Title: Young Blood: Ten Terrifying College Tales

Author: Chandrima Das

Genre: Horror

Length: 336 pages

Imprint: HarperCollins

The Blurb

 

Bored roommates use a planchette to contact a legendary ghost that haunts Pune University. Will she answer?

Is the abandoned Khairatabad Science College in Hyderabad really haunted? A gang of students break inside to investigate.

Nirav and Pavi love each other . . . most of the time. Will exploring a forbidden place inside IIT Kharagpur bring them closer?

From strange sightings to urban legends, from haunted buildings to not-so-friendly ghosts, colleges in India have their fair share of spine-tingling tales, be it Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, St. Bede's College in Shimla or Delhi University. Young Blood is a collection of ten tales that reimagine college urban legends and true first-person accounts, that promises to terrify even die-hard fans of horror.

About the Author

 

Chandrima Das has a B.Tech in Computer Science from NIT Durgapur and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. After a decade-long career in management consulting, she followed her passion for writing. Her digital debut The Talking Dead was a bestseller in the horror category. She's performed live at storytelling events with Tall Tales and Kommune, and was published in The Best Of Tall Tales. 

About the Book

Young Blood is a collection of tales that take inspiration from urban legends and eerie supernatural sightings in Indian colleges. Reimagining the stories around haunted buildings and spots, rumoured murders and suicides, ancient practices, weaving in psychological fears and societal issues, this collection is sure to appeal to fans of horror genre and anyone looking for well-narrated stories.  

The stories capture the emotions, aspirations and nuances of college life very well. The indecision, anxiety and performance pressure that the youth face as well as influence of peer groups are explored. The characters are very well developed too; it's not just the plot that carries the stories to their conclusion. The descriptions are quite vivid; you can hear every intake of breath, feel the abnormal stillness, the coldness of places and breeze and even get into the head of the characters. 

The author notes at the end of the book link the fiction to its origin. Chandrima Das has explored the settings, the stories that inspired these pieces along with her thought process in developing the tale. 

Often the norms of the society are woven in seamlessly in the stories. Racism, manipulative relationships, the threat of stalking and violence in the stories, exploration of identity are some of the themes that the stories talk about.

The fact that the stories are based on local legends and could be from your college or a college you have heard of builds their relatability. They are also spread around the country and the use of vernacular gives an authentic feel.

Young Blood is an excellent collection of short stories, varying in their settings and style that captivate the reader's attention with their style and pace. 

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