Cryptic Encounters

by Enakshi J., Neil D'Silva (Foreword)

"Cryptic Encounters" is a collection of 13 short stories that are intended to scare, surprise, disgust and startle the readers with its speculative narrative. All Stories follow a central theme - that of a bizarre encounter and its aftermath. Be it a new flat, a lighted kitchen, a hotel room, an arcane passageway or a dinner party, the spirits do not knock before they enter the world of the characters. The characters fight till they can but the eventual outcome is enough to scare the daylights out of you. These stories are enough to make you realize that, at times, the beings from the other side do not seek a rendezvous; they seek something else.

126 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2020

About the author

I am an educator, author and traveller. My writings have appeared in The Speaking Tree (Times of India), Woman’s Era, Alive, Infinithoughts, SivanaSpirit, Women’s Web, EfictionIndia and Induswomanwriting. My stories and poems have been anthologized widely. I write a weekly editorial, Odds and Evens, for a Social Journalism platform called Different Truths. I am also an eminent book reviewer and have been reviewing books for Penguin, Rupa, Hachette India and Half Baked Beans for more than half a decade.

I have conceptualized and edited three books- Unbounded Trajectories, Poison Ivy and Cryptic Encounters (all available on Amazon). Author of The Green Giants, I won the Most Influential Woman Award in 2020 organized by The Spirit Mania.

I post articles, essays, poetry and reviews on my website: http://aliveshadow.com.

Reviews

[Tarini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was fun

[Payal Pasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

An anthology of scary tales by different authors. Overall a one time read. Not very scary. Though one story I found extremely ridiculous (the red wine). However the best story of the book is ‘The Christensen Brothers’ which had all the right elements of a horror story. Could be made into a short 10 minute film.

[Meeta Saxena · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the quartet at the beginning of each story!

[Cindy D'Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent stories but not something i would read again..