Muggulu

Spotlight : Vengeance :A Sting in Every Tale edited by Sonia Rao

Designed by Neil D'Silva 

Vengeance -A Sting in Every Tale 

A WRIMO INDIA anthology

Edited by

Sonia Rao 

Disclaimer : Every Cent from this novel goes to NaNoWriMo

 India to encourage all future aspiring writers. 

Designed by Sujata Patnaik 

Blurb 

A reply to a perceived injustice can take many forms one of which is vengeance. An eye for an eye can only end up making the whole world blind, is what Mahatma Gandhi once said. And it seems to be coming quite true, if latest events world-wide are an indication.

Is there any hope or are we hurtling towards extinction?

Hopefully, the stories will explore some of these questions. But that is on the macro level. It might be easy to look at things objectively, in black and white, when it is other nations involved. Or even other people. We are able to be more forgiving of transgressions when they don’t involve us personally.

But how would one react if they found themselves in the maelstrom of situations that do fall somewhere in the grey area of life? With no definite black and white answers?

How would a jilted lover react in face of infidelity? Or how would a friend avenge the murder of her best friend? Or, is it fair to be punished for a crime that you were not brave enough to prevent?

These and many more questions connected to vengeance have been grappled with in this anthology.

created by Archana Sarat 

EXCERPT OF FIRST CHAPTER

Bus number 131 whirred away, pulling its own weight unwillingly. It was one of the many buses to pass through the Relief road, a busy road in the old part of Ahmedabad. Shazia had an option, the crowed 88 or the overcrowded 131. She preferred to be 30 minutes before time to board 131. Her choice was motivated by her love for the palindromic 1-3-1. Her undying infatuation with prime numbers was inexplicable. Nineteen year old Shazia loved numbers, and to be more precise, she adored Mathematics in all its form. She also loved the rules, the principles, the working theorems, the equations which tried to make sense of the majestic menagerie of numbers. She was fascinated even by the mere shape of numbers. She did not remember when or even how her romance with Maths began. But in her earliest memories, she preferred practicing her numbers over the alphabet, she remembered that she recited tables better than her nursery rhymes. She was short and a bit stocky. Also, a couple of shades darker than was acceptable in the marriage market. However, her looks never bothered her, nor did she ever yearn for fairer skin, or thinner body. What she craved was a disheveled mass of hair, for some uncanny resemblance to Einstein, the only pop icon modern science managed to have produced. But her mother plaited her hair, dashing her hopes to ground. She also longed for a pair of spectacles with glasses so thick that it blurred her eyeballs, indicating the wearer’s brilliance. But she, despite getting checked for vision from her mother’s ophthalmologist, was denied the hallowed implement. Thrice. Shazia valued her bus ride a lot. She had to convince Papa to allow her to commute to her college on her own. She had concealed her indignation about needing her father's permission for every little trifle, even after being categorised as an adult by the Government of India. Papa consented only after he was told that Noor too would start using the bus if Shazia were to give her company.

Buy @

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ABOUT THE EDITOR SONIA RAO

The editor of the Anthology, Sonia Rao (writer-editor-awardwinningblogger) is the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison for All-India region. The stories which are part of the anthology are written by Wrimos homed in to Asia::India region. Most of them are also published writers of short fiction and novels.She blogs @ https://soniaraowrites.wordpress.com/ 

Find out more about Wrimo India @

Wrimo India on FB:  https://www.facebook.com/NaNoWriMo.India/

Wrimo India on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/wrimosindia 

Wrimo India blog: https://wrimoindiawrites.wordpress.com/ 

NaNoWriMo:  http://nanowrimo.org/

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Saathiya

Book Review : The Bestseller She Wrote

I had read excerpts of this latest book online.It had made me curious.I have read his earlier books & liked them.So I was all the more inclined to read this book which is a romantic thriller .And when I saw that BlogAdda had put it for book review,I applied.And I was immediately given the book to review ! 





The book is published by Westland Ltd. The cover pages are in a lovely pastel yellow shade. It shows two faces  a man wearing glasses & a woman .Their faces are partly covered by an open book which has its pages in flapping position.The cover page states love, betrayl & redemption.It mentions that the book is soon going to be a film.

It has 392 pages. It is neatly divided into 84 chapters.Some chapters are as small as two pages.This spurred me on to read faster & faster . The author has dedicated this book to his readers .

Ravi Subramanian has written seven books so far .Al his earlier books were on banking.The readers have lapped up all his books.He has been awarded the Golden Quill Reader's Choice award & the Economist Crossword Book Award, He won the Crossword Book Award two years in continuum that is in 2013 & 2014.This latest book "The Bestseller She Wrote  "is a thriller with romance added to the thrill.

"The Bestseller She Wrote " is the tale of Aditya Kapoor who is a banker as also a successful author who pens thrillers.He seems to have the best of everything.His lovely wife Maya has stood by him through thick & thin.He has a doting son ,Aryan.His job is superb & his writing career is rising up & up.In walks, a wannabe writer ,Shreya Kaushik. And Aditya strays. Aditya 's wife learns about this.Their family life falls apart.Aditya feels repentant.Or is he just feigning it ? Is Shreya the one who seduced Aditya or was it Aditya who couldn't control his senses.Shreya is obsessive about writing a book.Does she debut as an author ? How is her book received ? What happens to Aditya's family life ? What about his job ? And what about his future as a writer  ? All are at stake.Is he able to redeem all or any of them ? Who is the mastermind ? And most importantly why ? The answers to all these queries makes for an interesting reading.

The tale is superbly written.The reader is able to read faster as chapters are short .The author keeps the plot taut.That adds to the mystery.The author takes many digs at the roving eyes of males .And  pays tribute to women who give up all to be with their families & are still taken for granted.

The characters are elated that movies will be made on the books.And yet, sometimes, there is a feeling that Bollywood should have left the book alone ! 

The  protagonist 's life seems to be obviously inspired from a real life author whose books have made him famous .He is even depicted as considering judging a show on the idiot box.The similarities cannot be missed !

An engrossing read indeed !

I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!