LBTV A Force for the community…
Inspired by South Asian mythology comes the new novel, Asha Of The Air, from Los Angeles filmmaker and author John Huddles.
The story begins in the far future, in a city levitating among the clouds, where a translator of ancient languages casts his mind down to the surface of a long uninhabited earth and six thousand years into the past to tell the tale of 21-year-old Asha, a possibly mythical, possibly factual princess, or raajakumaaree in the language of her era.
Asha’s life of beauty and luxury, the compensation for marriage to a young, handsome, but abusive merchant prince, ultimately sets her on an epic yaatra, a trek of body and mind, to seek self-knowledge. Along the way she’ll need to find a path beyond the totality of her many mistakes — before hope itself comes to an end.
“A rich, dreamy tale that’s infused with spirituality” is what the Kirkus starred review calls Huddles’ fantasy narrative of privilege and suffering. “The result is immersive and beautiful — a tragic romance that will appeal to lovers of diverse, original storytelling.” Publishers Weekly says: “A dreamy fable of love, betrayal, and one woman’s journey of self-discovery, overflowing with mythic elements. … Huddles’s writing reads like a dreamlike poem.”
Asha Of The Air is a mix of legend, adventure and spiritual exploration, interweaving European chivalric tradition with the teachings of sacred Hindu texts to craft a brilliantly immersive world where fantasy and science, history and myth combine to form a tale of intense emotionality.
Asha’s story is strikingly relevant to the way that today, in 2022, we are renegotiating the balance of power between the sexes and learning to reconcile the urge to dominate with the need to love.
In his day job as a filmmaker, Huddles is developing a limited series based on his novel for movie producer J. Todd Harris, most recently Co-Executive Producer of the Oscar-nominated Trial Of The Chicago 7 and Executive Producer of the Golden-Globe-winner for Best Picture (Comedy Or Musical) The Kids Are All Right, among many others. Huddles’ own films as writer-director include the sci-fi fantasy The Philosophers, praised by The Los Angeles Times as “impressively written and directed … unusually creative and ambitious … packed with smart, provocative ideas.”
To learn more about Huddles and his new novel, please visit www.AshaOfTheAir.com or www.JohnHuddles.com.
