• English - Fiction

    The Indian Valley

    August 25, 2025 - By 

    G. Somasundaraman Episode 1 – The Spark The small café on College Street smelled of wet books and old coffee, a place where poets once argued about revolution and students rehearsed their lives in whispers. It was here, under a flickering ceiling fan and between chipped wooden tables, that four friends first whispered the idea that would change everything. Arjun tapped his cracked Lenovo laptop with a kind of nervous pride, showing the others the terminal lines rolling across the screen. Beside him, Meera adjusted her glasses, her fingers already scrolling through documentation she had half-memorized. Rakesh leaned back, cocky…

  • English - Suspense

    The Crimson Guest

    August 25, 2025 - By 

    Eleanor Hayes The Arrival The rain had been falling over St. Aldwyn’s for two days without pause, a relentless curtain of silver that blurred the hedgerows and emptied the cobbled streets of its usual chatter. Nestled in the heart of the town was the Blackthorn Inn, a Tudor-fronted building whose dark beams sagged with age, whose windows glowed like watchful eyes in the storm. On that particular evening, a carriage stopped at its door—a rare sight, for few visitors chose to travel in such weather. From within stepped a tall man in a deep maroon coat, his boots striking sharp…

  • Crime - English

    The Art of Murder

    August 25, 2025 - By 

    Mira D’Silva Episode 1 – The Hidden Canvas Ananya Mehta had never entered Professor Hall’s office without permission before. The narrow corridor outside the Fine Arts Department was deserted that evening, the winter light drained from the sky, and the flickering tube light above made the varnished wooden door glow in a tired, sickly sheen. She stood with her hand on the brass knob, half-deciding whether to turn away, but curiosity had its own pull. Hall had sent her a hurried message to retrieve a folder from his desk, nothing more. He had sounded distracted, impatient even, as though every…

  • English - Romance

    The Summer We Forgot Ourselves

    August 24, 2025 - By 

    Sanya Varma One The taxi wound its way through narrow, rain-slicked lanes, past moss-covered compound walls and bougainvillea sagging under the weight of the monsoon. Ishani sat in the back, forehead resting against the cool glass, letting the blurred greens and greys of Goa in the off-season seep into her. The air smelled heavy—wet earth, sea salt, and the faint sourness of overripe mangoes fallen on the roadside. When the driver finally stopped in front of a pale yellow villa, its terracotta roof dripping steadily, she felt an odd mix of relief and trepidation. The villa looked like something out…

  • English - Suspense

    The Kanpur Labyrinth

    August 24, 2025 - By 

    Vikram Sethi Chapter 1 The afternoon sun baked the crumbling walls of the old Shyam Sundar Textile Mill, its rusted machinery silent for decades. Redevelopment crews had been at it for weeks, reducing the skeletal factory to mounds of brick dust and twisted iron. That day, the foreman’s shouts echoed off the hollow shell as an excavator clawed at the earth near the western wing. When the bucket hit something solid beneath the soil, the metallic scrape was sharper than stone. Curious, a few workers dropped their tools and gathered as the machine tore open what appeared to be a…

  • English - Horror

    The Saltwater Bride

    August 23, 2025 - By 

    Prakash Nayak 1 The train had rattled away hours ago, leaving Dr. Ananya Menon with only the crash of waves and the whisper of palms for company as she entered the fishing village that would become her temporary home. She had come armed with her instruments, notebooks, and the absolute conviction that science could measure everything worth knowing. Yet on her very first evening, as the sea winds thickened with the smell of brine and the restless stir of a storm brewing beyond the horizon, she noticed how the fishermen paused in their work, speaking in hushed tones as if…

  • English - Young Adult

    Graffiti on the Metro Walls

    August 23, 2025 - By 

    Sayantan Bramha One The evening air in Kolkata’s metro station carried its usual blend of dust, damp concrete, and faint echoes of hurried footsteps. Soumya’s heart pounded as he stood with a spray can hidden inside his backpack, waiting for the crowd to thin. Riya leaned against a pillar, eyes sharp and excited, tapping her phone screen nervously while pretending to scroll. Sam and Tanya were already whispering about colors, their hushed giggles bouncing off the walls. Imran, tall and quiet, kept scanning the platform with the kind of vigilance that made him look older than his years. For weeks…

  • Crime - English

    The Jaipur Jewel Conspiracy

    August 23, 2025 - By 

    1 The palace of Jaipur glistened like a jewel itself that evening, its sandstone walls bathed in golden floodlights that made the domes shimmer against the velvet dusk. The air was heavy with the mingled scents of marigolds, rose petals, and sandalwood incense, drifting from garlands and altars placed strategically across courtyards. Musicians in traditional attire played the shehnai, their melodies rising above the hum of conversation as the grand wedding of Princess Mrinalini Singh commenced. Guests had flown in from every corner of India, ranging from film stars draped in silk to political dignitaries clad in regal bandhgalas. International…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Last Firewall

    August 22, 2025 - By 

    Ethan Ray Episode 1 – The Breach The lights of Manhattan flickered once, twice, then died. Traffic signals froze in the middle of rush hour. Elevators locked between floors. Screens inside Times Square went blank, the usual neon chaos swallowed in sudden silence. For a moment, the city stood suspended in a strange twilight of confusion, as though the heartbeat of New York had skipped a beat. Then came the sirens, the panicked voices, the realization that something was terribly wrong. By the time the backup grids powered up, half the financial district was already in chaos. Banks reported locked…

  • English - Young Adult

    The Last Bench Love

    August 22, 2025 - By 

    Mira Dutta Episode 1 – The First Bell The school bell rang with a shrill clang that sliced through the sleepy morning air of St. Paul’s Academy. It was the first day of the new academic session, and the classrooms smelled faintly of chalk dust, newly polished wooden desks, and the restless anticipation of students forced back into the rhythm of routine after a long summer. Arjun sat at the corner desk, last row, his head bent low as if the grain of the desk itself demanded his complete attention. He wasn’t shy in the ordinary sense, but silence came…