‘Balzac could not have done better’ —The Financial Express In this sparkling collection of stories, India’s best-known writer addresses some pertinent questions: Why do we believe in miracles? Can a horoscope guarantee the perfect wife? Is the Kamasutra a useful manual for newlyweds? Margaret Bloom arrives in Haridwar from New York to save her soul. But she soon discovers that there are temptations even on the banks of the holy Ganga. Madan Mohan Pandey, amateur astrologer and scholar of ancient Hindu texts, finds to his horror that his doe-like bride is not quite what he had expected. Pious Zora Singh, Pride of the Nation, rumoured to be a chaar sau bees and a womanizer, silences his detractors by earning the Bharat Ratna. Devi Lal makes his peace with a fickle God when his daughter-in-law delivers a son, following secret visits to the Peer Sahib’s tomb. And Vijay Lall, emboldened by his miraculous escape from death, decides to act upon his silent obsession with Karuna Chaudhury, which takes him to a shifty soothsayer behind the Khan Market loo. Khushwant Singh returns to the short story after decades to deliver a truly memorable collection—humorous, provocative, tongue-in-cheek, ribald and even, at times, tender.

Would you create a whole new world religion for a bet? What would you do if you stumbled upon the legendary fountain of youth but found - too late! - there was an unexpected side-effect? How would you react if you went for a job interview and discovered the interviewer was a bit, well, odd? Do your next-door neighbors have a secret so mystifying and enthralling that you're willing to risk your sanity to find out what it is? Filled with larger-than-life characters, unexpected twists and side-splitting satirical humor, these stories by John Dahlgren will leave you laughing, pondering and possibly outraged . and perhaps make you think twice before you next open your bathroom door.

A breathtaking debut, The Star Cafe heralds "an utterly original artist, already writing with something like mastery".--Robert Kelly.

Menopausal Musings is a collection of small novellas. Each novella follows the inner world of one character's contorted thoughts as they cope with the crisis of middle age. We observe these afflicted people as they exist at different times of day. All are urban characters who live alone in New York City. All are trapped within the walls of their apartments and trapped in their minds and unable to escape. We listen and observe as their minds twirl with hopes, dreams, bitterness, and anger. We cringe as we watch their souls cringe because of isolation from family, friends, and the rest of humanity. They're humans set adrift in a unforgiving world with its billions of unmarked faces. Yet, their pain is our pain; their longing is our longing. And, that is the whole point.

Cheese! The smiley face we accept as a universal sign of happiness belies the twists and downturns of not-quite-everyday life. Through these witty, visceral short stories, Deryck Whittaker takes us on a bittersweet journey across the globe, introducing a set of characters at odds with themselves and the times. In locations as disparate as Norway, Mali and Argentina, the jungle of the art world, the good are generally rewarded, while the boorish and greedy receive their comeuppance. Sometimes cautionary, often hilarious, the stories may end (or begin) with murder, indulge in love and lust, or describe in exquisite detail moments of apparent ordinariness. Throughout Cheese and Other Stories Whittaker’s elegant wordplay and acute observations of the human condition are superb.

THE BIG BOOK OF MALAYSIAN HORROR STORIES takes us from terrors that are mythological and historical to contemporary and technological. The biggest Fixi Novo anthology yet is set in various states in Malaysia, but the most common states are Darul Distress and Negeri Scary. These brand-new stories are complemented by Chin Yew's equally spooky illustrations. Featuring the following writers: ATIKAH Wahid BISSME S. Adrian CHASE Joni CH'NG Eileyn CHUA CHUA Kok Yee HADI M. Nor ISMIM Putera IZADDIN Syah Yusof Nat KANG Venoo KUPPUSAMY LAI May Senn Joshua LIM (twice!) Ethan MATISA MUTHUSAMY Ramiah NADIAH Zakaria NURUL HAFIZAH Mat Kamil PAUL GNANASELVAM RAJA UMMI NADRAH Reuel RAWAT RIZAL Ramli SAAT Omar Nathaniel SARIO TINA Ishak Terence TOH Malachi Edwin VETHAMANI WONG Jo-yen YANNA Hashri Collin YEOH

2023 marks the 60th year since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, comprising the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak – and Singapore. For Malaysians, 1963 is of profound national significance. For Singaporeans, the more memorable year might be 1965, the year of separation and subsequent independence. Yet for two fateful years, the destinies of the two countries were conjoined. The kinship, affinity – and tensions – are still keenly felt today. This collection brings together writers from both countries to reflect creatively and critically upon this sense of entwinement – to celebrate, to reflect, and to rue, in the tradition of volumes such as The Second Tongue (ed. Edwin Thumboo, 1976). Featured writers include: Anitha Devi Pillai, Anna Onni, Arjun Sai Krishnan, Benedict Lim, Brandon Liew, Clara Chow, Clarissa Oon, Daryl Li, Elaine Chiew, Heng Jia Min, Ho Kin Yunn, ila, Jocelyn Marcia Ng, Jonathan Chan, Joshua Ip, Kevin Martens Wong, Malachi Edwin Vethamani, Mohamed Shaker, Ng Yi-Sheng, Noor Iskandar, Paul Augustin, Rachel Fung, Sharmini Aphrodite, Sheena Gurbakhash, Sofia Mariah Ma, Sreedhevi Iyer, Sumitra Selvaraj, Tse Hao Guang, Yu Kai Tan, Zhang Ruihe

Waiting for the End examines two dozen contemporary novels within the context of a half century of theorizing about the function of ending in narrative. That theorizing about ending generated a powerful dynamic a quarter-century ago with the advent of feminist criticism of masculinist readings of the role played by ending in fiction. Feminists such as Theresa de Lauretis in 1984 and more famously Susan Winnett in her 1991 PMLA essay, Coming Unstrung, were leading voices in a swelling chorus of theorist pointing out the masculinist bias of ending in narrative. With the entry of feminist readings of ending, it became inevitable that criticism of fiction would become gendered through the recognition of difference transcending a simple binary of female/male to establish a spectrum of masculine to feminine endings, regardless of the sex of the writer. Accordingly, Waiting for the End examines pairs of novels - one pair by Margaret Atwood and one by Ian McEwan - to demonstrate how a writer can offer endings at either end of the gender spectrum.

Godfoolery: Beyond Belief and Unbelief is for religious skeptics who, like the author, have trouble accepting canned answers and confessions and creeds. As such, this volume of essays can be read independently of each other. Questions dealing with creation ex nihilo, biblical criticism, the higher and lower criticism, tests of truth, tribalism and its relation to white supremacy, as well as death and its impact on the meaning of life.