Treasury of Bizarre Christmas Stories

“Fiza’s first compilation of short stories makes her come across as a sort of modern day neo-mystic.  Through the 22 stories in the book, the author communicates to us lessons in faith in a way that will appeal to both adults and children alike.  The language is simple and lucid, yet enticing and appealing at the same time.” Reviewer for ‘The Examiner’

This collection brings together, a variety of bizarre Christmas stories never heard before. From creepy dark catacombs to a haunted winter wonderland, this treasury brings with it, a mystical side to Christmas and the birth of a legendary baby. Whether deep in a forest of India or back in time, in Bethlehem, ‘Treasury Of Bizarre Christmas Stories’ brings to its readers the holy, the Almighty, the haunted, the obsession, the innocent, the magical and the reason to celebrate.
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About the Author:Fiza Pathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Sociology. She is a qualified teacher having also a Bachelor’s degree in Education, her special subjects being History and English.  Fiza is an avid reader of books of all genres and writes short stories and articles. Don’t miss to read Fiza’s blog regularly: http://insaneowl.com
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More Books by the Author:
Fiza Pathan is also the author of ‘S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories‘ and ‘Classics: Why we should encourage children to read them‘, as well as the sequel: 'Classics: HOW we can encourage children to read them' which is available as a paperback edition and various digital formats on Amazon and other platforms.  Her latest two books are women's fiction - even so they describe the grim realities that women are facing in India: NIRMALA: The Mud Blossom and Amina: The Silent One.

Discover more on Fiza Pathan's Amazon page and see the long list of Fiza Pathan’s book awards. 

Treasury of Bizarre Christmas Stories is available:

e-Book version
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Bizarre-Christmas-Stories-Pathan-ebook/dp/B00ADQ7HMK

Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Bizarre-Christmas-Stories-Pathan/dp/1481081764.

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Fiza Pathan's Latest Book

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Two years ago I met Fiza over Skype when we started to help promoting her first book: 
CLASSICS: Why we should encourage children to read them in which she propagated the importance of classics to students, parents and teachers. 
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Prior to an author interview with her I read the book and was very impressed by Fiza Pathan's book. She is enthusiastic about this topic and with good reason, as the success of her students show. Teacher colleagues have the benefit to use her techniques for stimulation of their English classes.
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A couple of books later, Fiza Pathan has written the sequel Classics: HOW parents and teachers can encourage children to read them - starting in small steps, according to the children’s age and abilities. Her enthusiasm for this topic is really contagious, even for readers who do not teach children. One can see these classics from different angles through Fiza’s writing.
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Classics: How we can encourage children to read them is both: a passionate guide and a practical tool for educators. And also a great tool even for mature writers to be reminded of these classics, stellar examples of great literature.

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In between those two great works came more books, notably (and surprisingly for me) NIRMALA The Mud Blossom.  Not for the faint of heart, it is a must read to learn about brutal reality in some of the societies in India - and for sure in other countries too...  I read it in one weekend and I was deeply moved by it.
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Find more articles I wrote about Fiza’s books online, for example:

http://content-on-demand.blogspot.com/2014/12/fiza-pathan-and-her-latest-book.html (all books)

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/the-nirmala-effect-by-fiza-pathan/ (Nirmala)

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/the-nirmala-effect-by-fiza-pathan/ (Interview)

and an essay by Fiza Pathan:  Could the reading of good classics avert many man-made disasters?
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/reading-classics-can-change-humanity/
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To find more articles I published about Fiza Pathan’s books: Just go to SavvyBookWriters.com/blog and type Fiza Pathan into the search function

I am sure her latest book CLASSICS: How we can encourage children to read them will be a very successful one, just as the prequel is!

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Author Fiza Pathan and Her Latest Books

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I was wondering how Fiza Pathan, a very well educated, and well-off writer, could tell the story of Nirmala the Mud Blossom.  After all I knew her for her great non-fiction work CLASSICS: Why We Should Encourage Children To Read Them.  And now a novel that takes place in the slums of Mumbai?
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Powerful, Passionate Fiction – and Why Fiza Pathan Wrote it…
Nirmala: The Mud Blossom graphically depicts the travails, discrimination, and abuse faced by female children in India from the cradle to the grave. Not an easy read I thought before starting the book. Despite it is a fictional story, it is a clear indictment of India and the inhuman way women and girls are still being treated today. However the story immediately drew my attention and I finished this gripping, fascinating novel in one reading session over the weekend.

About the Book:
Rejected and thrown into the dustbin when she was just two days old, the child was rescued and returned to her family by the NGOs. All because this little girl had the misfortune to be born as a female in Mumbai, India …
Nirmala is ill-treated by her mother, always subject to violence at her hands. She is allowed to continue her studies only because she can then coach her younger brothers, as the parents are illiterate. Each beating is accepted with forbearance, as she loves to go to school to get books to read from her library.

Nirmala is forced to stop her studies after the twelfth grade so her parents can save enough money to send the boys to college. She is then married off, but while her married life begins smoothly, it is only the beginning of her next phase of hell. After giving birth to her first child, Nirmala is subjected to harassment, beatings, and forced into doing things contrary to her beliefs and dreams. Her life is shattered.
What will happen to this little mud blossom? Will she fight back or succumb?  How can she rid herself of harassment and rise above the stigma she endures?”
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Fiza Pathan Explains in Her Own Words Why She Had to Write 
Nirmala: The Mud Blossom:

My latest novel which has just been released titled ‘Nirmala: The Mud Blossom’ was an accident.
I had no intention of writing this story, let alone framing and formatting it into a novella.  Yet when I pass the many filthy slums of Mumbai surrounding sky rise buildings and towers… I think to myself that maybe my character Nirmala and I both were accidents.  Nirmala, was tossed into a dustbin because she was a girl…I was sent home to my mother’s family because I was a girl.  Nirmala and I are two really different people and I can’t understand how I managed to write about her in the first place.
Do I empathize with Nirmala? Maybe…Do I sympathize with Nirmala? Maybe…but one thing is for sure: Nirmala got me thinking about reality, the reality that girls in India are not wanted…Nirmala and I both were not wanted.  Many people… read the rest in her blog InsaneOwl.com.

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