The closeness between her brilliant, beautiful mother and her talented, intelligent daughter re-enforces a woman's sense of her own inferiority. Add to this her lifelong horror of bats, and things go from bad to worse.

Laxmi, a girl from the lowest caste of a village in the remote west of Nepal, is told that she is the unlucky kind. But, resourceful and fiercely protective of her sister and niece, she is determined that low birth will not ruin their lives. All profits from this story go to aid work in Nepal.

The partition doors. The other side scored with a frenzy of deep, narrow lines. Like the scratches of lunatic hypodermics. The message. That insane message.

Anna Maria is an opera singer who, following an accident, has forgotten how to sing. She starts to find her voice again in the most unlikely place and with the most unlikely people, in a place of sanctuary where the strangest character of all is a young boy whom only she can see.

A jaded city commuter and office worker is unexpectedly invited to 'break free' from the herd. His joy is short-lived and he is quickly returned to the treadmill. He will never meet her like again. There will be no repetition - or will there?

Fleeing an abusive relationship, a young woman returns to her hometown and her bereaved mother. ***Please Note: This story is also available in the collection "Indelible and Other Stories".***

How can Maya survive in a world where humans are on the verge of extinction and chumps – genetically-modified chimps – keep people to do their dirty work?