Shabbeer Ahmed is a qualified engineer and a professional MC. He quit the rat race of engineering to follow his passion— entertaining people with the magic of words. He went on to become a renowned host of events and has shared a stage with eminent personalities such as Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer as well as various Bollywood actors and sportspersons.
Having hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 for the Bangalore matches, Shabbeer is also a well-known team- building professional, with two game-design patents to his name. He has hosted international music shows as a radio jockey on 101.3 FM and entertained music lovers as a video jockey with the erstwhile SS Music. He is also a TEDx speaker.
“Djinns and Kings – The Curse of Zoa” marks Shabbeer’s foray into the world of fiction writing. He currently lives in Bangalore, India.
TBE: What inspired you to write a fantasy novel centered around djinns and Middle Eastern mythology?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Most of us grew up reading Eastern folklore and mythology. Tales of Alibaba, Aladdin, Sindbad the Sailor etc. were some of our earliest exposures to folktales and fantasy. The last few decades saw a complete lull in this particular genre. Instead, slickly written books with Western settings complete with dragons, mermaids, vampires etc. have dominated our bookshelves, TV screens and Mindspace. It is because modern Western writers have taken up the same wizards, elves, dragons etc and made them relevant, relatable and in certain cases, even contemporary. I have enjoyed reading/watching every one of them.
The Eastern folklore has plenty of rich offerings, the settings are exotic, the spice markets, musicians, magic carpets, djinns or genie as you call it, manticores, simorgs etc deserve to be recreated and retold, even if it is in a classic form. And hence, I decided to write a book that encompasses Eastern folklore and fantasy.
TBE: The book features complex political intrigues and battles between kingdoms. What research did you do to craft the political and military aspects of the story?
Shabbeer Ahmed: I have always leaned towards classical books. The Iliad and Odyssey by Homer had a lasting impact on me. I have deliberately incorporated certain elements and battle scenes from Shahnameh’s The Book of Kings by the Persian poet, Ferdowsi. Rustom killing his son Sohrab, albeit by mistake, directly influenced Rhuzbeh killing his son Tiran. I am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s work is a modern-day epic and has subconsciously influenced certain war scenes.
TBE: Rhuzbeh is a fascinating and morally ambiguous protagonist. How did you approach developing his character arc over the course of the novel?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Rhuzbeh was born an orphan but destiny chose him for greatness. I did not want an unblemished character. Rhuzbeh was great but greatness comes at a cost. I wanted to make a clear distinction between greatness and goodness. There have been famous kings in history who have been guilty of some of the morally ambiguous deeds and yet been regarded as ‘great’. I wanted Rhuzbeh to be a complex character, he is flawed but he does have his destiny to fulfil.
TBE: The novel blends historical and fantastical elements. How did you strike a balance between historical authenticity and imaginative worldbuilding?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Maintaining that blend between historical and fantastical elements was a major challenge. For eg. Centaur battling a human was directly influenced by the mythic battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs, the scene immortalized by a Michelangelo sculpture. Those ancient Greeks battled the Persians for the supremacy of the known world. The Greek sculptors of the school of Pheidias perceived the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs as symbolic of the great conflict between the civilized Greeks and Persian “barbarians”. Had the Persians prevailed, we would have seen a different world.
The line “I am the Anzu, I am the Abzu, I am the owl and I am the Hoopoe” was influenced by Fariddudin Attar’s, Conference of the Birds. I wanted to arouse the reader’s curiosity and create an Aha! Moment. Hence there are certain characters written keeping historical characters in mind, while some are made obvious others are veiled for the readers to discover.
TBE: Djinns play a major role in the story. What drew you to feature these mythological beings so prominently? How did you put your own spin on djinn lore?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Well! Nothing can spell ‘Orient’ like the Djinns. The genie in the bottle/lamp is so exotic and I wanted to write more about them. We know only two types of Djinns, the ones that scare people, like the ghouls or the ifrits that grant wishes. The word ‘Djinn’ means the ‘Unseen’ so any unseen being is a Djinn. Hence, I have taken artistic liberty to twist a few norms about the djinns to suit the book’s narrative.
TBE: The cursed city of Afra-Zun is central to the plot. What was your inspiration for this magical city and its history?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Afra-Zun is a concept city that encourages diverse people/beings living harmoniously with each other. When a homogenous population lives together it is easy to vilify ‘others’ This ‘othering’ can be avoided if we live diversely. This would cut down xenophobia and bigotry, which is rampant these days.
Also, I have always been fascinated by stories of lost cities that include the Tamil continent of Kumari kandam, also called Lemuria, Shambhala, Atlantis, El Dorado etc The myths surrounding these places have directly influenced me to imagine the fantasy landscape of Afra-Zun.
TBE: There are many vivid battle sequences in the book. What was your process for writing these action scenes?
Shabbeer Ahmed: To write the battle scenes for this book I had to closely study the Mongol and Turkic battle strategies. For example, I have incorporated the Mongol tactic of feigned retreat, which was a classic tactic of steppe warfare. The Mongols used this tactic extensively during their conquests.
The Mongols would feigned retreat, and then charge back when the enemy was no longer on guard. As the enemy became more aware of this tactic, the Mongols would extend the feigned retreat for days or weeks until the enemy got drawn out. I have used this ruse including the ‘Parthian Shot’ in which the Parthian horse archer attacks and then turns to retreat with the enemy infantry breaking ranks to pursue their ‘retreating’ foe.
The Parthian twists in the saddle to his left and lets loose an arrow over the rump of his mount. This is a classic tactic of the Steppe horse archers dating back to the Scythians and Parthians all the way to the Mongols.
TBE: Family relationships and legacies are important themes. What made you want to explore these dynamics in a fantasy setting?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Rhuzbeh is an orphan. He needs some stability and mooring. What does a man do after achieving kingship and greatness? He needs someone to share that greatness with and hence family becomes important. You may be a world-famous conqueror but you are still human and need someone to love and be loved. The rest is just posturing. Human relationships are complex and elaborate.
Each relationship needs to be nurtured or like a tree, relationships wither or, worse, become poisonous. Historically, we have seen many kings and Ottoman Sultans who have been unable to achieve their full potential due to palace intrigues and hence these relationships need to be addressed with finesse.
TBE: This is your debut novel. What was the biggest challenge in writing and publishing your first book?
Shabbeer Ahmed: To begin with I did know I could write. I did not write this book, this book wrote itself through me. I knew that I had to write this book otherwise my chest would burst haha! And I had to consult my friends regarding the storyline and style of writing. After the book was written I did not know if it was worth publishing. Writing is one thing and getting it published is another. I had to wait for almost two years to get this book published. Kudos to my agent The Book Bakers and publisher OM Books International for publishing it.
TBE: Without spoiling anything, can you give us a hint about what readers can expect in future installments of the series?
Shabbeer Ahmed: I am working on my next book called, ‘Djinns & Kings – The Birth of Manticore’ and hopefully complete it in a year.
TBE: Who are some of the authors or works that have influenced your writing style and storytelling?
Shabbeer Ahmed: Homer, Ferdowsi, and Tolkien have all influenced my style of writing. I like Salman Rushdie’s incisive style and Jonathan Stroud’s witty sarcasm but alas! They are a tough act to follow.
TBE: What do you hope readers take away from “Djinns & Kings” after finishing the book?
I hope this book rekindles inclusivity. The resurrection of Afra-Zun is a testimony that people with different cultures and races can live together harmoniously and celebrate their differences and that people take joy in discovering other cultures apart from their own.
I also hope to arouse people’s curiosity about Eastern folktales and Eastern fantasy and it finds its way back on bookshelves and screens. In the process, if people rediscover reading works of great Eastern writers like Ferdowsi, Attar, Saadi, Rumi etc They would go on and discover how the world as we see it today has been a confluence of cultures.
The world, as we see it today, has not evolved as a result of the contributions of one particular culture, one race or one civilization. It is not homogenously vanilla but a cassata with vanilla frosting, masquerading as one.
