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BLACK HEART SANCTUM

by Aditya Sundararajan

RELEASING IN 2027 FROM RIZE PRESS, an imprint of running wild publishing

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Wilderness therapy in the hilly forests of South India’s Nilgiris was supposed to help Onir make peace with his troubled past. But it turns deadly when a freak landslide injures him, leaving him stranded in the village of Koyilkudi. It’s isolated and idyllic, the perfect place to heal and escape his demons. Or so he thinks. Koyilkudi turns out to be a hotbed of local legends, shapeshifting water wraiths, and time that eternally switches between noon and midnight. What begins as a journey of self-discovery turns into a race for survival as Onir faces an ancient horror that has haunted this village for centuries.

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CONTENT WARNINGS:

  • Grief and dealing with loss of a child

  • Thoughts of self-harm, self-sabotaging behavior

  • Religion and faith weaponized for control

  • Descriptions of death, blood​

SIMILAR WORKS IN LITERATURE, MEDIA:

  • The Woodkin by Alexander James

  • The Creeper by AM Shine

  • Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

  • Whisperwood by Alex Woodroe

  • Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill

  • The Wicker Man (1973)

This book might be for you if you are an adult and enjoy atmospheric, isolated settings where they are a character on their own. It is written in first person past PoV and features a fictional pocket world in contemporary India, which is inspired by real-world locations in the southwestern edges of the Western Ghats. You will find a blend of reimagined folk tales with dramatized historical events and figures woven through the story. No resemblance to real cultures and locations and deities are intended, and any implications derived are purely coincidental.

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© 2026 Aditya Sundararajan

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