Shere Khan: The Masters Reimagined

By Jade Kerrion

Uncover the truth Rudyard Kipling conceals in his unforgettable masterpiece, The Jungle Book.

One-hundred rupees for the skin of Lungri...

A mysterious Chinese girl arrives in India, determined to claim the bounty on the man-eating tiger. Intrigued by her unrelenting purpose, Rudyard Kipling follows her into the jungle on a mystical adventure that will transform Lungri--The Lame One--into Shere Khan--Tiger Lord.

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Q - Is this based on the Kipling or Disney version of The Jungle Book?

A - Did you know that in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (not the reimagined Disney version), Shere Khan was first called Lungri? Did you know that Kaa rescued Mowgli from the monkeys? And did you know that Shere Khan was killed by stampeding buffalo?

My short story, Shere Khan, weaves around Kipling's story, to tell another story of the conflict between the east and the west, of clashes between cultures and countries, and of a mystical world that runs parallel to our own. It tells you why the man-eating tiger named Lungri--Lame One--was first and forever acknowledged as Shere Khan--Tiger Lord.

Q - What is The Masters Reimagined?

A - In The Masters Reimagined, ten authors unite to bring something new to the classic stories of literature we all know so well. Masters like James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Herman Melville, Leo Tolstoy, and Shakespeare inspired the authors of the Alvarium Experiment in their quest to reinterpret, reinvent, and reshape the stories and characters through speculative twists and turns. This is the third project by the Alvarium Experiment, a consortium of accomplished and award-winning authors.

Q - Where should a reader start when selecting a short story to read in The Masters Reimagined?

A - Each story is self-contained and can be read in any order. The reader is free to select any of the stories at random to begin their experience. The book description will explain the premise for each particular story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling author JADE KERRION defied (or leveraged, depending on your point of view) her undergraduate degrees in Biology and Philosophy, as well as her MBA, to embark on her second (and concurrent) career as an award-winning science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance author.

Her debut novel, Perfection Unleashed, published in 2012, won six literary awards and launched her best-selling futuristic thriller series, Double Helix, which blends cutting-edge genetic engineering and high-octane action with an unforgettable romance between an alpha empath and an assassin.

If she sounds busy, it's because she is. Jade writes at 3:00 am when her husband and three sons are asleep, and aspires to make her readers as sleep-deprived as she is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jade Kerrion
• Release date: Nov 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781533725059

Jade Kerrion

Welcome! I’m Jade Kerrion, a Science Fiction author. I graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with an undergraduate degree in Biology and Philosophy, and then went on to get my MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia. My varied background led me through many careers across many industries, including container shipping, education, and management consulting. In my spare time, I wrote stories – young adult, fantasy, and science fiction – and developed a loyal reader base with my fan fiction series based on the MMORPG Guild Wars. I was accused of keeping my readers up at night, distracting them from work, housework, homework, and (far worse), from actually playing Guild Wars. And then I wondered why just screw up the time management skills of gamers? Why not aspire to screw everyone else up too? So here I am, writing books that aspire to keep you from doing anything else useful with your time. I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with my wonderfully supportive husband and my two young sons, Saint and Angel, (no, those aren’t their real names, but they are like saints and angels, except when they’re not.) Thank you for visiting!

Book preview

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to my beta readers and editors—Bradette Michel, Kim Campbell, and Scott Michael Powers—for polishing Shere Khan into a work of art, and to Charles Cornell, for his cover design. You all helped bring Shere Khan to life.

—JK

The Masters Reimagined Introduction

The ascendancy over men's minds of the ruins of the stupendous past, the past of history, legend and myth, at once factual and fantastic, stretching back and back into ages that can but be surmised, is half-mystical in basis. The intoxication, at once so heady and so devout, is not the romantic melancholy engendered by broken towers and moldered stones; it is the soaring of the imagination into the high empyrean where huge episodes are tangled with myths and dreams; it is the stunning impact of world history on its amazed heirs.

—Rose Macaulay, The Pleasure of Ruins

What makes a Master of Fiction? Who are they if not the ones who inspire entire generations? What are their works if not doors to living worlds they have created, to which everyone is invited? We all enter and come away with our own experiences, our own responses, and our own wonderment. And we sometimes ask ourselves after reading, what if? What then? What’s next? 

These questions bring life to these words decades, sometimes centuries, after they were written, giving wonder and adventure to millions of readers. The answers can lead to further exploration of the stories, revealing elements even the masters never envisioned.

Enter these familiar worlds with fresh eyes. Discover the speculative elements of science fiction, fantasy, and the supernatural that the masters might have only hinted at. What would Kipling’s India be like if it were controlled by the more mystical forces of nature? How would a James Joyce story hold up in a future, dystopian setting? What if Alice’s rabbit hole was a dimensional portal?

The Masters earned their title not only because their work exemplifies the best of a given time period, but because their stories inspire us all to open our hearts and explore.

Shere Khan

by

Jade Kerrion

July 23, 1886

"Excuse me, Mr. Kipling?"

Her shadow fell over his leather-bound journal, blocking the glare of the mid-afternoon sun. Rudyard looked up; his instinctive smile conceded to a frown when he saw only a Chinese girl, scarcely older than a teenager.

She held a yellowed copy of the Civil and Military Gazette. I have a few questions about your article. Although she wore the shapeless black tunic favored by Chinese coolies, her careful English hinted at a privileged education, or at least a great deal of exposure to Christian missionaries. Her snub nose and yellow tan stood out among the dark-skinned Indians and pale-skinned British in Simla, the summer capital of British India.

His mind still on the story he had been plotting, Rudyard grabbed the newspaper and glanced at the three-week-old article she had circled in red ink. One-hundred rupees for the skin of Lungri. "Article" was, in fact, too generous a term; the piece consisted of five lines in the classifieds section, detailing the bounty