The Girl after Manticore's secret??

Been a long time since i'd really posted something here, as always been reading blogs voraciously though i just don't seem to convince myself to sit and write about all those i wanted to write on. This Indibloggies thingy got me really excited in between and I had a bunch of favourites too, and to much of joy they won.

Reading blogs has been a lot of fun, especially that of the journos.. you actually get a glimpse of the casual side of the otherwise serious writers. It was through blogs that i actually got to know that Samit Basu, author of the Simoqin prophecies(SP here on) and now released Manticore's secret was going to be here on the 18th Jan.. I made sure i was present just to get a glimpse of the person whose blog i love reading. I hurriedly bought SP the week before and i made a promise to myself that i wouldn't go there without reading a book of his.

The book turned out to be more than what i'd expected, for the serious reading that i claim to do, it was a refreshing change and as i turned every page, the author surprised me with yet another weird character that left me musing about how he really could have conjured them up.

Its made me giggle in the middle of the night, a loud freaky one thats generally not welcomed. At the end of the book, the initial curiosity of meeting someone i read was long gone and was really excited about meeting someone who thoroughly entertained me through his amazingly offbeat book. Looks like i'm using more adjectives than the number of characters in SP.

I've written quite a number of words and i still have not reached the finale.. I, with some friends reached Odyssey pretty early, where the reading was scheduled, and duly complained to the manager about 10 blank pages in the SP i'd purchased a week before that very well robbed me off the hilarious climax ( well, atleast i thought it was after watching the Dark Lord rise in IMAX).. and only let him go after he promised me that i can exchange it.

As I was looking around in all directions to spot the author with a nice round halo behind his mighty head, i failed noticing the bong gentleman in a nice kurta(very much bong again).. and when he actually took the chair, i had this weird expression on my face that even i couldn't quite comprehend.

He was probably disappointed by the meagre crowd, and he voluntarily took breaks from the reading to answer the questions thrown. And i was there sitting in a corner and wondering if i can really conjure up a brilliant question,all that was coming to my mind were stuffs that he would have answered a thousand times(well.. atleast a hundred) then i decided it's a futile attempt anyways and pushed aside the thought and listened to what he said and read.

After the reading, we got ourselves introduced( us no big shots, we have a friend who knows the author) , told that i read his blogs and left. Well not exactly, lingered around and overheard him suggesting the manager that they should get Sonia Faleiro for a reading, and i was all ears before my hunger took over.

Hearing and seeing Sonia read would be great, she's one person i really admire and her book's gonna be delicious.. But before that lemme get a hand on The Girl and keep my fingers crossed.