Karuna Das is the pen and spirit name of Kyle Bostian. Born in Wisconsin, he grew up in Massachusetts and now resides in Pennsylvania, but he lives wherever he happens to be at that moment and feels at home everywhere in the universe.

He holds a BA in English and an MFA in Playwriting. In addition to his dramatic writing, he’s published the sci-fi novel Kat’s Cradle as well as short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. He and life partner Ti share their house with five wonderfully wacky cats.

Bee: When did you first have a desire to write?  How did this desire manifest itself?

Karuna: I wrote my first short story in sixth grade. It was called “The Sentinel.” I remember nothing else about it, including what the title character was guarding, other than that my mother liked it. (She remained my “first reader” and steadfast supporter until her death in 2020. Thanks, Mom!)

 In junior high I wrote a three-book fantasy series, called Swamp Wars, that featured me and many of my classmates as versions of character archetypes from the first three Star Wars movies (now known as episodes 4-6).

The entire thing started with hijinks occurring during outdoor meetings for my eighth-grade science class unit on “ponds, fields, and swamps” in the woods outside our school.

So, I was already exploring ways to shape my firsthand experience into art. I wrote my first play in high school, also based on real-life events, and my drama teacher produced it as part of an evening of student work, the original instance of what’s become a 35+-year tradition there. (Thanks, John!)

Bee: How completely do you develop your characters before beginning to write?

Karuna: Not very. I let them show me who they are through what they say and do. In the case of both SD&SE and my first novel Kat’s Cradle, I originally developed the material as drama, first for the stage and then for the screen.

When I expanded the narratives to the broader canvas of the novel, the ability to go inside the heads of characters allowed me to flesh out their words and actions with a clearer sense of their inner lives. 

Bee: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself or what kind of input did you have on it with your publisher? 

Karuna: I made suggestions about the kinds of images and overall vibe I thought would best represent the material, and DX Varos go-to cover designer Ellie Augsberger came up with what you see. I love it!

Bee: What writers have you drawn inspiration from?

Karuna: Many. In this book, about a young man becoming a writer (and more), the protagonist Drew cites John Irving as his favorite living author and identifies with central features of his work. He also finds Herman Hesse’s Siddartha illuminating. Those sources for inspiration are completely autobiographical. 

Bee: You call ‘Sex, Drugs, and Spiritual Enlightenment (but mostly the first two)’ a fictionalized memoir.  Why did you feel the need to fictionalize it?  About what percentage of the things that happen to Drew, really happened to you?  Did you embellish any of these things?

Karuna: I chose to fictionalize it to give myself the freedom to tell a version of the story that is true in essence but not all the details to my journey. That allowed me to create what I think is a more compelling, cohesive, and meaningful narrative.

With only a few exceptions, some version of everything that happens in what readers see of Drew’s life really happened in mine, but I often combined them, embellished them, and changed circumstances or other elements for my artistic intentions.

Sometimes we find more truth in fiction than in what we consider real.

Bee: What do you do when you are not writing?

Karuna: Since walking away from academia over ten years ago, my primary contributions to my household have been doing the shopping, cooking, laundry, and most of the cleaning.

With five cats, there’s a lot of cleaning! In my leisure time, I read both fiction and nonfiction and I watch movies and TV shows, always with an eye toward what they can teach me about storytelling or existence.

 I also have a daily seated meditation practice and a semi-regular exercise practice. And, like Drew, I still follow Boston-based professional sports teams, albeit with a much more detached perspective and often while I pay more attention to something else. (I’ve got a Red Sox game on right now.) 

Bee: What are you currently working on?

Karuna: I’ve just finished revisions to my play Pyramid Builders, which is in rehearsal for its world premiere production by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company and performs April 14-30. Once that’s over, I’ll get back to work on the second book of my Webolution sci-fi series, Solar Max.

I’ve also started drafting a follow-up to SD&SE called More Sex, Drugs & Spiritual Enlightenment (but still mostly the first two), which will feature a middle-aged protagonist who is not an older Drew but is an altogether different fictional version of me.

 It’ll be more of a Steppenwolf than a Siddhartha. The other project I have underway is a nonfiction memoir about my relationship with my mother and both of our relationships with her parents, called Finding Our Way Home.

 I started writing it as a way to process my grief only a few months after her death, but the experience got too intense and I had to step away about two years ago.

Recent developments in my own life, including a medical emergency that nearly killed me, have me thinking about that book again, but I don’t feel quite ready to get back to putting words on the page.

Bee: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Follow Here To Read Bee's Review of Sex, Drugs and Spiritual Enlightment