BOOK TITLE: Voices,
Old & New
ISBN:
978-1-927826-70-6
AUTHORS: Naheed Hassan (Editor), Sabahat Muhammad
(Editor), John Sequeira, Karthik L., Komal Singh, Maria Perry Mohan, Neelesh
Inamdar, Roshan Radhakrishnan , Ruchi Singh, Sanjay Madhavan, Shivani Shourie,
Sid Balachandran, Ada Wiam , Sonia Rao, Varsha Pillai, Viba, Adiana Ray,
Anamika GK, Aniesha Brahma, Diganta Sarkar, Dola Basu Singh, Farida Rahman,
Jaspreet Soni
GENRE: Fiction/
Short Stories / Mixed Genres.
NUMBER OF PAGES: 252
FORMAT: Digital/
PDF
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Indireads
sent me a review copy, I thank of Indireads for it!
SUMMARY:
‘Voices, Old & New’ is a fantastic
collection of short stories featuring the very best submissions from Indireads’
2nd Short Story Competition 2014. It is available for purchase on Amazon, and
is also available for free, as a thank-you gift, for a limited time, to all new
and existing subscribers of the Indireads newsletter.
REVIEW:
For the first time ever, a Summary
of the book doesn’t gloss up or exaggerate the contents. ‘Voices, Old &
New’ is exactly what it promises to be – a fantastic collection of short
stories. There can be no other explanation for it. Never has a book of short
stories impressed me so much as this one! The language and the editing –
complete with the grammar, are perfect, and it is a real treat to read such
beautifully written stories. Easily, this tops ALL the Indireads books I have
read so far.
Now for the review – how do I write
the reviews for the book of short stories that requires special attention and
special mentions for each and every story? Do I elaborate on the minute details
of every story and write a review that is as long as the book? Or write a
review of stories that affected me specially? For the sake of brevity in the
review, I have decided to choose the few stories that affected me the most.
These are not necessarily the most popular or this doesn’t mean the other
stories are in any way lesser – these are the stories that left a lasting
imprint in the mind of THIS reviewer.
Boomerang
– well, fitting twist, excellent start to an amazing book, though it is dark!
Brings out the perils of online chatting and what might come out of it – with
an unusual twist. Ruchi Singh, ma’am, hats off!
Revenge
– how can short phrases make a story so complete? I was initially left
searching for the rest of the story before I realised that this is the perfect
‘short story’. *smile emoticon*
A Slave to Thee
– Okay, this was the story that ‘totally’ threw me off guard. The most quirky
of this set, in my opinion! And so is the ending. John Sequeira, please give us
more such stories!
Prejudice
– another gem. It talks about a doctor who gets her opinion corrected by a
common girl, twice. A real treat!
The Ballet Lesson
– Reverence. Ray-vay-rahnss. (You have to read the story to get this reference!)
The Message
– paranormal at its best.
Between Him and Her
– Forbidden but still enticing. The extreme gentleness of unattainable love!
Meeting By Arrangement
– serendipity. That is the best word to describe this story.
Only You
– ‘Promise’ will become the new ‘Always’ to some Harry Potter fans reading this
story!
SPECIAL MENTION:
v To
author Farida Rahman for giving some
thought provoking stories! I really loved reading them.
v To
Sabahat Muhammad – for an excellent
cover design! I have never seen a more fitting cover for a book!
WHAT I LIKED: Everything
– almost.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: As
is expected, there are some stories I feel are lacking in certain elements. But
even those stories have that charm. So no real complaints!
VERDICT: Don’t
miss it! Go for it, definitely.
RATING: 4.5/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
(Each story in this book has the
‘about the author’ section after it. They are as much a treat to read as the
book itself!)
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Digital
PRICE: Rs.
186, (Currently free for Indireads subscribers!)
BOOK LINKS:
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