ABOUT THE BOOK
Sam returns home from a business trip a day before his son's thirteenth birthday and is looking forward to being with his family, when his world is cruelly shattered in one fell swoop. Initially he thinks he can cope with the loss, but finally seeks the help of Cynthia, an experienced therapist, to regain his equipoise. What he does not know is that Cynthia herself is trying to cope with a debilitating divorce and the sinister shadow of her ex-husband over her daughter . . .
What happens when doctor and patient find themselves in the same sinking boat? Moreover, when they are rowing in opposite directions--one clinging to the past, and the other unable to get rid of it! In the midst of it all is Lily, Cynthia's daughter, who harbors a secret that has the power to explode the lives around her.
Taut with tension and intensity, Dark Blossom is a glimpse of what lies under the surface of apparently 'normal' people.
Book Details:
Title: Dark Blossom
Author: Neel Mullick
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Rupa Publications (December 21, 2018)
Print length: 224 pages
IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH NEEL MULLICK
Ifs
If you could talk to someone (living), who would it be and what would you ask them?
I’d love to talk to Barack Obama and discuss his thoughts on the balance and tradeoffs between power and diplomacy.
If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
I’d love to talk to Ayn Rand to learn more about her evolution from philosopher and non-fiction writer to a fiction writer, the challenges she faced and lessons she learned in doing so.
If you could live in any time period which would it be?
Phew! That’s a toughie. The romantic in me would love to live in Europe during the Renaissance, but if time travel were to become a reality, then I’m afraid the realist in me is more than likely to succumb to the temptation of traveling to the future to find out the result of next year’s Super Bowl!
If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
I’d go back to the Amazonian rainforest because I have never since known tranquility like I experienced there.
If you could be anything besides a writer, what would it be?
I’d be a Nascar driver. I grew up in India and even though the 1.2 billion of us haven’t discovered it yet, I believe we are genetically predisposed to excel at that sport!
If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
I am fortunate enough to currently be working with four women-led NGOs in as many continents and what I’d like to spend more of my time doing is working with children’s education. In fact, half the royalties of my debut novel, Dark Blossom are being donated to www.iimpact.org, an NGO devoted to the primary education of girls from the most impoverished sections of India.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
If I could, I’d be living just outside of Queenstown, New Zealand, running a small B&B in a vineyard, writing and entertaining guests in my free time.
Ands
5 favorite possessions:
-my Ridley cycle
-Serious Steel resistance bands
-iPhone XS
-Bluetooth earphones
and
-my MacBook Air, without which I wouldn’t be able to write.
5 things you need in order to write:
-time
-my laptop
-silence
-research
and
-well, a little more time!
5 things you love about writing:
-allowing my imagination to run amok yet be focused on every little detail
-the joy of discovering how even the smallest change in a sentence can make the biggest difference to its meaning
-the opportunity to have an impact on others
-empathy for my characters to take them through their entire range of expressions
and
-empathy for readers to be able to make a desired impact on them
5 things about you or 5 words to describe you:
-dreamer
-philosopher
-romantic
-empathic
and
-more than a dash of nutty!
5 favorite places you’ve been:
-Antarctica
-Barcelona
-Galapagos
-Machu Picchu
and
-Queenstown
5 favorite books:
-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
-Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
-Primal Fear by William Diehl
-A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young
and
-Embracing Your Inner Critic by Hal and Sidra Stone
5 favorite things to do:
-writing
-cycling
-traveling
-philanthropy
and
-meeting new & interesting people
Whats
What’s your all-time favorite memory?
The first time I did a solo paragliding flight in California. It was a flawless forty-five minutes, and it’s the closest I’ve felt to Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
What’s your all-time favorite movie?
Oh! Now’s the time I give away how old I am. I remember watching the Keanu Reeves-movie Speed as a teenager and I can’t remember, either ever before or after, being on the edge of my seat for as long.
What’s your all-time favorite author?
Ayn Rand for her ability to create characters that are unique yet their struggles so relatable, stories that are grand yet realistic, and a narration that is dogmatic yet immersive.
What’s your all-time favorite city?
Barcelona, for it has the best of everything – the sea, the hills, culture, modernity, food, wine, and people!
What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
That I have survived ten days (and nights!) at an airport and a free fall five-hundred meters from the sky!
What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve heard?
The sound of a thousand waterfalls in a valley in Tibet.
What’s your favorite time of day?
Early in the morning, the first few hours in fact. For that’s the only time of day I’m able to stick to a discipline!
What’s your favorite meal?
The midnight snack for it usually constitutes dessert!
What’s your favorite thing to do?
Writing! It used to be cycling for almost as long as I can remember but now writing has replaced it. And that’s saying a lot.
What’s your favorite snack?
Ice cream. Yes, I gain two pounds for every 10,000 words I write, if you must ask!
What’s your favorite dessert?
Kanafeh. If you haven’t tried it yet, drop everything you’re doing and sink your teeth into a portion. It’s got sugar, cheese, almonds, pistachios, and rose water. Can’t go wrong with all of that!
What’s your favorite beverage?
Coffee. Can’t seem to get enough of it.
What’s your favorite ice cream?
Dulce de Leche… No, Belgian Dark Chocolate… No, Sea Salt and Caramel… grrr… All of them?
What’s your favorite hobby or past-time?
Cycling.
What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
Playing poker online. I’m a novice, and I don’t play with money, but I’ve realized that I can discover my mind’s level of unrest based on how I play. And knowledge, in this case, is definitely power.
What’s your favorite quote?
It’s mine: Good storytelling happens at the intersection of personal authenticity and people’s perceptions. While the former can get you to the first draft, it takes brutal honesty and painstaking diligence with one’s understanding of the latter to get to the final manuscript.
What’s your favorite color?
Blue. My first name in my mother tongue means is a shade of the color.
What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
Chapstick.
What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
That I could write. I would have started it before I could walk!
What is your obsession?
To continuously evolve and improve as a writer.
What smells remind you of your childhood?
Petrichor .
What book are you currently working on?
My next novel is also going to be a psychological thriller, narrated from the perspective of Abigail, a young nanny who has just started working at a prominent bureaucrat’s home. It starts with her charge, six-year old Stewart fighting for his dear life in the pool and Abigail soon discovering it might have been his older sister who had pushed him in and covered her tracks.
What’s your all-time favorite picture of yourself? It’s actually a recent one taken a couple of years back in Cambodia.
What’s your all-time favorite place you’ve visited?
Machu Picchu.
What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Ilili close to Madison Square Park in NYC. Never disappoints!
Music: EDM. Try listening to a couple of tracks by Joe Lyons but beware, you might not want to listen to anything else after!
Movie: Miss Sloane with Jessica Chastain. I think both the movie and Jessica’s acting were hugely underrated.
Book: Autism Breakthrough: The Groundbreaking Method That Has Helped Families All Over the World by Raun K. Kaufman. It is filled with so many life lessons told in a simple and endearing manner that it’s a must read.
TV: Game of Thrones
Netflix/Amazon Prime: Ricky Gervais on Netflix. He’s one of the best comics I’ve ever seen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Connect with Neel:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Wattpad
Buy the book:
Amazon
