S. Vishnu is a 13-year-old author from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, who loves exploring mysterious worlds—both real and imaginary. His passion for stories filled with adventure, fantasy, and mystery shines through in his latest book, Horror Mansion, a spooky tale about courage, teamwork, and breaking ancient curses.
An avid reader of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and The Hunger Games, Vishnu has already written four books and co-authored six Scholastic anthologies. When he’s not writing, he enjoys football, swimming, skating, and discovering strange and historic places like the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis.
With each story, Vishnu hopes to inspire other young readers to imagine boldly and never stop exploring the unknown.
The Literature Times: What first inspired you to write Horror Mansion?
S. Vishnu: I have always been fascinated by haunted historical places and mysterious places. This fascination and curiosity led to Horror Mansion.
The Literature Times: How did you come up with the idea of the Davis family playing “ghost games”?
S. Vishnu: I wanted to write a story in which a person plays ghost games and achieves something. So, I started building my story plot with my main focus on playing ghost games.
The Literature Times: Do you enjoy reading or watching horror stories yourself?
S. Vishnu: I enjoy reading horror stories as they take me to a fantasy world.
The Literature Times: Which character in Horror Mansion do you relate to the most, and why?
S. Vishnu: I relate with John the most as he is a very adventurous boy who is interested in ghost games.
The Literature Times: What was the hardest part about writing a scary story?
S. Vishnu: The hardest part was making the story scary.
The Literature Times: You’ve already written several books—how do you balance school and writing?
S. Vishnu: I write my chapter books during the holidays as they take more time to write.
The Literature Times: If Horror Mansion became a movie, who would you want to play the Davis family?
S. Vishnu: I would want to play John as he had played one of my favourite horror games and he is also more relatable to me.
The Literature Times: What advice would you give other kids who dream of becoming authors?
S. Vishnu: I would advise them to read lots of books, enrich their vocabulary and express their creativity in the form of stories.
The Literature Times: What kind of story would you like to write next—another horror, or something different?
S. Vishnu: I would like to try out something different like Myth and Folklore.
