Gourav Mohanty - Sons of Darkness

ISBN: 978-93-5559-084-8

Gourav Mohanty, 2022

Cover design: Micaela Alcaino

Frontispiece: Jennifer Bruce

Map: Gourav Mohanty

Printing: Nutech Print Services India

Published in India 2022 by

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DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction, derived from the authors imagination. It does not warrant, represent or make any claim of spiritual or historical authenticity. We respect all faiths, religions and communities, and do not in any manner intend to disrespect, insult, impair or disparage the beliefs, feelings, sentiments of any person, community, religion, society and its culture, custom, practice and tradition. All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental. The views expressed are those of the Author alone and do not purport to represent the Publisher.

To Mahwash

for being my wings, as well as the wind beneath them.

To Jejema

for introducing me to our ancient worlds.

To Astha

for being Satyabhama.

GOURAV MOHANTY was born in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. A gold medallist from SLS, Pune, he currently practices law in Mumbai. He moonlights as a stand-up comic and a blogger. As evident, his life has many tabs open.

A connoisseur of mythologies and momos, he has earned numerous scholarships in his time at law school, one of which took him to the castles of Europe. Ever since, he has been drawn to conjuring a world where Vedic India meets Italian Renaissance.

Sons of Darkness is Gouravs first novel. He is immersed in writing Volume II of this epic tale: Dance of Shadows .

www.gouravmohanty.com

@thekingbeyondthewall

W hen I took the wonderful characters of the epic Mahabharata and tossed them into a parallel dimension that was pervasively bleak and nihilistic, it was with the intention of making you, my reader, sit up and gasp on your couch.

The bare bones of Sons of Darkness saw the light after I read A Game of Thrones . My vision was clear. Epic Grimdark Fantasy was an unexplored bastion of Indian literature, and I wanted Sons of Darkness to be the first to conquer it. So, I started building a new world on the legacy of scores of hand-drawn maps, character sketches, raw notes, castle plans, detailed fight scenes, caste tattoos, heraldic designs you name it. And five gruelling years later, here we are, at the threshold of an exciting adventure.

But before you fasten your seat-belts, do give my bipolar invitation below a read. I was asked to draft this Authors Note because the world of Sons of Darkness is completely different from what you may know about the Mahabharata through books and TV shows. You will encounter strange new characters that were not part of the original epic poem. Old, loved characters take unfamiliar journeys and meet untimely ends. Am I thereby abusing my literary privilege? Who can tell? None of us were there when it happened. Then again, if you prefer the unsullied version, just read Vyas beautiful, original piece.

If you are, however, prepared to dive head-first into a chasm of chivalry and cynicism, all I ask is that you leave your helms and shields behind. Forget what you think you know about Krishna. Forget Karnas backstory. Forget Vyas Bharatvarsh. Instead, enter the dark world of Aryavrat. For Sons of Darkness has little to do with the mytho-trope of simply re-writing Mahabharatan reality from a different characters perspective and more to do with re-imagining a brave new world that is as disillusioned and ultraviolent as our own reality.

When you enter the world of Sons of Darkness , you enter a vast immersive universe, a Narnia of India, if you will. It is every bit as messy and intricate as our own world. There are no good or bad characters in this book, just real people faced with impossible choices. More importantly, Sons of Darkness does not whittle down the sorcery offered by our lore under the guise of science or realism. Instead, it creates an enchanting magic system, premised on our Vedas in a way I promise you have never seen before. But the uniqueness of Sons of Darkness , in my humble opinion, is that it does not project ancient India yet again as a village-world stuck in the Age of the Wheel, obsessed with wooden arrows and mud dwellings. Not at all.

There are swords, morning-stars, battle-axes and war-hammers. There are castles, siege engines, and ports. It is a complex, yet unknowable universe, with threads of its own intricate mythology. Under every sea hides the ruins of Atlantis. Behind every mountain is an Eden of history. You will not just be a reader, but an archaeologist excavating the secrets of this world, along with its characters.

And with that I invite you to leave behind the Light, and enter a world of war and riots, cruel intentions and misguided motives, of delicious Darkness, with me.

Gourav Mohanty
December 2021