Arvind Ethan David
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David
Author of The Great Game
Set in London, 1905, the novel follows Balvinder “Bunny” dev Singh, a law student and military veteran funding his education through an extralegal partnership with the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles. When an imperialist general is brutally murdered in his Mayfair library, Bal and Raffles find themselves entangled in a widening conspiracy. The investigation draws the attention of an aging, increasingly cynical Sherlock Holmes and an ambitious young Winston Churchill.
The central character of Balvinder dev Singh recalls the conflicted heroes at the heart of The Ministry of Time, Babel, and The Sympathizer, but with a greater aptitude for fisticuffs and an arc that includes discovering solidarity with a beautiful Irish proto-feminist. Decolonization has never been this exciting.
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David
Author I draw inspiration from:
The book wears its inspirations very much on its sleeve. Most obviously Conan Doyle, as well as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells and even Oscar Wilde.
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
By a pool. Whilst being fed grapes by passing strangers.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Dirk Gently (of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams)
DIRK: What floor?
ME: Third?
DIRK: Interesting.
ME: Is it?
DIRK: Isn't it?
ME: (averts gaze and hums nervously)
DIRK: I'm going to the third floor too, you see. That's quite a coincidence.
ME: There's only 3 floors, and we both got on at the first floor, so really it's a 50-50% chance.
DIRK: How do you know so much about probability. Are you a mathematician?
ME: No.
DIRK: Then what are you, a suspect, a victim or an assistant?
ME: (hurried) An author, I'm just an author.
DIRK: Interesting.
ME: (really quite nervous now) Is it?
ELEVATOR: Bing! You have arrived at your floor.
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When I first read P.G.Wodehouse's "Leave it to Psmith" and discovered that language was a musical instrument I knew how to play.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback - good for sitting on a shelf, little use for anything else. The worst UI of all the book forms.
Paperback - has never been improved upon. As Douglas Adams put it, the paperback is like a shark, nothing is better at being a book than a paperback, in the same way nothing is better at being a fish in the sea than a shark.
eBook - saves packing and great for research and referencing and portability, but ultimately still soulless
Audiobook - is either the best of times or the worst of times depending on the skill of the narrator and the quality of the production. A great audiobook can elevate average to good and good to great, but a bad one can turn a masterpiece into a travesty.
The last book I read:
Ordinary Monsters by J.M.Miro
It's a beautifully written gothic fantasy. Sort of the X-Men in Victorian England (and Japan) - told in elegant, careful prose by a poet, telling a genre story with heart. It's a little longer than it needs to be, and has a few too many things that move "like smoke" but those are small complaints for a book that made me happy to be lost in it.
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I write in a converted stable with a wall of glass on the top of a small hill in the Santa Ynez valley in California. I look out at acres of grass, and horses, and in the spring, lambs and goats.
First, I have to find the voice. I'll write some pages of dialog and description, just working my way into the tone. Sometimes it's a scene that will never make it into the finished work, sometimes I'm lucky and will chance upon the opening - as was the case with The Great Game. I type everything, but what software I use depends on the format. If it is a play or screenplay then I can only think in Final Draft. If its a novel, then it has to be GoogleDocs (not Word, which drives me insane!).
Once I have the voice of the thing, then the hard work begins.
The next step is to plot the thing out, which I do using dry-erase pens on the windows and glass doors. I'm a great believer in classic Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey structure, even if you are ultimately going to play with it and pervert it, it's helpful to have it as a starting point. This can take days till there is something that holds together.
Then I start to build that out into a first draft. I write my first drafts fast. A TV pilot is a week, a play maybe a month, a novel. maybe 3 months.
But then the revisions begin. And they don't stop till several months after the thing is in the world.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Ronald Eustance Psmith (from the Psmith books by P.G. Wodehouse).
An immaculately dressed, perfectly spoken aesthetic agent of chaos. Psmith both personifies the best of the English aristocracy and sets about tearing it down. The ultimate insider-outsider and the funniest creation of the funniest writer of English words. I wanted to be Psmith when I was growing up, and perhaps one day I will succeed.
Author Interview - Arvind Ethan David | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
There are only two things that give me true joy. Writing and being a Dad. Everything else is compromise.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Early to mid-Jedi period.
Place I’d most like to travel:
The past, but I wouldn't want to stay there.
My signature drink:
1975 Chateau D'yquem Sauternes. Not so much signature drink, as fantasy drink I will one day have.
Favorite artist:
Songwriter - Porter, Cohen,
Novelist: Wodehouse, Adams, Chandler, Rushdie,
Essayist: Smith, Amis, Rushdie
Playwright: Stoppard, Wilde, Shaw, Shakespeare
Screenwriter: Sorkin, Wilder
Number one on my bucket list:
Filling the shelf with work that lasts.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Hope you like the book!
Find more from the author:
arvindethandavid.co
https://www.facebook.com/arvindethandavid
https://www.instagram.com/arvind.david/?hl=en
https://bsky.app/profile/arvd.bsky.social
About Arvind Ethan David:
Arvind Ethan David
Arvind Ethan David is a writer and producer whose work spans Broadway, television, and film. He was a lead producer of the Tony and Grammy winning musical, Jagged Little Pill and has written and produced extensively in television, including Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Anansi Boys, and the Asian Academy Award winner, The Garden of Evening Mists. He was recently nominated for an Olivier Award for his adaptation of The Boy with Wings (Best Family Show category).
His graphic novels include the Stoker-nominated Darkness Visible, and his stage work includes the adaptation of his late mentor Douglas Adams' legendary The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
