Monday, November 10, 2014

RELEASE DAY BLITZ [Guest Post & Excerpt] Sceadu by Prashant Pinge



Sceadu
by Prashant Pinge
 Genre: YA fantasy fiction
 Date of Publication: Nov 10, 2014

Cover Artist: Reptile FX

Book Description:

All this while, Matilda’s shadow had been growing larger and larger. Suddenly, it lunged out of the ground and swallowed her, like a python does its unsuspecting prey.

Nine year old Matilda ends up with a century old book through a series of strange coincidences. And disappears. Her brother and cousins are forced to suspend their hostilities and pursue her to Sceadu, a land inside the human shadow. Once there, the reluctant visitors find themselves chased by the vicious Hefigans, creatures of Sceadu. However, everything changes with the revelation of an ancient prophecy that foretells the doom of the world they left behind.

With the stakes suddenly raised, the children must now navigate the dangerous terrain, overcome grave challenges, and unlock the secrets of the shadow. But can they do it in time to thwart the plans of the treacherous Hefigans? Or will they succumb to the guile of a ruthless enemy who is equally determined to destroy mankind?

Sceadu is a fast-paced adventure which blurs the boundary between the physical and the psychological, the real and the mythical.

Available at Amazon




Guest Post:

From writing to production

Writing is a passion I have been pursuing for over a decade now, with four books of children’s fiction and two short stories to my credit. One of the reasons I really enjoy writing stories for children is they get illustrated. And these visuals add an extra dimension to the story, making it even more enjoyable. But what about an audio-visual experience? While I tremendously enjoy reading, there is no doubt that watching the Harry Potter series on celluloid truly brought the fantasy to life. It was with this motive that I decided I wanted to take baby steps towards production.
In the past, I have written scripts for a few popular animation series in India. During this time, I had also written a screenplay titled ‘Freedom of Expression’ which I had been really interested in converting into a short film. I had made a few attempts to do so but the pieces of the puzzle somehow never fell into place. That was, until about a year and a half ago. More often than not, my efforts had been rendered void due to the financial aspects. So I decided the best way forward would be to take the crowdfunding route, a channel that had recently been introduced in India.
The most important aspects though were putting together a team. I fortunately met a director who was as excited about the script as I was. As it so happened, I had also set up an animation and VFX studio a few months earlier which meant that special effects could be handled in house. And finally, my brother, ever the music aficionado, agreed to compose the music for the film. We ran the crowdfunding campaign alongside polishing the script, scouting for locations, and bringing on board the rest of the team members including the actors.
The crowdfunding experiment was successful, and the shoot took place over a five day period in Pune, a city near Mumbai. We had our moments of insanity such as a major power cut during filming, scrambling for balloons (a critical prop), and last minute location hassles. But despite all the chaos, everything did come together in the end. The shoot was followed by a lengthy post production process involving creating special effects, composing music, and editing. At the time of writing this article, the film is finally complete and shall soon be submitted to film festivals around the world.
All in all, my fledgling journey into the world of production has been very rewarding thus far. And I look forward to taking on my next production challenge soon.
About Freedom of Expression
‘Freedom of Expression’ follows the travails of an artist living in a monochromatic world where all other colours have been banned by the authorities. However, the protagonist has experienced colour as a child until its eradication and has suppressed those memories into his subconscious. He has no choice but to exist in this paradigm until his subconscious awakens. The rest of the film explores his quest to understand and rediscover the missing element from his palette.


Excerpt:

Matilda sat at her old wooden desk, staring into the thick yellowed pages of a book under a dull moth ridden beam cast by the night lamp. But every time she blinked, it seemed as if the words had played a round of musical chairs. And the moths, fluttering through the words at times and hovering over them at others, did not make things any easier.

Matilda was about to turn the page when there was a tug at her feet. It was a very gentle one, almost imperceptible. Surprised, she glanced down, but there was nothing. Perhaps it’s just my imagination, she thought. She was about to shake her thick dark brown curls out of her face when she felt it again.

Matilda pushed her head down and looked into the dark void with furrowed brow. Her skinny legs stared back. But before she could decide on whether she had actually felt anything, there was another tug, an unmistakable one this time. And another one. The truth suddenly dawned upon Matilda. It was her shadow, trying to drag her into itself.

Matilda jerked back the chair, kicking hard at her shadow. But it snapped back, pulling at her even more viciously. She stomped upon it repeatedly. But the dark grey shape began jabbing at her feet and ankles. Matilda pushed herself up and made a frantic attempt to run. But her legs refused to move, and she almost toppled forward.

All this while, Matilda’s shadow had been growing larger and larger. Suddenly, it lunged out of the ground and swallowed her, like a python does its unsuspecting prey.







About the Author:

Prashant Pinge was born and brought up in the picturesque neighbourhood of Shivaji Park in the bustling city of Mumbai in India.

A quiet and diligent student throughout his schooling and college years, Prashant proceeded to pursue electrical engineering at Purdue University in the United States. Over the next decade, he accumulated three more degrees, a master of science in management from Lancaster University, a post graduate program in management from Indian School of Business, and a post MBA master in international management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Apart from enjoying the company of books, Prashant had always had an imaginative bent of mind. But writing only happened in the fall of 2003, when a remarkably intriguing dream interrupted an uncharacteristically deep spell of slumber, compelling him to stagger to his desk and pen down the idea. That book is still a few years away from being written. Prashant, however, continues to work from his cauldron of creativity and churn out critically acclaimed works of fiction.

In addition to his literary pursuits, Prashant is Managing Partner in his marketing and branding firm, Media Panther. In his spare time, Prashant enjoys collecting old coins, reading fiction, travelling to exotic destinations, watching movies, and listening to music. He recently wrote and produced a short film titled Freedom of Expression. Prashant is also keenly interested in the subjects of psychology, mythology and ancient history.

Prashant lives with his wife and son in Mumbai.

Author website - http://prashantpinge.com



Sceadu Facebook page - http://facebook.com/SceaduTheBook








Tour giveaway

3 ebook copies of Sceadu

Rafflecopter coming soon


1 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great post! I do hope your readers enjoy Sceadu!