The Bard of Blood
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 First edition | |
| Author | Bilal Siddiqi |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Spy thriller |
| Publisher | Penguin Books and Blue Salt |
Publication date | 2015 |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Print (paperback, hardback) |
| Pages | 312 |
| ISBN | 9780143423966 |
The Bard of Blood is a 2015 Indian fictional espionage thriller novel written by debutant author Bilal Siddiqi.[1] He wrote the novel at the age of 20 during his college days in Mumbai. It was published by Penguin Books.[2]
Kabir Anand is a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent and is now a professor of Shakespeare in Mumbai. He was forced to leave RAW after a disastrous mission in Balochistan. He is called by the agency to return after Sadiq Sheikh, his ex-boss, is killed. Meanwhile, Mullah Omar of the Taliban and the ISI are also after him.
Development
Siddiqi said he got a "sudden growing interest in the covert world of espionage" at the age of 17 and "the entire talk of jihad and Islamic extremism that plagued every newspaper."[3] He started writing it at the age of 19 and later met Chiki Sarkar, the then Chief Editor of Penguin Books, through Hussain Zaidi whom he was assisting for a few years. Zaidi recommended Siddiqui's name to Sarkar. She read half the manuscript and then decided to publish it. It took him "roughly a year" to write the novel.[3]
