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The Long and Short of A to Z Stories of Life and Death

A to Z stories

A to Z stories

As regular readers of this blog know, I’m publishing A to Z Stories of Life and Death as an ebook of stories I did during the A to Z Challenge in April.

Below, I’m sharing the short description (>400 characters) and the long description (>4000 characters) that I need to upload on Smashwords. Those familiar with some of the stories, please tell me if they ring true. Those who’ve never read any of my short work, please tell me if these descriptions would intrigue you enough to spend some small change on it!

Short Description:

How do you judge a teacher toying with the sexuality of her teenaged student? A boy who decides to murder his mother? What thoughts rage inside a pedophile serial killer before he shoots himself? These are some of the premises of 26 stories of life and death, based on 26 letters of the alphabet. They question the concepts of beauty, truth, and morality, by revealing the face of the other side.

Long Description:

The twenty-six A to Z stories based on twenty-six letters of the alphabet cover a wide spectrum. They show us people at a point in their life when it changes, for the better or worse, because they choose to make a decision. 

The stories also question our moral compass: how do you judge a teacher toying with the sexuality of her teenaged student? A boy who decides to murder his mother? What thoughts rage inside a pedophile serial killer before he shoots himself?

Some of the characters in the stories confront death, others talk about life with its quirks and whimsies. Each voice, ranging in age from a six-year-old to a centenarian, has its own riveting story to tell. Together, this collection of stories at over 12000 words attempts to prove that when it comes to stories, depth can sometimes replace length and breadth.

Please tell me what you think, and feel free to leave me changes in the comments, or on email at meringue dot p at gmail dot com.

I’ll be grateful as always. Thanks once again to those (you know who you are) who suggested the book, and those who’re helping me bring it to being.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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11 Comments

  • Wow! That is an exciting slant.

  • I love the short description. It’s quite chilling actually! But captivating at the same time. And the cover is BEAUTIFUL! I shall put it on my blog to spread the word…

  • DarcKnyt says:

    I thought the short description was better; it sort of got to the point without describing the challenge so much, which is really irrelevant now. The compilation can now stand alone no matter what you used as a prompt. So too the word count. That’s not important to the reader. I’d love to see you blend the short description with the long one — the short one the first paragraph, the second paragraph the last part of the description — and be a punchier whole.

    Still, very nicely done and I can’t wait for the release!

  • Short version-perfect! In the long version I was tripped up at “They show us people at a point in their life when it changes, for the better or worse, because they choose to make a decision.” For some reason I was thinking it should read “points in their lives” but I’m not certain on grammar rules (and also not the greatest at them). Otherwise I love them both.

    And yes, definitely worth spending my money on 😉

  • The short description grabs me more as it cuts directly to the chase.

    The long one works too. In terms of piquing interest, I’d probably use the second paragraph as the leading one, starting ‘How do you judge…?’

    Then I’d move the current leading paragraph next. Reason? The ‘How do you judge…?’ para tells me immediately what the book is about and the other one ‘The 26 A-Z…’ gives me background info.that I can use after you’ve grabbed my attention.

    I may be way off (short attention span and all) but thought I’d share that with you.

  • Like both descriptions. The longer one really defines the Challenge. Don’t remember that first story though…

    • Damyanti says:

      Thanks! The first story is one of the new ones I’ve written to replace some of the original stories. I think I tossed out about 14 of the original, one way or the other 🙂 cos I wanted to write better stuff 🙂