So, if a Chinese person were to be uttering the number forty-four standing next to a Spanish person would the latter think that the former was in agreement? o_O

You’re beginning to think we might need a session with a good therapist, right? We hear you.

Oh, and by the way, the word ‘therapist’, if read incorrectly, splits into two words: the rapist. No offence meant, just pointing out a funny (and wholly unrelated) coincidence.

According to RAINN, approximately ⅔rds of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim.

There is an easy way to display fractions on your blog using ASCII codes: Use “&frac”–followed by the digits in the numerator and denominator, followed by a semi-colon. For example, “& f r a c 2 3 ;” without the quotes and spaces reads–yup, you guessed right–⅔.

Sheesh. While we scan the pages for a good therapist within our budget, we’ll leave you with the Silver Winner story for this week. ;)

Through the Half-Open Door…

This week’s Silver Winner, Raji is an English Literature grad but prefers to write stuff mostly for herself. She thinks she doesn’t qualify as an author just yet but her story tells us otherwise. We’ll leave you to decide for yourself!
Read more: Through the Half-Open Door…
Word Count: 1750 words

As we explained earlier, we aren’t accepting new submissions as of now – we’re still trying to clear our (proverbial) desks and achieve a zero-inbox status. We apologize for the inconvenience and assure you that we are working towards a swift return to status quo.

Authors who have submitted their stories via HeyPublisher or SubMishMash – please note that, as per policy, all simultaneous submissions will continue to remain in a queue until we are the only publishers left in the submission list. We might respond with notes & reviews but we won’t accept your submissions until other publishers have had a chance to review it. :)

That’s it for now! Keep writing, keep reading and keep in touch!

The only two verbs that rule our lives are ‘want’ and ‘need’ – everything else simply follows.

You secure what you need and work to retain it; the most notable examples being food, clothing, and shelter. On the other hand, you covet what you want and strive to achieve it: better grades, better job, bigger car, bigger house and such. Sure, in some cases the roles may be reversed but the fact remains that no other verb comes as close to our lives as either of these two.

This little nugget – while a powerful life-lesson in its own right – is also the underlying theme within the two Silver Winner stories we have chosen for you this week!

A Kiss

Aanandita’s protagonist, Aarushi, is one of the lucky few who finds the love of her life, Navin, through another love of her life: dance. But, is it even possible to have two loves of your life at the same time, no matter how much you want, or even need it?
Read more: A Kiss
Word Count: 1800 words

Sparkles

Little Piya, wants something that Gurneet has. In fact, she wants it so bad she begins to believe she needs it and is determined to have it. Will she get what she want? Abhilasha’s d.ustb.in debut poses a poignant question about the innocence of innocents…
Read more: Sparkles
Word Count: 1500 words

As we explained earlier, we aren’t accepting new submissions as of now – we’re still trying to clear our (proverbial) desks and achieve a zero-inbox status. We apologize for the inconvenience and assure you that we are working towards a swift return to status quo.

Authors who have submitted their stories via HeyPublisher or SubMishMash – please note that, as per policy, all simultaneous submissions will continue to remain in a queue until we are the only publishers left in the submission list. We might respond with notes & reviews but we won’t accept your submissions until other publishers have had a chance to review it. :)

That’s it for now! Keep writing, keep reading and keep in touch!

Before we proceed to the stories – or rather, story (yeah, just the one) – we wish to apologize for the delay in publishing this week’s lot – we were waiting for some last minute approvals from authors, but they still hadn’t come in at the time of writing, so we decided to go ahead and run with what we had in the queue – hope you like it. We’re sure to have a lot more for you next week! :)

Heartstrings

To those of you who have been readers from the beginning, we’re sure that Roshan “The Doc” Radhakrishnan is a familiar name. Well, there’s good news. The Doc is back in the d.ustb.in with a story that you will definitely identify with – whether you are in love, out of love or waiting for love! If you haven’t read Roshan’s earlier works, you can start with this one – it is sure to tug at your heartstrings… :)
Read more: Heartstrings
Word Count: 1700 words

As we explained earlier, we aren’t accepting new submissions as of now – we’re still trying to clear our (proverbial) desks and achieve a zero-inbox status. We apologize for the inconvenience and assure you that we are working towards a swift return to status quo.

Authors who have submitted their stories via HeyPublisher or SubMishMash – please note that, as per policy, all simultaneous submissions will continue to remain in a queue until we are the only publishers left in the submission list. We might respond with notes & reviews but we won’t accept your submissions until other publishers have had a chance to review it. :)

That’s it for now! Keep writing, keep reading and keep in touch! Also, long live DNA!

Last week, we told you that we won’t be accepting new submissions – we had quite the backlog pending. The good news is, we have started working towards a zero inbox and hope to achieve it pretty soon. The better news is, the first of the Silver Winners we told you about last week will be making their debuts in the d.ustb.in. For those who missed last week’s updates, the list of Notable Mentions for the Urban Stories Competition ’11, organized by Landmark & Grey Oak is now available. If your name is among the authors and you haven’t received a mail from us, please check your spam folder or contact us, ASAP!

At the d.ustb.in, we believe in the importance of second chances and winning silver. We keep saying that the Silver Winners deserve as much respect as any other. This week we thought we’d stress the point some more; we created a little something for each of the Silver Winners of the Urban Stories Competition ’11!

The d.ustb.in is proud to present the “Silver Winner” badge! YAY!

Ain’t it a beaut? :)

We begin with the first two “accepts” from the list of Silver Winners – Shuba Desikan & Shoma Narayanan. Take it away, ladies! :)

Crossroads

Shuba Desikan, our Chennai-based d.ustb.in debutante, may be laconic when describing herself but give her a story to write and words seem to just pour out. She debuts in the d.ustb.in with a beautiful travelogue-cum-biographical-narrative of Nirmala, a teacher in her late twenties, on a solitary journey to Jaipur, Rajasthan – the Pink City.
Read more: Crossroads
Word Count: 3000 words

A Practical Decision

Our other d.ustb.in debutante, Shoma Narayanan, counts money (read: is a banker) by day, and words (read: is writing her first novel) by night. In her own words, “A Practical Decision” is the story of a young boy who ‘finds an old photograph of his parents that has an odd effect on him – and a profound impact on his father…’ We aren’t saying anything else! ;)
Read more: A Practical Decision
Word Count: 2700 words

As we explained last week, we aren’t accepting submissions as of now – we’re still trying to clear our (proverbial) desks and achieve a zero-inbox status. We apologize for the inconvenience and assure you that we are working towards a swift return to status quo.

Authors who have submitted their stories via HeyPublisher or SubMishMash – please note that, as per policy, all simultaneous submissions will continue to remain in a queue until we are the only publishers left in the submission list. We might respond with notes & reviews but we won’t accept your submissions until other publishers have had a chance to review it. :)

That’s it for now! Keep writing, keep reading and keep in touch!

What this means is, if you have submitted a story to us and haven’t received a clear response about its status, we will send you a final reply regarding the final status of your submission. We’ll try and process edit-requests as well, but given the constraints of time and resources, we’re not sure if we’ll be able to do that for everyone. We sincerely apologize for the same.

Those of you who have already submitted their entries through HeyPublisher or SubMishMash, do remember that if the story has been sent to multiple publishers, we will wait until all the others have rejected it – that’s what the d.ustb.in was primarily created for!
(Yes, we proudly claim that we have the LONGEST approval period of any magazine out there – we are always here if everyone else rejects your work!)

Two very important things:
One, the “Ode 2 Beer” contest is now closed for entries. Thank you very much to all those who sent in their creations. Three lucky winners will be chosen to receive one each of the following prizes:

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

The prizes are courtesy our dear friends over at Doolally Micro Brews. The winners will have the choice of claiming their prizes in cash or as Gift Vouchers from Doolally Micro Brews – if you ask us, we’d opt for the latter! :D

Two, the long-list for stories submitted for Landmark & Grey Oak Urban Stories Competition ’11 has been declared here. If you are among the authors who made it to the long list, congratulations!! We wish you a very successful journey as a published author and hope that we never see any of your works in the d.ustb.in! :D

However, if your name doesn’t feature in that list – don’t fret! There’s still our very own list of Notable Mentions (PDF) or our Silver Winners, as we prefer to call them! The Silver Winners list is a list of stories that could not make the long list of stories – for whatever reason. We believe that these stories and their deserve recognition for their efforts.

That’s where we come in – we’re the d.ustb.in, remember? :)

If your names features in the list of Notable Mentions, we would love to feature your story in the d.ustb.in – unless you are planning to submit it elsewhere, of course! We will be contacting each one of you shortly with all the required details. Just ensure our mails don’t end up in your spam folder! :D

As for now, keep writing, keep reading and keep in touch! :)

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

The prizes are courtesy our dear friends over at Doolally Micro Brews. Further details about the contest can be found on the Rules & Regulations page. Submit your beer-y masterpieces here:

TWO: Help us spread the word, please. :)

Yeah, that’s about it. Ready for this week’s chosen one?

The Better Half

One of our most prolific authors Nirvana returns this week with a touching story about a newly-wed Indian wife who, while trying hard to adjust to her new role, finds out the true meaning of love and marriage. If you read (and liked) ‘Umbilical Cord,’ you will surely like this one, too!
Read more: The Better Half
Word Count: 1400 words

As always, you’re always welcome to submit your stories for review. Just a quick reminder that we’re also accepting poems as a form of fiction, too! By-the-by, you should also follow us @_dbin on twitter! Do chat us up!

PS: The usual reminders:

1. We are listed in the Duotrope’s digest as a fledgling market!
2. We are a HeyPublisher Preferred Partner!
3. Do you SubMishMash? You can now use it to submit your stories to the d.ustbin as well.

Sit yourself down in front of that computer of yours and fire up that word-processor. Let your thoughts run amok. Pick a word here and a phrase there. String it together. Take a sip at the fountain of knowledge. Raise a toast to the indomitability of the spirit. Praise the golden liiquid that flows through the tap and compose your very best ‘Ode 2 Beer‘!!

To those who are new to the party, let us remind you of what is at stake: Thanks to our dear friends over at Doolally Micro Brews, we are offering the following prizes to the three best poems about beer:

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

No entry fee. No reading charges. No strings attached. No ‘strange’ rules. Further details can be found on the Rules & Regulations page. Submit your beer-y masterpieces here:

You might wonder why we are encouraging the lethargic writer in you. Well, to be honest, we are merely saying, ‘Look, here is a chance for you to redeem yourself. Take it, grab it with both your hands. Maybe this is the moment where you take a sledgehammer to your writer’s block and claim what’s rightfully yours – the power over your words. Seize it.”

Sometimes you have step back to see the larger picture. Sure the finer brush strokes can take your breath away but the larger picture often gives you a moment to catch your breath. In simple words, life sometimes needs a reset. Sometimes you do it yourself, sometimes someone else does it for you. Today, we did it for you. Someday, you’ll do it for us. :)

Sit back, take a deep breath, and read what we have for you in store this week. :)

Dark Scripture

We welcome Grant Wamack and his first entry in the d.ustb.in – “Dark Scriptures” – the story of a man’s search into his dark past and how it affects him and those around him. Like we said earlier, everyone needs a reset.
Read more: Dark Scripture
Word Count: 1000 words

As always, you’re always welcome to submit your stories for review. Just a quick reminder that we’re also accepting poems as a form of fiction, too! By-the-by, you should also follow us @_dbin on twitter! Do chat us up!

PS: The usual reminders:

1. We are listed in the Duotrope’s digest as a fledgling market!
2. We are a HeyPublisher Preferred Partner!
3. Do you SubMishMash? You can now use it to submit your stories to the d.ustbin as well.

Either you are the guy who loves Douglas Adams and says, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by,” or you prefer Émile Zola‘s way of putting it: “One forges one’s style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines.” Either way, we just want to tell you that the deadline for our Ode 2 Beer contest is now staring at you in your face.

Now, we’ve had a few people ask us if we were planning to extend the 30th June 2011 deadline – it is considered quite the fashionable thing to do, we hear.

Believe us when we say, we are seriously considering giving an extension.

No, not because it is fashionable but because we still haven’t found a poem that is an ‘ode to beer’ in the truest sense, form and everything else that counts. (NOTE: That is the jury’s opinion. No offense intended to all those who have submitted their entries. Frankly, here at the d.ustb.in, we think you have done a great job! Kudos!) Then again, I am reminded of the old argument – something my mother used to put forth whenever she saw me do some (okay, a lot of) last-minute cramming before the exams. She would say, “If you haven’t worked on it all year long, what makes you think you’re going to crack it in these last few minutes?”

Long story short, we are still in two minds on whether to continue as planned originally (and honor the efforts of those who strived hard to get their entries in on time) or stretch it for a few days (weeks?) more so a few more can cram through. What do you think? Leave your comments at the end of the post if you have anything else to add to the debate. We’d appreciate any and all kinds of input. :)

UPDATE: Deadline extended to 21st of July 2011. Scroll to bottom of the post for details.

Keep an eye out on the d.ustb.in page on facebook for the final verdict. Click that ‘like’ button while you are at it, will you? We will be declaring the final verdict on the deadline extension by the 29th June 2011, at the latest. Stand by!

Meanwhile, to those who have submitted their entries, here’s what you stand to win, courtesy the kind folks at Doolally Micro Brews:

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

As for now, the deadline is still the 30th June 2011. That means we will be accepting entries until the midnight of 30th June 2011. Entries received on or after the 1st of July 2011 will NOT be considered for the competition.

UPDATE: Deadline extended to 21st of July 2011. Scroll to bottom of the post for details.

Further details can be found on the Rules & Regulations page. Submit your beer-y masterpieces here:

With that out of the way, let’s get on with the main reason why you guys are reading this post in the first place – the weekly dose of stories! YAY! :)

My Tryst with God

An old saying goes, “God is in the details.” What happens when God meets an atheist for a little tete-a-tete? Is it possible? Is it a logical fallacy? Is it a mind-blowing event? Subhasis Ghosal attempts to answer these questions with his first-ever story in the d.ustb.in. And then some.
Read more: My Tryst with God
Word Count: 2500 words

As always, you’re always welcome to submit your stories for review. Just a quick reminder that we’re also accepting poems as a form of fiction, too! By-the-by, you should also follow us @_dbin on twitter! Do chat us up!

PS: The usual reminders:

1. We are listed in the Duotrope’s digest as a fledgling market!
2. We are a HeyPublisher Preferred Partner!
3. Do you SubMishMash? You can now use it to submit your stories to the d.ustbin as well.

UPDATE:

After some deliberation, we have decided to extend the deadline for the ‘Ode 2 Beer’ contest. We are giving you (and ourselves) an additional three weeks to find some more budding poets out there!! New deadline: 21st July 2011. Spread the word, will ya? :)

We’re looking for something similar – a drinking verse, as a matter of fact. If you love beer as much as we do, try your hand at writing some verse – rhymes, no-rhymes, why-me rhymes, free verse – all kinds are welcome. The only condition is that your verse must be about beer. We have had some amazing entries so far but we’re still looking for the one that’ll absolutely blow us away! Here’s what you stand to win, courtesy the kind folks at Doolally Micro Brews:

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

We will be accepting entries until the midnight of 30th June 2011. Entries received on or after the 1st of July 2011 will NOT be considered for the competition. Further details can be found on the Rules & Regulations page. Submit your beer-y masterpieces here:

Now, for the weekly dose that you have been waiting for:

A Robot Walks Into a Bar

Francis Bass debuts on the d.ustb.in with the second story in the science-fiction genre. Francis describes the story thus: “Onboard a ship going to the warring planet of Mars, a cynical warbot named Sylvia Vinvorri and a human named Darrol Hickory get to know each other.” Intrigued? Go check it out!
Read more: A Robot Walks Into a Bar
Word Count: 2000 words

As always, you’re always welcome to submit your stories for review. Just a quick reminder that we’re also accepting poems as a form of fiction, too! By-the-by, you should also follow us @_dbin on twitter! Do chat us up!

PS: The usual reminders:

1. We are listed in the Duotrope’s digest as a fledgling market!
2. We are a HeyPublisher Preferred Partner!
3. Do you SubMishMash? You can now use it to submit your stories to the d.ustbin as well.

• 1st prize: $100/- (approx. Rs. 5000/-)
• 2nd Prize: $50/- (approx Rs. 2500/-)
• 3rd Prize: $25/- (approx Rs. 1500/-)

Thanks to the kind folks over at Doolally Micro Brews, we’re giving you this golden opportunity to earn some green for writing verses about the amber nectar. All you have to do is write a poem about beer. Interested? Read the Rules & Regulations and then submit your beer-y masterpieces here:

Tables & Chairs

Written by James Jason Dye, this piece attempts to convey an abstraction between everyday objects and the metaphors they hold. In his own words, “When philosophers talk about materialism as opposed to ideas, they talk in terms of tables and chairs.”
Read more: Tables & Chairs
Word Count: 2300 words

As always, you’re always welcome to submit your stories for review. Just a quick reminder that we’re also accepting poems as a form of fiction, too! By-the-by, you should also follow us @_dbin on twitter! Do chat us up!

PS: The usual reminders:

1. We are listed in the Duotrope’s digest as a fledgling market!
2. We are a HeyPublisher Preferred Partner!
3. Do you SubMishMash? You can now use it to submit your stories to the d.ustbin as well.