Abhisar Sharma’s ‘THE EDGE OF MACHETE’

Westland Limited and Crossword launch Abhisar Sharma’s

‘THE EDGE OF MACHETE’

Mumbai, 9th November, 2012: Leading publishing house, Westland Limited and Crossword – India’s leading lifestyle bookstore, launched Abhisar Sharma’s book ‘THE EDGE OF MACHETE’. Also present at the launch was actor Manoj Bajpai, actress and social activist Gul Panag, noted Bollywood Film Maker & novelist Piyush Jha and revered author Hussain Zaidi.

An exciting thriller, ‘The Edge of Machete’ studies the Afghanistan-Pakistan geopolitical situation, and uncovers the forces operating within the region (such as the Taliban). It is a riveting blend of genres, with suspense, romance, mystery and reportage. The book revolves around Aamir Sherzai, a new whiz-kid in the Pakistan-wing of the Taliban, a CIA operative Ed Gomez, on a mission to get even with Aamir Sherzai, responsible for the execution of his best buddy and fellow agent, Jason. The storyline follows ‘The Beast’, somewhere in the Khyber, Pakistan, and to eliminate Jason’s killer, Gomez has to infiltrate a conglomeration of the most ferocious terror outfits in The Beast as Sarfaraz Khan. But as the boundaries between Gomez and Sarfaraz blur, the CIA agent must not only plunge headlong into the battle in the Khyber, but also wage a war within. Simultaneously, Indian journalist Rahul Sharma is kidnapped and held hostage within The Beast, must find a way back to the woman he loves. And British white Muslim, Shaun Marsh aka Shahid Khan, sucked into the gathering at the Khyber, must learn to exorcise the ghosts of the past. Most of all, all three must try to escape the edge of Aamir Sherzai’s machete. Will they get away unscathed? Or meet a fate similar to Jason’s?

Following the book launch, Abhisar Sharma, Gul Panag, Piyush Jha, Hussian Zaidi led a discussion about plotting terror and how do the grim realities of politics interact with fiction.

Anushree Banerjee, Marketing and Publicity Head, Westland Ltd said, “We at Westland Ltd are glad to be associated with Abhisar Sharma. He is one of the finest authors we have on board and wish him all the success for his book The Edge Of The Machete.”

Mr. Kinjal Shah, COO, Crossword Bookstores said, “Political thrillers make for an exciting read and are a rage right now. It is wonderful to see Indian authors exploring this genre. We are happy to launch Abhisar Sharma’s book at Crossword. And wish him all the best.”

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About the Author: With seventeen years of broadcast journalism behind him, Abhisar Sherzai considers himself a passionate observer of the AfPak region. As a journalist, Abhisar has covered several historical events, from the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the Jasmine revolution in Egypt to the Gujarat riots. His story ‘Laal Masjid Ka Safed Sach’ (The True Story of the Red Mosque) won him India’s highest journalism award, the Ramnath Goenka Indian Express Award, in 2008-2009, though he has never been able to travel to Pakistan since. An avid traveller, a voracious writer and a foodie, Abhisar stays in Delhi with his wife and two children.

About Westland: Westland Limited is a subsidiary of Trent Limited, the retail arm of the Tata group, the largest diversified industrial group in India. The group includes EastWest Books and Tranquebar Press. They publish literary as well as commercial fiction and non-fiction, and are engaged in both the publishing and distribution of books. After more than 50 years of experience in import and distribution of major academic and English language trade publications from all over the world, Westland’s focus has shifted to publishing in the last few years. Today, Westland is the fifth-largest English-language trade publisher in India and has published a host of bestsellers.

About Crossword: Crossword is India’s leading bookstore chain, which has pioneered the lifestyle bookstore concept in India. It was ranked the 6th most admired retailer in India by Business World for the year 2006 and was the only book retailer in the top 10. Crossword won the Reid & Taylor Award for Best Retailer of the year – Leisure & Specialty at the India Retail Summit 2005, 2007 & 2009. It won the Retailer of the Year Award - Leisure (Books, Music and Gifts Category) at the Images Retail Awards 2005 & 2007. Crossword received the Federation of Indian Publishers Award for excellence in Publishing for the year 2004 on 18th June 2005 at the hands of Shri Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development.

Launched in 1992, Crossword currently has 81 stores across 23 cities in the country in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kota, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, Pune, Siliguri, Udaipur, Vadodara Vapi and Vijayawada.