Tamil pulp fiction, with its scandalous starlets and hardboiled detectives, arrives in pacy English translation. The publishing house even solves the mystery of an enigmatic author
Brajanand v.k. submits crime fiction in envelopes with no return address to various publishing houses in Chennai. He is a writer that no one seems to have met. His writing, however, is part of Tamil crime and spy fiction that lines the tea stalls of small towns and cities and accompanies passengers on trains and buses. The mad scientists, hardboiled detectives, vengeful goddesses, murderous robots, scandalous starlets and drug-fuelled love affairs have filled the pages of these novels for years, but they were accessible only to those who could read Tamil. That is where the hero of our story steps in — a brand new publishing house with a name that raises a few eyebrows — Blaft. They have just released The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction (edited by Rakesh Khanna, Rs 395).

It features 17 stories by 10 best-selling authors of popular crime, romance and science fiction, none of which has ever before been translated into English, along with reproductions of wacky cover art and question-and-answer sessions with some of the authors. The publishing house is the brainchild of three people — Rashmi Ruth Devadasan, who has been working with filmmaker Gautham Menon since his debut Minnale; her husband Khanna who came to Chennai from Berkeley a decade ago and works as editor-in-chief of an e-learning website; and their friend Kaveri Lalchand, an apparel manufacturer and fashion designer.

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