The recently launched short story collection BOUND IN LOVE has created a new trend. The book, which comprises of 11 short stories, has brief forewords from several eminent authors for each of the stories. These forewords appear in the book at the beginning of each story. They form an introduction to the story, but at the same time, they also act as a review for the stories, aimed at giving readers a clue of what to expect. Some of the authors who have written forewords for BOUND IN LOVE include Rasana Atreya, Sundari Venkatraman, Shiv Ramdas, Laxmi Hariharan, Anjali Kirpalani, Kavipriya Moorthy, Rubina Ramesh, Aindrila Roy, Varun Prabhu, Shilpa Gupta, Zahir Chauhan, Kirtida Gautam, Devika Fernando, and Usha Narayanan.
The short stories, authored by Neil D’Silva, deal with the complexities of human relationships. The stories revolve around aspects of homosexual love, incest, pedophilia, bondage, and several other taboos that do not usually find a voice in the world of Indian literature. Most of the stories are written with unconventional twist endings, which is soon becoming Neil D’Silva’s trademark writing style.
Of these, the story No Chocolate for You! has been critically acclaimed for the way it touches upon a difficult subject in a sensitive manner. In her foreword to this story, Rasana Atreya, India’s leading self-published author and writer of the Tibor Jones shortlisted Tell a Thousand Lies, says, “This is a story about every parent’s secret fear and their worst nightmare.” For another of the stories, At the Next Stop, Anjali Kirpalani, the author of Written in the Stars, says, “Love has numerous forms, and our world is full of complicated relationships. This story depicts that complexity beautifully.”
The foreword to the story The Other Face of Love, a tale of a difficult mother-son relationship, is penned by Shilpa Gupta, the author of the hard-hitting Ananya: A Bittersweet Journey. She says, “It sensitively portrays the feelings of love, sacrifice, insecurities, and longing of a mother, and at the same time beautifully describes a son’s defiance, love, guilt, and yearning for establishing an independent identity.” Another strong foreword is written by Kirtida Gautam, the author of #IAm16ICanRape, for the story The Lion and the Queen, which reads, “He (Neil D’Silva) doesn’t let the garb of political correctness hide the naked truths of human nature which is mostly governed by selfishness and personal ambitions.”
The book was launched on August 30 at a Facebook event, during which the authors mentioned in the forewords spoke about Neil D’Silva’s stories in BOUND IN LOVE. The event was rounded off with a panel discussion on the overall state of reading and writing in India. The prime topic during this discussion pertained to the genre that Indians read and whether they are open to reading hard-hitting stories. During this discussion, several truths emerged, with Ketan Bhagat, the author of Child/God famously commenting, “There is only one genre – Quality.”
The pre-release interest in the book and the novel launch event brought BOUND IN LOVE to the top of the Amazon Hot New Releases list on the very next day, where it ranked at #1. It debuted at #7 on Amazon India (short stories).
The event and pre-release publicity for BOUND IN LOVE’s release was handled by the Mumbai-based writers’ and readers’ platform, Sip N Read.
Tags: Bound in Love Neil D’Silva
