In A Small, Sleepy Town In Northern India, Three Children Gaze Out Onto A Rain-Drenched Street, Waiting For A Most Unusual Guest. Their Father S Younger Brother Is Coming To Stay. Who Is Younguncle? What S His Real Name? Was He Really, Truly Kidnapped By Monkeys When He Was Little? Can He Really Make A Noise Like A Sewing Machine? Will He Ever (Heaven Forbid!) Settle Down And Get Married? When He Finally Arrives, Sarita, Ravi And The Baby Know Instantly That Their Lives Will Never Be The Same Again. Meet India S Newest And Most Engaging Literary Creation, As He Outwits The Local Hoodlums, Rescues The Town S Finest Milk-Cow, Evades The Baby S Schemes To Eat His Shirts, Flummoxes Unwanted In-Laws, Plucks The Hair From A Sleeping Tiger S Tail, And Generally Turns The World Upside-Down.

When Younguncle And His Family Head Go Off On A Himalayan Holiday, You Know The Hills Are Never Going To Be The Same Again. Carrying A Message From The Monkeys Of The Plains To Their Mountain-Dwelling Relatives, Younguncle And The Three Children Embark On A Series Of Hilarious Encounters At The Gloomy, Mysterious And Haunted Hotel Pine-Away. As Younguncle Chats With The Monkeys, Debates The True Nature Of Reality With An Off-Beat Sect Of Quantum Banana Spiritualists, The Fate Of The Picturesque Little Valley Hangs In The Balance. Who Is The Strange Rat-Girl, Who Charms The Rodents Out Of Their Hotel? Can The Children And Their Eccentric Uncle Thwart The Plans Of That 50-Lakh Bridegroom, Pradeep Dalmakhni? Can Younguncle Help Dalmakhni S Intended Bride To Escape A Fate Worse Than Death? Or Has He, Finally, Met His Match? For All Those Who Have Been Enchanted By Younguncle In The First Book, This New Adventure Will Be A Delight. And If You Haven T Met Him Before, Younguncle Will Be A Friend For Life!

Philip K. Dick Award finalist Praise for Vandana Singh: “A most promising and original young writer.”—Ursula K. Le Guin “Lovely! What a pleasure this book is . . . full of warmth, compassion, affection, high comedy and low.”—Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses “Vandana Singh’s radiant protagonist is a planet unto herself.”—Village Voice “Sweeping starscapes and daring cosmology that make Singh a worthy heir to Cordwainer Smith and Arthur C. Clarke.”—Chris Moriarty, Fantasy & Science Fiction “I’m looking forward to the collection . . . everything I’ve read has impressed me—the past and future visions in ‘Delhi’, the intensity of ‘Thirst’, the feeling of escape at the end of ‘The Tetrahedron’...” —Niall Harrison, Vector (British Science Fiction Association) “...the first writer of Indian origin to make a serious mark in the SF world ... she writes with such a beguiling touch of the strange.” —Nilanjana Roy, Business Standard In her first North American collection, Vandana Singh’s deep humanism interplays with her scientific background in stories that explore and celebrate this world and others and characters who are trying to make sense of the people they meet, what they see, and the challenges they face. An eleventh century poet wakes to find he is as an artificially intelligent companion on a starship. A woman of no account has the ability to look into the past. In "Requiem," a major new novella, a woman goes to Alaska to try and make sense of her aunt’s disappearance. Singh's stories have been performed on BBC radio, been finalists for the British SF Association award, selected for the Tiptree award honor list, and oft reprinted in Best of the Year anthologies. Her dives deep into the vast strangeness of the universe without and within and with her unblinking clear vision she explores the ways we move through space and time: together, yet always apart.

Before becoming the first female private investigator in Botswana, eight-year-old Precious Ramotswe tracks down a thief who has been stealing her classmates' snacks.

India'S First Ever Sff (Science Fiction/Fantasy) Genre Novel In English The Simoqin Prophecies Marks The Debut Of An Assured New Voice. Written With Consummate Ease And Brimming With Wit And Allusion, It Is At Once Classic Sff And Subtle Spoof, Featuring Scantily Clad Centauresses, Flying Carpets, Pink Trolls, Belly Dancers And Homicidal Rabbits. Monty Python Meets The Ramayana, Alice In Wonderland Meets The Lord Of The Rings And Robin Hood Meets The Arabian Nights In This Novel A Breathtaking Ride Through A World Peopled By Different Races And Cultures From Mythology And History. The Prophecies Foretell The Reawakening Of The Terrible Rakshas, Danh-Gem, And The Arrival Of A Hero To Face Him. But Heroes Do Not Appear Magically Out Of Nowhere; They Have To Be Found And Trained. And Sometimes The Makers Of Prophecies Don'T Know Everything They Need To Know... As The Day Of Danh-Gem'S Rising Draws Closer And The Chosen Hero Is Sent On A Quest, Another Young Man Learns Of Terrible Things He Must Do In Secret And The Difficult Choices He Must Make In Order To Save The World From The Rakshas. Drawn From A Variety Of Sources Ranging From Greek And Indian Epics To Spy Novels, Fairy Tales To Superhero Comics, The Simoqin Prophecies Is A Compelling Tale, Marked By Meticulous Plotting And Artful Storytelling A Page-Turner Sure To Grip You From Start To Finish.

Science fiction, as a literature of fantasy, goes beyond the mundane to ask the question: what if the world were different from the way it is? It often challenges the real, builds on imagination, places no limits on human capacities, and encourages readers to think outside their social and cultural conditioning. This book presents a systematic study of Indian women’s science fiction. It offers a critical analysis of the works of four female Indian writers of science fiction: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Manjula Padmanabhan, Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Vandana Singh. The author considers not only the evolution of science fiction writing in India, but also discusses the use of innovations and unique themes including science fiction in different Indian languages; the literary, political, and educational activism of the women writers; and eco-feminism and the idea of cloning in writing, to argue that this genre could be viewed as a vibrant representation of freedom of expression and radical literature. This ground-breaking volume will be useful for scholars and researchers of English literature. It will also prove a very useful source for further studies into Indian literature, science and technology studies, women’s and gender studies, comparative literature and cultural studies.

A comprehensive study of children's fantasy literature across the English-speaking world, from the sixteenth century to the present.