Around the time my older son was born, I began working on my first novel, ‘The
Coconut Bank,’ based on my father’s growing up years and young life in India. The novel got me an agent but died upon submission, which is another way of saying that it didn’t sell to a publisher, despite the positive feedback it received from many of them.
My agent said, ‘Send me your next,’ and left me to it.
After a period of mourning, I started my next. ‘The Colossus’ is a sort of historical/present day mystery with humor and romance blended in. It was published by a small press, Astor and Blue in 2015 and did fairly well for the sort of release that goes with a small press.
In submissions now: “Goddess By The Hour.”
The Colossus
On a pharmaceutical research mission in 1935, Dr. Samuel Rosen uncovers a pill from the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. The pills are a source of intrigue for the Nazis, who believe they may hold the key to immortality.
When they test the pills on the Jewish prisoners of Krippenwald labor camp, a highly contagious retrovirus begins to spread.
Over the next several decades, the virus reaches pandemic proportions, but due
to its stealthy nature, nobody knows it’s happening. Nobody, except Berliner
Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Rosen’s ex-employer.
Fast forward to the year 2000 in Chicago. Dr. Rosen’s granddaughter, Max, is
living a quiet life until an old friend of her grandfather’s knocks on her door.
Berliner Pharmaceuticals is after the research on the pill, and they may be
responsible for Max’s father’s puzzling death. Desperate for answers, Max
travels across the continents to unlock her grandfather’s secrets. She soon
learns two things: there is a reason these pills were kept secret for thousands of
years, and Berliner will stop at nothing to keep the research under wraps.
Ranjini iyer 