Publisher – Atthis Arts, LLC

Published – Out Now

Price – £11.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook

Strange things are happening in the heart of Delhi.

At Dadaji’s repair shop in Chandni Chowk, every broken object that passes through its seasoned teak doors is being transformed into something much…more.

A two-part novella, One Arm Shorter Than The Other weaves mysteries of fantasy with sci-fi possibilities.

Science fiction is often expected to be about the technology. The robots, the AI and so many more gadgets. Yes indeed some of these do eventually come to pass in different forms but often the more interesting stories are exploring our relationship with technology. How do they shape our lives and what does it tell us about humanity itself? This is what really struck me about the very impressive set of short, interlinked tales to be found in Gigi Ganguly’s One Arm Shorter Than The Other with tales of Delhi’s past and future where a strange repair shop casts its own unusual spell.

This tale has an unusual format starting with the tale titled Some Things (Like Upholstery) Remain Unchanged which focuses on the recently widowed Maurice who feels increasingly at a loss now living with this son’s family. Discovering an old family projector which a strange repair shop helps repair he gets astonishing very real glimpses of his wife and family. This tale allows Maurice to actually talk about his past. Here what impresses me is Ganguly’s use of the technology to help bring the past to life and allows Maurice to tell us this story of someone who came from a family of both Indian and British traditions; WW2, the birth of early cinema-going and a fairly repressive childhood all help make Maurice come back to life. It could have easily been a tale of nostalgia but ultimately, it’s a reminder the future needs to be embraced and the past can still be kept close and understood.

After this impressive opening tale, we get a Twilight Zone style tale with Be Careful With The TV Settings telling us about middle-aged Patritosh a frustrated actor recently released from a tv drama and now aimlessly looking at tv ads for a living. While Maurice is quite a sympathetic character here Ganguly gives us a far less kind character who only cares about himself. We see a man who had a promising acting career but one where he never really hit the big time, and all too often placed his resentment on his fellow cast, crew, and family. A drunken episode while alone sees him going to fix the family TV he has broken in a fit of rage. Then he finds himself trapped in the TV. It’s a slightly surreal and also darkly comic tale of someone having to actually stay in the moment with his family. It can be seen as a sweet episode but there are some very subtle moments of horror just under the surface. Here Technology in the form of media becomes Paritosh’s obsession for his route to fame and then also becomes his prison stopping his life moving on.

Changing styles again in Turn Up The Radio (Only)When It Rains we meet Inaya a 60 year old recently retired lover of books. The local sellers at the book market have found a radio which after a visit to the repair shop) gets her in contact with someone from the far future. I loved the way here Ganguly makes the present come alive with the scenes of life and community. Our last two stories all were more character centred pieces but here we have someone who does actually enjoy their life and so exploring their world makes sense. What makes this romance interesting is the arrival of the far future. We get a vision of a very different world where great technology and a new culture await. Here technology brings people together and the future sounds fantastic. It’s a sweet and fine end to the first part of the book – and it mentions a library too!

The second part of the story is really one longer tale focusing on the Delhi of the future and also explaining the mystery of the repair shop that we have repeatedly seen and the mysterious owner Arun with one arm shorter than the other. I’ll not explain everything as that spoils the fun gentle reader but what you will get is some great storytelling elaborating on a future post climate change, advanced technology, time travel and some interesting debates on what life is and what life is for. Add in some romance, tension, and a neat bit of time travel logic it’s a very satisfactory tale wrapping all the prior stories together. There is a sense of wonder and surprise I really enjoyed in this tale

This is a really impressive collection of tales with a fine sense of character and storytelling. Gentle but smart science fiction that as all the best stories do have quite a bit to tell us about ourselves. Highly recommended!