An entire generation of
post-Independence Pakistanis and North Indians grew up reading him, both
in Urdu and in Hindi.
The journalist Khaled Ahmed called him
"the only real bestseller in Urdu".
Bollywood screenwriter Javed Akhtar
credited his characters as the inspiration for the famous film villains
Gabbar and Mogambo.
And Dr. A.Q. Khan, the founder of
Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, called him "the all-time greatest
Urdu-language detective story writer."
On Friday, April 22nd, 2011,
Blaft Publications
will release eBook English translations of four novels by the late,
great Urdu author Ibne Safi.
|
Poisoned Arrow
In an unnamed city somewhere in Hindustan, a man is killed by a
poisoned arrow outside a popular nightclub. The subsequent
investigation, led by the intrepid Colonel Faridi and his
assistant, Captain Hameed, opens up a shadowy underworld network
of pimps, drug dealers, and foreign spies. But who is behind it
all? The diminutive Goan named Finch? The beautiful yet
mysterious Tara Nayadu? Or the enigmatic American arch-criminal,
Doctor Dread?
Jasusi Dunya #60 |
|
Smokewater
Prominent industrialist Sir Fayyaz Ahmad disappears en route to
his vacation home, and returns several days later in a strange
delusional state. His granddaughter, the young and beautiful
Shakila, approaches Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed for help.
The investigation leads the two detectives through the corrupt,
twisted world of the super-rich—their stately mansions, white
yachts, and platinum mines—and smack into the middle of a deadly
game being played by the notorious American criminal Doctor
Dread.
Jasusi Dunya #61 |
|
The Laughing Corpse
The beautiful Saeeda Rahman, a typist at the firm of James &
Bartley, learns that her long-lost uncle has died in Jamaica and
named her as the sole inheritor of his huge estate. Suddenly all
the city’s richest young men are competing for her attention.
But when she’s kidnapped during a scuffle at a popular
restaurant, it’s up to Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed to find
out who’s responsible...
Jasusi Dunya #62 |
|
Doctor Dread
The wealthy widow Begum Irshad is being blackmailed by a
mysterious foreigner. Crime reporter and freelance investigator
Anwar is hired to go undercover and find out who he is.
Meanwhile, Captain Hameed and Colonel Faridi are trying to
figure out why a mentally deranged man who thinks he’s an angel
is being kept imprisoned in a five-story building. As bullets
fly and the bodycount rises, it begins to look as though both
cases may be related to the ongoing feud between the tiny,
monkey-faced killer named Finch and the American arch-criminal
Doctor Dread...
Jasusi Dunya #63 |
About the Author
One of the quirkiest and most prolific Urdu writers of the 20th century,
Ibne Safi was born Asrar Ahmed in Allahabad District, Uttar Pradesh,
India, in 1928. He migrated to Karachi, Pakistan shortly after the
publication of the first Jasusi Dunya novel, and lived there until his
death in 1980.
A wealth of further information on Safi's life
and writings can be found at the excellent fan website
www.ibnesafi.info, run by
Mohammed Hanif.
The Blaft books have been translated by
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, a man who has been called "the Urdu
language's foremost writer and critic".
The eBooks will go on sale April 22nd in the
US, UK, Australia/New Zealand and Europe at the Amazon Kindle Store, as
well as in ePub format for the Nook, iPad and other devices. In the US,
they are priced at $4.99 each except for the longer Doctor Dread, priced
at $5.99.
Print editions of the books will be available
in the Indian subcontinent, where Blaft will co-publish them with
Tranquebar Press.
If you're in Delhi on the 22nd, please join us for the launch event at
the Habitat Centre (see
the invitation).
A foreign-market print edition will be released
later this year.
Blaft Publications is a small publishing house
based in Chennai, India. The company was launched in 2008 and quickly
became well-known for The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, a
collection of Tamil crime, romance, science fiction, and horror stories
translated to English by Pritham K. Chakravarthy. Other successful
releases have included translations of Tamil experimental fiction,
folktales, graphic novels, visual books, and English-language flash
fiction. Visit www.blaft.com
to browse their titles.
for further information or advance review
materials contact:
Blaft Publications Pvt. Ltd.
4/192 Ellaiamman Koil St.
Neelankarai
Chennai 600041
India