Involution & Evolution is an anti-war novel focussing on Alfred Freeman, a World War One conscientious objector whose character is based on Jesus and Buddha. It stabs away at the hypocrisy at the centre of modern religion and politics, in a uniquely rhythmic and colourful manner....

Cupertino Story is a vivid and mesmerizing tale of troubled adolescents and misfits - a harrowing and perceptive fiction debut from a promising new literary voice. This raw and ominous portrait of a lost generation traces the lives of teenagers and their experiments with vices of all kinds, struggles with family and one another, as they succumb to passivity, self destructive and often heartless nihilism. Stevo lives in a world of casual privilege, acute moral entropy and reckless abandon. The weight of his older brother’s mysterious disappearance begins to permeate through his everyday life. After writing a disturbing school essay he’s put into therapy and given anti depressants. He’s continuously entranced by a mysterious new girl at school named Holly who may or may not be a high class call girl. His best friend Drake’s repressed homosexual bent becomes more evident with their drug induced adventures. The dizzying whirlwind of desperation takes Stevo through relentless parties in dot com villas, seedy bars, Santa Cruz bonfires, and also into the lesser known world of Silicon Valley after dark. Set in Szymanowski’s hometown,...

I swallow two Ritalins and see dark circles under my eyes in the reflection. Foam is forming and spilling from my mouth, splashing in the sink and getting on my jeans. The TV says the winds have pulled trees from the ground and flipped over cars, and roofs of houses have been torn off. They advise people to stay indoors if they can. There is too much danger outside in these harsh conditions, they say, and then a commercial comes on about ten dollar oil changes at Jiffy Lube. The branches of the tree outside the bathroom are swinging and whipping at the window and house so loud that my mom screams. In the reflection, my mom passes with a coffee mug in hand and a long coat on. She says this is the worst time to be remodeling and is complaining about the cold, about how the heater should work soon but the workers keep rescheduling because of the weather. Where is the remote? she yells. I can’t remember where I put the damn remote. The foam keeps collecting and spilling out of my mouth. I open my mouth wide and spit it all out so it splatters on the mirror and the sides of the sink and onto my stomach and in the foamy spit there are s...

This novel is based on the plot that describes the life of a young lady having worked as Assistant Professor at the University level. These days, she is engaged by a Trust, interested in promoting `mental illumination through peace of mind and self-confidence. She is going places to deliver lectures, keep in mind the aims of the organization as well as the composition of the audiences. In fact, since her infancy she is on the move from one part of India to another, even having no idea of the identity of the couple who parented her. Having been reared up by a domestic maid, she was obliged to inherit this type of job to earn for her livelihood. The onset of puberty in the proximity of unrelated men was to be withstood with caution and care for her chastity. These tours of lecturing around, once make her find a known lady in her audience in Delhi. This incident opens her the way to meet many people in this big city and take her to the person who fathered her. Here, she also gets the truthful information about her mother....

Dear Madhu Ji, On my way back home I recapitulated, as my routine exercise, the discussions at the Coffee House. Can you recall the reaction of Mr Malik to Lal's outburst against the final outcome of Dhananjay Chakrovarty's legal battle to ward off the Capital punishment pronounced on him for rape and murder of a minor girl, when he himself was just 21 years? ……………..." I suppose Mr. Malik came out with some amusing retort, which made almost the entire group at the table giggle and I could not make out anything but only observe Mr. Malik move towards the toilets. Respected Sir, I clearly heard your `Guruji`, I mean Mr Malik, murmur aloud, “Is there any punishment available to your civilized society to punish an errant woman who voluntarily and actively seduces and commits rape on an innocent, uninitiated and in the prime of his youth?” “Do you mean a rape amongst a Lesbian fraternity?” Mr. Lal Singh speaks out smilingly. Mr. Malik simply hung his head down and spoke in his normal pitch, “I mean, on a companion belonging to the opposite sex.” Having uttered these words Guruji peacefully got up and moved in a gentle pace towards pu...

This is the philosophical novel that was my Master's degree thesis

Steven, you should DEFINITELY continue to give your life to . . . literary novels (notice I omitted “obscure”).  What you have produced is a phenomenal work.  Others, in the past, have attempted to do something like you have done, but they did not come close to creating a work with such breadth and depth as you.   I apologize for taking so very long to complete the reading of your work, but it is very densely written in some sections, while others seem to be as lucid as anything I have ever read.  Your vocabulary probably exceeds my own (“fulgurant”), for which I am thankful, as I always enjoy being taught the existence of words I have not yet incorporated into my own lexicon.   The most successful parts of your work—for me—were the interactions between Luk, Aus, and the central character, as those passages moved the story along.  I think using the unrest and waging of police action in Bangkok sets up the intellectual discontent in the rest of the novel, but I would wish for a more balanced unfolding of the story with the intellectual ruminations.  The least successful passages for me were sometimes extremely lengthy sen...

This story whirls around plot that opens up when two ex-classmates happen to meet inadvertently, one on his official duty, while the other on past-time, enjoying holiday touring alone. Their next meeting, brings a female classfellow of theirs at the hill-station to make them enjoy one another’s company. This re-union continues to grow further during the years that follow. The author portrays just an account of certain events taking shape in the social sectors of these persons, making, breaking or remaking a marriage based on the choice of the persons involved into matrimony. ...

Hemant's intention in going to the H.P.T.D.C. hotel was, at the moment, influenced by the desire to meet Mr. Manmeet Malhotra, the manager. He also wanted thereby to express his gratitude to Mr. Malhotra who had arranged accommodation for him last night. Hemant was already under obligation of Mr Malhotra for his kind and affectionate treatment of Hemant when three years ago Hemant happened to meet him at the H.P.T.D.C. hotel at Manali where Manmeet Malhotra was working as an Astt Manager, those days. They were seeing each other after almost a decade since their graduation as students of S.R.C.C., Delhi. …………………….. "Well, how is `Bhabhiji`?" Hemant asked. For a few moments Manmeet held up his tongue tightly and only stared at Hemant with a smile on his face. Hemant thought that he had made a mistake. Perhaps, Triplem is still a bachelor like him. "But when I met him in Manali, he had told me that he had got married only three months before.” But Manmeet was quick enough to read the signs of perplexity in his friend's face and lost no time in explaining his position. ……………. He was not interested in knowing more about Ma...

Αφηγήσεις πάλλουσες και σκοτεινές, όλες σε πρώτο πρόσωπο, χτίζουν μικρόκοσμους απωλειών και μετά τους γκρεμίζουν. Οι ήρωες των μικρών αυτών ιστοριών είναι ακροβάτες που παραπαίουν μεταξύ ευτράπελου και τραγικού, προκαλώντας έκπληξη και θυμηδία....

Φόβος Κανένας «Κι όταν ήρθε ο Πολύφημος στη σπηλιά, κάτσαμε δίπλα στη φωτιά και του διάβασα την Ιλιάδα»

Δεν βιάζομαι Επαρκώς ευσυνείδητος Σοκολάτα και γλαδιόλες Φόβος κανένας Το παραφάρμακο Κακό πράμα Ο συντελεστής τέσσερα Παραμύθι Το κατσαβίδι Όταν έμαθα στον Άτλαντα να καπνίζει Χειροβομβίδα στη μασχάλη Ο Ντίνος Υγεία Οκτώ παρά τέταρτο Κίτρινο και μαύρο Χθες βράδυ Το ντιμπέιτ Το όνειρο Ο Ζακ με το κοστούμι Στο μπαρ Χίλια ευρώ τον μήνα Μαύρο μανταρίνι Είκοσι δύο χρόνια χωρίς διακοπή Ο βάτραχος Απόγνωση Εγωστάσιο Ο υπαλληλόπουλος Μωβ Έφαγα τη μαμά...

The setting of this novel is Nicaragua in the 1970's, a Central American country impoverished by a cruel dictatorship and a devastating earthquake that destroyed Managua, the capital city. A young teenager, whose parents perished during the earthquake, moves to a rural community to rebuild her life, helping a Christian peasant community....

The most interesting and important event for the boys of the old, already semi-derelict school of the small town was going to the movies and the following discussion of the new film. But most had rarely the opportunity to go to the cinema and everyone who was lucky to see a new film retold for days again and again the contents until all the others knew the whole movie by heart without seeing it themselves. Especially the younger pupils lacked the money, but even the older ones had often not enough to by a ticket. Because for a ticket one had to pay twenty kopeks, otherwise one could not enter the cinema....

In 1999 in Valentina, California, a young man named Will Herrera, whose inability to control his methamphetamine use leads him to join a recovery program, there befriends Rodney Toth, an older recovering addict with a similar history. When Will and Rodney learn that Keiko Tsuhara, a young woman with whom Will is infatuated, is being battered by her boyfriend, their well-intended plot to avenge her goes awfully wrong. In five chapters, the novel explores the minds and histories of the characters, particularly Will’s, as they seek to understand how to know, and do, what is right....

Join us for Volume 1 of Pillbug. In this book Warren R. Smith trundles down the path of flash fiction and short stories. Among other anecdotal excursions, you’ll find within; the story of a Taxi driver who must come to terms with the truth depth of his daughter’s independence. Read the Speckled Egg, magic realism wherein two children, in saving their lives, must change shape. In Jack-O’-Lantern and old woman invites herself to be haunted. In Pillbug, the story is about the risks of day labor. In Purple Hippo, a Hippo decides it's time to shake the world up. Jack and the Magpies is written in defense of a worthy appetite. Contemporary mainstream and humorously literary, you’ll find this collection chock-full of five-minute wisdoms and imagination....

Yes, it was a crazy season for rabbits. Everywhere they hopped and nibbled — even in the office. Daily I had to sweep them off the desk before I could get a thing done — and I leaned into the task with the whole of my arm and an imprecating grunt because sometimes that’s all there was....

Introduction The Red Paint Flaking English As A 2nd Language Like Caffeine Sweet Nothings Individually Wrapped The Speckled Egg Troder of the Mish'dee Orb Dotting Tigers Jack-O'-Lantern Candy-Corn Angel On Religion Pillbug A Walking Tour Paused Purple Hippo No Man Left Behind Laundromat The Last Thing A Memory Without Name The Girl With the Sheep Animal Magic Jack and the Magpies About The Author...

The book keeper of the hospital of a small provincial town came one day home very tired. He had not the least desire to have dinner and so he decided to lay down at once and to sleep. In recent years it often happened, that he, after coming home in the evening, had dinner and immediately went to bed without a word to his already grown up children or his wife. She became more and more grumpy in view of his seclusion. He only wanted to sleep, to sleep soundly till daybreak of the next and probably again undesirably day which he always impatiently anticipated, only to immerse again in his coma. For any reason he remembered this evening his childhood in a state between vigil and slumber....

Two bank employees, one married male and the other unmarried female happened to mark affinity for self in the other. This unmarried person was the boss of the other one. In view of the mutual affinity, this boss visited the other’s residence for delivering in person the `invite` on the occasion of her marriage with an NRI doctor. In a couple of years, the marriage of both these persons reached the stage of irretrievable breakdown, as both were feeling suffocated with the behaviour and attitude of their spouses. By the by, they happen to divulge to each other the emotional injuries suffered at the hands of their respective callous spouses. However, they happen to be neighbours by virtue of the flat allotted to them by their bank under the self-financing scheme for its employees envisaged to reach them a surprise bonanza in a unique `no profit, no loss` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of them brought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

“It appears to me that almost every religion tends to circumscribe the reasoning potentials of its followers. The self-styled custodian of the religious beliefs would not take it upon himself as a duty to seek the explanations of the `deviating folk`, unless an explosive situation emerges,” Nidhi expresses her opinion in the presence of the lone listener … She says, “Even at this moment, some kuchcha structure is visible. A notice board is also clearly visible from here. I think, let’s move towards that hut, to check, if that hermit is still using that hutment even after a period of fifty five years has gone by.” He looks undecided, but his wife almost drags him towards that sign-board. It reads the same contents. The door seems to have been bolted from inside. They move away awfully, lest they disturb the hermit’s peace. …. Nidhi often happens to recall her days when she had once heard from Anirudh that Smriti’s father is a doctor in a government dispensary and has been living an ostentatious type of life. It had resulted in his daughter always complaining of the total absence of modern amenities for leading `a moderately c...

An intriguing short story about solving the mystery of the cosmos and the metaphorical identity of Kafka's and Shakespeare's mistress.

In the cold grip of death and high alert, stands the silent land of the Lost Winds. Moral degradation has triggered a mass exodus. Those who were at great risk and in imminent danger have fled the atrocities of the regime by a boat called the Blue Moon to seek protection in a new land. Battling over the high seas through many violent tempests, their sea unworthy vessel, Blue Moon sailed for days until one evening it was spotted under the roaming beam of the light house on murky waters. The boat has finally reached the shores of Draviland. In the meantime, unfathomable pondering rage in Nalia’s head in Lost Winds, as she explores the chaotic, dark fate of her mates. Unpredictable times have created such people, deemed as riders of the howling seas....

"The presence of the paradoxical absence of the ONE, and His selective random process as to who won and who didn’t was one of those many unresolved puzzles. However, His existence was as immutable as the law of gravity to the faithful. P. 131."...

Red Tempests Ash Woodlands Black Streams Orange Soils White Vines Purple Waves Gold Foliage Turquoise Roots Emerald Luminosities Sapphire Skies Crimson Fields Pink Honeycombs...

Twenty-eight year-old Jesse Caldwell is painfully shy, lives at home and hates his moronic life. Miranda Huffington suffers from a gimpy leg and equally stunted personality. This is not your standard Harlequin romance....

Marie Augustin, an Haitian nurses aide, is blindsided when one of her elderly clients, Peter Marsoubian, asks her to accompany him on a trip to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform in Tanglewood. Does the green-card immigrant, who witnessed first hand the endemic violence in her native country, follow agency protocol or bend rules to accommodate the absurd whim of a dying man?...

Ripe with literary and current-culture allusions, this book combines elements of world history, science fiction, political science, and satire. It's at once a brutally-serious and bitingly-humorous novel that, as one early reviewer noted: "Demands a lot from the reader, is a wonderfully-wild ride, and is well worth the time and energy invested."...

Jake's Diner Saturday, July 13, 2024 Even though it was only 8:15, the intense Minnesota morning sun dumped waves of shimmering heat upon the thirsty wilted corn...unquenched by expensive center-pivot irrigation systems. A loosely-organized row of aggressive-looking pickup trucks--drearily-colored, indeterminate in age, manfully backed into position, and universally-equipped with locking tool boxes giving purpose to otherwise empty beds--had formed a defensive line on the torrid gravel in front of Jake's. By day a respectable diner and by night a bar that promised totally exotic dancing--whatever that meant, since no local dared investigate--Jake's was the social epicenter of Blue Earth...an ever-diminishing farming town that might as well have been located in Iowa for all the difference the unrelentingly-flat, hot, and wind-ravaged prairie landscape made. Although it had been decades since smoking had been banned in public places--with the exception of those wastefully-expensive new mobile home parks--the lingering smell of tobacco still clung to the tables, chairs, and walls…adding to Jake's unfinished-plywood, grease-en...

This book is written in a diary format without chapters. Author's Foreword Dedication Text Appendix Image Attributions

Swimseye is a mostly lighthearted story centred around a group of five swimmers as they endeavour to meet their potential.

This moderately sized novel opens before the reader, with an episode that took place when, after having driven over a hundred kilometers relating to the pleasure trip from Delhi to Kosani,a tourist resort situated in the Kumayun Hills a range of the Himalayas in the North of India, being undertaken by a group of very intimate three unwed oldies, all retired college teachers, when one of them is accosted by the owner of the roadside `Dhaba` (an indigenous restaurant) where they had halted for refreshment. It triggers one of them to recall his boyhood days. Again, at their destination, the other one is accosted by an ex-girlfriend of his, in the distant past. The `trio` who are given to such type of tours, happen to meet two other ladies, while staying in a very beautiful zone of Goa. Here, each of these women have had been connected with either of the two other Professors, who hasn’t yet met any such female pupil of his, during the various other tours, undertaken by them the `trio` till then. These chance meetings brings forth during the next few years, a bond of a purpose for a meaningful solidarity, eventually turning int...

Three chronic bachelors, on their way to Kosani (Kumayun Hills), have just completed their breakfast at a roadside modern `Dhaba` and the cashier for this solid group of three looks towards his companions, as if to seek their consent to signal the `boy` to bring the bill. So, in a broader sense, we used to be treating each other as `neighbour`, during those days. He is younger to me by a couple of years, but his physique and mannerism suggested his equaling me in age. Of course, he always remained conscious of my superiority, because at that point of time, I already had schooling for seven years, whereas he was thoroughly illiterate. …………………. Kundan happened to be the only `writer` available, had a brisk business almost for a fortnight. "I think that it was here that I actually began to earn for months at a run. One day, my earnings went to as high as Five Rupees and 14 Annas, I decided to place it before my mother, instead of handing it over to my father, as usual. …………. "Well, Khanna Ji, how long you had to work with this medico, before resuming your interrupted schooling?" This question was asked by Mr Nepali. "Of...

Poems form 2013 and 2014 with 12 lines spread over 12, 13, or 14 actual lines.