shirt makers; tying a Windsor knot to making a pot of tea; Victoria sponge to fish pie, and the rules of cricket to Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

    The 12 tales in this book vary in setting from a Polaris base in Scotland to a frail remnant of hippy "happiness" in Tasmania, and in subject-matter from male gynaecologists' interference with female organs to a rich woman confessing to the night sea that she has lied and cheated and "murdered".

    But Johnny is more than tickled when he finds out Loraine is pregnant with his child. An almost-saved Christian, a not-quite-sober alcoholic and part-time lover of Loraine, Johnny is not sure where his wife Charlene fits into this complex love triangle of women, men, desires and truth. He's even less sure where Chris, Loraine's teenaged son, and Melody, Chris' pregnant girlfriend, belong in his life as a husband, lover, and volunteer coordinator of the town of Lesser's teen drop-in center.A feed supply salesman whose history extends only as far as he can remember, Johnny longs for a spiritual salvation, but finds beauty and truth in the soft, warm flesh of the women he loves. Charlene's final, fiery truth lies in her inability to come to terms with Johnny's earthly morality.An extraordinarily talented new author, Bergen achieves a finely tuned balance in his work: his tone is realistic, shot with ironic insight, replete with astonishing, but seemingly casually placed universal truths, seamlessly woven into an absorbing story of people struggling with their souls in a small prairie town.

    Her wry, often darkly funny voice describes the repressed underside of a range of middle-class characters living in the South.

    This is to keep you on the edge with each turn in the alleys of the Labyrinth.Labyrinth: Short Stories is an array of fifteen tales that cover genres like adventure, romance, paranormal, fantasy, history, and many more.Summary Of The BookLabyrinth: Short Stories, published in 2012, is a collection of fifteen short stories written by various Indian authors. Each tale belongs to a different genre and era, thereby giving this book a unique and refreshing feel. Labyrinth: Short Stories starts off with The Martyr, which has been written by Mainak Dhar. It revolves around young Kemal who finds himself in the middle of a war in Afghanistan. Puppet Show, by Aditi Chincholi, explains how a doctor cannot find a way to break a spell that has been cast over the natives of a valley.Bagheera Log Huts takes readers into the heart of an Indian jungle, where the search for a wild cat turns into an unexpected adventure. Shawn Pereira’s I'll Be Back describes an out-of-body experience, which shows how things can take a downward spiral when one is caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Aditi Chincholi’s second story, Sym World, is set in a fantasy land which the protagonist Kyoto has willingly entered, but cannot find a way out. In Mortified, written by Jeevan Varma, readers will find themselves in a small Indian township where a mortified Sharmaji is going to be attacked. This is followed by Crashing Impacts, a tale of love and sacrifice that spans almost ten years.Rishabh Chaturvedi’s The Night Of The Wokambee describes how Revant is in a quandary when a strange creature visits his house every night. Both Mists of Time by Niharika Puri, and Russkaya Rulyetka by Shawn Pereira, illustrate how a person makes impulsive decisions when he is overcome with rage and jealousy. Candies shows readers that the pursuit of love is filled with ups and downs. Travel Through The Night, authored by Rishabh Chaturvedi, follows the protagonist into dense sugarcane plantations, where he encounters strange spirits who block his path. A Day of Battle is set during the great epic battle of the Mahabharata, and the author Abhishek Dwivedi shares stories of the bravery of some of the best warriors that this world has ever seen. The next story, Farming On Facebook by Sushant Dharwadkar, takes a huge time leap, and shows how the present generation is unaware of the real world, as their focus lies only on the screens in front of them. About The AuthorsLabyrinth: Short Stories has been written by Mainak Dhar, Richard Fernandes, Jeevan Verma, Rishabh Chaturvedi, Niharika Puri, Aditi Chincholi, Abhishek Dwivedi, Sushant Dharwadkar, Rohit Das, and Shawn Pereira. They are a part of the initiative by Litizen.com. Professionally they are accountants, chefs, media professionals, doctors, and students.