In review

Good things happened.

1. The Bangalore launch of the India version of Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu was released on Oct 14. Major RD Bhargava was the Chief Guest and also did a phenomenal job is discussing the book. There was an audience of about 40.

A highlight was the presence of several of my school mates.

2. I was involved in planning and executing a fund raiser for Myanmar Hindu refugees, a very politically incorrect cause.  But it was great. It happened at the Kashmir Bhavan and Mr Tarun Vijay came down from Delhi for it.

3. I got news that one of my books may be published by a major publisher. Details soon.

4. I dropped below 80 kgs briefly (79.8. I seem to be at about 80.4 kgs now. Only reason: diet and heavy yoga. Aiming for 75

5. Tito the post distemper dog is recovering nicely. Runs a lot, eats a lot. Poor child. I hope he lives out his life never having to experience hunger again.

6. Bharatnatyam classes going really well. I enjoy it.

7. Trips happened to Hyderabad and Pune. And will happen again soon.

Events

Lots of events since my last post.

My father passed away in April at the age of 96. Both my parents are now gone. It feels odd.

Many dogs passed away too, leaving behind voids. Two more came in - Lily and Tito. Lily is a bratty little pug found on the streets of Mumbai.

Tito is a distemper survivor who was starved. But with the help of a dear friend, he is bouncing back.

I visited Iceland and then Canada. A great time.

My son graduated from the Univ of Vermont and then subsequently joined a research firm in New York City. On his feet now.

In the US we traveled all over Vermont and then went to Arizona, New Mexico and a part of Texas (El Paso). Saw the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns and the park newar Los Alamos.

Then onward to Florida - the keys and the Everglades.

Returned to India after a few days in Detroit. The flight from Flint to Chicago was delayed due to a bomb scare.

In India, I went to a few workshops. Got a few violin students. Resolved to loseweight and have been doing some serious yoga. I have mastered several variants of the headstand.

I just returned from Pune where the Indian edition of Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu, was released/ I also moderated a couple of sessions, including one for children on elephants.

A few photos below.

You can get my book here:  Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu

"Tag" has regrettably been released

J.C. Lane

(She's written other PPP books as Judy Clemens, but this book is under the name J.C. Lane)

http://www.jclanebooks.com

*1. One more book eh? What have we done to deserve this? Thanks for your
heartfelt condolences*

I just couldn't help myself. It has been three years since my last book came out and I forgot how much everyone hated my stuff. So. Sorry. 
*2. Tell me and other suffering souls who will be forced to read this, as
little as possible about your alleged book.*

Six kids play a deadly game of Tag in Chicago. Some characters you'll like, some you'll hate. Or maybe you'll hate them all. 
*3. What medication do you recommend? And how much will you pay us to read
your book?*

Definitely caffeine. Through chocolate. I would love to pay you all in chocolate, but the post office is picky about mailing perishables. 
*4. Why did you choose that title? Shouldn't you have thought of us?*

RT Book Review gives it the reward for "most self-explanatory title." So maybe I just lack imagination.

http://www.rtbookreviews.com/blog/86792/forewords-books-buzz 
*5. What do you wear when you write?*

Fuzzy Dr. Seuss pajamas. (Red fish, Blue Fish) 
*6. What infuriates you about the book you've just written?*

That it hasn't been made into a movie yet. 
*7. How can we stop you from writing a sequel?*

Just ask. 
*8. What's the nastiest thing people have said about your book?*

"I want to yank that Brandy out of the book and smack her." But then, I guess that's a good thing, because Brandy deserves it.

Help put Judy out of her misery. Buy her book here

LINK FOR PURCHASE: http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/tag-youre-dead/

Sherlock Holmes in Japan now translated to the Japanese

My book Sherlock Holmes in Japan has been translated into the Japanese ad published in Japan by Kokoshu http://www.kokusho.co.jp/np/isbn/9784336060778/ The book now has Four Versions - India/UK, USA, Brazil and Japan Here are the covers

How Organizations Really Work

Get this book from Amazon here.

A book's journey

My feature at Killer Nashville is here

SH in Timbuktu - a review in the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star

Nice review. Says its one of the very best!

 Read here.

Thank you.

Yet another alleged book from Charles Benoit :-(

I had the misfortune of interviewing Charles Benoit who has been irresponsibly churning out book after book. Please read. I will take a month to recover.

1. One more book eh? What have we done to deserve this? Thanks for your heartfelt condolences.

I'm going to keep pushing these books until you all just give up and buy enough copies so I can retire to a little seaside villa in Malta. The longer I have to wait to retire, the more books you're going to have to endure. Yes, you can consider that a threat. 

2. Tell me and other suffering souls who will be forced to read this, as little as possible about your alleged book.

The age-old, heart-warming tale of a boy who tries to turn his life around by running cocaine and plotting with the main dealer's prostitute girlfriend to rip off said dealer, escape with the money and forget all about that murder. 

3. What medication do you recommend? And how much will you pay us to read your book?

While cocaine might seem like the obvious choice, I suggest that, like my young adult readers, you stick to abusing Adderall and other attention-deficit meds.  

4. Why did you choose that title? Shouldn't you have thought of us?

Sounded enough like Blow Job to appeal to the adolescent male in all of us. 

5. What do you wear when you write?

The same orange jumpsuit we all wear. 

6. What infuriates you about the book you've just written?

The way it just sits there with that smug, "I'm-so-fucking-adorable" look on its cover. Seriously, I want to punch it every time I see it. 

7. How can we stop you from writing a sequel?

I don't do sequels. And just try to stop me from not starting now! 

8. What's the nastiest thing people have said about your book?

It's hard to light and it burns unevenly. 

If you really must buy, this is where you can get it:

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Job-Charles-Benoit/dp/0544318862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456625857&sr=8-1&keywords=snow+job

Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu

My book was published by Poisoned Pen Press in early January, 2016. I enjoyed writing the book, which involved some serious research into the politics of 1890s Europe and North Africa, the Vatica, the Tuaregs, the city of Timbuktu, the lower Nile and so on.

Here are a few reviews:

Historical Novels

Book Pleasures

Killer Nashville

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

Midwest Book Review

Fatema's Blog

Whatifknits

#poetry detox session report in the press @PuneIntLitFest #Pilf2015 @PPPress @BloomsburyIndia #globalwarming pic.twitter.com/A8S9DCmQ9r

— Vasudev Murthy (@dracula99) September 13, 2015

ARC Sherlock Timbuktu

The Advance Review copy of Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu is here!

My interview on writerstory.com

Read our interview with author Vasudev Murthy for his book How Organizations Really Work: http://t.co/7zylKqmFM2 #Author @dracula99

— WriterStory (@WriterStoryCom) June 10, 2015

Creating a character - my blog article on PPP

Creating a character - A book remains with you not just because you liked the story. In all probability, there was a...

Posted by Poisoned Pen Press on Monday, April 27, 2015

My article on Human Resources in The Pioneer

As organisations evolve and employees become smarter, traditional HR paradigms will have to be rethought for the...

Posted by Bloomsbury India on Monday, April 20, 2015

Versions and Translations

I've been very fortunate.

Sherlock Holmes in Japan was first published by HarperCollins in India in late 2013.

Poisoned Pen Press then published the book in March 2015 after some amount of restructuring. It was fascinating to see the PPP editors apply their minds and create something new.

And now, Grupo Editorial in Brasil has published the Portuguese translation of the book.

Translation must be such a complex and exhausting task. Finding the right words must be the easiest part of the process. Nuances must be the really difficult part.

I guess I no longer own the book. It has its own life and will go wherever it wishes.

Sherlock Holmes, the Missing years: Japan

My book was released in the US on March 3rd.

Acquire the book here:

Book announced - How Organizations Really Work

I'm happy to say that my book How Organizations Really Work, has been announced by Bloomsbury.  It is expected to hit stores by March 3rd.

About the Book

Books on management and organizations usually ignore the human factor. This
unorthodox book marks a radical departure in how organizations should be understood.
It deals with human issues and relationships between groups. Though serious, it
makes for easy reading and is written with humour. How Organizations Really Work is
the perfect companion for an employee at any level; for those who want to step back and
look objectively at what’s happening around them and make sense of it. It is also for
management students accustomed to impractical diets of theory. Exclusive mind-maps
at the end of each chapter help the reader make connections between the concepts
discussed and entities, while the wildly funny stories provide a much-needed welcome
break.

Beginning with the reasons why organizations exist, the author examines how authority
flows down from the board to everyone else. Marketing, Sales, Human Resources,
Finance, Information Systems and Operations are examined first theoretically and then
through the eyes of a practitioner who knows where theory falls short.

Rosetta

Rosetta

Strange,

That when I needed to be silent,

I babbled like a brook;

and of course, 

when I needed a word

I was struck dumb.

How comforting

an empty dictionary 

might have been,

to search for words

and never find any

to commemorate a passing,

something brutally torn,

a childhood too fleeting, a love

beyond language. Another invisible

brick in Babel's ziggurat.

The poetry of John Burnside

Somewhere in the house, unheard, unseen, eternity comes creeping like a thief 

- from Officium, a poem by John Burnside


I do not pretend to be a poet or even understand the nuances of poetry.

But, like many, I think I can recognize superior craft. If  I knew more, had I been trained formally, I could say more.

This slim volume - about 75 pages-  of poetry by John Burnside is outstanding. It is serious reading. Here is a poet who chooses words with the greatest care - and who knows, though it's unlikely, that he was helped by a good editor - and gifts the reader with an exquisite reading experience.

The cries of hunting  birds, unhooded for the kill

What must it be like, to be a poet of such depth, finding layers of meaning and substance in every word, in every experience, in every thought?

with something more inventive, than dismay

Most of the poems do not exceed two pages, which is probably a good thing. They are muted and mature, with many obsessed with death and the past. Perhaps adding other poems of a different variety would have diluted their impact.

cloves at the back of my throat. like a cherished tumour

I was unhappy that it was only 75 pages. Of course, few buy poetry, and therefore production costs are important. I also wish the poems had been double spaced for an enhanced experience.

Required reading for he who thinks he can write poetry.

Van Gogh

A great poem and video that captures the agony of the great painter, Vincent Van Gogh

Taken from http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starrynightlyrics.html

Description		Lyrics
Expressing Van Gogh's inspiration for the painting. One line says : "Look out on a summer's day." This is giving Van Gogh's vantage point looking out from the asylum at Saint-Remy. When he first entered the asylum, he painted mainly from his room or the courtyard garden, but later went further afield to paint.		Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey, Look out on a summer's day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chills, In colors on the snowy linen land.
		Now I understand what you tried to say to me how you suffered for your sanity how you tried to set them free. They would not listen they did not know how perhaps they'll listen now.
These are references to other Van Gogh paintings. Flaming Flowers: The Sunflower Series Swirling Clouds: Starry Night Field of Amber Grain: Wheat Field with Crows Weathered Faces: The Potato Eaters		Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze, Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue. Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain, Weathered faces lined in pain, Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
This is Van Gogh's tragic Death. Even though he loved painting, his paintings could never love him back. Van Gogh attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest, which ultimately led to his death two days later.		For they could not love you, But still your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night, You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you.
Van Gogh's artistic legacy is contained within his paintings, drawings and writings. They are everlasting and will never "forget" the style that created them. They are Van Gogh's eyes that watch the world. This is all metaphorically speaking though.		Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls, Frameless head on nameless walls, With eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the strangers that you've met, The ragged men in the ragged clothes, The silver thorn of bloody rose, Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Finally we come to the conclusion of realizing Van Gogh's eternal struggle.		Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they're not listening still. Perhaps they never will...