“All the 12 stories are very different from each other and are from different regions of India,” says writer Keran Pantth Joshi on her book ‘IT FOLLOWS YOU’

From the writer of ‘Beyond forever… in love’ and ‘Check-in Checkout:…and the horrors within’, Keran Pantth Joshi brings another joyful-spooky ride with her book, ‘IT FOLLOWS YOU’. Read on…

By Nidhi Kumari

How did you come up with the idea of writing ‘IT FOLLOWS YOU’ book?  

After writing Check-in Checkout, I wanted to write something that really spoke to me. And what better than the stories I already had inside me, stories which have come to me over a long span of time. Few were instances that happened to some of my relatives, few of which I heard in my childhood. Few were just the imagination of a highly overactive mind. They got stuck with me over years and had to be written down and told. Also, the fact that I was expecting my second child and got a condition which debilitated me for a couple of months. All that I could do was sit, read and write. All of this led to the creation of this book!

Is there any story behind the name/or how did the name of the book come up? 

The title of the book- IT FOLLOWS YOU – is basically the theme of the stories. All the stories, albeit being very different are connected to the same theme.

The interesting thing about this book is that all the 12 stories are very different from each other and are from different regions of India. Not only that but they are from different time zones too. The stories are ranging from 1957 to 2019!

With my previous book Check-in checkout too, the stories were connected to each other because of the backdrop of being in the same hotel and hence the name.

Why should a reader pick up ‘IT FOLOWS YOU’?

I am sure readers will enjoy the book. It is a collection of short stories. All the stories are very different from each other and are very crisp and fast passed. There is not a moment of dullness in the stories. I have been receiving many reviews from readers saying that they thoroughly enjoyed the books and all of them enjoyed the surprises, different twists and turns in the books.

Both my books (‘Check-in Checkout:..and the horrors within’ and IT FOLLOWS YOU) have received 100 plus reviews on amazon and have constantly been in top 100, hitting the bestseller rank 1 within couple of days of release.

What do you want your readers to take away from your book?

I want readers to get entertained and of course get scared too 😊. There are few social issues that I have touched softly in the book too. Overall, the stories in IT FOLLOWS YOU have a touch of Indianness to it. When readers read the stories, they will identify the protagonist with themselves or someone they know. The characters are very relatable. Also, the book has local lore’s and ghosts which is an interesting read. A little blurb of the story is-

The 12 stories in the book are traversing through the dingy lanes of the hinterland to busy streets of metro cities, these stories will tap your fears, make you question your beliefs, and leave you thinking. – Are you really alone?

Somewhere in between the periphery of believe-it-or-not, these twelve lives experience the untold in unimaginable ways, where evil follows them… choking, haunting, and crushing their spirits. Slithering into their dreams and trapping them. Will they survive? Or scumble to evil?

You can’t run, you can’t hide.

It knows where you reside.

It knows your smell, your breath.

It wants to see through your eyes, and speak through your throat.

Sucking you bit by bit, it stays till your existence ceases.

Don’t move a bone and don’t turn back!

How has the response to your books been so far?

The response has been AMAZING! Something which I really did not expected being a newbie. I have been receiving DMs on Facebook, Instagram and sometimes emails by readers giving their love and encouragement.

As mentioned earlier, the books have received many reviews on Amazon and has excellent rating on Amazon and good reads. Coupled with the fact that it is always charting in top 100 on Amazon India.

About IT FOLLOWS YOU: It’s an anthology of 12 short stories, which coil around 12 protagonists. All the protagonists are trapped in unprecedented situations where evil is following them, in the form of a -curse, an evil-eye, a spell, or the demon. Evil lurks at every corner, ready to follow them when they least expect it, waiting to take macabre turn.  I am sure the readers will love it and wont regret picking up this book

About the author: Keran Pantth Joshi was born and brought up in Delhi and has a degree in Physiotherapy and is an MBA. She moved to Melbourne after marriage, in 2012 and has worked for various global companies in HR and workforce planning. In 2017 she turned entrepreneur and relocated with her family to Launceston in Tasmania where she owns and runs a hotel with her husband. Her interests lie in – traveling, writing and movies. She has been happily juggling work along with mommy duties and pursuing her hobby of writing when the time allows.