A Fiery Flesh and Other Stories

Everybody has a small strand of flaming flesh burning deep within them: whether it explodes like a volcano or flickers like a firefly, it does not matter. Most importantly, for whom do the flames burn? A Fiery Flesh and Other Stories is a collection of stories that expose the flimsy nature of the human heart and the frailty of the human body in various ways. A man who drowns in an emotional shower after encountering a merman who resembles his deceased childhood friend. An all-consuming passion that turns a man into a bat, and lecherously, some woman, into bakawali. A medical assistant narrates how a lost placenta of a premature infant triggers a chain of curses. A love triangle between sisters leaves a mother with no choice but to replace her daughter as the bride. A potted plant enlightens a timid woman about a sassy way to escape from her control freak mother-in-law. A burned-out housewife finds a haven where the sensual rituals of traditional massage are practised. An arsonist uses a tangle of red string to draw her husband’s fiery qi into herself.