The short stories in this anthology share a unique distinction: all navigate the different aspects of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal when the country was thrown chaotically into war. The stories were originally written in Nepali by police officers, Maoist fighters, and established authors. The stories show different aspects of the war time era of Nepal. Manu Brajaki’s ‘Now, Your Turn, My Dear!’ offers an intimate look at the crippling fear and tragedy that befall a couple. Bhaupanthi’s ‘The Senseless Killing of a Man’ focuses on the gratuitous killing of a government officer. Maya Thakuri’s ‘The Descending Mountain’ explores the grim reality of rural life during the conflict, and Padmavati Singh’s ‘The Silence of Violence’ centers on the plight of a displaced village woman. Bhagirathi Shrestha’s ‘Execution’ mingles the disturbed mental state and execution of its main character with the questionable war-time values of society. Sharmila Khadka’s ‘Sukanya, Alias Nilima’ presents an injured officer’s stream of consciousness during his hazy awakening after an attack, and Roshan Thapa’s ‘Unbearable’ follows a man’s emotional return to his razed village. In Khagendra Sangraula’s ‘Hareram’s Mother’, we suffer through an old woman’s lamentation over the death of her son. Similarly, we endure the plight of a poor farmer in Ghanashyam Dhakal’s ‘Remorse’. In both Homshankar Bastola’s ‘The Shadow of a Gun’ and Saral Sahayatri’s ‘We, Two Soldiers’ we are presented with both sides of the war and its destructive ability to divide close friends. Mahesh Bikram Shah’s ‘Buddha in the Slaughterhouse’ presents an eerie scene of death and depravity, reminiscent of Hitler’s concentration camps. A young soldier observes a pregnant woman’s murder in Nirmal Acharya’s ‘A Civil Servant’s Diary’, while Rajkumar Dikpal’s ‘Liwang, 2006’ tells the harrowing tale of an old woman. Finally, we accompany a captive soldier on his march to death in Nawa Silwal’s ‘The Prisoner’.
