We feature seven stories in our 56th release of Out of Print, in which connections within families, biological or constructed are dissected. Expectations play into the works, especially as regards the ways in which characters respond to the pressures and anxieties imposed upon them to conform; questions of autonomy over comportment, love, marriage, child bearing, are examined, and the invisible yet entrenched divisions of class come under the lens. The issue includes works set in the present and in the past, giving us perspectives of histories and cultures that seem distant, yet resonate even today.

The Stories:

Theo’s Folly by Prasanta Das

Everybody Loves Pregnant Women by Amrita Lall

The Old Man Has Lost His Mind by Padmini Sankar

The Marketplace by Raymond Beauchemin

Unborn by Smita Sahay

Bomb Cyclone by Ushma Shah Goyal

The Democracy of Dust by Utsav Kotrial