Sriramana Muliya
I must first confess a little bias – I have known the author virtually for around a decade now, as Phatichar, his blogger handle.
He has tried at least two kinds of fiction genres here – sketch stories (or perhaps flash fiction) and short stories. The first kind does away with any setting or build up – they are just scenes or slices which begin and end abruptly. That’s not a problem, it’s the way it is supposed to work. 🙂 The last five stories could be categorised as short stories – lengthier, with more complex plots and a more concrete narrative flow.
There are mainly three things I like about this book. The first is the simplicity of the language. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious effort or just a natural way of writing, but irrespective of that, it works very well. A big word or a complex sentence could have easily spoiled the gripping narratives. The second is the imagination – the sheer scale of scenarios, names, occupations, characters and their descriptions is admirable. Depending on your ‘palate’, you might consider some spooky, some scary and some as just a good story. That leads me to the last point – the structure of the book.
I started reading and after a few stories, felt mildly disappointed at the spookiness levels, also because I knew this guy could ‘chill’ more if he wanted to. As I read more, I realised there was a pattern to this – to use Sri’s own morbid style – the ‘boiling frog’ anecdote. He manages to increase the spookiness to eeriness to scariness without really altering the flow of stories. I’d think this requires extremely smart thinking, and imagination!
In the first kind of stories, my favourite would be ‘Friends Forever’, ‘Soul Stirring’, ‘A Wall of Silence.. No More?” and “The Real Thief”. But what I really loved were the short stories, especially the last ‘meta’ one – Blogosphere.
A fantastic effort, and I hope he uses his imagination to explore other genres as well! 🙂
Thank you, Manu 🙂