Gautam Bhatia

In the first episode of season two of Arcx, host Anjali Alappat chats with author, editor, lawyer and critic Gautam Bhatia.
Gautam’s debut novel, The Wall (2020), and its sequel, The Horizon (2021), are filled with fascinating world building, complex characters, and fabulously convoluted plotlines. If you love twists and turns, beautiful prose, and some good old fashioned anti-establishment thinking, these are the books for you.
Locus Magazine featured The Wall and The Horizon (in 2021 and 2022) as part of their annual SF recommendations list. Gautam was also long-listed for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer at the Hugo Awards in 2021 and 2022.
Additionally, Gautam is part of the editorial team at Strange Horizons magazine, and his work with them has resulted in several award nominations. His writing has also featured in publications like Interzone Magazine, Mint, British Science Fiction Association Magazine, Scroll.in, The Caravan, and more.
In this episode, we discuss how all fiction is political, unlikable protagonists, urban revolution, the foibles of human nature, betrayal, and origin myths.
You can follow Gautam on Twitter @gautambhatia88