I am really excited to be hosting a Blog Tour for the first time. You can find out all about it in this post which will guide you to the tour schedule as well. As part of the post today, I have for you some basic information about the book, The Other Side, its authors, my review and a super cool giveaway. Just take a look below for it all.
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
"A slow rasping sound made me turn. I jumped back, the cell phone leaving my hands and smashing against the concrete floor. Someone was seated on the chair, rocking back and forth. Through the fallen light, I could see those hands placed on the arms of the chair, two gruesome wrinkled limbs with ugly boils plastered over the black skin. The red bangles on its wrists shone in my eyes, momentarily blinding me. That thing and I call it a thing because I could sense it wasn't human as no human could have such a hideous form, as vile an existence as the one seated opposite to my horrified self."
From a honeymoon in the hill that goes horribly wrong to an obsessed lover who wants his first love in life and in death; From a mentally deranged man who collects body parts of various women to stitch together his dream girl to a skeptic who enters a mansion of horrors to win a bet and much more, this book is filled with scenarios that are guaranteed to give you goosebumps and sleepless nights.
'The Other Side' is a collection of thirteen tales of the paranormal; a world that our eyes refuse to see, our ears deny hearing and our senses ignore the feel of. This is a book for someone who is brave enough to take up this invitation to journey through uncharted waters along with the authors, who were inspired by some bizarre experiences to pen down this work where the lines of reality have been blurred by the footsteps of imagination.
Each story takes you on a tour de force of unadulterated horror and draws upon the deepest fear in the human mind- the fear of the UNKNOWN!
BOOK LINKS:
AMAZON / EBAY / FACEBOOK / FLIPKART / GOODREADS / HOMESHOP18 / INFIBEAM / YOUTUBE (Animated Book Cover Video)
ABOUT FARAAZ KAZI:
The
winner of the 2013 National Debut Youth Fiction Award and also the recipient of
the YCOF National Excellence award in Creative Writing apart from being the
first Indian author to win the coveted ‘Best Debut (Romance)’ title at the
international Goodreads choice awards, Faraaz Kazi has been tagged as the
'Nicholas Sparks of India’ by many and is rated amongst the top male romance
writers in the country.
A
certified soft-skills trainer and a three-time post grad, Kazi is the Founder
and CEO of DigiImprint Solutions, India's first exclusive promotional agency
for authors and artists that recently forayed into handling corporate brands.
He also consults for a few public relations firms and publishing houses.
Felicitated by numerous institutes, bodies and organizations alike, Kazi is a
well-known name in the social media and literary fraternity. He is fondly
referred to as 'The Young Marketer' and operates a revolutionary blog with the
same name and writes for major media houses.
Kazi
is a fellow member of the esteemed 'Film Writers Association of India.' Truly
Madly Deeply, his debut mainstream romance novel is the only Indian book to
have seven category nominations in the Goodreads annual readers' choice awards
and is also the only Indian book in the 'Top 100 YA Global Fiction' list. Kazi
is a voracious reader and counts singing as his second love.
FARAAZ KAZI SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
ABOUT VIVEK BANERJEE:
A
pediatrician by profession, Vivek Banerjee is an author by accident.He lives in
Saharanpur with his parents, obstetrician wife and two children. The pressures
of his profession leave him with little leisure but he still finds time for his
varied interests. An avid traveller, he has covered the length and breadth of
the country in real life and the rest of the world in his imagination. A
voracious reader, music lover, self-confessed geek and an amateur
ornithologist, he would rather walk the road less travelled, given the time and
opportunity. A Bengali by birth, he has grown up in various towns of North
India and studied in many different schools and colleges. He started writing on
Rediff blogs where he is known as Ben and went on to write his debut novel THE
LONG ROAD.
He
has also been published by Westland in 'Chicken Soup for Indian Doctors Soul',
Grapevine India in 'Shades of Love' and APK Publishers in 'Shades of Black'.
He
won an all India short story competition for his story 'The hunter'which was
published in 'Kaleidoscope' by Parlance publishers.
An
anthology of stories about the paranormal, 'The Other Side', co-authored with
Faraaz Kazi is a recent offering.
He is also a part of
'Carnival' by Litizen.com
VIVEK BANERJEE SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
REVIEW:
*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of The Other Side from author Faraaz Kazi in exchange for an honest review. We thank Faraaz for the book!
Except for one single ghost story series and a few short stories here and there, I hadn't ever read any horror stories and I was never quite inclined on trying out the genre either. But then I had the awesome opportunity to host a blog tour for Faraaz Kazi and Vivek Banerjee's horror stories collection, The Other Side.
I do like to believe that where is there is normal, there is paranormal and where there is natural, there exists the supernatural. In spite of my initial apprehensions about feeling scared (which I hate to admit) and not being able to devour the book as much as a horror fan probably would, I am proud to say that I thoroughly enjoyed The Other Side.
Before I begin writing about the stories in general, I have to say that The Other Side has the most bone chilling and frightening foreword I've ever read. It actually made me look here and there to make sure no unusual activity was going on around me. From then on, I knew it would be best to read the book in broad daylight and that's what I did.
The stories weren't exactly scary or frightening but they were pretty creepy and they gave me goosebumps. They all had more of a redemptional and karmic than a nightmarish aspect to them. Just when it seemed like the usual haunted house, a woman in white and people of science or non-believers theme started recurring, something different would be thrown in the next story. Some stories were disgusting, some horrifying while some others were just quite normal in the sense that they didn't scare me at all. What I liked most was how spirits were shown as both good and bad and the whole what goes around comes around dictum was subtly portrayed through that.
Before I begin writing about the stories in general, I have to say that The Other Side has the most bone chilling and frightening foreword I've ever read. It actually made me look here and there to make sure no unusual activity was going on around me. From then on, I knew it would be best to read the book in broad daylight and that's what I did.
The stories weren't exactly scary or frightening but they were pretty creepy and they gave me goosebumps. They all had more of a redemptional and karmic than a nightmarish aspect to them. Just when it seemed like the usual haunted house, a woman in white and people of science or non-believers theme started recurring, something different would be thrown in the next story. Some stories were disgusting, some horrifying while some others were just quite normal in the sense that they didn't scare me at all. What I liked most was how spirits were shown as both good and bad and the whole what goes around comes around dictum was subtly portrayed through that.
Most of the times, I felt like the stories were actually very similar to supernatural incidents I've previously heard from my elders and various members of the family. In the Indian context, these are stories we've all grown up on and The Other Side made me look beyond and dig a bit more in the unknown. When it comes to short story collections, there's no such thing as the best or the worst story, but my most favourite ones were The Lady In The Pub and A Mother's Love.
Being short stories, the book is very easy to read and the writing is quite undemanding and user friendly which makes it an easy read. The Other Side promised to be a one of it's kind read on the Indian commercial horror scene and because I have nothing to compare it to, for me, the book delivered the promise it made, which is always a good thing. If I were to describe it in one word, it was creeptastic.
Being short stories, the book is very easy to read and the writing is quite undemanding and user friendly which makes it an easy read. The Other Side promised to be a one of it's kind read on the Indian commercial horror scene and because I have nothing to compare it to, for me, the book delivered the promise it made, which is always a good thing. If I were to describe it in one word, it was creeptastic.
RATING:
GIVEAWAY:
There are two awesome giveaways where one Indian and one INT reader stand a chance of winning The Other Side in physical and e-formats respectively.
The rules are pretty simple-
*All you have to do is fill up the appropriate Rafflecopter form.
*I will contact the winners once the giveaway is over after which they will have 48 hours to respond or else I'll be compelled to pick another winner.
*The books will be sent by the author(s)/ publishers.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck! May lady luck be in your favour!
I feel honoured to have hosted this tour I'd like to thank Faraaz Kazi for this opportunity and for being super helpful and all the fabulous bloggers who agreed to be part of the tour for their encouragement and support. You guys rock!
Thank you, readers, for stopping by!
Good luck! May lady luck be in your favour!
I feel honoured to have hosted this tour I'd like to thank Faraaz Kazi for this opportunity and for being super helpful and all the fabulous bloggers who agreed to be part of the tour for their encouragement and support. You guys rock!
Thank you, readers, for stopping by!
After reading the summary and review, this book sounds interesting and very much scary.. Generally I don't like reading horror stories but this book seems different from the rest.. will order it now... *will read during daytime*
ReplyDeleteYes, it's best to read it during daytime. Even I'm not much into horror but this book was really good. Thanks for stopping by, Santosh!
DeleteI'm too much of a coward to read any horror story. I remember some time ago I picked a book from the library without knowing it's a horror and well it was the day I realized that horror stories aren't for me. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one though. Sounds truly interesting. Great review, Sarika :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! It wasn't easy for me either, but I overcame my fear. Thank you, Tanja!
DeleteThis book sound scary! Glad you enjoyed it though! Great review :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anna!
Delete