Unlikely Stories
An anthology of supernatural, paranormal and sci-fi fantasies based on real-life incidents and with ample doses of action, horror and humour
Unlikely Stories is a full-colour illustrated anthology of horror and comedy stories — an exorcism, an alien encounter, a haunted lift, a seance, a shapeshifter, a werewolf, a talking bird, an evil twin, an alien invasion and a distressed young alpaca — all weaved into a witty love yarn. I originally intended to write a non-fiction book based on real-life incidents. I was however forced by several governments to name this book as ‘Unlikely Stories’ and release it only as a fiction title. The stories have turned out to be supernatural, paranormal, sci-fi fantasies with ample doses of action, horror and humour. The entire book is in first person and everything happens very fast. There is never a dull moment.
- Target ages: 18 and above
- Second edition:
- Published in: September 2023
- Pages: 122 (colour and grayscale)
- Words: 61,000
- Common link: https://books2read.com/unlikelystories
- Buy from:
Unlikely Stories Second edition Colour paperback Grayscale paperback Ebook 
$12 ₹660⁺ or $9.90 ₹200 or $3 Amazon USA My recommendation: Buy the all-colour paperback for $2 more than the grayscale paperback. The colour paperback printed by Amazon looks great. The greyscale version printed by D2D-IngramSpark has a colour problem with its cover. However, it is being sold at a considerable discount on Amazon India.
- First edition
- Published in: May 2022
- Pages: 144 (grayscale)
- Words: 40,000
- Common link: https://books2read.com/stories
- Buy from:
Unlikely Stories First edition Grayscale paperback Ebook 
$7.70 FREE or ₹100 or $2
First edition stories
- The trip: The lead is invited by his friend to a resort where he meets the first heroine. He nicknames her Vampira.
- The swim: The lead decides that Vampira is the soul mate he has been waiting all his life. He tells several stories to entertain his friend’s kids and also impress Vampira.
- The exorcist: The second lead is an Indian crook who escapes to the West to start a new life. He attempts to go legit but finds competition from a professional medium operating under the trade name of Mademoiselle Zuma. She is dangerous because she is a mind-reader.
- Alien encounter: After the successful exorcism, this lead is asked to help a teenager who has been repeatedly ‘abducted’ by an alien.
- The lift: A recently deceased security guard haunts a lift where he had died and seeks revenge.
- Femme fatale: The second lead has a showdown with a female animal spirit.
- The seance: A young woman in the city is troubled by nightmares involving a hooded skeleton. A newly married nurse blanks out every night. She is also troubled by bizarre nightmares. Mademoiselle Zuma solves both cases.
- The haunting: An old mansion is haunted by a presence. Every new buyer and his family gets driven to such desperation that they eventually sell. The second lead investigates and almost gets killed.
- Family planning: The first lead and Vampira plan their life together. In the first ending, they get married. In the second ending (written by the lead after their first night), Stone Age Man (SAM) and Stone Age Woman (SAW) discover the mystery of life. (This is an over-the-top parody of the controversy about MEN WRITING WOMEN.) Other than some intimate events implied in comic fashion in this story, there is no physical contact between the sexes in the entire book. Not even a kiss. The book is clean throughout. No swear words. No corny mushy dialogue. No degeneracy. No weirdness. Just no low-hanging fruit.
Second edition stories
These are the Mademoiselle Zuma Chronicles. This second edition is a FULL-COLOUR illustrated book with several new stories written from the perspective of Zuma. Unlike the 1st edition which has 140 small grayscale pages, the second edition has 122 bigger colour pages and a lot more illustrations.
- Shadows in the night: A young woman is troubled by a ghostly intruder at night.
- Zuma vs. Cutie: Zuma finds competition from an unlikely friend.
- The evil twin: A rich heiress is driven to desperation by a deceased twin who wants her to die as well.
- Alien chicks are nothing but trouble: A bolide crashes down in the Atlantic. The site becomes an alien platform for launching attacks on English-speaking countries. No other countries are attacked. The world's sole super power collapses after a few days. The strangest thing about the invasion is that the aliens’ primary objective is not humans but cows. This is no run-of-the-mill alien invasion story. Uniquely, it provides an fascinating economic model for staging a successful alien invasion.
- Please do not smile at our alpaca: Zuma and her husband restart a farm devastated by the aliens. Things go well until her husband picks a fight with a South American.
Sample Pages
This low-resolution watermarked but fully functional PDF has a few sample pages from the book. You can review the PDF before your purchase.
Download
unlikely-stories-2nd-edtion-by-v-subhash-sample-review-copy.pdf
11 pages with watermarks | 2.7 MB
Key to Tamizh words and phrases used in the book
- ஏழைக்கு ஏத்த எள்ளுருண்டை — to each according to his own
- sundakkai — turkey berry
- thalaivars — top leaders
- swamiyaars — godmen
- udanpirava sagodharan — brother from another mother
- benami — an illegal mechanism used to hide the real owners of a property or the real recipient of some funds
- Ayyo, thaangamudiyala da! Nhiruthu! — I can't bear it anymore. Stop!
- peruchaalli — ground-dwelling rat
- indha — this
- namba — our
- pucca — well-built; not built by amateurs