SBP&B
May 2019 Critique:
By
Troy David Loy
Last
Halt:
Ranu is having strange dreams, over and again, of a train station
snow, and a red umbrella. When her husband decides to take the two of
them travelling, they meet someone at a railway station strikingly
like that in Ranu’s dreams, and learn their secret, and of a
terrible tragedy at that very station long ago. I like that Miss Basu
is good at romantic themes in her stories, and that outcome of this
one caught me by surprise. Excellent!
Playful
Vultures:
Here, an unnamed young woman discovers a plot involving three men and
thier young, rich serial wives – er, I mean victims. One of them is
a bit more canny than her suitors, and plays them like an instrument
before discarding them. The reactions of their families and actual
wives are priceless.
The
Forebodings:
After recurrent nightmares, young Champak loses his parents, finding
that he is the inheritor of lands once owned by his royal
grandparents, and a king himself now.
There,
he meets young Mrinalini, whom he recognizes from his dreams of many
years! With talk of a curse, and a budding love for Mrinalini, he
discovers the secret of his premonitions, and saves his own life at
the expense of his heart. I enjoyed this one!
The
Game:
Rosa plays a game that never seems to end, in strange circumstances,
with her husband Jack. It concludes, and the outcome reveals a thing
she desperately wanted to know, even at great risk! Fortunately this
one ends well, a fitting end to this set of stories!
Agnimalya
May 2019 Critique:
Desecration:
When a deity statue is removed from its temple, a terrible series of
events befall Jenny and Mohit, and they are forced to extreme
measures to stop it. While those dead from the curse remain dead, the
worst is averted! Let laying gods lay!
Foul
One:
With strange masks of sinister power, a woman and her child become
pawns of an disfigured man and his accomplice. This one was short,
but different. It would be interesting to see a longer version where
the fates of all could play out, but this still ends fittingly!
Hang
First:
A young woman seeks medicinal flowers at a forbidden tree and
discovers a foul secret, only to be branded a witch and burned. What
is the tree’s secret? Things don’t go so well for the accused
witch’s killers and the source of the tree’s danger spreads
elsewhere! This was good!
Little
Kindness:
A young man enters a mysterious pool after saving a fish’s life by
returning it to the water, and is rescued – by a school of fishes!
This one was short and sweet, as he finds out the pool’s secret! I
wonder what the origin of the curse is? Perhaps a prequel might be a
good thing!
Coming
Kingdom May 2019 Critique:
The
Island:
Siddharth is lost at sea, in strange circumstances, when he washes
ashore on a seemingly vacant island – not so vacant after all, as
he finds out! Once he beholds a strange but beautiful woman during
his stay he becomes besotted for her, naming her Kamalika, for what
he thinks is only a few days – really several years, once he is
rescued!
The
Mine:
A terrible creature is holed up in an abandoned mine causing the
mysterious deaths of all who enter. Who, or what is the creature?
Where did she come from? What does she want? A tantric solves the
mystery, sealing the creature in a tunnel. But the creature waits
still, hearing all going on the other side of the barrier, hoping to
be loosed again! This one had an ominous ending, but good.
Mysterious
Encounters:
Mudit is hired to kill rampaging lions after brazen attacks on
laborers hired to clear a forest for roadbuilding, but a temple is
found, a temple of Goddess Kali Herself!
What
happens to Mudit, and what is the secret of the lions? I liked the
ending to this one!
The
Thing:
Rekha has a problem: recurrent attacks at night involving her baby,
or what she thinks is her baby. After a history of childlessness,
motherhood is hell from the start, and the attacks are dismissed by
her child’s nanny, Monalisa. What is Mona’s true nature, and is
she who, or what, she seems? This one was creepy, reminding me of
some of the horror movies of
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