Coffee Table Book, Volume 1

EditorDeepak K Choudhary

Coffee Table Book

Volume 1

The Chocolaty Affairs & Scandals

The Chocolaty Affair & Scandals

With Cover Stories & InterviewsVolume 1.

Coffee Table Book, Volume 1 (The Chocolaty Affair & Scandals) With Cover Stories & Interviews By Multiple Writers First Impression: May 2021 Editor: Deepak K Choudhary Published by: Chrysanthemum Chronicles, New Delhi

This Coffee Table Book is a collection of author interviews and cover stories with theme based short stories and poems written by multiple authors who assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Prolegomena

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“We are tiny dots spread across a page from a book with multiple blanks. Poetry (and for that matter, any form/genre of literature) is the line that joins us, lending new meanings and dimensions to our existence.” The text cited above is an excerpt from one of my social media posts which I had shared with my friends about a year ago. The crux of my observation is simple and straight---a significant part of our existence per se remains largely monochromatic, recessive and inertial till a wave of creativity surges through its precincts adding more shades to it and expanding its horizons to the limits that may at times be incredible and unpredictable. This is what I call the magic of creativity, which to me has a genuine potential to transform a writer’s pen from her/his tool for writing verses or stories into a cohesive force of unique character that connects, binds and integrates her/him to the world beyond the frame of her/his own individuality and the mind housing her/his own consciousness. The transformative, cohesive-associative and integrative dimensions of creativity shine out with a distinctive brilliance, when writing assumes a collaborative dimension as well. A perfect fusion of these four dimensions of creativity is manifest when writing happens in togetherness, involving many of us within the inclusive ambiance of a shared creative space that readily ensures access to a vast reading gentry. Nothing exemplifies this in a better way than an anthology comprising the writings of creative folks from different cultural backgrounds, cherishing different dreams and holding different perceptions of the world around them. And this for you is The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book, the maiden collection of literary writings brought out by Cc. It embodies everything that makes any creative collaboration of creative souls phenomenal.

Along with the inaugural issue of our eponymous literary journal (triennial), Chrysanthemum Chronicles, which was released in early January, The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book serves as a key stone in the course of an enduring cooperation among creative minds we are looking for. The objective is primarily to evolve a broad-based platform with multiple opportunities and prospects for the flowering of literary talent and the growth of a dynamic and progressive ecosystem of creativity. The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book is, in the first place, a bold attempt to achieve what has been referred to as ‘a fusion of the various dimensions of creativity’. As the title of the book clearly suggests, it was conceptualized as a coffee table book or cocktail table book. However, if you go by the rich and variegated content of this book offers, you may easily notice that it promises to go far beyond the conventional to create its own category. Another striking aspect of The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book is that it is not a genrecentric anthology unlike most of those you may have gone through. Instead of being singularly focused on a particular form of writing, it is divided into two separate segments each having its focus on a different genre. The first segment of The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book called “Author Cover Stories and Interviews” contains half a dozen extensive and illustrative interviews with some important authors and poets who are writing today. Each of the interviews consists of a wide range of engaging questions framed to bring into focus the oeuvre, world-view, thought process, style, creative preferences and cultural conditioning of the writer interviewed by the Founder of Chrysanthemum Chronicles. It

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goes without saying that all the interviewees have come up with engrossing answers that offer invaluable insights, perceptions and perspectives highlighting their own creative evolution as well as the challenges, trials and tribulations they faced in the process of becoming what they are today. If the first segment of the book constitutes its perceptive crust, the second one named “Poems and Stories” builds its sensitive core. As the appellation clearly suggests, this segment contains a bunch of brilliantly crafted poems and short stories that add an engrossing imaginative dimension to The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book. The buzzword here is ‘chocolate’ and its significance assumes diverse contours in all the poetic pieces and stories. In some of them, it has been treated as the leitmotif even as the subjects dealt with are apparently diverse. In the end, the readers may feel compelled to realise that each of these poems and stories has its own distinctive flavor and shade that makes this collection fascinating, engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable. While editing this book, I have observed again and again how an anthology becomes a memorable journey when a group of creative people come together to share their outputs on a theme that is deeply rooted in life and the topography of our day-to-day existence. Though I have had some experience of being a part of such creative journeys, this one with The Chocolaty Affair and Scandals: A Coffee Table Book is undeniably closer to my heart than any other I have undertaken in the past. As the editor of this book and a member of the Chrysanthemum Chronicles group, I can foresee its trail-blazing impact holding key to umpteen creative collaborations in future.

On behalf of the Chrysanthemum Chronicles group, I express my deepest gratitude to all our respected contributors who came forward to lend direction and purpose to our goal and chose to be co-travellers on our trail of creativity. They are like our creative partners in the process of evolving a broad-based literary platform for showcasing the oeuvre of literary talent across the country. The brilliance and ingenuity they have employed to craft their pieces reflect their boundless profundity and perceptiveness, which we hope will sync well with the empathetic literati and perspicacious reading gentry. Let me conclude with a few words about Ms. Monalisa Joshi, the founder of the Chrysanthemum Chronicles group, who acted as a perfect sheet-anchor, led us from the front, and took all pains to bring out this book in its present shape. Without her unflinching determination, sheer hard work and pioneering effort, this creative journey would never have become the one we had yearned for.

Thank you all, and best wishes for an absorbing tryst with this book…

Deepak K. Choudhary Editor