Turbulence

By Samit Basu

Aman Sen is smart, young, ambitious and going nowhere. He thinks this is because he doesn't have the right connections--but then he gets off a plane from London to Delhi and discovers that he has turned into a communications demigod. Indeed, everyone on Aman's flight now has extraordinary abilities corresponding to their innermost desires.

Vir, a pilot, can now fly.

Uzma, an aspiring Bollywood actress, now possesses infinite charisma.

And then there's Jai, an indestructible one-man army with a good old-fashioned goal -- to rule the world!

Aman wants to ensure that their new powers aren't wasted on costumed crime-fighting, celebrity endorsements, or reality television. He wants to heal the planet but with each step he takes, he finds helping some means harming others. Will it all end, as 80 years of superhero fiction suggest, in a meaningless, explosive slugfest?

Turbulence features the 21st-century Indian subcontinent in all its insane glory--F-16s, Bollywood, radical religious parties, nuclear plants, cricket, terrorists, luxury resorts, crazy TV shows -- but it is essentially about two very human questions. How would you feel if you actually got what you wanted? And what would you do if you could really change the world?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781161210

Samit Basu

Samit Basu’s first novel, The Simoqin Prophecies, published when Samit was 23, was the first book in the bestselling Gameworld Trilogy and marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. Samit’s global breakthrough happened with the superhero novels Turbulence and Resistance.  Turbulence won Wired‘s Goldenbot Award in 2012 and was superheronovels.com’s Book of the Year for 2013. Samit also writes for younger readers: other works include the Adventures of Stoob series and Terror on the Titanic, a YA historical fantasy. He’s also published short stories for adults and younger readers in Indian and international anthologies, and has been a columnist and essayist in several leading Indian and international publications. Samit works as a screenwriter and director too. His debut film, House Arrest, was released as part of Netflix’s International Originals last winter and is also set to be a consultant producer on an upcoming adaption of his novel Turbulence, which has been optioned by Wonder Films and Chaotic Neutral Entertainment, LA.  Samit’s work in comics ranges from historical romance to zombie comedy, and includes diverse collaborators, from Girl With All The Gifts/X-Men writer MR Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran. Samit was born in Calcutta, educated in Calcutta and London, and currently divides his time between Delhi and Mumbai. He can be found on Twitter, @samitbasu, and at samitbasu.com

Reviews for Turbulence

[gregandlarry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun read.

[alexdraven · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do, indeed, want a sequel! Superheroes in India (and unexpected London) - fast paced, interesting characters, and some good thoughts about how superpowers would work in the real world. (Plus, the final scene between Aman and Uzma is heartbreakingly romantic in a totally not sappy way, unique to those characters and their experience.)

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After an Indian Airlines flight is exposed to something strange, everyone on board starts to develop powers. A really intriguing exploration of what superhero powers would look like from a different national perspective, albeit one heavily influenced by American pop culture via movies. There are some clear bad guys, but Basu presents the good guys as mostly well-motivated but not too clear on what “the right thing” is, which I liked.