Sore Mehr Publications Released 5 New Stories
According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), the latest fictional works from Sore Mehr Publications are in the genres of novels, short stories, and humorous stories. These five works have recently been published and made available to enthusiasts of authored literature. Their titles are: Book ‘Number 888’ written by Hamid Babaei, ‘Dangerous Life’ compiled by Aliasghar Ezzatipour, ‘Shirazi Salad Project’ by Mahna Sadeghi, ‘Do You Know the Owner of This Photo?’ by Mostafa Mirzaei Piehani, and ‘Fateh’ by Sara Shojaee Asl.
Book ‘Number 888’
This book is a humorous story about a combatant who is captured with his hands during a deception operation. After entering the camp, his father appears in his dream, and events related to this dream occur for him. On the other hand, the Ba’athists believe this person is important and want to extract a confession from him through extensive torture. This combatant decides to escape, and this escape marks the beginning of subsequent events.
Excerpt from the book ‘Number 888’:
Saleh came closer and started inspecting my head and body. While he was searching the nooks and crannies of my ears and nose, several other combatants appeared. They seemed to be army soldiers as well. They had short hair and uniform khaki clothes. They came and stared at me as if they had captured a one-eyed alien who had fallen to Earth from another planet.
I said: ‘I don’t have a weapon, Captain.’
The Captain said: ‘You speak Farsi very well! Where did you learn? Are you an intelligence member?’
I said: ‘I grew up in Javadiyeh neighborhood. I’m a Javadiyeh kid… By God, I’m Iranian.’
One of the soldiers peeked from behind the others and said: ‘Even worse! Then you must be a hypocrite.’
I thought to myself, ‘I’m in trouble now.’ Suddenly, there was a commotion among the soldiers. I quickly said: ‘What’s a hypocrite! Who’s a hypocrite, brother! I was a prisoner for a year and suffered misery. I escaped just a few days ago.’
The thin, dark-skinned soldier with a slight Southern accent said: ‘Then you escaped in these clothes, boy?’
The humorous story ‘Number 888’ by Hamid Babaei has been published in 196 pages for 285,000 Tomans.
Book ‘Dangerous Life’
This work contains stories for the people of Gaza. ‘Dangerous Life’ includes eight stories by renowned authors such as Majid Gheysari, Mohammad Hadi Abdolvahhab, Seyedeh Azra Mousavi, Mehdi Kaffash, Masoumeh Khansari, Ebrahim Akbari Dizgah, Alireza Samiei, and Aliasghar Ezzatipour. The titles of its stories are: ‘What We Forgive, Remains’, ‘City of the Bewildered’, ‘Home’, ‘The Night the Tower Fell’, ‘Tree of Life’, ‘Dangerous Life’, ‘Returning to the Invisible Point’, and ‘Men of the Storm’.
Excerpt from the story ‘What We Forgive, Remains’:
We were waiting, waiting for the return of the girl of the house and her family when we heard footsteps. We wished they would return so the daytime breeze would blow and shadows would flee. The sound was not the tap-tap of a mother’s high heels returning from a party or a girl returning from school. The waiting had made us bitter and clouded. Just as there is a time for everything, and a time for every matter under the sky. Now was the time for the girl of the house to return, so we wished. A sound coming from the ruined staircases is not audible. The sound of shattered glass, plaster spilled on marble that crunches underfoot. Slowly. With distance, not quickly and playfully. This was not the call of the girl coming.
The book ‘Dangerous Life’ has been published in 164 pages for 225,000 Tomans.
Book ‘Shirazi Salad Project’
This humorous novel narrates the life of a woman who is sensitive to order and discipline; however, with the presence of two sons on the verge of university entrance exams and a husband who sometimes goes on missions for his job and is not at home, this sensitivity and mental system are challenged. This woman, a university professor, creates adventures with her husband and seventeen-year-old twin sons that make the book readable.
The book ‘Shirazi Salad Project’ is a collection of interconnected stories, each depicting an event and revealing various aspects of a family and social life.
Excerpt from the book ‘Shirazi Salad Project’:
In the middle of my conversation with Narges, I see Milad, who has been sitting in front of me for a while out of curiosity, getting up and going to the kitchen. Then he returns with my mother’s Teflon pot and a spoon and sits back in his previous spot. When I see the spoon, I understand he intends to annoy my mother. I get anxious and tap the phone table with my hand. He takes his head out of the pot and looks at me. I point to the spoon in his hand and then shake my head quickly, like shoveling, as a sign of disapproval.
The humorous story ‘Shirazi Salad Project’ by Mahna Sadeghi has been published in 239 pages for 325,000 Tomans.
