Entertainment
Superstar Akshay Kumar unveils literary popstar Amish’s new book cover
Designed by creative agency Think Why Not, the cover depicts a distraught Ram shooting at Ravaan’s Pushpak Vimaan as it speeds away into the clouds, carrying his beloved Sita. As with his earlier book covers for the Shiva Trilogy, Amish has embellished the cover of Scion of Ikshvaku with a few ancient symbols that act as clues for his millions of readers to embark on a hunt to decipher his symbolic codes and discover the rich folklore of Indian mythology. Use of Symbology has been inherent in all his covers in the Shiva Trilogy as well. For example, on the spine of The Immortals of Meluha (Book 1 of the Shiva Trilogy), he has used the earliest discovered depiction of Lord Shiva in the form of the Pashupati seal, which was found in the Indus Valley civilisation.
In his usual enigmatic style Amish remarked, “The cover has many symbolic elements seamlessly integrated into its core, with the intent to maintain the high standards of visual appeal that we have set with my earlier book covers. Many of these symbols on the cover and through the books are clues to my stories for those well-versed with Indian scriptures. Of course the cover has to look good as well! I am very lucky that a fantastic team worked hard to make this cover design to a very high quality standard,” he added.
Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO Westland Ltd. was also present for the unveiling & announced that ’Scion of Ikshvaku’ is slated for release on 22nd June, 2015& the pre-order goes live on the same day as the cover launch i.e. 27th March, 2015! Amish’s readers can now pre-book their copies online exclusively on Amazon.in or at the nearest bookstore”. When asked about his expectations from the new series he said “Amish’s first series The Shiva Trilogy has over 2.2 million copies in print, and gross retail sales of over Rs 60 crores, making it the fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history. He is one of the topmost Indian authors of the 21st Century and we are confident that his next series too will be a blockbuster bestseller.”
Commenting on the association with Amish & Westland Ltd., Mr. Samir Kumar, Director Category Management, Amazon India, said “Amish is one of India’s most successful authors with an enviable fan following. We are glad to offer our consumers a chance to pre-order his next book, ‘Scion of Ikshvaku’ online exclusively on Amazon.in. We believe, Scion of Ikshvaku will be a treat to our consumers.”
It was after months of speculation and incessant queries from readers that Amish had finally revealed the subject of his next book and along with it, the new series that he is planning to write at the Jaipur Literary Festival in January this year. Titled the Scion of Ikshvaku, the first book of the Ram Chandra Series and Amish’s next mythological-thriller traces the story of Ram Chandra, the son of Dashrath and the founder of what is known today as Ram Rajya, the perfect empire. “The series will be a fictional interpretation, a fast-paced adventure based on the many versions of the Ramayan, melded with historical theories and my own imagination,” Amish disclosed.