Born and raised in Mumbai, India. Mihir Wanchoo is a bibliophile by choice and a medical graduate by necessity. He is also an avid book collector and longtime reader of fantasy, mystery thrillers and Indian mythology with additional interests in historical fiction and urban fantasy. Some of Mihir’s favorite writers include John Connolly, David Gemmell, Rob J. Hayes, Courtney Schafer, Rachel Aaron, Craig Schaefer, & James Clemens.
Mihir also enjoys following the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket team and Chelsea F.C. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family, and is ever looking forward to discovering new authors and old books. He’s a member of Fantasy Book Critic and The Fantasy Hive.
Welcome to the Asylum! Take a seat by the fire, have a glass of beverage of your choice and tell me something about yourself!
Hi Timy, I’m not sure whether I should say “I’m glad to be in the asylum”. I’m a SFF reader from India who grew up on Indian mythology and history. This fueled my reading obsession and once I started reading Winter Warriors by David Gemmell. I’ve never looked back and discovered so many fantastic books in fantasy, mystery, thriller and SF genres.
Also I’m obsessed with the Indian epic called Mahabharata and I consider it my life’s duty to introduce it successfully to the western world (by begg bribing one of my favorite writers to write a fantasy version of it).
This probably isn’t that interesting but I’ve never seen any of the Star Wars films.
What blogging means to you?
It’s a fun hobby which keeps me happy. Also it’s a way to spread the joy and love that books brings to me. When I was in India, barely anybody I knew were readers and those that did, didn’t read any mystery/fantasy/thriller/SF genres. So I was always starved of conversations and sharing my geekiness (except my best friend who was the only other person who read the same titles as me).
When I got to join FBC over a decade ago, I got to meet and interact with authors. Pepper them with questions and got to read all my books early. What’s not to love about it 🙂
You are locked in an asylum. What did you do to end up there?
Probably answered a question wrong? Or maybe to quote Rorschach “I’m not locked up in here with YOU….”
Which fictional character and/or author would you like to live with in an asylum?
For fictional character, I think I would have to pick Eli Monpress (from The Eli Monpress saga by Rachel Aaron). Since Eli’s a thief and a cheerful one at that. Plus he’s a person who’s hard to pin down so I’m pretty much guaranteed an escape plan just by being around him.
Which fictional world would you like to live in?
This is a tricky one, almost all of the books I love are steeped in the darker side. I don’t think I would want to live in those worlds (as my survival is very much ambivalent). So I’m going to answer with my childhood love of the world of Oz (just the L. Frank Baum books). It was such a cute world with its intricate lands and magic systems. I think I would love to be able to visit and experience that.
If you could switch lives with any character in a book, who would you choose? Would you like to have the author along as a fellow character?
I would love to get an eagle eye view of events alongside Druss the legend. So it would be fun to switch lives with Sieben the poet and this would doubly advantageous as Sieben is a silver tongued charmer that’s popular with the ladies. All qualities that I currently lack, so it would be fun to experience life with them 😉
And a big hell yes to having David Gemmell as fellow character, and to experience the world of the Drenai alongside its creator.
You are a treasure hunter, about to retrieve a chest of gold from a sunken pirate ship, when a beautiful mermaid/merman approaches you, trying to stop you. How do you react?
Probably have an aquatic version of the massive bazooka that Arnold used so destructively in Commando and blast those dastardly merfolks away.
No PETA, I will not apologize for this hypothetical scenario.
Your family allows you to keep one fantastical creature at home. What do you choose?
A dragon because if it’s one creature that screams fantasy, then it has to be dragons. Culturally they are present all across the globe & c’mon who wouldn’t want to have a friendly sentient magical creature that’s has elemental magic.
You can have one magic ability for a day. What can you do and how do you spend that day?
Oh that’s easy, I would want to have a brain that’s able to process every bit of information there is and then to be able to know everything about everything there is to know. I wish to know and recall everything and nothing would be a secret from me.
I dunno if this makes me sound like a super villain in the making but damn, I do wish to know more and more (fun fact Dr. Doom is one of my all-time fav characters)
You are a magical creature living near a village. How do you get on with humans?
Wait I get to be a magical creature, woohoo!!! I’m definitely not going to want stinky, puny humans around me then. Unless they bring me interesting books to read 😉
While you are locked in here for eternity, we will allow you one book – what would you choose?
Oh how I deplore that question. At no point in my life, have I ever loved one book or series to be just content with that. But to answer your question, I’m going to cheat a little. I would choose a magical book/tablet that would contain the Mahabharata and all of its iterations from every corner of the world, every time point (past, present & future) as well as every form it’s adapted into.
Well then, we hope you’ll enjoy your stay in the Asylum! Any last words? *locks door*
Wait I thought my lawyer had negotiated a get-out-of-asylum clause. Dammit, I shouldn’t have gotten a lawyer through that website. *grumbles as he tries to get comfortable*
Mihir Wanchoo is the member of Fantasy Book Critic, a fellow SPFBO judge and all over nice guy 🙂
Leave a Comment