1KBE - DAUGHTER OF THE SUN (WISHLIST)

#1KBE – A Thousand Beginnings and Endings – Author Interview with Shveta Thakrar

Shveta Thakrar is a writer of South Asian–flavored fantasy, part-time nagini, and full-time believer in magic. I already knew her style from "Lavanya and Deepika," an epic rendition of Tatterhood set at lavish Asian royal courts! Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Online, Interfictions Online, Mythic Delirium, Uncanny, Faerie, Strange Horizons, Mothership Zeta, Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, Clockwork Phoenix 5, Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, and Toil & Trouble. When not spinning stories about spider silk and shadows, magic and marauders, and courageous girls illuminated by dancing rainbow flames, Shveta crafts, devours books, daydreams, travels, bakes, and occasionally even plays her harp.

What sparked the inspiration for your retelling of two tales from the Mahabharata for this anthology? 

I’ve always loved “Savitri and Satyavan” and wanted to retell it someday . . . but I’d never found the right way. Then Ellen and Elsie approached me to write for this anthology and needed an idea right away for the proposal. I immediately picked “Savitri and Satyavan,” but in the actual drafting process, I realized I needed an anchor for Satyavan’s particular situation, and blending in the conditions from “Ganga and Shantanu” worked perfectly.

What do you love most about reading and/or writing fantasy and speculative fiction? What is the most challenging part?

What do I love most? Magic! Always magic, and the sense that there is more to this universe than what we can see–and the possibility I might one day stumble onto it.

The challenging part: writing to evoke that same sense of wonder and magic in readers. Hopefully I’m succeeding, but you never know.

Why is retelling parts of mythology important to you?

Myth sings in all our bones all over the world–it speaks truths we can’t really otherwise give voice to–but thanks to colonialism, we tend to focus almost exclusively on Western mythology, and I want to see that change. I can help by sharing bits from the mythology of my heritage in my work, so I do that.

Which character (can be from your imaginary worlds or a myth you know) would you take with you if you had to face a monster?

Princess Uloopi (the nagini) from the Mahabharata. She’s got a venomous bite, but also, if I died, she could bring me back to life with the gem of the nagas.

Are there any South Asian SFF or poetry writers you’d love to share?

Oh, wow, so many! But I’ll share three you might not be that familiar with: Mimi Mondal, Sukanya Venkatraghavan, Krishna Udayasankar. Definitely check them out!

What are you working on now – or – what should readers look out for in the future?

Novels! Young adult and middle grade both.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share them down the line. I’m also going to be contributing to a forthcoming middle grade anthology of “Snow Queen” retellings which I’m really excited about.

Let’s start this roundtable with short introductions. Please tell us a little about yourself, how you see yourself as an individual and a member (representative?) of a cultural group or a nation, and how you reconcile these multiple identities, if at all. How aware would you say you are of your position as a Woman of Colour in Speculative Fiction (SF)?

Shveta: Hi, I’m Shveta Thakrar, and here’s what I say in my bio, but condensed: a writer of South Asian–flavored fantasy, social justice activist, and part-time nagini. I’m a Gujarati and a Hindu, and I’m very aware of being a woman of color in spec fic. How could I not be? I’ve been fighting for inclusivity since I started writing seriously back in 2006. As Mary Anne said, things have improved a bit, but we still have a long way to go.

There are a lot of communities & sub-communities in the SF world, perceived or otherwise, and Mithila Review has hosted features on Asian SF, Latin SF and Czech SF. Do you feel there is a distinct South Asian SF community or identity? How familiar are you with South Asian SF writers, homegrown or diasporic, historical or contemporary?

Shveta: I’m not quite sure how to answer this. I’ve just tried to promote and encourage where I can, particularly in young adult (as that’s where my personal focus lies). I actually feel on the outside of the desi community in general, though I only write desi characters and am glad to see stories starring people who look like me start to have more of a presence in the Anglophone market. I also do try to follow work by writers in South Asia, like Sukanya Venkatraghavan, Indrapramit Das, and Krishna Udayasankar.

Many in the literary world often equate South Asian SF with retellings of mythical epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata (also equating the whole of South Asia with Hinduism and one origin story!). Some of your works overtly touch on mythical creatures, folktales, legends, though not necessarily South Asian in origin. Have you felt that the idea of South Asian speculative fiction is homogenized? Are tales from your childhood, culture, religion, pop culture, South Asian or otherwise, a source of inspiration for you? Tell us what your lasting influences are.

Shveta: “Are tales from your childhood, culture, religion, pop culture, South Asian or otherwise, a source of inspiration for you?” Without a doubt! In fact, even though some of my stories aren’t based on them, many are, and I’m not sure how I would write without referring back to them in some way, even obliquely. For example, I have a story coming out in an anthology that’s a retelling of “Savitri and Satyavan” from the Mahabharata. I’ve mentioned Uloopi and Arjun in another piece. And so on and so forth.

The theme of ‘outsider’ and ‘difference’ features in all of your works in some form or another. What motivates you to write about or from the perspective of the outsider?

Shveta: I could write entire dissertations about this. Instead, I’ll just say that I’ve felt like a changeling most of my life and still do in some ways, and so of course that bleeds into my work. It’s what I know.

We encounter a varied range of settings in your works –in the West, in South Asia, in whole other worlds, deserts, freezing tundras, rugged mountainscapes, ocean kingdoms, fairy tale kingdoms… How important is a sense of place for you? Is there a particular place – geographical or imagined – or a particular topography that arrests your imagination?

Shveta: I am naturally drawn to the fantastical, so I love the mythic version of any landscape, whether real or just imagined. And place definitely shapes my stories; they’re very lush and descriptive for a reason. I want to be able to share what I envision with my readers and take them along on the journey.

You all write pretty badass female characters who make difficult decisions to shape their own lives. Do you think the idea of the strong female character has become a meaningless trope? How to constitute what ‘strong’ is?

Shveta: “Strong” to me means someone who finds a way to address her situation, whatever that is. She need not be physically muscular or loud and brash. She just needs to want to act in some way (and yes, that does involve sometimes being passive in response to a situation, like dealing with parents/elders).

So basically, what Mary Anne said. 

In ‘literary’ circles, South Asian authors are often tasked with the ‘burden of representation’ – their stories and narratives must be about their homelands, must speak to the entirety of South Asian experiences, must be representative of all the food and flavour and myths and religion of the whole region. Do you ever feel this burden of responsibility or choose in some way to engage with it?

Shveta: Years ago, when I was just starting out, I got shaken up by the idea that diaspora like me don’t have the “right” to our stories, but a kind friend talked me out of that. Ever since, I’ve chosen to ignore that kind of territorial thinking–if my grandmother and my parents thought those stories were mine, that’s all I need to know–or the flip side of that, which is the notion that one of us represents all of us (as if any white person or European could do that!). I can only write what I know, which is really different in some ways even from other South Asians' experiences. And of course even more different from that of nondiaspora. I’m just interested in adding to a much larger conversation rather than standing in for anything.

Give us a peek into your SF reading wishlist. People often say you should write what you’d like to read – how different is your wishlist from what you write?

Shveta: Lots more fantasy using Hindu and Buddhist mythology and folklore! Which isn’t different than what I write, ha.  (I’d also like for these books to be called what they are instead of just “Indian fiction.”) I’d love to see retellings and completely original stories that work in bits from these old tales.

Tell us what you are working on or what we can expect to see from you.

Shveta: I have short stories coming out in various anthologies, including the retelling of “Savitri and Satyavan” I mentioned above in A Thousand Beginnings and Endings (East and South Asian fairy tale and mythic young adult retellings) and Toil & Trouble (a feminist, inclusive young adult collection about witches), along with a poem I co-wrote with Sara Cleto that will appear in Uncanny, and that collection of Snow Queen retellings. I’m also aiming to get my YA novel about stars back to my agent later this summer, so hopefully it can go out on submission soon after.

[Review] A Thousand Beginnings and Endings - Edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. These are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries.

Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.

What a wonderful anthology! I normally struggle with more pieces in a collection than enjoy, but here it was the opposite. I loved how each short story honed in on different cultures and myths. The Filipino ones especially made me wish that I was more connected and aware of my own background.


Breakdown for each -

13. Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar
5 stars
Again, another favorite. I loved Savitri's cleverness in winning back Satyavan. It reminded me of Orpheus and Eurydice, but this story ended on a happy note!

DAUGHTER OF THE SUN BY SHVETA THAKRAR – SOUTH ASIAN

Savitri Mehta’s parents had named her for light.

Absolutely enthralling! Thakrar weaves two stories in this one retelling, a romantic tale where the girl ends up saving the boy. I love how empowering this one for women and how Savitri took charge of her own life. #girlpower forever!

Before I discuss the anthology itself, let’s acknowledge two things. This is an anthology based around South and East Asian folklore: I expect this anthology will speak more strongly at an emotional level to people who have a more personal connection to the myths that form the basis for some of these stories.

A number of other stories are entertaining, including Shveta Thakrar’s “Daughter of the Sun,” about a young woman who falls in love and needs to make a bargain with divine entities in order to keep spending time with her lover.

Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar – 

This short story combined two stories from the epic poem Mahabharata called “Savitri and Satyavan” and “Ganga and Shantanu”. I liked seeing how Thakrar weaved the two tales into one and her writing was very pretty.

Overall I highly recommend checking out “A Thousand Beginnings and Endings” it’s very much worth the read especially if you’re looking for a diverse #OwnVoices book or just an anthology full of East and South Asian myths and folk tales!

→ Daughter of the Sun — Shveta Thakrar ★★★★★ ←
Savitri Mehta’s parents had named her for light.

I enjoyed this story so much, as it portrays a young woman—born with the light of the sun in her chest—who seeks a companion, finding it in a boy full of moonglow—a boy who’s been doomed to die in one year. This is such a gorgeous story, but more than anything, I loved the fact that, despite having been inspired by a mix of two stories instead of one, I could absolutely feel the resemblance to the Mahabharata. My favorite stories in this collection have mostly been the ones that felt like folklore to me, and this one is a shining example of that.

Origin: South Asian

Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar  – ★★★★★

Daughter of the Sun is a modern retelling of the story Princess Savitri and  Prince Satyavan from the Mahabharata. I’ve never heard of this tale, but I actually loved reading this modern version. It’s a story about love and sacrifice. It was a wonderful tale that kept me hooked till the end. It really deserves a perfect five stars.

Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar: ★★★★★

"She sang for her parents, for the hue-switching heavens, for herself. She read fairy tales, epics, and legends and imagined performing them on a stage draped in velvet. But it wasn't enough. She longed for a friend."

Thakrar’s tale, as sorrowful as it is beautiful, retells the epic of Princess Savitri and Prince Satyavan. Similar to her story, the legend tells of Savitri choosing to be with Satyavan, despite his death coming in a year. A tragic story of love with a destiny already sealed.

Savitri carries a light within her and as she works for a museum on an estate, she finds herself longing for freedom. She even gets told that one day she will find someone who reflects her light back to her.

So, she takes a trip through a nearby forest + lake and sees a boy, Satyavan, and its clear that he is her mirror (who is symbolized to be of darkness and her of light). The moon to her sun.

She doesn’t want to see him go, so she takes him from the lake that was going to allow him to reach home.

Despite an apsara’s warnings, she wants to get know him and he wants to know her. So, she gets told that she has one year to be with him!

The lyrical writing brought so much vibrancy to the setting, characters,folklore, and story! I adored reading about Savitri & Satyavan’s beautiful relationship, the connection they share!!

This story is about love, selflessness, and taking chances!

I loved everything about Daughter of the Sun and I wish this was a full-length novel ♥

Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar (South Asian)

This story had me going through a roller coaster of emotions. It is based on the Mahabharata, which is the longest epic poem in recorded history. One of the tales is that of Princess Savitri and Prince Satyavan, and this is where the author's retelling comes from. The retelling is slightly different from the original story. In the retelling Savitri saves Satyavan, a cursed son of Chandra, the lunar lord - or the Moon personified as male. But even though she saved him from death, Satyavan is on borrowed time. Still, Savitri brings him back and they get to know each other. But Satyavan remembers nothing of his near-death, or even his being a son of the lunar lord. He knows nothing but Savitri. What happens when his borrowed time is up? You'll have to read the story to find out. This was a heartbreaking and also very lovely story. And surprisingly, the ending was very positive. I love the themes that the author wove into the story. I also loved the romance. With short stories, oftentimes the romance is tragic or nonexistent. The romance in this story was lovely. 

 Daughter of the Sun – Shveta Thakrar | 

Origin: South Asian

Hers, they promised, was a heart meant to be shared with one who could not only bear her light but would even reflect it back at her.

Daughter of the Sun was inspired by two South Asian stories from the Mahabharata – Savitri and Satyavan, and Ganga and Shantanu. I loved this story’s female MC. She knows her own mind and sticks to her guns. She cleverly tricks Rambha, the nymph tasked with delivering Satyavan to his father Chandra, the lunar lord (the moon personified as male, ie Man in the Moon), making her extend the boy’s stay with Savitri and, ultimately, restoring his life at the end of the story.

Conclusion:

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is an important book. It takes a big step, bringing Asian stories to the fore. More so, getting Asian authors to tell their own stories. This book meant a lot to me as an Asian reader who has longed for her own stories to be told and to be represented properly in literature, TV shows, and the silver screen. I cannot urge all of you enough to pick up this book.

Final rating: 5/5

DAUGHTER OF THE SUN BY SHVETA THAKRAR

What a strange and beautiful story! I really enjoyed this one as well. It felt almost like magical realism in a way, but it wasn’t absurd like magical realism is. I found the premise of the story very intriguing – Satyavan is fated to die in a year’s time, but Savitri is clever and tricks death (or in this case, a nymph) and gets to keep him for herself

Very interesting indeed!

Overall Assessment

Premise: 5/5
Writing Style: 3.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 2/5

Another story derived from Mahābhārata was Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar, a lovely retelling about Savitri and Satyavan and tells about sacrifice, fighting fate, and following one’s heart. 

MY CONCLUSION: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

To be able to read A Thousand Beginnings and Endings – an anthology rich with culture, folklore, brilliant narratives, wonderful writing, and is unapologetically Asian – is a dream come true for me. I wish I could say that this anthology was something I wanted as a child, but the truth is that I never thought it was possible so I never dared dream of it. It wasn’t until I started reading diverse books that I began to decolonise my imagination, that I dared to dream of books and stories that could be about me and the unique experiences I have lived because of my identity. And so, with the existence of this anthology and all of its incredible stories within, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings gives me hope – that Asian children, teenagers, and adults will read this and hear loud and clear: yes, we are here, we matter, we have always mattered, and our stories matter. I am forever thankful for this anthology, thankful to its editors and writers for making this happen, and for daring Asian youth to dream, to be inspired, and to inspire in turn.

Is this book for you?

Perfect for: Readers who love anthologies; who love retellings; enjoy reading science-fiction, fantasy, and fantasy short stories; and enjoy learning about other cultures and history.

Think twice if: if you don’t like the above (listed in Perfect for).

Genre: anthology; science-fiction, fantasy, contemporary

Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar (A South Asian Epic – the Mahabharata): 

This one is actually inspired by two stories belonging to the Mahabharata – the tale of Princess Savitri and Prince Satyavan, and the tale of Goddess Ganga and King Shantanu. I loved getting to know these two tales and especially the retelling that is beautiful! It has a feminist vision to it and it talks about destiny and love. It’s the story of a girl that manages to trick an apsara. It was both inspiring and beautiful!

Overall: 4 stars

I am not sure if Daughter of the Sun (Savitri with Kaguya elements - IE a lunar prince to our solar princess, he is destined to return to the Moon - and Snow Queen elements - IE the lunar nymph as envoy, who whisks Satyavan away - squeeee!), and the other stories in this collection, will be out in any Russian pirate site - but the good news is that 1KBE is available at the Science Fiction Bokhandeln shops in Sweden! Including the one in Gothenburg (SQUEEEEE!) https://www.sfbok.se/produkt/a-thousand-beginnings-and-endings-183997 

So I am now thinking of this Genesis song:

A fall of rain? 
That must have been another of your dreams, 
A dream of mad man moon.

Along with Othello and some others, this story of Savitri and Satyavan -which predates both Portia and the princess in the Fourth Story of the Snow Queen!- is complete catnip for me (speaking of which - I have a Lieutenant Duckling bunny and a Mariusette bunny retelling the story! The former also has the Snow Queen in the role of Hades and a subplot about Liam being wounded with a thorn in the left arm, developing blood poison that, as time goes by, rises up to his heart... while the latter has the Norse goddess Hela, and focuses at first on the countdown as the seasons change and Cosette learns of the Pontmercy-Gillenormand rift - her quest ends reconciling the colonel and the old eccentric, both of them finding common ground. Outside Western media, I also have a Takari bunny - set in an early modern fantasy world, where Kari's friends and family generally have their original names while TK's family all have their Western names - well, his mum got name-changed from Nancy to Annecy! - and hail from counterpart France, where there was a revolution...)