Ray Rao is a physician from India who has taken the leap to author with his new suspense thriller “Blood Bath” about a nuclear-armed democracy held together by bonds of history and tradition.
We had a chance to chat with Ray Rao as part of our Author Spotlight Series to discuss his transition to becoming an author and about “Blood Bath”.
You can purchase “Blood Bath” in paperback or kindle version on Amazon.com.
What inspired you to become a writer?
I took up writing as a lark, to fulfill a long-held and unrequited fantasy of writing a suspense thriller. It has evolved into a part-time hobby that allows me to escape from my real-world career as a full-time academic physician and live vicariously in a world I have created, where my inadequacies don’t hamper me.
Your favorite author & why?
Peter O’Donnell, creator of Modesty Blaise, who bears some resemblance to Alexis, my female protagonist in her combat skills, but in little else.
Describe your book in 30 words or less
Twin siblings, Alexis and Jason Wolff, a ninja and elite ex-commando, prevent a sinister mastermind’s dream of igniting civil war in India from turning into the nightmare of nuclear Armageddon.
List of other books you’ve written (if applicable)
A sequel is in the works.
What books have influenced your life most?
I was a voracious reader growing up, so I cannot pick any single book, author or genre that has influenced me the most. I have learned from and been influenced by every book I have ever read, in small ways and big, whether they were the classics (Austen, Alcott, the Bronte sisters, Conan Doyle, Dickens, Defoe, Dumas, Hardy, Stevenson, Verne, Melville, London, Steinbeck, Lee, Twain, Salinger, Fitzgerald—I could go on and on), or popular fiction from my younger days (Burroughs, Christie, Charteris, Chase, Gardner, O’Donnell, and many more), or Westerns (Brand, Grey, Short, L’Amour, to name just a few). Basically, anything I could lay my hands on, regardless of genre. Or, more accurately, anything my parents let me lay my hands on!