Saturday, April 29, 2017

Synopsis: Scream, Spray, Shove

A woman has love life issues and feels purposeless in her job, but she has enough money to travel to distant countries for long periods of time.

When she lands, she notices that the women in these countries also have problems, like lack of access to drinking water and healthcare, and they have no money. She accepts that her problems are insignificant in the face of theirs and decides to add books to the For Dummies series which tackle their difficulties, beginning with one on sexual harassment.

Inspired by: Eat, Pray, Love

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Synopsis: Walt, the Chemist

A chemist named Walt has the skills to transform ordinary items into precious material but he's sick and needs medicine. He meets a boy who seeks treasure.

Walt and the boy travel through the desert and settlements and have thrilling adventures. To become rich, the boy needs to lead this cowboy lifestyle but he also wants the comfort of a woman regardless of the constraints his career choice imposes upon him.

Towards the end, Walt dies because he didn't get enough medicine, and the boy is given a consolatory happy ending. It is up to the reader to infer that the boy could have become rich beyond his wildest dreams if he had just learnt Walt's skills instead of mucking about.

Inspired by: The Alchemist

Friday, April 7, 2017

Synopsis: The Farts In Our Stall

Three teenage kids running the games corner at a fete, seated closer to the bean snacks hut than permitted, get exposed to vicious bouts of flatulence. It's so bad that it literally gives them cancer. The book inadvertently also teaches the correct usage of the word 'literally', synonyms for 'fart', and some other medical words useful for taking extended periods of sick leaves.

The rest of the book tries to highlight the disconnect from reality and society that cancer patients face. Teenagers unlikely to survive till the next World Cup are reading books and going to Amsterdam just to meet an author, abusive drunkards are suddenly recovering, and guardians are okay with their children jetting off to meet weirdos who have withdrawn from the rest of the world but are okay with talking to their children only if they show up in person.

Inspired by: The Fault in Our Stars

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Synopsis: Who Moved My Seas

There are lots of people stuck in a maze, looking for energy sources. Some of them learn to harness fossil fuels and then colonise everybody else and make everybody use fossil fuels too. Everybody prospers, some more, some less.

After some time, many experts unanimously observe that the maze's glaciers are receding, extreme weather events aren't as rare as before, and the coast seems a lot closer than it used to be. They also find overwhelming evidence pointing to fossil fuel consumption as the reason behind it.

In light of this new knowledge, some people try to find alternatives to fossil fuel but most others choose to continue using fossil fuels in the interest of GDP and votes.

The ones searching soon discover the power of renewables. The ones not budging keep waiting for it to make economic sense to switch.

Inspired by: Who Moved My Cheese