Suraj Sriwastav’s world is one where shadows stretch long, cities breathe in strange rhythms, and every ordinary moment threatens to slip into the extraordinary. With Subway Secrets & Other Stories, he delivers an electrifying collection crafted for readers who crave suspense, dark humour, and a fast-paced plunge into the unpredictable. His stories may be short, but they leave a lingering echo—an aftertaste of mystery and mischief that continues long after the final page is turned.
What immediately stands out in this anthology is its deliberate rootedness in the urban landscapes of Kolkata and Delhi. These cities are not mere backdrops; they are living, pulsing characters in themselves. Sriwastav paints their smoggy skies, congested roads, noisy streets, crumbling buildings, and ghostly corners with an insider’s accuracy. Having lived and worked in such environments for decades, he possesses an intuitive understanding of their contradictions—the coexistence of the modern and the mystical, the ordinary and the unearthly, the bustling present and the unseen afterlife that sometimes seems to hover just beneath the surface. His stories thrive in these tensions.
The themes he revisits—survival, the occult, intelligence (human and artificial), detective puzzles, and murder mysteries—suit his narrative temperament perfectly. He writes with the ease of someone who has spent a lifetime absorbing stories in motion. He is not interested in moral preaching or sentimental conclusions. Instead, he prefers the thrill of crafting a tight, immersive experience that pulls the reader into the center of the scene. Each tale is designed with a twist in the tail—an unexpected turn that redefines what came before. He writes primarily to entertain, to startle, and to delight, making this anthology particularly appealing to teenagers and young adults who crave pace, edge, and imagination.
There is a certain cinematic quality in the way these stories unfold. The pacing is brisk, the mood is often macabre, and the humour is dark—always sharp, never excessive. The narratives are structured like mini-adventures, each around 2,000 words, making them easy to consume in one sitting while still being rich enough to trigger curiosity, tension, and wonder. With a total word count of about 30,000, the book offers just the right amount of content for a reader seeking thrills without committing to a longer novel.
But behind these stories lies the deeper layer of the storyteller himself—a man whose life experiences have shaped his craft in compelling ways. For 35 years, Suraj Sriwastav has served as a high school headmaster and an English teacher. His professional world has been one of structure, discipline, language, and young minds—yet one suspects that this long association with students has also kept his imagination agile, his humour lively, and his curiosity alive. As someone who teaches English but lives literature, storytelling is not a hobby for him; it is a lifelong practice.
Sriwastav is a man of many pursuits—yoga, martial arts, trekking, travelling, psychology. These interests give him a unique lens through which to view human behaviour and physical experience. His stories often reflect a psychological sharpness, an awareness of body language, survival instincts, and the subtle workings of fear and intuition. They carry the touch of someone who understands both the real world and the subconscious one.
He has been publishing short stories since his teenage years, and his craft has been acknowledged formally: the Chandigarh Literary Society awarded him for his short story writing in 2018 and again in 2023. These recognitions speak not only to his consistency but to the freshness of his imagination even after decades of writing.
And then there is the vintage soul behind the modern storyteller. Sriwastav collects books and vinyl records; he adores all things antique. His love for nostalgia and the past adds a certain atmospheric richness to his narratives—an awareness of forgotten eras, lost objects, and stories that linger in memory the way vinyl music lingers in a quiet room. He is also a devoted dog lover, someone who often prefers canine company over human chatter. This affection for animals, simplicity, and silent loyalty appears subtly in his characters and themes.
His blog, which he maintains on creative writing for beginners, reveals yet another side of him—the mentor who wishes to pass on his craft. That impulse, combined with his years as a teacher, makes him not only a writer but also a guide for aspiring storytellers.
Subway Secrets & Other Stories is an extension of that personality: curious, playful, perceptive, darkly humorous, and always searching for meaning in the strangest corners of ordinary life. Each story invites the reader to momentarily step away from the predictable rhythms of reality and into a world where the unexpected breathes in every alleyway and the supernatural sits comfortably beside the mundane.
In this collection, Suraj Sriwastav does what he does best—he entertains with intelligence, surprises with craft, and leaves readers with a delightful shiver. For young readers especially, this book promises not just stories but experiences—quick, sharp, and unforgettable journeys into the heart of urban mystery.
