My Story Threshold is up in Sugarmule Issue 43

Sugarmule 43 is a themed issue. The theme being “No Place Like Home: Borders, Boundaries, and Identity in South Asia and Diaspora”

Watch the official trailer

This issue is guest-edited by Soniah Kamal.  And I must add here that Soniah has done a wonderful job. Sugarmule 43 looks and reads great, and at a personal level, I must thank Soniah for her editorial inputs in my story. Read more about Soniah here

Sugarmule is a literary journal published in the USA. It is edited by ML Weber. Read his, i.e.  editor’s page in the journal. Regarding the name of the journal, go here

Coming back to issue 43, I am also very happy to share space with some wonderful writers and poets (who I know), Anu Kumar, Dipika Mukherjee, John Mathew, Victor Rangel Ribeiro, Ravi Shankar, Shikha Malaviya, Tabish Khair, Rasana Athreya, and of course Soniah Kamal herself.

Read my story Threshold

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A Book Review and a Poem in Spark’s May Issue

A Review of Hotel Calcutta

I recently read Rajat Chaudhuri’s book of linked short stories entitled Hotel Calcutta. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite a few editorial glitches. The stories are strong and Rajat paints sharp pictures with his words. Spark carried my review of his book in their latest issue.

Read it here: http://www.sparkthemagazine.com/?p=5683

Hotel Calcutta is available from Flipkart and leading bookstores in the country.

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My Poem in Spark’s May Issue

The theme for Spark’s May issue is Streets. I had put up the submission call last month. Here it is again, if you missed it: http://rumjhumkbiswas.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/submit-to-spark-magazines-themed-issues/

The May issue carries a poem by me – “From My Kitchen Window.” It’s a poem about the view of the street as seen from my kitchen window. The “me” in this case or the poetic persona,  is a regular  middle class Indian housewife, indifferent to the world beyond her own sweet life.

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The Four Quarters Magazine August Issue Submission Call

The Theme: Portable Monuments, Wandering Streets

The transferability of objects, images, landscapes and memories shapes much of our lived experiences in the presents that we inhabit. Monuments and streets–early symbols of permanence, constancy, and rootedness–have now taken on dimensions of flux and mutation. They journey with us and change with our changes. Our visual and verbal stories simultaneously monumentalise and shatter them. Our art(ifice) takes them away from where-they-were to where-they-are-now. Worlds shape shift in a virtuality of post-processing and persistent reinvention.

The reincarnated Captain Cook in Margaret Atwood’s poem dreams of ‘a land cleaned of geographies’. The ungendered protagonist–in order to effectively claim the risk of rediscovery–desires an unmapped world: a world that is not bound within the fixities of time, space, body, and self. However, one can never be sure if this is possible. To figure out the tropes of this anxiety, The Four Quarters Magazine will try to trace the questions of mapping and un-mapping, location and its lack, direction vs. destruction, variable spatiality, shifting things and events, altering structures, constructs of architecture, and flâneuring selves in its forthcoming issue: Portable Monuments, Wandering Streets.

The Submission Guidelines

We invite submissions of prose, poetry and artwork for this issue of The Four Quarters Magazine. Book reviews and translations are also welcome. Only emailed submissions are welcome. All submissions must be sent as word documents attached to the email. If it is artwork that you are sending us, then please do take care to attach a covering word file with details about the submission. For other details about submissions, please take a look at our website: www.tfqmagazine.org

The deadline for submissions is 3rd June 2013. The guest editor for this issue is Nitoo Das. General editors for the magazine are Arjun Chaudhuri, Arjun Rajendran and Samyak Ghosh.

The Four Quarters Magazine tfqmagazine.org ISSN – 2250

Submit to Spark Magazine’s Themed Issues

First things first. If you are interested in submitting you have to be quick. There are three themed issues of Spark – June, July and August 2013 – to submit to. The deadline is the same for all three, and close - 20th May 2013!

Spark is looking for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art and photography. See their complete guidelines

Spark is an online and print-on-demand literary magazine edited by Anupama Krishnakumar and Vani Viswanathan. The link to their home page is here. Now, a bit about the themes issues, and I am quoting Spark word for word here:

June 2013 Issue : ‘Facets of Nature’

 

The theme for the June 2013 issue is ‘Facets of Nature.’ What comes to your mind when you think of Nature? Talk about how Nature is a source of inspiration in your life. Or how Nature could be a wonderful teacher. Or explore the five elements of nature namely, the earth, the sky/ether, wind, water and fire. Talk about the harsher side of Nature – her fury, how she wreaks havoc  on earth, how she lashes out on mankind and how she shows that she is still the Master and has the upper hand when human mind intervenes, manipulates and tries to act superior. Bring the spotlight on exploitation of nature – grave environmental concerns; the tensions between ‘development ‘ and  nature. Send us travel stories /photo features to places which enthralled you with their natural beauty, or that demonstrate any of the aforementioned aspects. Or simply weave in beautiful descriptions of Nature – rains, rainbows, birds, lush gardens, beautiful forests, stunning wildlife as the backdrop for fiction, non-fiction, poetry. Send us creative photography or art work that shows your favourite facet of Nature of tells of your own interpretation of nature.

 

July 2013 Issue : ‘We, the People’

 

The theme for the July 2013 issue of Spark is ‘We, the people’. The human race is a rather fascinating subject of study, thanks to the sheer diversity in the number and nature of people who inhabit this planet. The July 2013 issue will be all about focusing on the ‘human’ – send us fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art and photography that captures/focuses on the variety of people in terms of who they are – be it appearance, their character/attributes/nature, the work they do and the way they react to or behave in various situations.

 

August 2013 Issue : ‘India Decoded’

 

We go back to our favourite theme for the August 2013 issue, ‘India Decoded’. India is truly a land of diversity, a kaleidoscope indeed, when it comes to the variety of topics that can be dealt with when we think of this country. We invite fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art and photography that has India as the central theme – the contribution can focus on any of these: Indian history, key/burning issues facing the country, the Indian mindset (if you could describe one such!), Indian traditions including marriages and festivals, the cultural landscape of India such as music, art, dance etc., Indian cinema, Indian writing including regional literature, Indian youth and of course India’s future.

Once again, if you wish to submit, the DEADLINE IS 20TH MAY 2013 FOR ALL THREE ISSUES! 

So read the guidelines, and then 

grab your muse and offer him or her some good coffee!

Happy Writing

Rajat Chaudhuri’s Interview for my Blog Runner 5 Tagged Writers

Those of you who follow my blog know that writing colleague and friend Nabina Das  had written  a post in her blog and tagged me: http://nabinadas13.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/my-mothers-roses-and-a-short-story-book-blog-runner-with-five-tagged-writers/

A couple of weeks back I did the same here in my blog:

Blog Runner with Five Tagged Writers

In my post, I had given my tagged writer friends an option of posting their interviews on my blog. Rajat Chaudhuri was one of the writers I’d tagged. But before you read his interview, here’s a bit about Rajat -

Rajat Chaudhuri used to be a consumer rights activist, an economic and political affairs officer, and a climate change advocate at the United Nations, NYC. Then, unsurprisingly, he became a full-time writer. His short stories have since then been published in literary journals like Eclectica, Underground Voices, L’Allure des Mots and elsewhere. He is a past fellow of the Sangam House International Writers’ Residency. Hotel Calcutta is his second book.

Chaudhuri’s first book was Amber Dusk, a novel set in Calcutta. It is a work redolent of (and here I am quoting the Indialog, Amber Dusk’s publisher) “ Calcutta’s  streets, resonating with the seductive tunes of Parisian nights. Robot oracles, the enigmatic photographer Valence Jourdain, a shadowy Blue Princess, Indian tribesmen and the mystical Lake Malaren colour this fascinating narrative, creating an edgy reality… presenting a rich tapestry of ideas that weave together Calcutta and Paris and the lives and passions of unforgettable individuals…a delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance.” Amber Dusk was a critically acclaimed debut.

His second book, Hotel Calcutta, is a fascinating series of narratives encapsulated within the framework of a hotel that has come under the scanner of land sharks, and can only be saved by a wall of stories.  The guests, hotel employees and the owner, rise to the challenge, and what ensues is a feast for the reader. Published by Neogi Books, Hotel Calcutta is available from Flipkart and all major book stores.

Rajat Answers The Ten Blog Runner Questions

Q1: What is your working title of your book?

Ans: There are two books that are near ready. Here I will talk about one of these as there might be some plot changes in the other. The working title for this book, at this point, is Paint me like the Dead. It keeps changing.

Q2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

Ans: The idea, as usually happens with many authors, came from an image. Perhaps it appeared to me in a dream or it could be something seen and long forgotten? It was this vision of a beautiful woman with a mysterious smile on her face. She was dead, floating on the calm waters of the Ganges, the early morning sun touching her forehead.

Q3 What genre does your book fall under?

Ans: Literary crime fiction.

Q4 Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ans: I don’t fancy movie renditions (and I am sure they don’t fancy my books) so can’t think of actors. Movies might be good for publicity but the fact that they almost always screw up the story, in the interest of the medium or otherwise, does not appeal to me in any way.

Q5 What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Ans: The synopsis is not well-formed as I am not done with the writing/editing yet but it could be something like: A bungling private eye investigates a death embracing, anti-life cult in the Himalayas but will he be able to save his own?

Q6 Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Ans: I will submit the book through my literary agent – Urmila Dasgupta of Purple Folio. She successfully sold my second novel Hotel Calcutta.

Q7 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Ans: About a year and a half.

Q8 What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Ans: The detective in my story (he first appears in my book Hotel Calcutta) is closest to hard-drinking, smooth-talking gum shoes of the hard-boiled genre but he is also philosophical and suffers secretly. He is a bit mad, he delves in the occult.  He is more often than not presented with absurd cases. I won’t like to name the books or the authors in response to this question, because I wouldn’t be able to do this without sounding pretentious or competitive! There are a handful of authors who have written books like this.

Q9 Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Ans: First there was this image, or the vision if you like, that I mentioned before. Then there were these cultural references around L’Inconnue de la Seine (The Unknown Woman of the Seine). There was this unknown woman whose body was fished out of the Seine and whose death mask became very popular (in the early twentieth century) as an outré art object mainly because of the enigmatic smile on her face. She keeps reappearing in literature. For example Aragon, invoked her in Aurélien. The lines that drew me to her are from Rilke’s novel –

“The caster I visit every day has two masks hanging next to his door. The face of the young one who drowned, which someone copied in the morgue because it was beautiful, because it was still smiling, because its smile was so deceptive – as though it knew.”

(The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge)

I have used those lines as an epigraph for this book. And of course death (and the absurdity of existence) as a theme, has always fascinated me.

Along with the Inconnue I had also developed an interest in the workings of suicide cults, most of all Jim Jones Peoples Temple. This obviously, because of my fascination with death as an important and interesting problem. From there, sometimes, I go on to write stories about the peculiar problems of someone who will be around for ever (read Hotel Calcutta) like Aswathama, like Comte de Saint Germain or I write about suicide cults, as in this book. From one extreme to the other.

So the image of the dead woman in the river, the Inconnue and my interest in suicide cults all come together in this book.

Q10 What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Ans: Those who like a good mystery, especially one leaning towards noir, will also enjoy this book.  Finally I must say that, though it seems I have almost given away the plot, I haven’t said anything at all.

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The Four Quarters Magazine April 2013 Issue – Thank You Contributors

The April issue of The Four Quarters Magazine is now live! Read the issue here: http://tfqmagazine.org/issue/april-2013/

As you may know, from an earlier post, the theme for this issue, which I guest edited, is “To Ugliness.” We received many wonderful and interesting submissions. As I read through the submissions, both solicited and unsolicited, I began to realise that ugliness is much more than skin deep; in fact it has less to do with looks than with the nature of things and what goes on here on Earth. Among the submissions, some grim, some sombre, some reflective, but all moving and eloquent, there were also some humorous gems. Yes, even the ugly can have a funny side! For this issue, I requested editor of TFQM Arjun Chaudhuri, if I could ask for previously published work from certain authors that I was keen to include. Arjun Chaudhuri very graciously acquiesced; just for this issue. The Four Quarters Magazine does not (see guidelines here) accept previously published work.

My sincere thanks to TFQM’s general editors – Arjun Chaudhuri, Arjun Rajendran and Samyak  Ghosh for this privilege and opportunity. I loved the experience. I enjoyed interacting with some of the peer review editors, who are for this issue – Nabina Das(read my review of her poetry chapbook Blue Vessel), Bhaswati Ghosh and Ashok K Banker. Special thanks to website designers Goirick Brahmachari and Shuvashish Sharma. 

Since I mentioned a book review, please also read my review of Dipika Mukherjee’s Man Asia Long listed book Thunder Demons, which was  published by Gyaana Books in 2011.

A magazine is always as good as its content. Without all the wonderful contributions TFQM would not be the success that it is. For this issue, I am grateful to all those who submitted, including and especially those whose work I solicited; thank you for trusting me and the rest of the editorial team with your work. Thank you all, but especially mentioning here (in reverse alphabetical order), those who responded to my solicitation call. It was an honour to read your work:

XU XI  is a Hong Kong based award winning writer - Read about her   XU Xi’s story Crying with Audrey Hepburn appears in this issue. Crying with Audrey Hepburn was previously published in the anthology Manhattan Noir, ed. Lawrence Block, Akashic Books, New York, 2006; it was later published in Asia Literary Review, Hong Kong, Vol. 2, 2006. Included in the story collection by the author ACCESS THIRTEEN TALES, Signal 8 Press, Hong Kong, 2011

Vivek Narayanan grew up in Zambia, studied in the USA, and is currently based in New Delhi, where he works with SARAI, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. He is also the  Consulting Editor of Almost Island and an Associate Editor at the Boston-based poetry annual, Fulcrum. Both the poems that Vivek contributed are from his new book Life and Times of Mr S 

Vanessa Gebbie  is an award-winning writer from Lewes, UK. She is also a teacher and mentor for writers, apart from being the author of short story collections and a novel – Coward’s Tale, and numerous other publications. Read about her; read her blog This issue of TFQM has Vanessa’s poem SACHSENHAUSEN CAMERA

Tania Hershman  is an award-winning writer from Bristol, UK . She is also founder and editor of The Short Review,  an online journal dedicated to reviewing short story collections and anthologies and showcasing short story authors. Read her biography; and her blog. Tania’s story Dangerous Shoes is from her short story collection My Mother was an Upright Piano; it was previously published in LA Review

Tabish Khair is a Denmark based poet and author and teacher. Read about him here. Tabish wrote his poem Ugly Truths especially for this issue of TFQM. Visit his website here

Sumana Roy is a talented poet, essayist and columnist. She lives in Siliguri, India. Read more about her here. Read her humorous essay On Teeth and Dante in this issue of TFQM.

Sudeep Sen  is an Indian poet and editor. He lives in London and New Delhi. Read more about him here. Sudeep wrote his prose poem Domestic Violence especially for this issue of TFQM

Nury Vittachi is a journalist and author based in Hong Kong. His columns are published daily, weekly in a variety of newspapers in Asia as well as on his website Read about him, read his website, and here. Nury’s humorous piece is published in this issue of TFQM

Nuala Ní Chonchúir is an award-winning Irish writer and poet, based out of Dublin.  Read more about her here; she also blogs at Women Rule Writer.  She wrote her story From Ugly to Alice for this issue of TFQM

Nabanita Kanungo is a talented poet from Shillong, India. Recently some of her poems were included in an anthology of Indian poets edited by Jayant Mahapatra. The anthology entitled TEN was published by Nirala Publications, Nepal. Read her poem Shit Vendor in this issue of TFQM

Miriam Kotzin is a writer, teacher and editor of Per Conta, an online literary magazine from USA. Read more about her here. Miriam’s story Hag was first published in Salome and Just Desserts

K Satchidanandan,Nobel nominee, poet, translator, teacher, editor, he needs no introduction. Read more about him in Wikipedia and his website. Satchidanandan contributed translations of his own poetry  for this issue of TFQM  

Hansda S Shekhar is a novelist from Jharkhand, India. His debut novel is being published by Aleph Book Company, India this year. Hansda’s story The Golden Boy is published in this issue of TFQM

Caroline Davies is a prize winning poet based in Buckinghamshire, UK. She has been published in numerous prestigious journals, including Southward, Orbis, and Envoi. Read her bio here in Cinnamon Press where her debut poetry collection Convoy (follow this link for a chance to win a free copy! Before May 17th 2013) has been published; read her poem Feral in this issue

Bob Bradshaw is a California based poet. His poetry has been published in Eclectica, Apple Valley Review, Mississippi Review, Paumonok Review, Pedestal Magazine, Loch Raven Review, among others. He is working on a poetry manuscript titled Van Gogh in Love. Read his poem When My Gorilla Suit Comes Off in this issue of TFQM

Anupama Raju is Anupama Raju is a writer, journalist, and corporate trainer. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies, including the Harper Collins Book of English Poetry (Harper Collins), Yellow Nib Modern English Poetry by Indians (Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Queen’s University, Belfast) and Ten – The New Indian Poets (Nirala Publications). Her writing has also appeared in The Hindu, Caravan, The Little Magazine, Indian Literature, Mint Lounge, Pratilipi, and so on. Anupama is the writer for a collaborative Indo-French Poetry and Photography Project (2011-2013). She is also a translator and has been translating Malayalam author Paul Zacharia’s stories into English. She is working on her first book of poems. She wrote a villanelle – The Art of Becoming Ugly -  especially for this issue of TFQM.

Dr Amitabha Mitra is a South Africa based orthopaedic surgeon and trauma specialist, who is also a poet and painter. A long time supporter of poets and artists, Dr Mitra takes time off from his very busy duties as a doctor to publish other poets and curates the works of artists as well. Find out more about him and his works here and here. This issue of TFQM carries art by Dr Mitra.

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PS: Before I go, this issue also carries an excerpt from my forthcoming novel from Lifi Publications, India.

Blog Runner, With Five Tagged Writers!

More than a month ago, writing colleague and friend Nabina Das  wrote a post in her blog and tagged me: http://nabinadas13.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/my-mothers-roses-and-a-short-story-book-blog-runner-with-five-tagged-writers/

And I am quoting her here:

Chain mails might sometime seem too compelling in their appeal. But writing about writing is quite fun, especially when a writer tags me. Taking the cue from Nabina Das, here’s my post. I took a long time getting to it. Sorry. Quoting from Nabina’s blog again: It is tough to write about one’s own writing, but fun as well. And somewhere along this exercise, things become clearer to you, about your writing goals, aspirations and small pleasures.

We each tag five more writers, and they tell five more and so on.

Now, this post won’t bring you instant recognition or snazzy awards. Also, no guarantee one would score brownie points in heaven by passing on this post.

Message for tagged authors:

Rules of the Next Big Thing

***Use this format for your post ***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress) ***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing: What is your working title of your book? Where did the idea come from for the book? What genre does your book fall under? Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Who or what inspired you to write this book? What else about your book might piqué the reader’s interest?

Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged. Be sure to line up your five people in advance.

Okay so here is Nabina Das and below that my five tagged with or without their permission, writer friends:

Rajat Chaudhuri

Dipika Mukherjee

Hansda S Shekhar

Kulpreet Yadav

Gay Degani

There may be more to follow. So calling all my writer friends, if you want to answer those questions, please do and email them to me. I’ll post them here in my blog if you don’t have your own!

Now to find the As for those Qs! Phew! I know, I know I am horribly late with this! It’s so darn hard to write about myself, sorry Nabina I took so long!

Q1  What is your working title of your book?

Ans 1 Actually there are several, because I have begun half a dozen books, ranging from children’s to adults. I’m feeling sheepish about this, but at this time I have that many manuscripts in various stages of development. Having said that, I do have a title, two titles and they are the final titles because they have both been accepted for publication by Lifi Publications, India. The first one is a novel – Culling Mynahs and Crows. The other one is a book of short fiction – The Vanishing Man and Other Imperfect Men.

Q2 Where did the idea come from for the book?

Ans 2 The book, my novel, sort of grew into its present avatar, if I may call it that. It began as a dream I’d had a long time ago about a man who wanted to set things right in the world, except that his methods were controversial and he was a murderer. Somewhere down the line, another character took over, became more important than the serial killer. The story became different, and it was no longer the killer and his philosophy, but the effect of that on certain people, and that became the focal point, the crux of the story. I like to think of Culling Mynahs and Crows as a book that grew organically.

Regarding The Vanishing Man and Other Imperfect Men, these are stories that I’ve written during the past decade and most, possibly all, have been individually published in journals all over the world. These stories are about men, as the title suggests; their failings, idiosyncracies, cravings and needs. The men are all Indian, but not necessarily urban. They come from all walks of life.

Q3 What genre does your book fall under?

Ans 3 Literary fiction. Ditto for the short story collection.

Q4 Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ans 4 This is too tough for me. I honestly have no clue.  And, anyway most of my favourite actors are dead or too old.  May I scout around among the newbies and return to this one?

Q5 What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Ans 5 The novel: How many will Agnirekha fell before she finds herself, and how much can Agnishikha endure?

Q6 Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Ans 6 As I said, Lifi Publications, India are publishing my books; sometime during the middle of this year - 2013.

Q7 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Ans 7 The first draft took me around three months. It, the novel, was 250 pages at that time; now it’s 480 pages or so, long.

Q8 What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Ans 8 I haven’t yet read any that I can compare Culling Mynahs and Crows with. This is an awkward question for me. I also don’t think this is an easy book. I am anxious about reader-response.

Q9 Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Ans 9 I don’t think there was anything or any person in particular that triggered off this book. You could say I went into a state of mind after watching, reading, hearing etc. and the first character was born from that debris of information or  more appropriately stimuli.

Q10 What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Ans 10 The book is set in the Calcutta and Bengal of the 80s, when jobs and opportunities were going away from the state. More and more Bengalis were leaving for greener pastures. This is a favourite haunt of mine, theme wise. I am obsessed with Bengal’s condition, much of which fills me with anger. I don’t know about the pique bit. That’s not for me to say. But anger is an emotion I can understand and relate to, though not necessarily empathise with. The book’s actions take place in Calcutta, Bisrampur – a silk and cotton mill town that I made up located somewhere in Murshidabad district, and finally in the USA. Most of the actions take place within a week, in Bisrampur. The after math continues in Calcutta and spills over into the USA. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t written Kolkata. It’s Calcutta, Calcutta, all the way. Mostly because the book is set at a time when the city was Calcutta or Cal as we still call her.  There are certain observations made by Agnirekha, one of my main protagonists, about expatriate Bengalis. I don’t know how that will be received by expat Bengalis when, if, should, they read the book once it’s published. 

New Story in Per Contra Issue 27

My story Master is in Per Contra Issue 27.

I’m chuffed to be included again.

This is my second story in Per Contra. The first one, “The Amma Who Took French Leave” found mention in a site I had not heard of before. It’s called The Hawthorn Citation.  They shortlisted my story in 2011 . Well, it is very nice to be noticed, appreciated. Incidentally, they picked quite a few stories from Per Contra. More kudos to Miriam Kotzin, Per Contra’s wonderful editor. You can visit her homepage here: http://miriamnkotzin.tripod.com/

Master is also part of my book of short stories – The Vanishing Man and Other Imperfect Men – soon to be published by Lifi Publications, India. The novel Culling Mynahs and Crows is slated to be out this summer.

Hope you like Master

Valour, Heroism, Patriotism – A Submission Call

On the 21st of March 2009, Major Mohit Sharma placed himself between infiltrators and his comrades. He managed to kill five of them and save his comrades too. Unfortunately, Major Mohit Sharma himself did not survive. He was only 31, an age when most Indian men get married and start a family, having reached success in their respective careers. Fighting for his country was not a career for Major Mohit Sharma. It was his life, and he willingly made this supreme sacrifice, gave up his own life for India. . He was awarded the Ashok Chakra, highest peace time gallantry award for his valour and patriotism on 26th January 2010 posthumously.

Today, in memory and remembrance of his younger brother, Madhur Sharma intends to bring out a book of stories of valour, heroism and patriotism. In Mr Sharma’s own words,

“It is sad but true that there are very few people in the government or in the society who come out and help carry the legacy of these soldiers forward to help the next generation, and imbibe values of nationalism and love for the country; indeed it is left to the soldiers’ near and dear ones to take on the responsibility. 

In an effort to try, and carry the legacy which Mohit has left behind and the hope to create some space in the hearts and minds of our children, I am trying to collect some short stories by writers with the theme of nationalism, valor, heroism and patriotism (fiction or inspired by real-life) of about 1000-3000 words. I plan to collate and publish these as a collection of stories, and dedicate the book to Mohit. The copies of the book shall be distributed to different schools, public libraries and places where it can be accessed by children. 

I would be grateful and obliged if you can give/donate one of your stories based on one of the themes noted above by August 2013. I plan to publish and release the book on Mohit’s birthday. 

Please drop me a mail if you wish to be a part of this initiative: madhurster@gmail.com”

***

My request to readers of this blog post is to treat it with respect, and submit only very polished, well written and typo-less fiction and memoir. Also follow standard submission rules, i.e. 12 point font size in a standard typeface like Times New Roman/Ariel etc., double spaced with 1.5 inch margins on both sides; header in the pages should include story title, name of writer and email, and the page number. Submit your work in both the body of the email as well as in the attachment.

Please remember that this is a labour of love and for a very good cause. Please also spread the word around.

The deadline for submissions is August 2013. The book will be published in January 2014, to coincide with Major Mohit Sharma’s birth anniversary.

***

 

To Ugliness – A Submission Call

I am guest editing the April issue of The Four Quarters Magazine whose theme is “To Ugliness.” Deadline March 10, 2013.

For my part, I am specifically looking for prose from unsolicited submissions. Poetry is of course welcome, as always. But since the poetry slot tends to fill up faster, and most of my solicited writers have poetry on their minds, I’d like to concentrate more on prose. Fiction and nonfiction alike. Don’t feel deterred however, if you only have poetry. Send it on.

General submission details are crystal clear in the website:

http://tfqmagazine.org/submissions/

Please read several issues before submitting if you haven’t read The Four Quarters Magazine before. It’s free, so you don’t have any excuse! 

Here’s a bit more about the theme:-

To Ugliness

Is ugliness ‘good’? Is it ‘bad’? Is it ‘evil’? Is it only the Other of the Beautiful, or of beauty? Is it the harmonious form that harms and is malevolent? Or is also the benevolent ‘grotesque’, the kind ‘misshapen’? Is it the ‘macabre’? Or is it the ‘fair’? Does Ugliness elicit only disgust and fear, and repulsion? Or does it necessitate, among other things, a certain level of appreciation for its resisting presence in this world that shuns and negates as inappropriate all disharmonious aspects and forms? How do we then respond to the ubiquitous presence of the Ugly in our contemporary living and existence?

To Ugliness, therefore, we address these questions, and seek to attend to its more innate aspects in this issue of The Four Quarters Magazine which has as its theme this phrase ‘To Ugliness’. We invite submissions of poetry and prose writing, fiction or nonfiction, translations from any language, graphic …narratives and artwork suited to the theme in question. The deadline for submissions for this issue is March 10th, 2013.

 

Happy Writing!