That the Church uses artificial intelligences to power its never-ending prayer machines doesn't interest her at all: they're paying, and she needs enough money to survive in an increasingly crumbling world. Until a demonstration outside the Church's headquarters, and the appearance of Stéphane, an enigmatic man Lisa finds herself powerfully drawn to. What lies beneath his headscarf, why is he so interested in the Church--and how far will she be willing to go in order to earn his trust? Aliette de Bodard, winner of the Nebula, Locus and BSFA Awards, teams up with BSFA Award-winner Gareth L. Powell to present an uplifting short story of machines and humans, of intense emotions and cutting-age technology culled from tomorrow’s headlines. “Full of character and wit” - Zone SF "Wonderful and full of promise.” - SF Revu

    The mutual attraction soon blossoms into love over the next couple of meetings. Tanuja and her simple father fail to see the crisis brewing in their own home. Her not-so-nice stepmother Gurinder is totally against the idea of Tanuja meeting her Prince Charming which would make her step-sister Harpreet seriously envious. By the way, Harpreet’s main aim in life is to simply make her half-sister miserable. While Raj’s parents and Tanuja’s father try to arrange a marriage between the two with a help of a mutual friend, the evil stepmother comes up with a plan of her own—to marry her stepdaughter off to Sonu, a good-for-nothing idiot. Can Her Prince Charming lift Tanuja out of this life of drudgery and boredom and give her the happiness she deserves?*A prequel to THE MALHOTRA BRIDE

    The stories recounts the life of times of the hero Domrudhar in colonial India. The protagonist Domrudhar is portrayed as a dishonest man who rises from a lowly shop-assistant to a land owner.

    I make mistakes. I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best," and I couldn't agree more. Life is like a paradox of love and pain that may never leave each other, but in the end, the coexistence is worth the journey. Striving for the best is human nature, but are you really prepared for the roller-coaster rides or do you give up?

    Women have been fighting for equality and seeking justice in various aspects like equal wages, reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternal leave, sexual harassment, domestic violence, the right to education, etc. Not all rebellions spillover on the streets. Every woman who acts according to her free will for the greater good in her daily routine is a rebel, leading her own revolution. She may be a little girl. She could be a woman in love, a wife, a mom or an expectant mother, a career woman or a loving grandmother. Here are fourteen powerful stories where these rebels take various challenges head-on and live their life on their own terms. The women in the stories make their mark in their own way, symbolizing a revolution against a cause, no matter how big or small.This book is dedicated to every woman who stands up for herself.She refuses to fit in and blend with the crowd.She dares to be different and break the rules. She is courageous, wise, kind and compassionate.She is a fighter and doesn't give up on herself easily.She leads a rebellion against ignorance. She has a burning desire to live an extraordinary life.

    Akbar's amazing story of three generations of a Muslim family —based on his own—and how they deal with the fluctuating contours of Hindu-Muslim relations. Telinipara, a small jute mill town some 30 miles north of Kolkata along the Hooghly, is a complex Rubik's Cube of migrant Bihari workers, Hindus and Muslims; Bengalis poor and 'bhadralok'; and Sahibs who live in the safe, 'foreign' world of the Victoria Jute Mill. Into this scattered inhabitation enters a child on the verge of starvation, Prayaag, who is saved and adopted by a Muslim family, converts to Islam and takes on the name of Rahmatullah. As Rahmatullah knits Telinipara into a community, friendship, love trust and faith are continually tested by the cancer of riots. Incidents—conversion, circumcision, the arrival of the plague of electricity—and a fascinating array of characters: the ultimate Brahmin, Rahmatullah's friend Girija Maharaj; the worker's leader, Bauna Sardar; the storyteller, Talat Mian; the poet-teacher, Syed Ashfaque; the smiling mendicant, Burha Deewana; the sincere Sahib, Simon Hogg; and then the questioning, demanding third generation of the author and his friend Kamala, interlink into a narrative of social history as well as a powerful memoir. Blood Brothers is a chronicle of its age, its canvas as enchanting as its narrative, a personal journey through change as tensions build, stretching the bonds of a lifetime to breaking point and demanding, in the end, the greatest sacrifice. Its last chapters, written in a bare-bones, unemotional style, are the most moving as the author searches for hope amid raw wounds with a surgeon's scalpel.

    Written with Sanjeev's trademark flair, the stories crackle with irreverence and wit. In 'The Troll', a presumptuous blogger faces his undoing when he sets out to expose an Internet phenomenon. In the title story, a young man loses his job in the financial crisis and tries to reset his life over two beers. In 'The Intellectuals', a foreign researcher spends some memorable hours with Kolkata's ageing intellectuals. From the vicious politics of a Mumbai housing society to the snobberies of Delhi's cocktail circuit, the stories in Life over Two Beers get under the skin of a rapidly changing India-and leave you chuckling.

    On a blistering desert landscape in World War II, two armies face each other. One belongs to the legendary French Foreign Legion, but the other belongs to the French Foreign Legion also, one side working for the Allies, the other for the Germans. In this vivid historical recreation of one of the strangest battles in modern warfare, a terrible twist of Fate compels comrades-in-arms, who trained together, ate together, and slept in the same barracks, to become mortal enemies.David Morrell is the prize-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. His numerous New York Times bestsellers include the classic espionage novel, The Brotherhood of the Rose, the basis for the only television miniseries to be broadcast after a Super Bowl. An Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity nominee, Morrell is a recipient of the International Thriller Writers’ prestigious Thriller Master award.“Nobody does this kind of thing better than David Morrell.”—Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of The Affair“A titan among thriller writers.”—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Buried Secrets

    The Pakistani army, mauled by the Abbottabad raid, decides to create andexecute an operation that will get the Pakistani public opinion firmly behindthem. Major Shezad Khan, a much decorated officer from the Pakistani army’selite Special Service Group (SSG) embarks on a mission to attack a strategictarget in India. His comrades-in-arms are five ferocious Lashakar-e-Taiba militants.Though he crosses into India through Kashmir, there is one man who has beentasked with the job of ensuring that they don't reach their target. RAW’s SeniorField Agent Sanjay Khanna teams up with Military Intelligence and NSG tothwart the attack.The narrative sweeps across the vast expanses of Tajikistan, the malarial jungles ofBengal, through conflict zones in Baluchistan, and the Vale of Kashmir as the twomen and their teams race against time. A thrilling finale awaits in the maximum city – Mumbai.Will the ‘Fox-Hunt’ succeed?

    In Delhi, he meets three guys who join his dramatic journey—they all want to change the country. They all aspire to become IAS officers. They all want to take the ‘never-seen-before-types dowry’! As expected, they mess up with a very proper college professor. There begins a chase, funnier than Tom and Jerry… Will the professor find them? Will their dreams ever come true? Find out in this laughathon full of clichés straight from the cow belt of India!Note: This book is in the Hindi language and has been made available for the Kindle, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Paperwhite, iPhone and iPad, and for iOS, Windows Phone and Android devices.

    Past winners and shortlisted authors have included the Pulitzer winners Junot Díaz, Anthony Doerr and Adam Johnson, plus Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith, Yiyun Li, CK Stead and Elizabeth Strout.Six Shorts 2017 brings together the six stories shortlisted for this year's award: ‘Reputation Management’ by Kathleen Alcott; ‘Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows about Horses’ by Bret Anthony Johnston; ‘The Hazel Twig and the Olive Tree’ by Richard Lambert; ‘The Tenant’ by Victor Lodato; ‘Every Little Thing’ by Celeste Ng; and ‘Mr Salary’ by Sally Rooney.Chosen by a hugely experienced and prestigious judging panel that included Booker-winner Anne Enright, Orange- and Whitbread-winner Rose Tremain, Booker-shortlistee Neel Mukherjee and critic and novelist Mark Lawson, the six stories represent the very best in contemporary English-language short fiction.

    At first, the murder seems an open-and-shut case to Dechen, the tough, foul- mouthed, prickly lady cop in charge of the investigation. But as she begins to delve into the lives of Kamala and Puran, she discovers a world of lies, deceit and love gone wrong, where nothing is as it seems, and the guilt of murderers is difficult to establish.On a day of endless rain, a man emerges from thirty-two years of isolation to meet his king, whom he owes a share of the harvest from his fields. Journeying across leech-infested forests and forbidding valleys, he tells his children the story of his life one that has been full of drama and magic. But the biggest miracle of all awaits him in Gangtok...These two novellas, united by their strong sense of place, showcase Chetan Raj Shresthas enormous gifts as a storyteller. Magical, gritty, nerve-wracking and stylish in equal measure, this is an exceptional debut.

    . . [will] take a place on my shelves beside the stories of Narayan — Graham GreeneThis volume presents two celebrated novels by Manoj Das, one of India’s most illustrious authors, who has been writing in English and Oriya (Odia)for over six decades.In A Tiger at Twilight the erstwhile raja of Samargarh returns to his abandoned palace in Nijanpur, after years of self-exile, with his sick daughter and his supposed half-sister, and immediately assumes the responsibility of killing a man-eating tiger. Assisting him are a few noted men of the valley including Dev the owner and manager of a resort. But as the hunt intensifies Dev realizes that things aren’t as they seem: Heera, the raja’s sister, has an inexplicable power over the men in the hunting party and a strange connection with the tiger. As the men get closer to killing the beast, bizarre things begin to happen, hinting at the influence of the supernatural.Cyclones is set in Kusumpur, a small coastal village, during the struggle for Independence. The village is devastated by a cyclone and Sandip, the scion of the zamindar (land-lord) family, helps restore it. The war-time colonial government, though, wants to turn the sleepy hamlet into a busy port town. They plan to fill up the river that flows by it, in the process angering all the villagers, including Sandip. But when the contractor for the project is found murdered, Sandip is accused of the crime, forcing him to flee from the authorities. This is the start of a series of adventures that take him from a remote ashram in a forest to the city where communal violence is rife. Cyclones is a powerful novel about the metaphorical storms that gripped the nation during the most turbulent period of its modern history.

    You’re thirteen now. I was eight when I got married. You’ll never look this beautiful ever again.”“I will Ammi, when I wear a school uniform.”If you like thrillers, this micro tale is for you-I always assumed that my neighbour’s daughter knew the word ‘Eight’ only until my dog went missing and she said ‘Nine’.And if you like six-word stories, this tale is for you-Woke up in hospital. Failed again.In fact, there are 100 such small tales that will have a big impact on you.So what are you waiting for? Scroll to the top of this page, buy the book and start reading today.Rafaa's micro tales are absolute gems. The journey is short but its impact is everlasting. This one deserves to be read by all.Sanhita BaruahAuthor of ‘The Art of Grieving’ and ‘The Art of Letting Go’Are you interested in unconventional storytelling? How about a story where the beginning, middle and the end are on the same page? A narrative that makes you frown on page 1, nod in agreement on page 2 and chuckle on page 3?How about reading short fiction then? I highly recommend Small is Big by Rafaa Dalvi. The long and short of fiction in endearing small portions!Rickie KhoslaAuthor of ‘The Imperative Subterfuge’ and ‘Pretty Vile Girl’The book has something for everyone. It has humor – a few of slap stick variety, playing on puns, it has punch where you get a most unexpected twist, it has philosophy, it has romance and it has horror – stories that chill your spine.T.F. CarthickAuthor of ‘Carthick’s Unfairy Tales’ and ‘More Unfairy Tales’About the Author:Rafaa Dalvi tries to escape from the mundane with words and contemplates about befriending the voices in his head. He dreams about changing the world, one smile at a time.Already published numerous times, his stories can be read in the anthologies – Curtain Call (editor), Kaleidoscope, Myriad Tales, and many more. He has also written three volumes of ‘Small is Big’, which is a collection of 100 micro tales. He’s the recipient of Indian Bloggers League Booker Prize 2013.

    Long dead serial killers are appearing before adoring fans, but it doesn't take them long to realise that Nightingale is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wrong Turn is a fast-paced supernatural story of 14,000 words. Jack Nightingale appears in the full-length novels Nightfall, Midnight, Nightmare, Nightshade, Lastnight, San Francisco Night and New York Night. He also appears in several short stories including Blood Bath, Cursed, Still Bleeding, Tracks, My Name Is Lydia, The Creeper, The Undead, The Asylum and The Mansion. The Jack Nightingale time line is complex, this story is set after Lastnight. Jack Nightingale has his own website at www.jacknightingale.com