Hemanth Gorur's Blog, page 6

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 13)

By reading this Sneak Preview, you are hereby agreeing to this blog’s Purpose and Policy.

Read the previous Sneak Preview.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 13)

As dusk cast its sly shadow over the Central Business District, Sanya entered the teeming Bangalore Metro subway station on Mahatma Gandhi Road and maneuvered herself to the ticket aisles. The station was experiencing rush hour, with harried office-goers returning to their homes or boyfriends for the night. As she swiped her smartcard at the turnstile and pushed through, her Lumia began to buzz. It was another ‘Friend’ request on Facebook.

Taking out her phone from its leather pouch, Sanya peered at the impertinent device, one eye on oncoming human traffic. There were three requests. The first two were from unknown male profiles. Or at least, they appeared to be males from their names. With no photos on their profile pages and corny introductions, theirs were the typical requests from single boys looking for quick no-strings-attached relationships with willing females. Boys! If only they would evolve! Sanya was only too familiar with such requests and did not waste her breath on them.

The only reason she even chose to look at the third ‘Friend’ request was that it was from a profile having a girl’s name and had a profile photo. The profile belonged to a ‘Ramona’. The throbbing in her head was threatening to return. Sanya flung her phone into the open bag by her side and mildly massaged her temples. Ramona could wait till she got back home.

Coming soon: the next Sneak Preview.

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Book Review – by Sarah Miles

A book that left me guessing

. . . I am so glad I stumbled across Gorur’s work. I’m an avid reader and am always looking for new authors to try out. When I read the description of this fairly short story, I was immediately drawn in. The idea of having someone from a past life out to get you is pretty original and a very nice change of pace from the topics usually seen in paranormal stories . . .

. . . We meet Sanya, a psychology student in India that is beginning to have strange things happen to her. Being of an analytical mind, she tries to make sense of events ranging from curious to downright bizarre. It isn’t an easy set of situations to link together. What’s great about this is that, at least for me, I felt very connected to the confusion she had as I read the story. This isn’t a book that makes it easy to predict what will happen or what the characters’ motives are. I didn’t have a clue until right near the end . . .

Sarah Miles

Avid reader and reviewer

Read the full review here: on Goodreads, on Amazon.

Aymaran Shadow Now Available On Amazon’s KOLL

Aymaran Shadow is now available on Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL). So, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can now borrow the book from the KOLL with no due dates and without any additional cost or having to purchase it.

The book is identified with an Amazon Prime badge as you search and browse for books on your Kindle device or on Amazon.com.

The book is still available for you to purchase on the Kindle Store and on Amazon.com if you so choose.

Those Footsteps At 1 AM

Read the previous post in the Behind The Scenes series: What If You Were Kevin Bacon in ‘Hollow Man’

It was a normal evening as I settled down to hammer out my targeted five pages for the day. I had finished probably half of the novel I was writing – Aymaran Shadow – and was looking to step on the gas.

Mentally, I was fully immersed in the story that was unfolding on paper. Sanya had met her stalkers online and had experienced the first of her paranormal episodes and hallucinations.

I normally wound up at 2 AM – I was somehow more productive in the second half of the day, working on my drafts and shooting the breeze with fellow authors on Facebook. On that day, it was still only midnight, so I figured I had about a couple of hours to get a few pages of Aymaran Shadow done before I doused the wickers.

Shortly later, I heard an odd noise – footsteps. No, they could not have been from within my house – I was the only one awake. They could have only come from one of the neighboring apartments in the condominium where I live.

Secretly hoping the footsteps belonged to another writer (who too probably kept long hours) in the apartment above or below me, I didn’t give the odd noise any further thought, other than that I had heard it a few times before on other days.

A couple of days later, I heard them again. Footsteps. In the middle of the night. Wait! It was past midnight. That was the first I sensed, even if very weakly, that something was weird. The time at which they seemed to occur seemed to be pretty much constant. I decided to note the time of occurrence the next time.

The next time was the next day. It was at 1 AM. The footsteps had occurred at 1 AM! And the next day. And the next. Oddly, it was around 1 AM always. This happened for quite a few days. Come 1 AM, and I used to expect to hear those footsteps, as ludicrous as that may have seemed.

Something else was weird about this whole thing. I realized that I had never heard multiple footsteps pittering and pattering about. Neither was it random. It was always a short sequence of footsteps one after the other. And then, silence.

I decide to keep note of the number of footsteps, half to humor my own twisted sense of analytical curiosity and half to really see this odd episode through to the end. To my amazement, I noticed that the footsteps were always 3-4, never more, never less! And always at the same decibel level.

Now, my own study, where I write, is at one end of my house. At night, when all the lights have been switched off, from my desk where I sit, it’s always difficult peering through my study door into the rest of my house than it is the other way around.

Pitch dark, it almost resembled the setting I had imagined for the climax of my novel where the ghostly apparition (which is Sanya’s killer in her previous life) emerges from the darkness beyond Sanya’s room and confronts Sanya with a navaja in its hand. So, to say that I got spooked on a few days would be pretty close to the truth.

The funny thing is, to this day, I have not been able to determine whether the footsteps come from the apartment directly above or directly below mine. Or from an adjacent one. Because they almost always seem to come from the darkened living room which is next to my study!

Call it a writer’s overactive imagination. Call it wishful paranoia. Or a twisted sense of humor. I feel there’s more to those footsteps than a straight, rational explanation. I want it to be something more.

I can almost see my neighbors who read this post tickled by the surreal nature of the revelation. But, think of it. 3-4 footsteps, never more, never less. Always at 1 AM. Always soft, never frightening. Owner untraced. If that is not enigmatic and beautiful, what is?

Have you had any experiences which border on the surreal? Which are not fully explained by science? Share your story.

Coming soon: the next post in the Behind The Scenes series.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 12)

By reading this Sneak Preview, you are hereby agreeing to this blog’s Purpose and Policy.

Read the previous Sneak Preview.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 12)

The mirrors on the wall were oddly swinging from side to side in the form of a horizontal ‘8’. There was a strange haziness in the restroom that Sanya had not seen before. The lights embedded in the false ceiling seemed to pulse hypnotically. With a start, Sanya realized that the restrooms at Skyye did not have lights in the ceiling. Craziness had descended.

Without warning, the wall at the far end of the tastefully done restroom came rushing towards Sanya. Even as she braced for the impact, her left hand appeared magically out of nowhere to cushion the blow and shield her face. She sunk slowly to the floor, using the wall as a support, and palmed her temples. Her head continued to swim. Disjointed and blurred images started flitting in and out of her consciousness.

The throbbing pain in her temples increased as she tried to hold on to the rapidly disintegrating images. Sanya took a deep breath, mopped her forehead and steadied herself. Even as the pulsating nausea in her head ebbed, a weird queasiness took over in her stomach. The damn mayonnaise she had used in the morning! Resolving to keep off garlic-based preparations, she stood up gingerly. In the few seconds it took to prop her hair and smoothen her top, she warily looked around. The room had stopped spinning. The mirrors were stationary. Everything was in order. It was probably nothing more than her stomach disagreeing with stale food.

Picking up her shoulder bag, Sanya took measured steps towards the door. A fleeting thought of Anuj kissing her made her smile involuntarily. Inhaling deeply, she opened the door. Instantly, she knew she shouldn’t have. It was craziness all over again!

At first, she was not sure what had triggered the relapse of the swimming sensation in her head. As she peered into the dark confines of the bar, she spied Buzz Cut downing a huge mug of lager beer. The constant snicker on his face and his hyena-like cackle were enough to enrage a coy girl like her. But it wasn’t him. Rage, and the consequent stress, wasn’t what Sanya was experiencing. It wasn’t Buzz Cut. It was something else.

As her eyes wandered searching for an answer, she looked at the silhouettes of the tables and booths as the eerie lighting cast their shadows in macabre fashion. Then it struck her. The red fluorescent lighting from below the floor! The throbbing in her temples shot up as she gazed at the muted light emanating from below the thick translucent glass floor.

Something told her she needed to avoid the red light and leave. As she turned to head towards the exit, she gasped softly as a figure moved in to block her path. It was Tej.

“Tej! It’s you . . .”

“Of course it’s me. What happened back there?”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw you wobble as you came out of the restroom. You were talking to yourself.”

Sanya looked on feebly, her head still hurting from the red light.

“Are you alright?” Tej persisted.

“No, I’m fine. I need to leave.”

“Hey, do you need us to drive you home?”

Sanya’s gaze had turned to Buzz Cut, who was gesticulating wildly to his equally frenzied band of inebriated washouts.

“This guy giving you any trouble?” Tej was now looking steadfastly in Buzz Cut’s direction, following Sanya’s gaze.

“No, no. Tej, listen, I got to go . . .”

“Hey. You just got here. Besides . . .”

“Tell Shirin I’ll call later.”

Coming soon: the next Sneak Preview.

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Book Review – by Tara Woods

Suspenseful Paranormal Thriller

. . . This story started out strong and it held my attention until the very end. The suspense was phenomenal. Sanya Rawat was a very believable character, living an ordinary life, while experiencing extraordinary events. This was definitely a page turner . . .

. . . The only drawback I have is the ending. I don’t want to give any spoilers . . .

Tara Woods

Avid reader

Read the full review here: on Amazon, on Goodreads.

2013 Summer Splash Blog Hop

Forget that blockbuster movie this weekend. Give up that beer hop with the buddies. Postpone the shopping binge that you promised yourself. This weekend, 26th-29th July, be part of the awesomeness right here at Aymaran Shadow – it’s time for the 2013 Summer Splash Blog Hop!

WHAT YOU WIN

Aymaran Shadow giveaway: ‘Like’ the Facebook page of Aymaran Shadow, follow or comment on this blog, follow Hemanth Gorur on Twitter, or tweet about this giveaway, and you stand to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card. A whopping 10 points for book reviews!!

And, that’s not all. Every participant of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway is gifted with a FREE ebook copy of Aymaran Shadow, so that you can join Sanya Rawat as she mounts a tense psychological war against two macabre stalkers from her past life!

Summer Splash Blog Hop prizes: Grand prizes for hoppers who visit all blogs on this hop and tweet about it – a Kindle Fire, more Gift Cards, and a bundle of awesome ebooks/paperbacks. So, don’t forget to complete the hop.

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter the Aymaran Shadow giveaway by visiting the Rafflecopter giveaway widget OR by clicking on the Giveaway tab on the book’s Facebook page.

So, hurry! The giveaway ends on July 29th, 2013. Remember, you can increase your chances of winning that $20 Gift Card by completing multiple activities, or by repeating an activity (eg: tweeting every day).

FREE ebook copies of Aymaran Shadow will be sent to all participants on the day the giveaway contest ends. Winners of the Aymaran Shadow giveaway will be announced 10 days after the contest ends in order to allow for participants to read the book and post their reviews.

BACK TO THE BLOG HOP

Click on the Summer Splash Blog Hop icon below to return to the blog hop’s main page.

Essentials Of Genre Writing: Part II – Paranormal

This is a guest blog by Yawatta Hosby, writer and blogger. This post is the second of a 2-part series on the basics of genre writing. Over to Yawatta.

I’d like to thank Hemanth for letting me be a guest on his blog again! Last week, I talked about writing thrillers. This week, I’d like to follow that discussion with writing for the paranormal genre.

The paranormal and thriller genres seem to be really hot right now. If you’re a writer wishing to write in any of these genres, there are some hygiene factors you may need to ensure. Apart from this, make sure you do more research on the topic, and marry it with your imagination. This is Part II of this blog post series where we will look at the paranormal genre.

First and foremost, if you have very interesting characters, you should consider creating a series. Each book should end in a cliffhanger. The paranormal genre lends itself very well to sequels where the main character(s) go through different challenges or grapple with situations which are outcomes of the prequel.

Also, have characters that readers can fall in love with, though this goes without saying. Essentially, this genre requires heroes and villains. Hopefully, your main characters are the heroes. This way if you do create a series, then readers will be motivated to continue the journey.

Consider writing a love story between a human and a supernatural being. A love that is forbidden within the character’s world, so that it has a Romeo/Juliet feel to it. Although this theme has been oft-used, you can be a bit clever about it by changing the world that the characters have to exist in. This way you can attract the readers who are romantic-at-hearts, and you’ll be able to raise the stakes. Will they survive? Will a sacrifice be made on their relationship?

Don’t make all your characters unlikeable. Though some readers love the bad guys, there are many readers who will get turned off if they can’t root for anyone.

Importantly, don’t create a world for your characters that are different from reality without explaining any of the rules. If you write like your readers should already know what’s going on, without a little back-story, then they will get lost. For example, if your story requires that vampires can walk in the daylight, then say so.

Finally, never ever write a lovey-dovey story where it’s only about the romance without any action involved. If readers aren’t concerned with the characters’ safety, then they may get bored with the story and put the book down before reaching the ending.

Are there any tips you’ve learned along the way that you’d like to share?

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

What If You Were Kevin Bacon In ‘Hollow Man’

Read the previous post in the Behind The Scenes series: The Day Sanya Came Alive

One of the premises my book Aymaran Shadow uses is the hypothesis that people change their behavior when they think they can’t be seen. When their actions are shrouded by darkness.

There was one real-life incident that proved that the above premise was closer to reality than hypothesis. This was the time when I had taken off for Goa along with mates of mine. Goa, by the way, is a coastal state in Southern India, and is the hub for year-long partying, water sports, shacking, drugs and sex.

So, we were at this night club, swinging to trance and checking out the place in general (we had gone as stags) when my eyes fell on an odd couple – a young guy and a decked up girl (obviously his girlfriend going by the way she was entwined all over him) gyrating to the pounding music.

Now, at this point, let me say this: this particular nightclub had everything a typical club of its kind would have – strobe lights, professional dancers high up on podiums, laser effects, roving spots, the works. But, one thing stood out – the ambience was pitch dark. Much too dark even by nightclub standards.

Back at the scene, while the guy was obviously enjoying himself and had eyes only for his girl, the girl was merely going through the motions, dancing listlessly and throwing plastic smiles at her guy every now and then. Likely, something else was on her mind.

Half an hour later, I found them on the edge of the dance floor but now dancing a couple of feet apart. Nothing out of the ordinary here, but still, the distance between them was there.

In between, on my trips to the bar counter, I had picked up snatches of conversation between Listless Gal and her girl friend as they had made their way from the powder room or bar counter back to the dance floor. Apparently, Listless Gal was simply plain bored and/or angry with her long-time boyfriend.

Back on the dance floor, ten minutes after I found them on the edge of the dance floor, I found them back in the middle, but now something was horribly wrong. The girl was screaming (yes, amid all that pounding music) and gesticulating wildly at a well-built hunk of a guy, who filled out his party casuals quite nicely and easily dwarfed Listless Gal’s boyfriend.

As I looked on, I realized this was the same guy whom Listless Gal had collided with on purpose a few seconds earlier when she thought no one was looking. Now, she was throwing a fit, making it look like Beefcake was the one who had bumped into her inappropriately.

She then proceeded to instigate her boyfriend (almost taunting him, I thought) against Beefcake. The boyfriend reluctantly got into an argument with a much heftier “rival”. While the two guys got busy mouthing each other off, Listless Gal very visibly decided that she had had enough for the night, and, in a final show of frustration, emptied her drink on Beefcake’s designer shoes and stomped off in a huff.

So far, so good. I mean, how many times have you not seen guys hitting on gals at nightspots and jealous boyfriends taking them on? You can always expect that behind a girl’s indignant exit from a nightspot is a lusty guy’s hand (pun intended). Right?

Well, what I didn’t know hit me in the face half an hour later, when, while exiting the club, I saw the very same girl happily wrapped up in Beefcake’s arms, grinning seductively and teasing him with hungry half-kisses.

Well, what a strange way to pick up a girl at a club, I thought. Or, wait a min, pick up a guy! Yeah, as strange (or not so strange) as it seemed, apparently Listless Gal had been listless for a reason – she had been waiting to dump uncool boyfriend and pick up hot new meat on the street.

Easiest way to do it? Pretend you got elbowed on the dance floor (who’s going to deny a girl when she says a guy used the pitch dark scene to get fresh with her) and pit your uncool guy against object of desire, whip up fight scene, and vamoose, apparently seething at the indignity of it all.

Hook up later with said object of desire when things have cooled otherwise and things have heated up between you and object of desire. How’s that for darkness bringing out the beast within?

This set up the scene (as well as a few other scenes) in my book where Sanya enters her fave watering hole (which happens to be a night club) and attracts unwanted attention. You can read about this in a sneak preview I recently posted.

Although, this scene depicted in the above sneak preview and the real-life incident I shared above play out very differently, they rest on one common theme – people feel comfortable not being themselves (or, being themselves, based on how you look at it) and do stuff that they normally wouldn’t when they think or know that they can’t be seen. Or when they know they are in the dark (literally).

I’m so reminded of Kevin Bacon’s character in Hollow Man, the movie.

Have you witnessed any such incidents? Have you had any such experiences where darkness brought out, perhaps, the best or worst, but, certainly, the unexpected, from people?

Coming soon: the next post in the Behind The Scenes series.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 11)

By reading this Sneak Preview, you are hereby agreeing to this blog’s Purpose and Policy.

Read the previous Sneak Preview.

Sneak Preview :: Chapter Two (Snippet 11)

Sanya got off the elevator on the sixteenth floor and strode purposefully towards the end of the causeway. Sanya had been here a zillion times before. Skyye was a contemporary lounge bar with all the trappings of modern-day indulgence and opulence. It served as the meeting place for Sanya and her friends after a long hard day of Psychology and Behaviorism. On days, it also served as her haven of solitude when she needed to unwind and reflect internally. On that day, it was neither.

Dimly lit ambiences altered people’s behavior in fundamental ways. Man ceased to be man. Deliberate acts were passed off as accidental mishaps. Dark conversations turned darker. Touch turned to caress in the blink of an eye. Insistence turned to brutal assault with mind-numbing speed. It never ceased to fascinate Sanya that light, or the absence of it, could have such an unintended yet profound effect on human beings. As she entered the bar, Sanya smiled wryly to herself as she recounted her wild theories relating human behavior to darkness.

Not wanting to appear to be conspicuously searching for someone, she parked herself near the head of the bar and allowed her eyes to get used to the dim interiors. It was neither the outlandish buzz cut nor the ungainly swagger that drew Sanya’s attention to a young Chinese youth sitting on one of the bar stools. His eyes were fixed steadfastly on Sanya’s chest. His gaze constantly followed the twin movements her breasts were making as she shifted her weight on to one foot, and then on to the other.

Suddenly, Sanya became aware of more eyes. Buzz Cut was not alone. Three young men on adjacent stools had joined the staring and were watching her intently. Her striped spandex top and figure-hugging low-rise jeans accentuated her womanly curves yet conveyed a girlish charm that could grab attention anywhere. On that day, it had grabbed the wrong kind of attention.

Where was Anuj? Sanya swung around to search once more for her college heart-throb. As she began to walk away, she could feel the hungry eyes gaping at the undulating rhythm of her derrière. The fleeting feeling of disgust gave way to annoyance as she caught sight of Shirin, Tej and Kanika at a table near the far side window overlooking the terraced section of the bar.

Sanya marched over to the table. “Hey, guys. We are supposed to meet tomorrow. What are you guys doing here?” She minced no words.

“Hey, beautiful. What brings you here?” Tej piped up.

“Yeah. Looking for someone special?” Shirin teased, with a twinkle in her eye.

“Ye. . . I mean, no. What do you mean?” Sanya shot back defensively.

“Well, we all know only three people on earth can make you run from A to B, no questions asked.”

Sanya crossed her arms and arched her left eyebrow, her eyes flashing in mock anger.

“Your mom, Bryan Adams, and…”

“And?”

“. . . Anuj!”

“And since the voice on the call belonged to none of the aforementioned three, it had be yours, Tej. Elementary, my dear Tej. Oh my god, Tej, you are such a jerk!” Sanya grabbed her long strap shoulder bag and pummeled her friend playfully.

“My, someone is really touchy today,” Tej guffawed, as he tried to parry her blows.

“God knows whose cell phone you wangled to make that stupid call. Okay, you guys. Hang in there, and order a Thirst Aid for me. I’ll be back,” broke off Sanya and headed for the women’s room.

Coming soon: the next Sneak Preview.

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