The Telegraph

`An important contribution to an ever-expanding and dynamic literary form' Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE), Malaysia

`More than just fantasy' Pune Mirror-Times of India (listing) 

`South Asian Studies Summer Reading List', Prof Mou Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (listing) 


Reviews of Hotel Calcutta

`Sheer power of storytelling' The Telegraph

`A persuasive artist...Hotel Calcutta invites a hungry, urgent reading' Asian Review of Books

`A very innovative frame story' Journal of Commonwealth Literature

`An astounding work that interrogates the myriad surfaces of reality' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi

`A dazzling "wall of stories" in Calcutta' The Sunday Guardian

`Very urban and 21st century' Sanjukta Dasgupta

`Chaudhuri tells us something also of the 'art' of the story.' Anu Kumar, The Thumb Print Magazine

`A web both classical and new.' Spark Magazine

`A writer to watch out for' Sushma Joshi, Kitaab

`His themes reveal a deep fascination with human response to the extraordinary’ Helter Skelter

Goodreads


Reviews of Calculus

`Might set a new trend in fiction writing' (in Bengali) Ekak Matra

Reviews of Amber Dusk

`A heady mix of experiences' The Telegraph  

`A memorable novel of East-West encounter' Amitava Roy 

`Another type of writing emerging within Indian English writing' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi (JSTOR)

`Praised for its evocation of Calcutta and Paris' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

`Surrealism explored ... A gifted writer of fiction' Deccan Herald  

`A delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance' The Statesman  





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