Beyond The Canopy of Icicles

About the Book The desire to reach out to light and sunshine from the enveloping chill is primordial to humans and that is at the heart of the stories in the collection. To right the past, (“Monster”) eternal discontent with what is, (“Man/Superman”), timely realisation to escape a terrible sin (“Dual Curse?”), the ironies and paradoxes that are inescapable parts of the lived life (“Caring Son,” “Get the Bill,” and the “The Writ of Destiny”) are the thematic concerns around which move the warp and woof, to weave creative patterns. The sub-text of many tales is that the acts of wilful wantonness, callousness and cruelty invariably invoke nemesis – the karmic consequence. The story, “Nag and Cry” is different from the others in thematic trajectory. It portrays the extinction of ‘self’ in a writer and the travails he has to go through in order to ‘create.’ Whether the central characters succeed or fail in getting into the sunlight and warmth is not material. The affirmative strain is embedded in their unremitting and unceasing exertions to attain happiness and negotiate the cratered road of life. The narratives are not judgmental, nor are they sociological tracts offering solutions to the knotty problems life is vulnerable to. They are studied ruminations on the inter-play of light and shade in life in a realistic mode. About the Author Dr. Subhash Chandra is a former Associate Professor of English, University of Delhi. His collection of short stories, Not Just Another Story, published by LiFi Publications in 2017 has received rave reviews.