Jeez, did I mention this?

With all that had been happening over the last few weeks this was announced while I was on tour, so didn't blog about it myself. This is the announcement that came out in Publishers Marketplace at the beginning of March.

Sarwat Chadda's THE SAVAGE PALACE, the first book (and sequel) in the epic, adventurous Ash Mistry Chronicles, which weaves together contemporary and mythological India, about a boy who, while staying with family in India, discovers something is very wrong with a mysterious millionaire, finding himself in a desperate battle to stop his master plan - the opening of the Iron Gates that have kept the demon king at bay for four millennia, to Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine Books, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2012, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

So, to clarify: Ash Mistry will be published in Spring 2012 in the UK and Fall 2012 in the US. I will tell you more about it later this year but it's been the book I've wanted to write more than anything, even before I dreamt up Billi. The Indian myths aren't really widely known in the West and I think that's a terrible shame. I hope Ash will be the first step in fixing this. The stories are set in the same world as Billi as I love cross-over stories. Some characters out of the Billi books will appear in Ash's adventures. But Ash is something different, and so's Parvati, the half-demon assassin he's forced to team up with. Need I tell you it will kick ass? Thought not.

Introducing Ash Mistry

I’ve been waiting for Ash for a long time. Maybe all my life.
I grew up reading myths about Greek heroes, about Vikings, Normans and Saracens, stories of Sinbad and King Arthur, and I’ve loved them all. But where were my heroes? My parents immigrated to England from the Indian Subcontinent and growing up in the 1970’s I had no heroes that I could call mine except Mowgli. The only Indian in children’s literature and he was over a hundred years old. Even Kim, Kipling’s other great child hero, is actually Irish.
I wanted heroes like me, but not labelled as ‘ethnic’. Ash is a bagger and tagger; he fights demons and is a plain and simple action hero. He’s not worried about having an arranged marriage or being in a Bollywood movie.
I was in my twenties before I came across the vast mythology of India and it blew me away. How could this stuff not be better known? Why weren’t kids reading about Rama, Arjuna, about demon-slaying Kali and flute-playing Krishna? The mythology of India is immense and current. It’s being celebrated today and yet we know so little. Why isn’t it as mainstream as any of the Greek or Norse legends?
I’d put the skills of Arjuna against Achilles any day of the week. The strength of Bhima against Hercules. The courage of Rama against that of Thor. (Even as I write this my Spellcheck is going mad. It doesn’t recognise the name ‘Arjuna’. Over one billion people consider Arjuna the world’s greatest hero).
But I didn’t have to be Scandinavian to enjoy tales of Vikings and I don’t believe you need to be Asian to enjoy tales of Rama and of Ash Mistry. Heroes are heroes and we love them where-ever they come from. It’s time we met some Indian ones.

Press Release from HarperCollins

I've been biting my nails for a few weeks to be able to tell you this, so here it is at last.

News
HARPERCOLLINS ACQUIRE SARWAT CHADDA’S NEW KIND OF HERO
London, 07th February 2011
Nick Lake, Editorial Director, has won a hotly contested auction to bring the Ash Mistry Chronicles, a new series by Sarwat Chadda, to the HarperCollins list. The three-book deal, for UK & Commonwealth rights, was acquired by Nick from Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary.
Ash Mistry and the Savage Palace – the first book in the series – will launch in Spring 2012. An edge-of-your seat action adventure, it introduces a major new character for 9–12s, 14-year-old British-Indian Ashoka Mistry, better known as Ash.
Ash hates India. Which is a problem since his father has brought the whole family there to take up a dream job with the mysterious Lord Savage. But Ash immediately suspects something is very wrong with the eccentric millionaire. Soon, Ash finds himself in a desperate battle to stop Savage's masterplan – the opening of the Iron Gates that have kept Ravana, the demon king, at bay for four millennia...
Sarwat Chadda's first novel Devil’s Kiss was shortlisted for the Branford Boase First Novel Award. The Ash Mistry Chronicles is his first series for 9-12s. Like the protagonist of this new series, Sarwat came to the folktales of his parents’ culture late in life – vivid stories of heroes, demons and gods that totally blew him away. Now, he’s ready to bring those stories to a whole new generation
Commenting on the deal Nick Lake said, “Ash Mistry is a brilliant, gripping read, with an action-packed plot that starts in top gear and stays there, while taking the reader on a mind-expanding journey into contemporary and mythological India. Fans of Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer will devour this awesomely entertaining book in a single sitting.”
Sarwat Chadda added, “Everyone's read the adventures of Hercules and Thor. But the vast mythology and history of the Indian sub-continent has been strangely neglected in children's fiction. Through Ash, a modern British-born Asian, I hope to immerse the reader in a world as magical and as thrilling as anything to come out of the more familiar Greek and Norse mythology. Heroes are heroes and we love them wherever they come from. It’s time we met some Indian ones...”

Note to Editors:
• HarperCollins UK publishes a wide range of books, from cutting-edge contemporary fiction, to block-busting thrillers, from fantasy literature and children’s books to enduring classics. It also publishes a great selection of non-fiction titles, including history, celebrity memoirs, biographies, popular science, dictionaries, maps, reference titles and education books, and its digital business is thriving. With nearly 200 years of history HarperCollins publishes some of the world’s foremost authors, from Nobel prizewinners to worldwide bestsellers. In addition it publishes the works of Agatha Christie, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. It was the first major UK trade publisher to go carbon neutral in December 2007.
• HarperCollins Children’s Books is one of the leading publishers of children’s books, recognised for nurturing new talent as well as boasting a reputable list of established best-selling authors. Respected worldwide for its tradition of publishing quality, award-winning books for young readers, HarperCollins is home to many children’s classics, including The Chronicles of Narnia, Noddy, the Paddington stories, The Cat in the Hat and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and to some of the biggest names in children’s literature past and present, including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, Dr. Seuss, Louise Rennison, Darren Shan, Judith Kerr and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo.
• HC UK and International is responsible for the UK and Ireland, India, Australia and New Zealand and is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, one of the leading English-language book publishers in the world. HarperCollins Publishers is a wholly-owned division of News Corporation, the media conglomerate and parent of Times Newspapers Ltd, British Sky Broadcasting and Twentieth Century Fox.