The Book Bazaar 2026 is an exciting collaborative crowdfunding event on Backerkit of 39 indie authors who have come together to raise funds for their campaigns. In celebration, and to help promote these authors, we’ll be featuring spotlights through the fundraising period for you to check and out and support! Within The Book Bazaar, you’ll find a variety of genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, horror, queer, and romance, as well as a variety of formats such as novels, novellas, series, anthologies, and audiobooks. There’s something for everyone!
The fundraising period runs from October 29 – November 19. Back 3 or more projects to earn unique bookmarks, and 10 or more projects to receive an exclusive anthology. Want a taste of these projects? Check out the free sampler bundle on Itch.io!
Please welcome One Night to Varanasi by Jesco Puluj in the spotlight!
One Night to Varanasi is a fantasy/speculative novel about a magical train ride to save a couple’s love set in India.
What if the multiverse could give you couple’s therapy?
When British physicist Charles and his girlfriend Olivia hop on a train in India, their relationship is already on shaky ground. However, on board they meet a mysterious train conductor who offers them his hookah with the promise: if you smoke this special tobacco, your relationship worries will disappear forever.
They accept and a journey through different worlds ensues, acting as both a mirror and a teacher to unspoken conflicts in their relationship.
In one world, a fantasy creature called amato acts as a manifestation of how healthy their relationship is at any given time; in another, a “purge hour” confines them to only argue within a single time window each night.The further they dive into these worlds, the more they redefine what they love about each other, but their repeated trips also come at a cost: they uncover more than they are comfortable with and ultimately they are confronted with the question: Are they actually meant to be together or will these strange worlds tear them apart?
If you like speculative fiction like The Midnight Library, The Time Traveller’s Wife or Before the Coffee Gets cold then don’t miss One Night to Varanasi.
Backer rewards include a personalised haiku or short story.
About the Author
I am a German writer and nomadic filmmaker. After studying in Berlin, Amsterdam and London, I made my directing debut with the feature documentary “Weltreise mit Buddha”, which was released nationwide in 2020. Since then I have developed tv series and feature films in both English and German, for example the miniseries Ministry of Romance.
One Night to Varanasi is my first novel and it shares themes with many of my works: the lengths people are willing to go to prevent their relationships from failing.
- Website: www.JescoPuluj.com
- Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/jpuluj.bsky.social
- Instagram: @jpuluj
