Many of my fellow author friends have been writing up a storm during the lockdown. A sneak peek into their upcoming books — and remember, you saw it here first.
The Great War : One moonless night, he was sent on a mission. After no word from him, she followed stealthily, pushing the door open a crack, holding her breath. The child was glassy-eyed, unresponsive, drooling over his device. The man had fallen asleep. When he was supposed to be teaching him Maths?! The exchange of fire was heard three blocks away.
Exam Questions Made Easy: Sample question… The rate of infection doubles every 11 days. In 21 days, it will double every eight days. In a population with 23.8% aged over 50 years old with three out of 10 of those aged under 75 having co-morbidities, and with 78% of commercial establishments opening for 66% of their workforce — How long will it take you to realise you’ll never pass this exam?
The Seduction of Sarla: An excerpt: ‘Please Sarla, just come home. I can’t live without you. I lie in bed after each exhausted day, dreaming of you. Ask me for anything. I will give you anything your heart desires — masks? What does that Madam from 33C give you that I haven’t? I know you’ve been sneaking to her house and doing her jhadoo-pocha . Please Sarla…’
Badtime Stories: The princess, who had long since exchanged her crown for an apron, exhausted, sweaty, gazed at her Prince Charming who sat with a beer in front of the news, burping. She leaned in to kiss him. And turned him back into a frog. Then she called The Pesticide Guys in.
The Greatest Myths of All: A mask will save you. A mask will kill you. A man in a mask will save you. Or a woman. Go out in the sun to kill the virus. Stay indoors. Get the virus and develop antibodies. Get the virus and die. Deep breathe. Don’t breathe.
The Chamber of Horrors: On one side was water, on the other was fire. The chamber was only 10x6 feet. The window was grilled. There was no escape. Instruments of torture lined up against one wall, heaps of metal stacked up on the other. If I survive, she swore, I will never again enter this kitchen.
Whodunnit: The greatest mystery of all. The bat dunnit? The man dunnit? Batman dunnit? The lab-man dunnit? The vaccine makers dunnit? Whodunnit? WHO dunnit. Ah.
Where Jane De Suza, author of Flyaway Boy , pokes her nose into our perfect lives.
