Prashanth Srivatsa is a writer of fantasy and science fiction from Bengaluru, India. His works of short fiction have appeared in magazines such as Asimov’s, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, etc. The Spice Gate is his first novel. It is a fantasy, scheduled to be published by HarperVoyager in July, 2024.

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Welcome to the Hive, Prashanth. Firstly congratulations on your debut novel, The Spice Gate. Can you tell us a bit about it? What should readers expect?

PS: Thank you very much for giving me this platform. I’m delighted to be here and talk about The Spice Gate. The Spice Gate is about a man’s quest for emancipation for himself and his family from the bonds of the mystical Spice Gates. Emancipation feels like a big word, and it goes above and beyond merely ‘freedom from oppression’. It is freedom from the bounds of social injustice.

It is set in a world where spices govern your daily life. Not merely in food, but also as a social marker, as distinctions of caste. I’ve always wanted to explore how food plays an oft overlooked role in society beyond its more tangible means of sustenance. How people discriminate against each other when it comes to food, how they dictate what one can eat and one cannot. This story charts the journey of one such young man, who would, at the end of the day, like nothing more than to have a plate of well-spiced biryani.

Readers who like expansive world building, who like their main characters as reluctant underdogs overcoming great odds, who enjoy spotting delicacies peppered through the narrative, and above all, like a good ol’ adventure, may love The Spice Gate. It is a South Asian fantasy, largely revolving around the food, culture and traditions of India, and as such, fans of SA Chakraborty, Ken Liu, RR Virdi, etc may hopefully find something of taste and delight in these pages.

Let’s discuss your worldbuilding in more depth. Your book features eight kingdoms which use Spice as a commodity and Spice plays a significant part of the way of life for each nation. What inspired this concept? How did you plan out and distinguish each kingdom and choose their associated Spice?

I’d be hard pressed to find a single reason that led me to discover the world of The Spice Gate. Truth be told, the idea just came up one fine day, probably from spending too much time in the kitchen (both at my home as well as at my parents’). There’s never a dearth of spices on the shelves. There never should be.

The initial idea was to explore a story set in a secondary world version of the Silk Road, to imagine a man thrust into the challenges of the spice trade. It’s a part of history that has always fascinated me, which has appeared not as often as I’d have liked in fantasy literature. Long caravans plying through deserts and forgotten towns, camping in now-abandoned serais that were once melting pots of different cultures across Asia. Those journeys would be difficult, I’d imagine. But what if there was a way to go from one place to another in the blink of an eye? How does the dynamics of this monstrous, mercantile empire known as the spice trade change in the face of this impossible shift in reality? The concept of the spice gates emerged from that seed. 8 worlds, 8 spices, a perfect equilibrium. Kept in balance at the expense of oppressed Carriers, like Amir. And of course, a hidden secret.

As for the spices themselves, I knew there had to be one kingdom for ginger. It’s my favourite spice, and I cannot dream of having a cup of tea without it (Brits, don’t look at me like that). Back home, there’s a lot of love for black pepper and turmeric, which we call haldi in Hindi and manjal in Tamil. They go into almost every meal prep. Cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom are necessities for a good plate of biryani (meat aside), and knowing Amir’s desire for one, I decided they’d play a role, too. Saffron is the spice that dominates Amir’s home kingdom – Raluha, and I chose saffron for that because of how impossibly rare and expensive it is in our world. Even a strand of it in a drink or meal changes its texture and taste. Saffron stood as evidence of the impossible chasm that Amir had to cross to get to where he wanted.

And the Carriers, what more can you tell us about them and their abilities?

Carriers are part of the gatecaste community of the world of The Spice Gate. They are born with the ability to travel through the Spice Gate across the eight kingdoms. It’s considered by many to be a blessing, because they are the only ones who can actually cross over and visit different kingdoms. Over the course of his life, Amir realizes that it’s rather a curse. Firstly, because traveling through the spice gates is physically painful. Secondly, Carrying is considered a polluted act, for reasons I don’t wish to reveal right now. It’s what makes them gatecaste, the lowest rung of the caste system. They are both relied on and reviled. They’re both preserved and humiliated/oppressed. It’s this dichotomy that Amir has battled all his life, and eventually begins to see it for how toxic it is. His confrontations with Hasmin are evidence of this dichotomy. Carriers are also not permitted to buy spices, except the meagre allowances they take home, which they then ration for the days to come. It’s a pitiful life, and it’s a life that invariably gives birth to rebels and revolutionaries.

If you could travel through the Spice Gate to any one of your eight kingdoms, which would you choose to visit and why? Which of your characters would you want as your companion?

Talashshukh, any day! It’s got the finest tea houses and tapris. The locals know the only good way to brew an irresistible cup of chai (water, shredded or grated ginger brought to boil, followed by tea leaves until the concoction turns dark, and then add milk. Of course, there’s milk. Bring it to boil at a simmer, constantly stirring the brew). I’d probably take Karim bhai along with me. He’s the ideal company for an evening of loitering and aimless chitchat.

Speaking of characters, tell us more about your main protagonist, Amir? How important was it for you to represent the injustices that Amir faces as a Carrier?

I’m proud of everything Amir does in the story. It’s his story, and the story of all the gatecaste, start to finish. The injustices he faces are faced by countless Indians every day, probably worse. The subaltern and the marginalized surround us, and yet it has taken most of my privileged life to merely recognize the damage done to them by merely continuing to live my life in the way I do. There are braver, more learned, more compassionate souls than me who have spent decades battling this most pernicious evil of the Indian society over the centuries. This is my meagre contribution to this battle and I find myself privileged to even be in this position. Through Amir, I hope people can see what he stands for, how all of us are not him, but the people who have ostracized him, one way or another.

Amir is someone who grows anticipating his life as a Carrier as a kid, and then comes to learn the truths of it once he’s a part of the spice trade. His love of Harini, the princess of Halmora, the impossibility of it, begins his transformation. There are layers to this change in his character, half-truths that he’s been fed that peel away as the story progresses.

And what of your side characters? Who was your favourite to write?

Karim bhai was super fun to write! He’s worth his weight in spice. Utterly compassionate and caring, but also mischievous, pious, and devoted to his people. He’s not your typical wise, old mentor, but a man who appears to have given up on ideals and taken the easy way out. I wrote him as this necessary shield between the gatecaste and the abovefolk and yet manages to do what he wants. In India, we’d call him ‘jugaadu’, or one capable of doing jugaad, which by definition is someone who provides clever and flexible solutions to seemingly complex problems.

The Spice Gate explores class privilege, oppression and slavery in rather shocking ways, especially when showing the duties the Bowlers were expected to perform and the treatment they received from the abovefolk. Were these scenes always something you had planned to include or did they naturally occur as you began writing?

Most of those scenes were planned. Unfortunately, and unlike much of The Spice Gate, they are not figments of my imagination.

We see such varying opinions from authors when it comes to the time of editing their books. How have you found the editing process? Enjoyable, stressful or satisfying?

A bit of all, I guess? As a debut, I think the joy of receiving my first edit letter is unparalleled. To know that this is happening, that a professional editor at a publishing house has looked at my manuscript and provided THOUGHTS and ACTIONS. The stress comes at the end of the email, where they mention the turnaround time. Cliched, but true. Fortunately, I had the privilege of working with David, a phenomenal editor, who envisioned The Spice Gate to be what you hold in your hands now. He was meticulous and thorough, he cared for Amir at times more than I did, and he saw in him the reluctant but capable protagonist. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to him.

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

Thank you! Omar Gilani designed the U.S. cover, while Toby James designed the U.K. cover. I love both of them (you’ll need to ask me outside of public forums if I secretly nurse a preference). I was perhaps a little more involved in the U.S. design, to the extent of suggesting my team to consider Omar as the artist for it. I have followed Omar’s work for the longest time, and it is breathtaking. His works inspire me to be a better artist, whatever my medium. So when my team confirmed that Omar had agreed to design the cover, I was elated! I got a few sample designs, we had very minor back and forths, and voila! Beautiful! I was hoping for an epic fantasy aesthetic, and definitely a spice gate involved, so I was not disappointed there.

For the U.K. cover, given the paucity of time, I was unfortunately not deeply involved, but I could not be gladder of the result. Toby blew my mind away with the overall spread, creativity and textures. I’m fortunate to have these two wonderful bookcovers and I’m hoping the readers find them so too.

Tell us about a recent book(s) you have loved. What would you recommend to our readers?

I recently read Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo; it’s considered a pioneering book in the field of magical realism, and I was blown away by its mastery. It’s got a unique structure, quirky characters, and even more rewarding on a re-read. Would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.

Within the umbrella of SFF, I would recommend three recent reads: The Scar by China Mieville, The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh, and The Jinn-bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu.

One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

I’d love to ride a Purrgil from the Star Wars universe into battle. Though technically not ride, but I’d hate to not have them on my side in a space war.  

Can you tell us a little something about your current work(s) in progress? What can you share about The Spice Gate’s sequel?

The Spice Gate is a standalone novel, and as of now, I do not plan to write any sequels. I’m currently working on a couple of epic fantasy duologies, along the scope of the epic fantasies I’d grown up reading. If they get through the gates of the publishers, I hope the readers then come to like them. They are quite different from The Spice Gate is all I can say at the moment.

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your new release? Do you have any upcoming virtual events our readers may be interested in?

I’m not much of a celebrations person. Might gift myself a few new books and PS4 games, and a mug of beer with my partner and close friends (in hindsight…sounds like a lot!). No events planned as of now, but I do plan to be at the WorldCon in Glasgow, in August. It’ll be my first con, and I’m quite excited! (I’ve been told the excitement dies down over the years)

I’m hoping to run into some of you there.

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

To not make tea without ginger.

Okay. On a serious note, cardamom too, if you can manage to crush it using a pestle and mortar and brew it along with ginger and the leaves.

I’m getting carried away. Apologies. Last attempt. At the risk of sounding like a Nike advert, I hope readers take away what Amir did, that at the fringes of our imagination, what appears impossible can quite often change our lives.

Thank you so much for joining us today!

The Spice Gate is due for release 18th July. You can pre-order your copy from Bookshop.org or HarperCollins