Made in China


Parinda Joshi - 2019
    His handicraft imports business has unexpectedly collapsed and cash is drying out quickly, his wife thinks he is a loser and society considers him irrelevant. Meanwhile, his closest friends and family all seem to be running flourishing businesses and living luxurious lives in Surat, the diamond capital of India. A trip to China to scout for a new consumer goods business offers a glimmer of hope. But Raghu instead gets sucked into the black-market trade in the back alleys of Beijing. Everything about this new opportunity goes against his god-fearing, vegetarian, middle-class mindset - can he quash his natural instincts to make a success of it? Darkly comical, 'Made in China' is a soul-stirring and thrilling entrepreneurial journey of a man willing to do anything he can to make it big.

Hold That Breath


Abhirup Dhar - 2019
    Bored homemaker, Saachi curious about the supernatural plays the elevator game to reach the other world. Wandering photographer, Barry Bandeira puts up at a fort hotel one night and unearths an ancient curse. Abhay Kumar, a horror fiction writer, looking forward to a wedding anniversary celebration with his lovely wife, confronts his nemesis. Jeevika tells a true ghost story while on a road trip in Delhi-Jaipur expressway with her rich spoilt boyfriend, Ojas. Raman Chabra, a film producer meets a talented struggler, Dhruv in a dilapidated cinema hall to hear his horror script. One of these stories connects the others. Fear will be unleashed from the master storyteller of 'Stories Are Magical' and 'Once Again… With Love!' Have a fun, simple, relaxing and a little spooky read! Enjoy.

Fear of God


Vadhan - 2020
    The reason for the murder appears bizarre. As videos of the slaughter of several corrupt politicians go viral on social media, those who considered themselves untouchable are scurrying for cover. The vigilante’s next target is a war hero and top constitutional lawyer who took three bullets for the country. Why then is he a target? Jagan Jigyasi and his Special Crimes Division of the CBI have to race against time to stop the killings. The legendary lawman has never failed to solve a crime. The war hero is as brilliant in a courtroom as he is fearless in facing a speeding bullet. The vigilante is as devious as he is effective in instilling the fear of God into those who think they are above the law! Who will be the last man standing?

The Unsolved case of an Indian woman


Puneeth JH - 2020
    

Till We Meet Again


Shibaji Bose - 2019
    His tryst with destiny begins when his father becomes the victim of political violence. He is suddenly the man of the house. In trying to bring together his breaking family, and win back their family home, he experiences life through encounters with some incredible women. Rhea helps inculcate a sense of purpose in his life. Kavya is vivacious, Flirty and sensuous, who makes him bolder. Priya teaches him lessons none else could have, and Ahana is an innocent poet at heart, who makes him shed the garb of the hermit. Till we meet again is a story of a sleepy neighbourhood, which transforms into a modern-day ghetto of gated communities, riding the real estate juggernaut. A story of resilience and determination, it’s a heady cocktail of familial bonds, hope, deceit, vengeance and love.

Victims for Sale


Nish Amarnath - 2018
    A new voice whose sharp, descriptive prose is reminiscent of Megan Abbott." - Charles Salzberg, author of the Swann detective series, New York. “A thriller that accentuates the cadence of a finely crafted literary oeuvre.” - ITV America. "A dark, well-crafted tale that takes readers on a disturbing ride through society’s underbelly.’ - Adam Hamdy, author, screenwriter and film producer, London, UK."Nish Amarnath's new book gives you the chills, showing how crime can unfold in both lethal and cosy setups." - The Hindu.For fans of Stieg Larsson's 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' and Sophie Hannah's 'A Room Swept White', this debut psychological thriller and crime suspense novel, set in London, is a strident expose on an under-reported form of social injustice where the line of distinction between the betrayer and the betrayed increasingly fades into oblivion. BLURB:BBC stringer Sandy lives as a paying guest with the Sawants, a regular, quiet family. Or so she thought. Until she woke up to a woman with a knife … and a dark secret.It is only after she runs a sting operation on a home for the differently abled that Sandy makes a connection between an institute acting as a front for something sinister and the strange family she lives with. Chasing the truth up a trail of brutal murders, Sandy must evade the clutches of a thriving sex racket and expose the predators before her time runs out.

Kanpur Koofiya pvt Ltd


Richa S. Mukherjee - 2019
    Accustomed to tracking down missing pets and cheating lovers, he is about to have his world change completely when a new case requires him to tail actress Shailaja Kapoor. What seems like a simple request turns into a dramatic dive into her murky past, wading through which is not going to be easy. Or safe. Soon Prachand and his wife, and partner against crime, Vidya, fall under the glare of the police as Shailaja Kapoor is abducted right before their eyes. Now he must put his skills to the test before they become victims at the end of a dark and dangerous game.

Once There Was Me: The Extraordinary Life of an Unknown Indian


Bobby Sachdeva - 2020
    As a fourteen year-old, his world turns upside down, exactly at the age his father had escaped from Pakistan during the Partition of India. Recovering from the trauma, Bobby re-builds his business and journeys across the US and China, experiencing a life unhindered by religious animosity. Having experienced both sides of religion—of immersion and detachment—he starts questioning the role of religion in our lives. Based on his vision of an emergent India, Bobby finally submits a PIL in the Supreme Court for religious shrines to distribute their excess income for the downtrodden. What happens next as religious hardliners turn against him?

iKṛṣhṇa


Anand Kadakol - 2019
    I was in sublime touch shooting off arrow after arrow. The targets were drifting across my vision and all it took was one aim and release; the arrows shot off with a swish only to hit the target where I intended it and killed the recipient of the shot. A few lefthanded shots depending on the angle of the shot where I could find the target best positioned for the shot; others right handed. The bow was drifting from one hand to the other flawlessly and the arrows were flowing out like spit from a cobra's mouth, both accurate and deadly. Before we realised there were hardly any leaders standing. By the time Jarasandha recovered, his leaders and his entire army had perished. Jarasandha gave a loud shout and invited us to come out in the open and fight like real warriors. By this time Balarama also came into the battlefield.Jarasandha did not turn back and run; he was livid and angry; he started challenging us to come down and fight like real warriors.Rama and I descended into battleground. Jarasandha was aghast to see Kids trying to defeat him. Jarasandha invited us for a duel. He said two versus one couldn't be fair in a war. Balarama moved ahead and chose mace as his weapon. He was adept at mace and Jarasandha was no less a mace warrior. The fight that took place was of a quality that I wouldn't witness for a long time to come. Jarasandha was more than accomplished. While Jarasandha unleashed himself upon Balarama with full force and vigour, Balarama was deftly defending himself. Mace was flying into Rama from all directions. Balarama was saving his energy for the future; if he could wear Jarasandha down, he could then unleash himself upon him. Balarama was not through and through defensive. There would be moments when he surprised Jarasandha by his speed and power.Rama's mace would start banging into Jarasandha with immense strength and speed. Before Jarasandha would recover from one bout of attack the second one would begin in a different style of attack. The lesson and practice with our Guru was paying results; I could see that in this bout. Jarasandha couldn't fathom the skill level of Rama. He had thought it would be child's play and he would crush Rama in no time and head for me. But this challenge was more than what he had imagined. The fact that his theory proved wrong gave him the mental agony which the real fight had not given. That agony was showing in his inconsistent fighting method. He would burst at Rama; Rama would easily read the move and defend himself; that would frustrate Jarasandha; he would change his move, which Rama easily anticipated and countered, Jarasandha would get more frustrated and soon he lost his mace to a vicious shot by Rama. Now it was Rama with his mace facing an unarmed Jarasandha.Rama shouted at me and said he wanted to finish this fight right away, and lifted his mace to hit Jarasandha. I stopped Rama, it's unfair to kill someone who is unarmed on a battlefield. I said another day would come and he had to let him go with honour.

Life in the Sunshine: Autobiography of an Unknown Cricketer


T. Sathish - 2019
    They spend most of their time watching and playing the sport they love. They dream of making their living in the sport.When they are not playing the game, they put on their thinking cap and come up with alternate versions of important matches or provide parodic answers to questions that have plagued cricket fans over the years.However, fate intervenes in their idyllic life. On 18th April 1986, Javed Miandad hits Chetan Sharma for a six in Sharjah and leaves their cricket viewing life in tatters. The after-effects of this fateful event, continue to haunt them for many years.Their problems don’t end there. Sat fails to graduate from school level cricket to state level cricket. He is heartbroken by the loss of his dreams and faces a mini identity crisis.How do the boys solve their problems?Will the boys ever recover from that Javed Miandad incident?Will Sat get his mojo back? Come, join the heartwarming ride and find out the answers, as Sat takes you through his nostalgic memories of the sport and narrates his coming of age story, which is deeply influenced by the sport!

Murder Before Carnival: A Tale Of The Floating Body


Sameer Kumar - 2020
    The stakes soared rooftop when a lifeless corpse was found inside an idol during the celebration of Durga Puja. The sizzle and chill was observed by all. Aahana, an independent psychologist, was assigned the case in isolation by higher authorities when it was ascertained that the murder was being covered-up internally. How deep she can go to exhume the purpose of enormity is for her to decide.

The Rape Trial


Bidisha Ghosal - 2020
    Nearly a decade has passed since Rahul Satyabhagi, heir to the mega Satyabhagi business empire, had raped Avni Rambha, bested her in court, and gone on to become a men’s rights activist, and the who’s-who of Badrid Bay had breathed a sigh of relief that the sordid mess was over. But now a sting operation proves what many, the three friends included, had suspected all along – he’d been lying. Furious that he has been exposed, Rahul plans to sue the media as well as his long-suffering victim. Now, Rhea, Hitaishi and Amruta find themselves at a crossroad - can they carry on doing nothing? DC Virendra Dixit was among those who’d believed that the Rambha rape case had been a ‘false allegation’, but now the sting tape brings him to a case that promises to be a turning point in his career. Just as he thinks he is nearing a resolution, he finds himself at a crossroad of his own. Rhea, Hitaishi and Amruta have carved out a path that has already affected DC Dixit’s, but do their paths cross? Who is the hunter, and who is the hunted? Can a story of hard questions and difficult choices have an easy resolution?

Bhoot, Bhavish, Bartaman


Mehool Parekh
    The usual suspects are arrested by the Police until an odd-ball amateur sleuth starts to investigate. Something about the murder does not sit right with him. To start with, the victim – Rupali, a regular housewife living in marital bliss. But is that the truth? Why would someone murder her and why did she meet such a gruesome end? Who, in reality, was she? Introducing Major Bartaman Bhowmick, Southern Command of the Indian Army. Peace-time army life and supportive seniors allow Major Bhowmick to indulge in his hobby and passion – crime detection. His sharp investigative talents are highly valued by his cousin, an ACP in Pune. Robin Chowdhury is a city crime reporter, whose combination of keen intellect, attractive looks and affinity for all things tech, makes her a great sidekick for the Major. This book is as much about Rupali’s astounding story as her murder and Major Bhowmick and Robin’s investigation into the murder with its surprising conclusion. About Author: A finance professional, Mehool has, over time, worked as a management consultant, equity research head and a fund manager. He ran a successful venture capital fund and is currently a private equity investor in growth companies. In between these, he has dabbled in film finance and production and owns a well-known media company. He lives in Mumbai with his family.

The Speaking Stone


Ratnadip Acharya - 2019
    A quest to know the origin of the stone brought him to the distant part of the country. Chandannagar, December 2016: A young vivacious historian woman read an old book on a century-old secret story about a little known part of the country. Her curiosity got the better of her as the book disappeared mysteriously before she could complete it. She reached a sleepy quaint state of the country to satiate her curiosity. Eventually they both met and their search began from the city museum to a far-flung rock mountain which revealed a century-old story of a seductive danseuse, her enigmatic lover, a string of her admirers, a painter with a photographic memory, a bird that could speak in many voices, a benevolent king and a gruesome conspiracy. And the most important clue to decode the final secret was with the missing part of "The Speaking Stone" But in the process of unearthing old secrets, their life was also in danger… To know more read... The Speaking Stone.********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* About the Author: Ratnadip Acharya is the author of two successful novels, Life is Always Aimless... Unless you love it and Paradise Lost & Regained. He is a columnist for the Speaking Tree in The Times of India. He contributed many write-ups in different collections of Chicken Soup for the Soul. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Sophia and son, Akash. He can be contacted via the following channels Website: www.ratnadipacharya.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheRatnadip Facebook: www.facebook.com/ratnadip.acharya.5, Instagram: www.instagram.com/ratnadipacharya Twitter: www.twitter.com/RatnadipAcharya

Once Upon Us (Part I)


Abhiishek Mohta - 2019
    With the notes in his soul, he feels the rhythm in his rhymes and the beat of the instruments even when he closes his eyes. When he meets Saatvika Lakhiani, her voice and her form inspire that music and shine through every interaction they have. There is something about her that pulls him and calls to him… an underlying feeling that maybe she is the one who will complete him and be the partner he need. However, sorority princess Abhilasha walks and talks as if Arjun is already hers, a fact that seems surer by the day. While Saatvika is not exactly looking for a relationship, there is something about Arjun that makes her catch her breath – and ensures that a confrontation with Abhilasha is inevitable.