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Weird Tales of a Bangalorean
In a land where past and future spar for space, the present is never certain. Follow misfits, sellouts and everyday drones through palimpsest streets into places where reality peels away and gods, ghosts, ancestors and/or fungi await.
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First published July 21, 2014
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About the author
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
43 books518 followersI read, I write, I play the bass guitar. Reality isn't and stories won't save you from what is. But still.
I live in Bangalore, India with my wife Yasmine and a hoard of feline masterminds as well as a handful of daft dogs.
I live in Bangalore, India with my wife Yasmine and a hoard of feline masterminds as well as a handful of daft dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 7, 2018
An astonishing collection of stories that are as interconnected as deja vu. The magic of history, lore and shifting thresholds sift the threads of reality, providing glimpses and sounds of alternate beings and timeless scenes. The author transcends the physicality of the page through his exceptionally attuned language and heightened sensitivities. Glowingly recommended.
June 7, 2016
This is a new author to me. The stories were well written and nicely told. The influence is a bit of Lovecraft and M.R. James.
The introduction by Anna Tambour heaps praise upon platitude upon the author and after reading the stories I believe every word she said.
The Contents of the book are:
7 - Introduction by Anna Tambour
13 - "Becoming The Bangalorey Man"
14 - "Come Tomorrow"
27 - "My Saints Are Down"
34 - "Minstrel Of Disease"
36 - "Dancer Of The Dying"
45 - "The Song Of The Eukarya"
61 - "A Threshold Hypothesis"
76 - "Bean Town Blues"
If you get a chance and you enjoy ghostly and macabre stories give him a try as there will be no disappointment.
The introduction by Anna Tambour heaps praise upon platitude upon the author and after reading the stories I believe every word she said.
The Contents of the book are:
7 - Introduction by Anna Tambour
13 - "Becoming The Bangalorey Man"
14 - "Come Tomorrow"
27 - "My Saints Are Down"
34 - "Minstrel Of Disease"
36 - "Dancer Of The Dying"
45 - "The Song Of The Eukarya"
61 - "A Threshold Hypothesis"
76 - "Bean Town Blues"
If you get a chance and you enjoy ghostly and macabre stories give him a try as there will be no disappointment.
December 1, 2015
With this collection published by Dunhams Manor Press in 2013, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy has become one of my favorite writers not only of weird fiction but any fiction attempting to portray both the physical and spiritual adventure of existence.
Recently an acquaintance remarked that he'd read this slender volume of extraordinary tales in an afternoon. I don't know how he accomplished this. Every story in the book is so rich in detail and so layered with fascinating social history and acute observations, I needed a break after each one in order to step back and look more objectively at what I can only describe as an immersive reading experience.
Delicate interactions between cultures and generations characterize these stories. All the lives lived in the same spot carry equal weight. History is ongoing. Our activity and unanswered desires create an energy, and perhaps a portal. The latter idea is put forth explicitly in the final tale, almost but not quite too complete an explanation. Fortunately the author only touches upon it and then returns to a sense of the mysteriousness of the universe and human nature.
Some characters are transformed or transported by interactions with the supernatural. Others cling to a fantasy or a state of mind and become absorbed into the landscape. The magic involved is not conjured or sought out. It arises naturally from the juxtaposition of time, place, and people.
Traces of the past linger everywhere. Ghosts of characters from certain stories pass through other stories and add to the density of the background. The illusion created by such overlapping is a steadily accruing sense of the enormity and complexity of life and the ceaseless activity of humankind.
Myths rooted in specific places and histories connect with more widely recognized myths and legends but also convey the fortunes and personal disasters of individuals and families. To know the full story is to know how a local family made its way in a constantly shifting world.
I bought this wonderful book and I'll buy anything else Jayaprakash Satyamurthy writes. Highly recommended.
Recently an acquaintance remarked that he'd read this slender volume of extraordinary tales in an afternoon. I don't know how he accomplished this. Every story in the book is so rich in detail and so layered with fascinating social history and acute observations, I needed a break after each one in order to step back and look more objectively at what I can only describe as an immersive reading experience.
Delicate interactions between cultures and generations characterize these stories. All the lives lived in the same spot carry equal weight. History is ongoing. Our activity and unanswered desires create an energy, and perhaps a portal. The latter idea is put forth explicitly in the final tale, almost but not quite too complete an explanation. Fortunately the author only touches upon it and then returns to a sense of the mysteriousness of the universe and human nature.
Some characters are transformed or transported by interactions with the supernatural. Others cling to a fantasy or a state of mind and become absorbed into the landscape. The magic involved is not conjured or sought out. It arises naturally from the juxtaposition of time, place, and people.
Traces of the past linger everywhere. Ghosts of characters from certain stories pass through other stories and add to the density of the background. The illusion created by such overlapping is a steadily accruing sense of the enormity and complexity of life and the ceaseless activity of humankind.
Myths rooted in specific places and histories connect with more widely recognized myths and legends but also convey the fortunes and personal disasters of individuals and families. To know the full story is to know how a local family made its way in a constantly shifting world.
I bought this wonderful book and I'll buy anything else Jayaprakash Satyamurthy writes. Highly recommended.
October 17, 2015
Introduction by Anna Tambour
Becoming the Bangalorey Man
Come Tomorrow
My Saints are Down
Minstrel of Disease
Dancer of the Dying
The Song of The Eukarya
A Threshold Hypothesis
Bean Town Blues
One of my reading interests is short supernatural/weird fiction. Upon seeing the high ratings this chapbook from Dunhams Manor Press received, I eagerly bought the book. I didn't find a copy available from Amazon nor from Barnes and Noble, I got mine from lulu.com. This book did not disappoint.
In the table of contents listed above, "Becoming the Bangalorey Man", "Minstrel Of Disease", and "Bean Town Blues" are poems in a modernist style. The rest are short stories.
The "About the Author" section says "Jayaprakash Satyamurthy has lived in Bangalore since the year 1991. He currently resides near Ulsoor Lake, in the heart of the city, with his wife Yasmine and a horde of cats and dogs. He also plays the bass guitar and composes songs for the doom metal band Djin And Miskatonic. In his opinion, nothing worth doing is worth doing. And so you have this book"
Most of stories in this book are ghost stories, though my favorite story here--and I recognize that this is a matter of taste--is the science fiction story "A Threshold Hypothesis" In this story, the narrator discovers a portal to parallel timelines. Ingenuously, the author recognizes that there may be timelines more horrible than our own, for example, a timeline where the Third Reich rules India. Sometimes people from these timelines enter our timeline through the portal. The end of the story is about beings who are trying to enter our world from an unusual timeline.
Satyamurthy studied the masters of the genre, yet he has a unique voice. The prose style is superior, though not imitative. All the stories take place in Bangalore and music plays a role in some stories.
Becoming the Bangalorey Man
Come Tomorrow
My Saints are Down
Minstrel of Disease
Dancer of the Dying
The Song of The Eukarya
A Threshold Hypothesis
Bean Town Blues
One of my reading interests is short supernatural/weird fiction. Upon seeing the high ratings this chapbook from Dunhams Manor Press received, I eagerly bought the book. I didn't find a copy available from Amazon nor from Barnes and Noble, I got mine from lulu.com. This book did not disappoint.
In the table of contents listed above, "Becoming the Bangalorey Man", "Minstrel Of Disease", and "Bean Town Blues" are poems in a modernist style. The rest are short stories.
The "About the Author" section says "Jayaprakash Satyamurthy has lived in Bangalore since the year 1991. He currently resides near Ulsoor Lake, in the heart of the city, with his wife Yasmine and a horde of cats and dogs. He also plays the bass guitar and composes songs for the doom metal band Djin And Miskatonic. In his opinion, nothing worth doing is worth doing. And so you have this book"
Most of stories in this book are ghost stories, though my favorite story here--and I recognize that this is a matter of taste--is the science fiction story "A Threshold Hypothesis" In this story, the narrator discovers a portal to parallel timelines. Ingenuously, the author recognizes that there may be timelines more horrible than our own, for example, a timeline where the Third Reich rules India. Sometimes people from these timelines enter our timeline through the portal. The end of the story is about beings who are trying to enter our world from an unusual timeline.
Satyamurthy studied the masters of the genre, yet he has a unique voice. The prose style is superior, though not imitative. All the stories take place in Bangalore and music plays a role in some stories.
August 11, 2015
Fantastic fare! JS weaves multiple facets of growing up as a teenager in Bangalore in the 90's with timeless folklore and urban legends seamlessly. It was truly a treat to read this collection of short stories which revolve around and are from my hometown, Bangalore, packaged in an eerie, bizarre, and unsettling atmosphere. I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates weird fiction, and especially to those who are from Bangalore.
My review might be perceived as biased because I am a friend of the author, however, I cannot emphasize how much I enjoyed reading this book.
My review might be perceived as biased because I am a friend of the author, however, I cannot emphasize how much I enjoyed reading this book.
October 22, 2014
I’ve been a fan of this exceedingly-talented newcomer for some time now and this release heightens my opinion of his work. In this golden age of Weird Fiction we’re experiencing, add the name of this weaver of the strange and spectral to your must read list.
April 23, 2016
I just finished Weird Tales of a Bangalorean, and the interplay all the stories in this collection have together is nothing short of amazing. Certain characters share connections, and particular images and scenarios repeat, but the real commonality is the city itself, it's superstitions and history, and the sense of the weird intruding upon it. I don't want to spoil too much, but his unique interpretation of ghosts as the psychic phenomena of events and time periods making a physical impression on a place at some etheric level was very well done, and yet even with all the threads running through the book as a whole, each story was a unique, well defined entity of its own. One of the most impressive debuts I've read, there is a great deal of talent, sophistication, and subtlety at work here.
December 11, 2015
Intelligent writing, on a eerie tilt of "New Weird." I picked this book up for two reasons. 1.) Limited Edition and 2.) I can't pronounce the authors name for the life of me. Which I feel is challenging & interesting to read his work.
Weird Tales of a Bangalorean Man is three poems and five short stories. Ghost stories that haunts your skin to raise with goosebumps. A modern day ghost story in the likes of maybe some kind of Alfred Hitchcock style.
The best of them all is The Song of The Eukarya. Finding some old music sheets, then strumming the piano keys becomes some kind of "lost in ones mind" for a roommate, who basically disappears from life.
If by some chance you come across this book. Grab it a eerie read that you won't forget.
Weird Tales of a Bangalorean Man is three poems and five short stories. Ghost stories that haunts your skin to raise with goosebumps. A modern day ghost story in the likes of maybe some kind of Alfred Hitchcock style.
The best of them all is The Song of The Eukarya. Finding some old music sheets, then strumming the piano keys becomes some kind of "lost in ones mind" for a roommate, who basically disappears from life.
If by some chance you come across this book. Grab it a eerie read that you won't forget.
December 2, 2014
A sense of being caught in between, in a limbo land of subtle dreads mounting a slow demise via attrition of self and soul, resonates powerfully in Satyamurthy’s haunted tales full of decay and filth, embroidered with the culture of India and religious/spiritual subtexts. We start nowhere, we end nowhere, but it’s not the same nowhere. There is a singular mood that dominates the collection, a shroud cover that almost suffocates, not unlike the work of Simon Strantzes. Excellent!
March 24, 2015
This is an outstanding book. It's a set of stories and a few poems that revolve around the city of Bangalore. Reading this book is probably the closest I will ever come to visiting Bangalore but Satyamurthy's connection to this city penetrates so deep in his writing you really do feel like you are there.
I liked everything about this book. The stories are dark and there are supernatural aspects in the story that compliment the slow burning tension perfectly. To top things off the prose itself if beautiful.
If you can't tell I really really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author. I actually discovered him on the strength of my pervious experience with Dunham Manors Press' work and they definitely did not disappoint here. Bravo Yo!
I liked everything about this book. The stories are dark and there are supernatural aspects in the story that compliment the slow burning tension perfectly. To top things off the prose itself if beautiful.
If you can't tell I really really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author. I actually discovered him on the strength of my pervious experience with Dunham Manors Press' work and they definitely did not disappoint here. Bravo Yo!
August 8, 2017
I wish I knew how to give the review this book deserves. It was asskickingly asskicking. The tales are more weird than horrific. The urban decay reminds e of Thomas Ligotti, but these stories are not pastiches. I can't wait to read another collection by this polymath of the weird (and the metal bass).
November 30, 2014
Weird Tales... is about as functional a name as you can give for a book that's, well, what it says. But it's also another clever conceit in this sinuous volume packed with slyness: Jayaprakash's Bangalore is the fulcrum of his narratives, a sentient presence, ancient enough for soul-swallowing secrets. There may occasionally be some ostensible location changes but as the author himself says, "Parts of Bangalore aren't in Bangalore at all". It would appear that this Bangalorean always finds bits of his city wherever he goes (perhaps unknowingly he carries them along). Jayaprakash's stories delve into those intriguing facets of the city that have evoked his qualities of observation and imagination, its protagonists almost always transparent surrogates for his Bangalorean self.
With slipped in phrases, whispered references and mostly subtle sleight of hand, he threads the individual stories into a stealthy cloak of collective experience. Certain concepts resonate across stories, but in a sufficiently distinct way as to render them as variations on a theme.
In every sort of creative endeavor, but perhaps more so in in the Weird Tale, every new voice carries with it the spirit of earlier voices. You can find in Jayaprakash's work echoes of both HP Lovecraft's cosmic horror and Thomas Ligotti's existential horror - My Saints Are Down for whatever reason had me thinking back to Ligotti's Last Feast of The Harlequin, which in turn was a homage to Lovecraft's The Festival - we come full circle here.
In a collection everyone will have their favorites, mine is The Song of The Eukarya - here he takes the time to first build an emotional resonance with the characters which he then craftily employs to make us feel their horror as it unfolds. If I were to nitpick I'd say the last entry (Bean Town Blues) seems a little forced in its attempt to join up the earlier experiences, like some cast bow after the curtains fall. But that's, like I say, a nitpick, and one that in no way effaces the brilliance of everything that comes before it. I finished the book almost entirely in a single short duration flight and intend to return to it soon to revel in the simply marvelous spider-web of imagination that is Jayaprakash's work.
With slipped in phrases, whispered references and mostly subtle sleight of hand, he threads the individual stories into a stealthy cloak of collective experience. Certain concepts resonate across stories, but in a sufficiently distinct way as to render them as variations on a theme.
In every sort of creative endeavor, but perhaps more so in in the Weird Tale, every new voice carries with it the spirit of earlier voices. You can find in Jayaprakash's work echoes of both HP Lovecraft's cosmic horror and Thomas Ligotti's existential horror - My Saints Are Down for whatever reason had me thinking back to Ligotti's Last Feast of The Harlequin, which in turn was a homage to Lovecraft's The Festival - we come full circle here.
In a collection everyone will have their favorites, mine is The Song of The Eukarya - here he takes the time to first build an emotional resonance with the characters which he then craftily employs to make us feel their horror as it unfolds. If I were to nitpick I'd say the last entry (Bean Town Blues) seems a little forced in its attempt to join up the earlier experiences, like some cast bow after the curtains fall. But that's, like I say, a nitpick, and one that in no way effaces the brilliance of everything that comes before it. I finished the book almost entirely in a single short duration flight and intend to return to it soon to revel in the simply marvelous spider-web of imagination that is Jayaprakash's work.
February 19, 2016
A chapbook by my favorite writer from Bangalore. JP is a friend and I have admired his stories from a very long time. I am well-versed in the different registers he writes in. A very good collection of weird short stories with a poem or two thrown in between. Definitely worth reading.
February 1, 2015
I'm still here.
June 8, 2018
A short collection of connected stories and poems that work as one larger piece; involving people who encounter the slums, ghosts, overlapping realities and there's a fair amount of music references (including a funny dig at Frank Zappa when he's not on his best form).
Taken individually I thought some of the stories needed something a bit more but they're always well written and interesting. The last story brings everything together really nicely.
I'm looking forward to Satyamurthy's newest collection, if I can get it in time.
There's quite a few typos and errors. This was a small press book but now it's on amazon as print on demand.
Taken individually I thought some of the stories needed something a bit more but they're always well written and interesting. The last story brings everything together really nicely.
I'm looking forward to Satyamurthy's newest collection, if I can get it in time.
There's quite a few typos and errors. This was a small press book but now it's on amazon as print on demand.
August 13, 2023
Probably 3.5 stars rounding up to 4 stars. The book makes you pine for a Bangalore that was or is (behind some strange portal through which people pass and time melds). The author is able to create surreal world that seem mundane but danger and weirdness lurks in every corner. You question what you see when you see through his lens. The use of allegory and Bangalore specific things is done really well. The stories are interconnected in strange ways and create this alternate world seen but unseen and hidden from plain sight. The author has elevated the old, the mundane and the decrepit to another level. Reading this was like watching an old VCR tape which was lying in a corner gathering mold and dust. Memories you newer knew you had. Worth a read.
October 11, 2022
I sat on reviewing this book for awhile because I wanted to do it justice. There is so much packed into its 83 pages. I did indeed finish it in one sitting, after not having read a book since the summer (Joe Exotic's memoir, please don't judge.) I feel like my brain actually resets when I read a book, to the point that I can actually focus and use my imagination, after surfing online has fried my brain. I always feel better. JP (I guess I'll call him that, since it is what he calls himself) has a rare gift: In his prose, he never talks down to you or makes you feel stupid. Instead, he graces you in these references that add to the true and authentic tone of the book.
I'm happy to go along for the ride rather than -read a book that's been dumbed down, or, read a book that has copious amounts of footnotes. Now, on to the stories (This is a book of short stories). Come Tomorrow, which includes a story within a story, is just the right amount of creepy and unsettling. It invites you into the world of a middle-class family (right?) living just next to a slum which draws them into its poverty, misery, and dysfunction by virtue of proximity. Not only that, but here the old superstitions are very much alive.
My Saints Are Down describes a Goa as a fusion city and meeting place for the various peoples (new world, old world, Europe, India, Portugal, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, stoned-out hippies who wandered in and now have no inclination of the time or place (the latter being terrifying). We also are gifted with a couple of poems, which-poems rock because they are kind of like song lyrics, you remember them more easily (at least, I do).
Now, on to Dancer of The Dying. (Awesome title, by the way). Kenneth has a complex. It's not up to me to speak about his complex because I am not Kenneth but he seeks to hide (:))from, well, the very Indian-ness of his world, I suppose. Those of us over here screaming, "Kenneth, what are you doing? Just go with it! Enjoy it!" He doesn't like chants or temple loudspeakers or bhajans, and, well that doesn't bode very well for him, does it? Rightly so! I'm not saying he has to get in there, but just, live and let live, you know? Ah, but one of the tunes from the temple gets under his skin in a profound way (and to say more would be to spoil the story-so I won't!) Eerie and oppressive-I love it!
Song of Eukayra would seem to be a descent into...something (not going to tell you, you'll have to read it and see!) Ladies might recognize themselves in the young woman who dates this (reserving judgement here) self-destructive young man. And I won't tell you who his uncle is, you have to read it and see. But he appears in another story!
Finally, Threshold Hypothesis gives us paranormal podcast aficionados what we need- a timeslip! (Or, is it?) Fans of Victorian spirituality and Stone Tape theory will love this glimpse into hidden Bangalore! So many pros here- an exotic setting that is genuinely new and fresh to many of us (take that, Barnes and Noble), atmospheric writing, interesting and strange characters, writing that flows well and is eminently readable, poems in between, and an author with a true gift for words. Enjoy the spooky cover art, and savor this. This is writing with many influences, but with a modern sensibility and sense of time and place. I could make a comparison: A Miyazaki of the writing world who doesn't confine his characters, but takes influence from all over, and yet is quintessentially Bangalorean (I'm pretending I know what that is). Keep Bangalore weird!
I'm happy to go along for the ride rather than -read a book that's been dumbed down, or, read a book that has copious amounts of footnotes. Now, on to the stories (This is a book of short stories). Come Tomorrow, which includes a story within a story, is just the right amount of creepy and unsettling. It invites you into the world of a middle-class family (right?) living just next to a slum which draws them into its poverty, misery, and dysfunction by virtue of proximity. Not only that, but here the old superstitions are very much alive.
My Saints Are Down describes a Goa as a fusion city and meeting place for the various peoples (new world, old world, Europe, India, Portugal, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, stoned-out hippies who wandered in and now have no inclination of the time or place (the latter being terrifying). We also are gifted with a couple of poems, which-poems rock because they are kind of like song lyrics, you remember them more easily (at least, I do).
Now, on to Dancer of The Dying. (Awesome title, by the way). Kenneth has a complex. It's not up to me to speak about his complex because I am not Kenneth but he seeks to hide (:))from, well, the very Indian-ness of his world, I suppose. Those of us over here screaming, "Kenneth, what are you doing? Just go with it! Enjoy it!" He doesn't like chants or temple loudspeakers or bhajans, and, well that doesn't bode very well for him, does it? Rightly so! I'm not saying he has to get in there, but just, live and let live, you know? Ah, but one of the tunes from the temple gets under his skin in a profound way (and to say more would be to spoil the story-so I won't!) Eerie and oppressive-I love it!
Song of Eukayra would seem to be a descent into...something (not going to tell you, you'll have to read it and see!) Ladies might recognize themselves in the young woman who dates this (reserving judgement here) self-destructive young man. And I won't tell you who his uncle is, you have to read it and see. But he appears in another story!
Finally, Threshold Hypothesis gives us paranormal podcast aficionados what we need- a timeslip! (Or, is it?) Fans of Victorian spirituality and Stone Tape theory will love this glimpse into hidden Bangalore! So many pros here- an exotic setting that is genuinely new and fresh to many of us (take that, Barnes and Noble), atmospheric writing, interesting and strange characters, writing that flows well and is eminently readable, poems in between, and an author with a true gift for words. Enjoy the spooky cover art, and savor this. This is writing with many influences, but with a modern sensibility and sense of time and place. I could make a comparison: A Miyazaki of the writing world who doesn't confine his characters, but takes influence from all over, and yet is quintessentially Bangalorean (I'm pretending I know what that is). Keep Bangalore weird!
September 27, 2023
Most of the stories in this book are also collected in Come Tomorrow, so I had already read them before. It was just as engaging and satisfying to revisit them, to learn which details I remembered and which ones I’d forgotten and was surprised by once more.
The novel aspect for me comes from one story and a few poems that were not collected in Come Tomorrow and those, I enjoyed a lot and they served as palate cleansers for my retread of the familiar and they did their job admirably.
I look forward to future rereads. Would heartily recommend to South Indian horror and weird fic readers with a hankering for good South Indian writing.
“I want to find a terrible secret at the city’s heart
then go all the way back and find the first truths soaked into this land
and further, furthest, I want to walk
in empty space forever right here
don’t follow me”
The novel aspect for me comes from one story and a few poems that were not collected in Come Tomorrow and those, I enjoyed a lot and they served as palate cleansers for my retread of the familiar and they did their job admirably.
I look forward to future rereads. Would heartily recommend to South Indian horror and weird fic readers with a hankering for good South Indian writing.
“I want to find a terrible secret at the city’s heart
then go all the way back and find the first truths soaked into this land
and further, furthest, I want to walk
in empty space forever right here
don’t follow me”
Read
October 12, 2023WARNING - if you have Come Tomorrow already this book has almost all the same material. There is one short story that is here that’s not in Come Tomorrow, My Saints Are Down, and in my opinion is rather forgettable. This also includes three short poems not in the Come Tomorrow collection that were ok.
I adore Come Tomorrow. I highly recommend it. There is far more quality content in that collection. If you own that you really don’t need this unless you are a collector. If this is all you can get, great! The stories here are amazing, but you’ll be sad not to have the story in that collection not featured here.
I adore Come Tomorrow. I highly recommend it. There is far more quality content in that collection. If you own that you really don’t need this unless you are a collector. If this is all you can get, great! The stories here are amazing, but you’ll be sad not to have the story in that collection not featured here.
November 4, 2021
This is a delightfully creepy short collection of stories with accompanying poetry is filled with mysterious midnight tunes that lead first to success and then death, a ghost that tells ghost stories, and portals to the multiverse, as if the modern metropolis of Bengaluru, with its eight million people and ancient past is the grand central station for alternate histories and other worlds, all presented in a pleasantly unsettling tone. There’s no gruesome horror, just a satisfying weirdness, aptly penned by the resent author.
May 31, 2023
As a reader, once in a while you come across an amazing writer and wonder, "How the hell isn't everyone talking about them all time?" Jayaprakash Satyamurthy is one of those writers for me. He tells these amazing, cosmic weird stories where the narrator sees something and it changes them. Reading this book changed me too.
November 7, 2020
These tales are the stuff quiet terrors are made of. A bit of Robert Aickman, Ramsey Campbell, MR James, little bit of Lovecraft, bit of Philip K. Dick, and some Ligotti. Well written, sometimes atmospheric, and a little bit of nihilism. Be looking forward to more of him.
September 30, 2020
Jayaprakash creates real characters and situations that you care about, then pulls the floor from under you with otherworldly intrusion. I wish he'd go back to genre writing because he excels at it.
August 21, 2022
Very interesting short collection. Particularly enjoyed "The Song of the Eukarya," but of course, YMMV.
December 27, 2015
good eerie presence of the otherworld in these stories. It's hard to put my finger on what, exactly, failed to persuade me to give it a fifth star. I wanted a bit more from these stories, maybe a better sense of fear or dread or trepidation, which I didn't get. I admired a lot of the scenes, the backgrounds, and I very much savor things that are at the border of two worlds. Worth reading? Definitely.
April 11, 2016
This is a great debut collection from Jayaprakesh Satyamurthy. There is an almost psychogeographical quality to his explorations of the darker recesses of Bangalore and Bangalorean culture. If you like weird fiction that works on a level beyond mere tentacles and eldritch squamous language then this is well worth picking up.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews