Fresh off his recent release for teens, Luka and the Fire of Life, modern-day maestro of fable writing, Salman Rushdie is expected in India, early next year

Come November 16, the literary world will witness a hullabaloo when Salman Rushdie's twelfth fiction novel, Luka and the Fire of Life hits bookstores. To add to the hype, India's fanbase can whistle once more. We hear that the great storyteller might actually be India in January 2011.

We got our hands on his latest title, meant for teens, and it is signature Rushdie. When his previous title, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, written for his first son Zafar, was released in the 1990s, the world sang Hosannas in his name, hailing Rushdie as one of the best contemporary fable writers.

The sequel is the story of Haroun's brother Luka, and was written as a birthday gift for Rushdie's second son, Milan.

The book follows the eponymous hero from his hometown of Kahani in the land of Alifbay to the Magic World. Luka's father, Rashid Khalifa has inexplicably fallen into a deep sleep and can't be awakened unless Luka steals the Fire of Life.

It's a dangerous, obstacle-ridden course involving a smorgasbord of hurdles including encounters with Magical Chameleons, Elephant Ducks and Drakes, King of Horses, and a princess on a flying carpet. His animal companions include a dog named Bear, and a bear named Dog.

Debuts In: January 2011