Hello 👋 I’m Rayaan.

I'm a journalist from Chennai, India. I've worked with smallest of newsrooms to national dailies in the past near seven years of my career.

One thing that I've learnt for sure is how people are just pissed with journalism. TV news channels are shit and so are newspapers. Very few reporters are doing honest job. And people hardly pay or support high quality reporting anyways. And on top of this AI tools are amplifying the fake news mess.

But amid all this hopeless toxic digital spiral we're used to, there are still writers/creators who are offering value by solving a specific problem to a specific reader.

Take publications such as every.to—they do impeccable essays on AI + philosophy. Likewise, other niche writers exist who offer essays, features or analysis on varied topics: Nicolas Cole, Dickie Bush, Ambreen Ali, Jaspreet Bindra, to name a few.

Following their work inspired me to find my niche.

That's when I realized: fiction plays a key part in our lives. We read it to kill time. We watch it (Netflix binges). We listen to it (Spotify on repeat, podcasts). Literary worlds from Lord of the Rings to Hunger Games to Harry Potter crowd our bookshelves.

The Fiction Emailer is built on that belief.

As a journalist, I've spent the last 5+ years exploring how narrative shapes our understanding of power, truth, and imagination. From reporting at leading publications to crafting long-form features, I've always been drawn to stories that live at the intersection of myth and reality.

With The Fiction Emailer, I'm blending that editorial rigour with my love for speculative fiction—building a world where journalism meets fantasy, retro-futurism, and myth.

I'm backed by an incredible network through Splice Media and Ashoka University—communities that have shaped my values and continue to amplify my voice. I learned at the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University that it's vital to approach problems with a broad framework. There's no right or wrong—just what works and what doesn't

.This isn't just a newsletter. It's the beginning of a genre-bending IP—a universe built for readers who want stories with soul, truth, and wonder.

Let's decode the world together—one story at a time.

• Rayaan