Shunya Drishyamanata

• Author: মৈত্রী রায় মৌলিক (Maitree Ray Moulik)
• Genre: Upanyas (Historical/Speculative Fiction)
• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 9789354257865
• Pages: 144
• Weight: 274 gram
• Publisher: Ananda Publishers

Synopsis:
On March 27, 1968, a fighter jet crashed near the village of Novoselye, just outside Moscow, from a height of 14,000 feet. The official Soviet reports stated that the aircraft carried two pilots—Red Army Colonel Vladimir Seryogin and the world’s first astronaut, Colonel Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin.

For 46 years, the mystery surrounding Gagarin's death remained unsolved. Was it an accident or a premeditated assassination? Or did Gagarin fake his own death and defect to America? The mystery deepened as, just a year later, America prepared for its moon landing mission. In 2014, declassified American files hinted at possible hidden truths, but modern-day Russia remained silent on the matter.

Gagarin’s death remains shrouded in secrecy, just like the classified history of the Soviet Union’s space missions. From Sputnik to Vostok, Voskhod to Soyuz, Cosmos to Molniya, many spacecraft designs were influenced by one genius scientist, someone who was hunted by powerful nations but whose identity was revealed only a few years ago.

Shunya Drishyamanata is a gripping narrative of speculative realism, blending historical events, political intrigue, and space exploration. It reimagines the secrets, conspiracies, and unknown truths surrounding Yuri Gagarin’s death and the Soviet Union’s 21-year space mission history.

About the Author:

• Maitree Ray Moulik was born in Kolkata and is a geologist by profession.
• She completed her B.Sc. in Geology from Presidency College and later earned her M.Sc. and M.Tech. from IIT Bombay.
• Currently, she works as a Field Geologist and is pursuing research in Environmental Science at Rutgers State University, New Jersey.
• She has traveled extensively across remote regions of India due to her profession.
• Apart from writing poetry, short stories, and novels, she is also an active translator.
• She translated Sewagram to Sodhyagram into Bengali for the Mahatma Gandhi Sarvodaya Mandal.
• Her literary works have been published in Sananda, Unish Kuri, and several little magazines.

With Shunya Drishyamanata, Maitree Ray Moulik delivers a thrilling, thought-provoking novel that challenges history and explores the unknown dimensions of space, science, and secrecy.