NOTE: This is mostly a summary, not a review.. I’m trying to resume reading nonfiction occasionally to keep sharp. *** Major theorists mentioned, besides Kant: John Balliie, a physician who wrote an essay about aesthetics;Â Alexander Baumgarten; Edmunde Burke; Joseph Addison; Seneca; Longinus. The sublime is a perspective of nature whose contemplation inspires the human mind […]
When you get what you want…
An exciting premise, with clear and detailed accounts of (what was then) cutting-edge science, but the action lags, and ultimately everything in the novel feels pointless.
Image credit Bottomless masala chai with flaked almonds kept the grownups warm. We ran around playing Lock-and-Key. Dinner was at twilight: slow-cooked mustard greens, butter chicken, paranthas swimming in ghee, and daal so thick the ladle chopped it up like a mountainside. In winter in Ropar, we dined in our coats. The steam from the […]
What I read and wrote and published and how I fared
Dark short story published in The Dalhousie Review (Summer 2022)
Alternative history. If the political-historical relations of two nations were reversed, would the characters of the nation’s peoples be reversed too?
A grieving mother has shut herself away from the world. Can she rediscover love and life?
Astrid has a dream. Pleo likes dreamers. What could go wrong? In this story written in 2020 I dip my toes back into magic realism.
Read a lot, but not enough. Several unfinished WIPs. A fair number of publications, including in four good magazines . Attended my first writing workshop online; it was fruitful. Joined the volunteer staff of two lit mags. Grew my circle of critique partners. Spent most of the year working on short fiction, a new experience for me. Discovered several authors I plan to read more of, and revisited some old favourites.
Amita Basu 