Saturday 25 February 2017

Book Review: Lost In Red Mist by Sandeep Dahiya

Lost In Red Mist - Book Cover


Book Name: Lost In Red Mist 

Author: Sandeep Dahiya 
 
Publisher: Invincible Publishers 

Price: Rs. 160 


Blurb

A courtesan fighting for respectable identity among wars and intrigues. A raped foreign tourist picking up the fragments of her violated self to redeem her pride. A helpless pawn in sex trade regaining herself back to begin a new life. The red mist of Kashmir eating away the little worlds of common hopes, dreams, and aspirations. A huge man lifting unthinkable weights for a living, only to be crushed finally. Someone gathering the nameless pieces of his scattered life on a platform. An Australian anthropologist in Andaman and the sole surviving Shompen tribal. A boy taking the onerous task of looking after his still smaller sister. His dreams which grow in disproportion to his circumstances are as good as nightmares. An old man, staying alone with a cat, patching up the holes in his present through tales. A Western tourist at Rishikesh opening her spirits while a whole world drags around her feet. 


Review

I didn't have a good impression about this book when I looked at the cover. It didn't appeal to me. But as they say 'Never judge a book by its cover.' I regret being so judgemental about the book. Lost In Red Mist - the title is intriguing. The stories in this collection are unique. They are of the kind that makes you think. The writing style of the author is very matured. The stories have been plotted well taking all aspects into consideration. The stories are rich in vocabulary. The stories fall in the descriptive category. There aren't many dialogues. This is the only thing that I didnt like about this book. Reading big paragraphs can be boring. And I feel that those big paragraphs could have been broken down into small ones. On the whole, Lost In Red Mist will serve a good read when you're doing a long distance travel. 


I rate:
Cover: 2.5/5
Stories: 3.5/5 


I rate 'Lost In Red Mist' with 3.5/5 stars.

This book is available on Amazon.

Book Review: 15/1 Story Avenue by Avishek Gupta

15/1 Story Avenue - Book Cover


Book Name: 15/1 Story Avenue 
 
Author: Avishek Gupta 
 
Publisher: Author Paradise 
 
Price: Rs. 175
 
 
Blurb
 
15/1 Story Avenue - an address where you'll come across 15 soul touching stories by one author. Be it a heartwarming campus romance, a spine chilling thriller, or a wonderful travelogue, you will find all under the same roof. The stories in this collection touch upon everyday lives. They speak of scenarios and characters you can strongly identify with. And yet, these tales grip your attention from the word go. Come, open the door and enter the house of stories. Wonderful surprises await you inside! 
 
 
Review
 
I prefer reading short story collection while travelling to work because I can finish reading a story on time and I do not have to recollect the story when reading again. I started reading 15/1 Story Avenue long back and finally, finished it yesterday. The stories in this collection belong to different genre and have a unique storyline. Some stories are short - they span over 4-5 pages while some are a bit long. Since the stories belong to different genre, you'll always be impatient to know more about the stories. The stories have been named in such a way that you'll keep wondering what the story is all about. The stories have been narrated well. Stories like 'Teri meri hatke love story', 'A honeymoon to remember' has that personal touch. The narration style is good and yes, it keeps you hooked on to the stories. Every story gives out a message to its readers. I liked these messages. 
 
My favorite stories from this collection are:
Mandroid, A honeymoon to remember, A ganges full of love and the perfect photograph.

I rate:
Cover: 4/5
Stories: 3.5/5

I rate '15/1 Story Avenue' with 3.5/5 stars.
 
Book your copies on Amazon today.

Book Review : The Great Indian Righter by Babloo Wanaby

The Great Indian Righter - Book Cover


Book Name: The Great Indian Righter
 
Author: Babloo Wanaby
 
Price: Rs. 49

 
Blurb:
 
I am the Great Indian Righter and I am pleased to inform you that I am another entrant contributing to the plethora of useful and profound fiction that is being churned by so many talented Indian writers who have taken the bowels out of the vowels.

Now that everyone seems to have pandered to this molestation of the language, I take delight in telling you that my book titled, "I HAD TOO MANY LOVE STORIES: NOW I AM DECLARED MENTAL IN 2 STATES" is already a self-proclaimed internationally national best seller.

With every Tom’s Dick Hurriedly writing a book, I too was seized with inspiration to share the story of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my hurt for reading intense story written using all queen’s language stored in my cerebrum rectum. 
 
Regards
The Great Indian Righter

 
Story in a nutshell:
 
The Great Indian Righter feels that Indian Literature is heading nowhere. With writers like Churan Bhogal and Robin Singh have turned Indian literature into a mess. The Great Indian Righter wishes to put forth his point of view. 
 

Review: 
 
The Great Indian Righter - the title seems as interesting as the blurb. You'll begin to wonder why the book title has 'Righter' and not 'Writer'. The prologue of the book creates an interest in the minds of the readers and you'll certainly be wanting to read more. Smile will be glued onto your face during the entire reading session. You'll laugh hard at some places while giggle at a few. The author has done a really commendable job. He has done justice with all the characters of the book. The narration is done exceptionally well with sarcasm and witty dialogues throughout. You'll enjoy this book as much as any comedy show. It's a must read.

I rate:
 
Cover: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Story: 5/5

I rate 'The Great Indian Righter' with 5/5 stars.

You can buy this amazing book on Amazon.



Thursday 9 February 2017

[Ask N Ans] Interview Session with Biranchi N Acharya - Author of Tale O'12

 
Biranchi N Acharya - Author of Tale o 12
 
Q 1- Hello Sir, its pleasure to have you here today

Ans- Thank you very much.


Q 2- Kindly introduce yourself to the readers.

Ans- I am a hard core civil engineer and a competent construction professional. Since last 29 years I am executing major construction projects across India especially projects on road, bridge, railway & irrigation. At present I am working as Chief of Operation-Construction, DN Homes, Bhubaneswar.


Q 3- How did writing happen to you?

Ans- I don’t know whether it’s a curse or blessing or an illness for that matter but I have a late night sleeping habit. I mean I can’t sleep before 1.30/2 am. So to pass this time I used to read books in the night till manage to go to go to bed finally. The book may be anything, sometime even text books of my younger siblings or children’s etc. I have also read Ramayan, Mahabharatetc not because I am a theist but because I have to read something to pass the time. Sometime I used have no choice of reading a particular book, then I had to read even books which contradicts the logics stated in some other books I had read. Such wide spread reading at least improved my understanding that every point too has a counter point; every logic has a counter logic. Thus I developed a habit to learn the counter view of a subject. That made me silent listeners of many debates involving whatever issues. In some debates (even with strangers) I use to involve myself just to ask a question or two to correct my understanding. This habit helped me to understand various perceptions of not only our history, mythologies but also on current affairs, politics, social system etc. I used to take part in diverse debates without imposing my view rather to present a counter view. P.Shankar Narayan, a senior colleague of mine once motivated me to write for ‘Letter to the Editor’. We always debated on various issues & he said that I should put my views unbiased in those letters. I started writing but none of my letters were published initially. However after a month or so my letters started publishing in ‘The New Indian Express’ almost every day on politics & social issues with majority of letters adjudged as best letters of the day.


Q 4- When did you decide to write your short story collection-Tale O 12? How did you go about with the writing?

Ans- Sometime in 2013 my sister Tina Acharya insisted me to write in speakingtree.in & merinews.com. Merinew.com is a portal which gives importance to political opinions. As I have a long observation of politics (regional/local/global) & knowledge of history (late night reading of various books including history text books of others up to master degree), I almost wrote an article a day on various aspects of politics, social issues & socio-economic matters. As speakingtree.in was a spiritual platform initially I was hesitant to write anything on it. But then my sister insisted to write short stories based upon my experience in the section of ‘self-improvement’. That helped me & I started connecting my experience with a particular lesson writing in story telling format. That was the beginning of my story writing. In 2014, my sister & some friends (who too are readers) motivated me to compile some stories in to a book. Thus my first book ‘Encounter with Wisdom’ carrying 25 stories published in December 2014. All are short stories having 2000-3000 words including one story of six thousand words. Writing Tale O’ 12 was a sudden decision. My sister intimated that there’s ‘Bloggers to Author’ program initiated by Blogadda.com & I should go for a new book. In two days she convinced me to write around 10-12 stories bit longer than stories compiled in my first book. Thus I have selected 12 subjects which are either based on my personal experienced by or being debated at some point of time & then wrote the entire manuscript. Frankly I wrote the entire manuscript in just a month’s time (February 2016). Then it took around four months for editing by different people including my siblings & the book is published in August 2016.
 
Tale O'12 - Book Cover


Q 5-Your stories are inspiring. It must be garnering great reviews. What is the best compliments you have received for Tale O’ 12?

Ans - More than reviews I am really fascinated by the compliments from readers/friends for some of the characters of my stories who are real although featured in my stories in different names in a fictional narrative. Snehalata’s compliment is really great. Pijushda (whose name wasn’t changed) appreciated a lot for following his lesson.


Q 6-Are you working on your next book? What is it- a short story collection or a full pledged novel? Let us know a few details about it.

Ans - My next book will be a full-fledged novel. I have around three plots. All three are based on real stories with some fictional touch. The titles of books as of decided till now are ‘Escape from Naxals’, ‘Story of a loser’ & ‘Mistakes of my friend’. First is a thriller about a kidnapping of a senior engineer by naxals. Second is a story of a person who loses everything in his life due to dilemma between ambition & emotion. Third is about a person whose mistakes of magnanimity cost him dear.


Q 7-Whom do you owe your success to? And Why?

Ans - I owe a big part of it to my sister Tina Acharya who made my at least to write and truly motivated me to be an author. Also my wife Mini, my other siblings and my children became a great source of inspiration in the course of becoming an author.


Q 8-The readers would love to hear a piece of advice from you.

Ans - My only suggestion is not to waste time in searching plots for stories & novels. Life is full of stories. Everything happening around us can be a fantastic story. Everybody we are dealing with can be super characters of an exciting novel. If one start narrating stories/novels based on real life experiences, I hope readers will like it.


Q 9-I had a nice time talking to you. I hope we have another session with your next book.

Ans - Sure. And thank you for your interview.
 
 
You can buy Tale O'12 on Amazon.

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