ABOUT THE BOOK
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown. This spine-tingling collection of horror stories features some of India’s newest voices in contemporary fiction.SNAPSHOT REVIEW
- #Horror is a collection of horror stories aimed at middle readers and young adults. Each story is by a different writer, and one is presented in graphic form. The collection attempts to bring together diverse writing styles and voices and forge an identity for contemporary Indian horror.
- Some of the stories in the anthology are truly interesting. ‘The Textbook’, a graphic story by CG Salamander and Upamanyu Bhattacharya, deserves special mention for being very effective in conveying a sense of horror. It is well conceptualised, and well executed. Anukta Ghosh’s ‘The Night Bus’ is also an interesting spooky read.
- Most of the stories in the collection are not actually scary. They feature ghosts and spooks of various kinds, including dead spouses and children, haunted trees and houses, but they fail to deliver the thrill and suspense that one looks for in horror. Many of the stories are unable to evoke the sense of fear and uncertainty that makes horror so powerful.
- A lot of the impact of the horror story format comes from the unexpected twist at the end. In this regard, the stories in #Horror are rather tame. In most cases, it’s possible to predict exactly how the story will end, and no matter how dark and moonless the night, or how empty the road, the climax simply does not terrify.
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