Vauhini Vara reads an excerpt from "The Immortal King Rao," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Vauhini Vara started as a journalist, working as a technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal and later launching, editing and writing for the business section of the New Yorker’s website. Since then, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New Republic, Businessweek, Fortune, and elsewhere. She is a contributor to Wired and can sometimes be found working as a story editor at the New York Times Magazine. She has also edited for the website of the Atlantic and for the nonprofit Fuller Project. Her debut novel, "The Immortal King Rao" (W.W. Norton), is an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce selection, and New York Magazine’s Vulture, Esquire, Oprah Daily, the Times of India, and the Observer are among some publications that named it one of their most-anticipated books of the year. Her story collection, "This is Salvaged," is due out in 2023. ​Support Storybound by supporting our sponsors: Norton: "Fencing with the King" and "The Family Chao" are available wherever books are sold. Acorn.tv is the largest commercial free British streaming service with hundreds of exclusive shows from around the world. Try acorn.tv for free for 30 days by going to acorn.tv and using promo code Storybound. Storyworth: Save $10 on your first purchase at Storyworth.com/Storybound Storybound is hosted by Jude Brewer and brought to you by The Podglomerate and Lit Hub Radio. Let us know what you think of the show on Instagram and Twitter @storyboundpod. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.  Since you're listening to Storybound, you might enjoy reading, writing, and storytelling. We'd like to suggest you also try the History of Literature or Book Dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices