Virtual Realities — Neelum Saran Gour

Someday, Sravan thought, I ll write a book made up entirely of my deletions. All the things crossed out, the people edited away. Who knows? What s left out might be more important than what s retained. What s not the point may be the real point.

Meet Sravan (novelist, bored husband) and Buddhoo (chatterbox, merry bachelor), friends since their college days. When Buddhoo blows back into Allahabad, peace and quiet leave town. Spouting lustrous tales both true and false, this perpetual nomad spurs his literary friend to ponder the nature of his craft. Things only go awry when Sravan, at work on a family saga, finds that current events begin to look familiar. His real family lands in trouble, and Sravan must face the worrisome fact that his novel is writing his life.

Bursting with snappy chats, glowing yarns and edgy characters, Virtual Realities is at once a romp and a meditation on the stories we all tell, out loud or otherwise, to keep our souls alive. The hilarious story of two compulsive storytellers