Author Interview: An adventurous thriller that combines friendship and faith

While Major Piyush Semwal has dedicated his life to the service of the country, he has also decided to follow his passion for writing. He has released his first fiction titled The Lost Faith which is inspired by his life experiences. The Lost Faith is a tale, a perfect amalgamation of adventure, friendship, faith, and mysteries. The story encompasses the thrilling journey of two friends to a remote destination, an ancient barren temple of Lord Shiva.

“I decided to write this book mainly to express myself and share my experiences as a long haul bike rider, photographer and traveller who loves mountains and forests. Although this book is an adventure thriller, the readers can certainly find glimpses of everything I just mentioned. I’m a fan of fiction novels because, as a writer, it gives you the freedom of imagination and creativity.

I always loved writing. Growing up, I loved to jot down my thoughts, quotes, and poems. This, however, was more of a personal hobby rather than for commercial display. A lot of these quotes and thoughts have, in fact, been used in my new book,” he says.

Being in the army, how did he manage to find time to write the book? “In the beginning, there was no fixed routine for writing. But eventually, I’d streamlined things by writing in the evening and at night. I used to devote 1-2 hours every day to writing and researching various subjects. Frankly, it was a bit of a challenge initially to balance out time to write and my busy work schedule. Gradually, it became easier. I’d dedicate that time religiously to writing no matter how exhausted or tired I was,” the author shares.

The book published by Kalamos Literary Services is an adventure thriller with forest and mountains as the backdrop. The main protagonists of the story are Ronit and Arvind, who are good righteous souls. “If you read the story you’ll realise that there are multiple protagonists; hence the blurb tagline — ‘protagonists are not born or made, they rise when karma provokes them’ — is very true. Ronit and Arvind go on a documentary-making assignment to a remote destination. They get entangled in a wolf menace and in resolving the case of a vicious demigod.

The story is full of twists and turns involving wolves, elephants, demigods, forest exploits, drones and many more. I find these things extremely intriguing, and I hope readers enjoy it,” explains Piyush about the book.

A big admirer of the legendary Paulo Coelho and Ruskin Bond, the army official says that most of the stories in the book are inspired by his travels across India and what he has learned and experienced. “My book should inspire readers to get out there, explore and be more adventurous. There is so much more to learn and understand than we think, and I hope this book allows readers to see the world,” sums up the author, who is planning to write a sequel to The Lost Faith.