There are quite a few extraordinary writers in Pakistan. 15-year-old Mahad Kazi, an O Levels student, is definitely one of them.
Mahad is the author of a series of four English novels. The first part of his series, A Shadow of Evil, has been published in hardcover and is also available online on his website.
While talking to The Nation, the Hyderabad based writer shared his journey. “I started writing short stories since childhood but never got them published,” he recalled.
“Then my mother got me Harry Potter books and like million others I became an addicted fan of the fantasy novel,” he said. “That series planted the seed of A Shadow of Evil in my mind. I wanted to write a fantasy, magic and horror series with imaginary magical creatures with fight between good and evil,” said Mahad.
While sharing the time when he started writing the novel, he said he started writing in June 2012 and completed the first part in June 2014.
Mahad further shared the synopsis of his novel and told The Nation that it is a story of an orphaned girl Jessica, who lived in an orphanage till the age of six, from where her aunt took her home. Jessica’s great-great grandfather (Marshall) had a misunderstanding with his brother (Steven), who thinks that Marshal killed his wife. Both brothers got into a magical battle where Marshall got killed and Steven swore that he will murder every girl from Marshall’s coming generation. The immortal Steven then haunts Jessica throughout her childhood in her dreams and came as her professor. Steven tries to kill the little girl when the spirit of Marsall comes and saves Jessica and beats Steven who was left very weak. Here the first part ends.
“I have created two magical creatures in my novel which are Sortals (Good) and support Jessica and Walzeers (Evil) who are subordinates of Steven,” Mahad further explained.
About the research for his writing, the young author said that he uses technology like Google Earth as the novel is based in England. “It helped me immensely in creating my own world. There is a Bassinghall Street in London, UK which has 16 houses and I made the 17th for my novel, mixing reality and imagination,” Mahad explained.
On a query regarding characterization and inspiration for his characters, Mahad replied that one of his younger cousins is the inspiration for Jessica. “She may not look like her but Jessica has her habits.”
While discussing about publishing of the book, Mahad said that he has never planned to get his book printed. “I just released it as E-Book on my website but with time I got good reviews from the readers and then my father gave me permission to get it published in hard copy,” he said. “I wanted a publisher who can print my book on demand and K-Group in Karachi was the best option for me.”
“I wanted people to start reading again, as it is not waste of time, rather a mind-opener,” Mahad asserted.
On the point of his next books, Mahad said that he will complete the Part-II in the next couple of months and then get it published. “It depends on my exams and their preparations,” he added.
