Writing Journey

Writing

Author, translator, and poet exploring occult literature, grimoire studies, and the mysteries that connect ancient wisdom to modern inquiry.

Short Bio

Aaman Lamba is an author, translator, and poet whose work spans occult literature, grimoire studies, and original poetry. His published books include The Complete Illustrated Grand Grimoire (2020), Great French Occult Romances (2021), The Odontiad & Other Poems (2022), and The Magical Art, Volume 1 (Hadean Press, 2024). His journalism has appeared in the Times of India, Explocity Bangalore, and other publications. He lives in Richmond, VA.

The Writing Journey

1The Beginning

I've been writing for as long as I can remember—scribbling stories in notebooks as a teenager, discovering that words could build worlds and unlock mysteries that nothing else could. What began as a private passion soon became something more.

2Journalism & Early Publications

In my early twenties, writing became my first profession. I contributed over 50 articles to publications including the Times of India, Explocity Bangalore, and various other journals. The topics were as diverse as my curiosity: book reviews, cultural commentary, and notably, a chronicle of the early years of India's technology industry in the 1990s—capturing the emergence of what would become a global phenomenon.

During those same years, my short stories and poetry found their way into college magazines—early experiments in voice and form that would shape everything that followed.

Those years taught me discipline: how to meet deadlines, how to write for readers, and how to distill complex ideas into accessible prose. Skills that would prove invaluable decades later when I turned to translating 18th-century French grimoires.

3The Return to Books

Life took me into technology and management consulting for nearly three decades—a journey that sharpened my analytical thinking and research methodology. But writing never left me. It waited, patient, until the time was right.

In 2020, I published my first book: The Complete Illustrated Grand Grimoire, or The Red Dragon—an annotated translation of one of Western occultism's most notorious texts. The book brought together everything I'd learned: rigorous research, clear prose, and a deep respect for source material. With over 600 reviews on Amazon, it found readers hungry for accessible scholarship on esoteric traditions.

4Building a Body of Work

What followed was a period of sustained creative output:

2021 — Great French Occult Romances

An anthology of original translations featuring works by noted French authors, including The Red Dragon, Love and the Grimoire by Charles Nodier, and The Legend of the Silkworm. These stories sit at the intersection of romance, science, and the supernatural—a uniquely French literary tradition I wanted to bring to English readers.

2022 — The Odontiad & Other Poems

My poetry collection, featuring work that weaves classical forms with esoteric themes. The centerpiece is a 32-sonnet sequence meditating on collapse, decay, and transformation—using the unlikely metaphor of tooth decay to explore larger themes of entropy and renewal. It's strange, it's personal, and it's the work I'm perhaps most proud of.

2024 — The Magical Art, Volume 1 (Hadean Press)

A translation of MS.983, L'Art Magique, from the Wellcome Collection—a precursor to the famous Grimorium Verum. Published by Hadean Press, this work features extensive scholarly footnotes, color illustrations throughout, and material lost from later grimoires. It represents the culmination of years of research into the synchronic magical renaissance of the 18th century.

5The Common Thread

Whether I'm translating a 300-year-old grimoire, crafting a sonnet about tooth decay, or writing journalism about Bangalore's tech scene, the approach remains the same: respect the complexity, honor the tradition, and make it accessible.