“Aren’t artistry of language and worthiness of theme both necessary for good poetry?”, asks one of the characters in Half the Night is Gone. Blending grandeur of theme with poetic language, Amitabh Bagchi’s multi-layered narrative leaves the reader spell-bound and ruminative. Unfolding at both the personal and the political level, the book not just explores…
Let the Game Begin, a thriller penned by Sandeep Sharma has been classified as a historical thriller by the author. Thriller as a genre often comprises the elements of suspense, mystery, uncertainty, anticipation to keep the reader hooked till the very last page. Historical fiction usually depicts historical figures in fictional scenarios, fictional figures in…
A ‘pirate’ generally means the one who robs ships and therefore, considered an outlaw or a criminal. However, the limited knowledge of pirates and Jack Sparrow’s infamous movie series, Pirates of the Caribbean has turned pirates into legends and romantic heroes, who though acting outside law are not villains. Kulpreet Yadav’s latest thriller, The Girl…
Political controversies, mudslinging, rampant misuse of law, propaganda pushed forward by media and activists, personal motivations – all these and much more defines the current state of Indian politics today. Motivated and intrigued by these aspects and many more controversies that have dominated the news lately, Hariharan Iyer pens down a political thriller that delves…
As The Millennium Series became a worldwide phenomenon, it almost became a fashion for new writers to write a psychological thriller; however, it’s not an easy genre to probe into. To quote Wikipedia, ‘Psychological thriller is a thriller story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states.’ Psychological thrillers delve deep into the dark recesses of the minds…
With sudden spate of mythology based fiction in Indian literary market, the reader is often perplexed about which one to pick from the wide range of options available. Although the Hindu mythology offers a lot of space for interpretation and re-telling, the re-telling is nothing more than an old wine in a new bottle. More…
‘Apsara’ generally subsisting at the periphery of literature, quite often depicted for the consumption of a voyeur ends up being an object of sexual gratification rather than a living, flesh and blood character. Britannica’s description of ‘Apsara’ tersely sums up their prevailing representation in the works of literature, “Originally water nymphs, the apsaras provide sensual pleasure…
Why Communalism? Rakshanda Jalil’s latest book, ‘Pigeons of the Dome: Stories on Communalism’ instantly catches the reader’s attention as its very title makes the reader think, Why Communalism? What more can be said about the topic that has not been told already? As if anticipating the questions, the editor writes in the ‘Introduction’ to the…
The Avalonia Chronicles Book Tour Orphaned, mistreated and bullied; 16 year old Aurora Darlington is endlessly tyrannized by her aunt and her daughter until she is delivered to a powerful mage, Oblek by her uncle and from there, she is transported to a magical land of Avalonia through “the magical, shimmering tapestry”. And the adventure…
Shreyas Bhave’s debut book, The Prince of Patliputra, the first in the Asoka Trilogy series takes the readers to the ancient world of the Mauryan Empire. Asoka, who has been described as “The King Without Sorrow” and “India’s founding father” by Charles Allen for “…being the first ruler to forge India into a single nation…
