Radhika Mukherjee's Blog, page 10
June 5, 2016
On Lightning Wings
Cloud Wings
Suppose the way lay through the air?
Would you with your pink lightning wings,
Go charging across the ocean,
Straight to what you thought was the heart of the world?
The tears of cut grass smell so mellifluous!
Everything spills tears today – from me.
I imagine you at least, free—
Soaring, with those crackling wings,
Reaching at last that space of my torment;
Of my deepest longing.
Filed under: Lyrical (Poetry), The Eye (Photography) Tagged: beauty, creativity, inspiration, nature photography, Photography, photos, Poem, poetry, Sky, sky photography, writing, Writing Poetry
June 1, 2016
In Memory of Moti (#WordlessWednesdays)
Moti The Valiant
Filed under: The Eye (Photography) Tagged: Art, creativity, dogs, feeling, pets, Photography, photos, wordless wednesdays
May 28, 2016
The Flavor of Loneliness
The flavor of loneliness
Is a smoky vanilla
Without the sweet,
Without the usual milkiness.
There’s only the insubstantial echoes of sweetness,
Within intangibles so intense, the very self evaporates.
The flavor of loneliness
Is an intense bitter chocolate.
Dizzying, electrifying, giddy.
Coating the tongue with desperation,
Buzzing like static that never coalesces
Into the image of a connected whole.
The flavor of loneliness
Is condensed milk gulped right from the can.
The fiery sweet that nearly knocks you out.
A trance of resounding silence.
That goes on and on,
Into a black nothingness.
Filed under: Lyrical (Poetry) Tagged: beauty, creativity, lonliness, Poem, poetry, writing, Writing Poetry
Going, Going, Gone…
The bell had tolled, the pleasantly plump lady has sung her siren song, the bird is ready to fly free from her cage!
This site is all ready to move!
The data has been exported, a few themes shortlisted and hosting arranged for.
It’s going to be a photo-poet-dream site!
Sign-up quick for my newsletter! That way you can be part of the unveiling and we can stay in touch!
Want to stay connected on WordPress?
Follow me on my other blog: Light Under Shadow!
Au revoir sweet friend!
Filed under: Celebrating Blogging, Writing Corner Tagged: bloggers, blogging, Creativity, Writer, Writing
May 22, 2016
It’s Moving Time!
This website and blog, radhikamukherjee.com is moving! Away from WordPress hosting and perhaps even the WordPress community, to set up boldly in the uncharted waters of the World Wide Web!
The reason for the move is two-fold
a) The one-year contract with WordPress is running out.
b) At this stage of my writing career, with one book out and more on the way, I need more functionality from a website. Namely the ability to sell my book/s directly to readers. This applies to photographs as well.
So around the end of May 2016 or the first week of June 2016, my blog posts will no longer appear in your reader or be accessible through tags to the larger wordpress community.
And I am a bit sad about that!
The wordpress community has been so supportive, so generous, that this anxious writer could not possibly have survived the last couple of years without all the ‘likes’ and comments and to and fros.
If you want to keep in touch with my writing-dreaming-photographing journey, I invite you to two venues.
The first is my newsletter, which I currently send out once a month, at the beginning of the month, but which will include important announcements.
You can check out the first edition of the newsletter, right here: Radhika’s Mega May Missive
The second way is through WordPress itself. If you scoot over to my Light Under Shadow poetry and photography blog, I promise to post on that blog around once a week.
So there you have it, a change is coming and it’s amazing! I hope to see you there with me![image error]
Filed under: Celebrating Blogging, Radhika Writes Tagged: blogging, Writing
May 1, 2016
An Invitation To Join My Email Newsletter
Tomorrow is going to be awesome! It’s an extra-special day in my life and I am going to send out my very first email newsletter.
It feels amazing to be starting on this new, more personal medium of communication with my friends and readers.
You’re going to be a part of this cooler-than-cool trip, right? I promise to cherish and keep your email address safe!
If you sign-up, every month, you’ll receive a long newsletter chock-full of amazingness!
You’ll get links to the best of my online publications. A behind the scenes look at how my books and other creative projects are evolving. I’ll be sharing the vital creative lessons I’m learning on the way to fulfilling my dreams. You’ll receive first notification of all news. And lots of freebies and exclusive content, that comes straight from the soul! You’ll even be able to weigh-in with your thoughts and opinions.
Sounds good?
And if you do, you’ll also find out why 2nd of May is so extra-special for me![image error]
Talk tomorrow!
Filed under: Radhika Writes, Scintillating Conversations Tagged: Books, Creativity, fiction, inspiration, news, newsletter, Writer, Writing, writing fiction
April 24, 2016
A Fabulous 5-Star Professional Review For Broken Shadows
You won’t believe what happened!
Broken Shadows, my new book of abstract, poetic micro fiction got a 5 STAR professional review!! This is a review from Reader’s Favorite, a professional reviewing service.
It’s so cool!
I’m totally floored by the sensitivity with which the reviewer Sarah Stuart had read and reviewed Broken Shadows!
Check out the review on the Reader’s Favorite site!
I’m quoting the text here for you as well:
Broken Shadows (Shadow Stories Book 2) is a collection of twelve short stories of varying lengths. The author, Radhika Mukherjee, recommends reading each with a break in between to allow time for assimilation of the meaning; they have a central thread – isolation and discovery – but each presents a very different aspect of her chosen theme. It encompasses isolation as a result of being alone, of a mind deprived, and of the soul, discovery of self, of pain, of loneliness, and the solitary, shadowy essence of one’s own identity. The stories go beyond gender and ethnicity, giving the whole collection a remarkable and rare universal appeal.
Broken Shadows (Shadow Stories Book 2) is like no other anthology I have ever read. Radhika Mukherjee has a very distinct voice that challenges the reader to think, to feel, to be. Intrigued by “Translucent,” I read on, slowly: it is necessary to pause between each narrative. Without contact with the internet, the world, even a rose is enviable; it has all that it needs, whilst “Pain” is more than agony. Suffering debilitating, disabling, pain hurts most in what it takes away from life: independence, the ability to survive alone. Each of these poetic tales has merit and readers will have their own favourites. Mine is “Cold”, the story of a daughter, wife, and mother no longer needed, abandoned to live on the streets. Appalling, frightening, and yet lit with the colour of autumn by sparks leaping from the flames of a blazing fire. I recommend Broken Shadows unreservedly.
Isn’t it a wonderful review?
I’m sure you want to check it out Broken Shadows now?
Broken Shadows is available in eBook form, only for $0.99 / INR 49 at various eBook outlets.
Buy Broken Shadows from: Amazon
Buy Broken Shadows from: Apple iBooks
Buy Broken Shadows from: Kobo
Buy Broken Shadows from: Nook (Barnes & Noble)
Add on: Goodreads
Hope Broken Shadows illuminates your day!
Filed under: My Books Tagged: Book Release, book review, Books, Creativity, fiction, short stories, Writing, writing fiction
April 9, 2016
The Radiant Reviews Of Broken Shadows
Broken Shadows, the book of micro fiction, with its 12 intense, abstract stories, I released last month, has garnered a few wonderful reviews![image error]
Two reviews especially, are reviews I could only dream of as a writer. It is as if the shards of my soul I put out there into the world met their perfectly resonating complements in these two readers.
The first review I’d like to bring to your attention is by Saket Suresh. The main review is hosted on his blog Love, Life & Happiness and can only be described as an explosion of empathy and generosity!
To quote from the review:
“If one has picked up this book in passing, by the time one reads the first page of the first chapter, a perfumed, heavenly sense envelopes the reader. To me the most lovely prose is the one which melts into poetry. It is bit more handsome than poetry, less delicate, but as beautiful and as accurate. Radhika effortlessly attains that which essentially evidences the effort that would have gone into it, not visible to the reader.”
The second review which made me break into another happy dance is by Ankur Surin. You can check out his lovely blog here. His review was posted on the Goodreads page of Broken Shadows and he just ‘got’ it, you know? It was amazing!
To quote the part of the review that just blew my mind:
“I call the characters ‘selves’ because I could identify with a couple of the ‘selves’ and I am sure other readers will share the same experience. One of the reasons for this easy identification is that the selves are grounded in reality. They are like the-everyday-us, doing everyday things and going through daily torment. Yet the stories manage to rise above the mundane and connect with the ethereal.”
After such stellar recommendations, I hope you’ll check out the book?
You can read the first two stories by clicking on this link.
Here are all the buying links:
(Broken Shadows is available in eBook form only.)
Buy Broken Shadows from: Amazon
Buy Broken Shadows from: Apple iBooks
Buy Broken Shadows from: Kobo
Buy Broken Shadows from: Nook (Barnes & Noble)
Add on: Goodreads
Thank you![image error]
Filed under: My Books, Radhika Writes Tagged: Book Release, Books, creative writing, fiction, flash fiction, reviews, short stories, Writing, writing fiction
March 26, 2016
Broken Shadows eBook Buying Links
Broken Shadows is now live across platforms ranging from Kindle to Kobo.
Broken Shadows is a collection of 12 abstract micro fiction stories which explore the sighs and sorrows of the deepest self. Joy peeks shyly from the shadows, while healing takes center-stage.
If you’ve ever been hurt, ever felt bewildered by the world, ever felt it was all just too much, this is the book for you.
I’m delighted to say that in this one week, since release day, Broken Shadows has received some praise! Such as on this goodreads review and this blog review.
Want a taste before trying? There’s a free PDF preview available for download.
Click here for the first two stories!
And finally—
Here’s where you can get the Broken Shadows eBook:
Amazon (Kindle: will redirect to your local amazon store) : getBook.at/BrokenShadows
Apple (iBooks / iTunes : Might only work for the US) : https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1095198226
Kobo (International link) : https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/broken-shadows-6
Nook (Barnes & Noble : Might only work for the US) : http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-shadows-r…/1123563604
I’d love to hear what you felt when you read Broken Shadows!
Just shoot me a mail at radhika (at) radhikamukherjee (dot) com
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Filed under: My Books Tagged: Book Release, Books, fiction, flash fiction, short stories, Writer, Writers, Writing, writing fiction
March 20, 2016
It Is Release Day! Broken Shadows Is Live!
Broken Shadows, a collection of 12 intense, artistic Shadow Stories, has officially been released on Amazon in all territories!
Here the link: getBook.at/BrokenShadows
And it’s received a rave review!
It is such a happy release day!! I’ve literally been alternately dazed and dancing all over the house.
Let me share the introduction to the book with you:
Introduction to Broken Shadows
Broken Shadows is my second collection of Shadow Stories. The first collection was Our Particular Shadows, published initially in 2013. The Shadow Stories are a form of ephemeral storytelling that seemed to arise of its own volition, and which bypass light and dark to explore the shadowy regions of the deepest self.
Each story, which ranges between 500 to 1000 words, features an unnamed protagonist, to whom you can assign the gender of your choosing. Told in the voice of the central characters, the stories in Broken Shadows trace the trajectory of intensely personal, significant moments.
It is the self speaking to and for itself – no mediation, no subterfuge. Just a questing mind seeking to understand itself and the world. Sometimes, even hidden from itself; balanced on the cusp of a glimmer of truth.
These stories, though short, are by no means an easy-breezy read. There are layers of experience packed into single phrases, which are redolent with connotation and scope for interpretation. You may find that more than one reading is required to ‘get’ the form and format of this genre of stories. When you do, there are rewards galore!
***
I hope you will take a look at Broken Shadows!
Filed under: My Books, Soul Stories Tagged: Book Release, Books, Creativity, flash fiction, short stories, Writing, writing fiction
