For readers who weren't regulars a year back

Two good online stories from forthcoming "The Scientific Indian Science Fiction Anthology, First Edition" edited by Selvakumar Ganesan: Rahul Jaisheel's "21 Minutes" (download) & Aditya Sudarshan's "Live and Exclusive" (download). Former is a short & crisp variant of Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's dark but much quoted "Vintage Season"; later is a funny story about a thief-proof house.

I'm surprised the anthology ToC doesn't include Narendra Desirazu's "Noah's Ark" (download), one of the better stories from The Scientific Indian. My post on it has been one of the most popular landing pages for new visitors here - more popular than most Hugo & Nebula winners!

Aditya Sudarshan's "Live and exclusive" (short story, idea of consciousness, free): Burglar-proofing a house

There are familiar stories about aware planets - like Asimov's "Nemesis" & one of his Foundation Trilogy sequels that features a world-entity called Gaia. This amusing story is a very beautiful twist on that idea, applied to a very mundane problem.

A note for readers unfamiliar with Hindi: Story uses the word "bhoot" a couple of times. It's sound is Hindi for "ghost".

Story summary.

Vir Saxena, a TV journalist, is sensing a story in what appears to be a haunted house - a recent 3 story construction in a prosperous Delhi neighborhood where 2 burglars have recently died in mysterious & unexplainable circumstances.

House practically invites burglars. There is no visible security. Mohan Achrekar, the lone occupant, is 60 year old & frail. But what the burglars, & cops investigating their death, haven't counted on is - security need not be visible!

Fact sheet.

First published: The Scientific Indian, 24 December 2008.
Rating: A.
Download full text.
Related: Stories that feature an intelligent house.
Added to my best of the year 2008 list.