What moves a timid girl to turn aggressive? Can a very old man conquer his abject fear of death? Why is love so difficult to recognize? How does utter revulsion turn to acceptance?The answers to these questions and more are couched in the multifaceted and inspirational short stories belonging to different genres romance, comedy, horror and poignant human interest. They explore the depth of emotions that drive ordinary people to rise to extraordinary heights in moments extraordinary...

Cobwebs in the Sky is a powerful narrative of four friends who evolve gradually from women with normal weaknesses and foibles into women of substance. Cutting across generations, the novel emphasizes that the basic sense of values has not changed over the years. The core of the problems and pitfalls of each succeeding generation continues to be love, sex, and marriage, which spawn emotions and actions that are universally similarlust, revenge, deceit, rape, and abuse. These have a great im...

'Much like the great James Baldwin, the acclaimed Kannada writer Vasudhendra has transformed his personal experience of bigotry, shame and tragedy into harrowing but magnificent truth-telling. His work will leave you impatient with other writers.' -Siddharth Dube, author of No One Else.Mohanaswamy has just lost his long-time partner, Karthik, to a woman. Even as he scrutinizes himself, the choices he's made, the friends and lovers he's gained and lost, Mohanaswamy dreams of living a simple...

Should we accept our caged existence in the face of individual tyranny and Social Oppression that threatens our life spirit? The three gripping & entertaining stories illustrate that life is a cherished dream to be fulfilled. The soul cannot be chained. It must celebrate its freedom.This book contains three real-life stories of fearless protagonists who defy the boundaries set around them to chase their dreams. They are the warrior goddesses who learn to overcome psychological fear...

When you bring together 48 stories from 26 exceptionally talented Indian women writers, you can expect imaginations, passions, and emotions to set pages aflame. Ripples is the result of one such effort. It is an anthology of short fiction stories that showcases superior creative writing and is a great representative of contemporary Indian women's fiction writing.

Flash Bites by Abha Iyengar is a collection of flash and micro fiction, telling stories in a few words,letting the reader in into a world and allowing her to fill in the gaps to arrive at her own iinterpretations. The stories are sometimes down- to -earth and sometimes surreal. They open a different door to let the light in on what may seem to be the mundane and ordinary. They give an insight into what lies beneath the surface of things, people and places.

Usha Chandrasekharan is an economics graduate, dabbling in writing for the sheer joy of the written word. Is a poet, published in one poetry anthology called The Heart Only Whispers. Has also placed her verses in a couple of online poetry forums. Loves to talk, watch life, observe and analyse what is observed. Interested in embroidery. The predominant passion however has always been books, books and books. Loves to tell stories to children, read aloud or concocted ones. She has a small int...

A longing to be free is only next to the desire to survive, for all life forms. For human beings this primal urge has evolved from the basic forms of freedom to more complex forms as we have moved ahead in the continuum of progress. Hemmed in from all sides - a small space, small family, smaller office cubicles, more chaos inside and outside - we yearn for freedom in strange forms today. Freedom from the middle class existence, freedom from ideology, from a superficial intellectualism, eve...

'Babu Sahib! You must have heard of a phoolsunghi*--the flower-pecker--yes? It can never be held captive in a cage. It sucks nectar from a flower and then flies on to the next.'*When Dhelabai, the most popular tawaif of Muzaffarpur, slights Babu Haliwant Sahay, a powerful zamindar from Chappra, he resolves to build a cage that would trap her forever. Thus, the elusive phoolsunghi is trapped within the four walls of the Red Mansion.Forgetting the past, Dhelabai begi...

The story that proclaimed itself, tugged at the Author to be written for all. From pre-Partition India to the present, it captures and captivates the decades in between. Traversing through the two capital cities of Delhi and Leningrad. Highlighting the fundamental formula - Life is simple, predictable and fun ! Earnestly he said, she will know the truth and the truth will set her free.

Lakshmi is the youngest daughter of poor north-Indian rice growers, who is sold into marriage to a southern Indian. In a fluid and fast-paced prose, Lakshmi's trajectory weaves with disrespect and violence. She is forced to labour eighteen hours a day, give birth to children she did not choose and carry the burden of captivity. Her story may be one in thousands, but Lakshmi will stoically endure her lot up to the time she envisions the opportunity to grab her destiny in her own hands.

'His jaw lies here, but he is no more.He was not his bones turned to ash.He was not his flesh melted away.'At the first step of a promising career, Ranchor returns home to face the sobering reality of his father's demise. A railway employee prevents a young man's desperate attempt at suicide. Elsewhere, a doctor faces the harrowing prospect of facilitating euthanasia for a friend. In an idyllic city, Keshav's life i...