Every individual wants to leave a stamp of his or her own and Mario Coelho had the ability to effortlessly expand a sentence into a story and so was born the idea of his first book, Moonlight and Shadow - Unsettling Tales.
The moon does not unsettle, it soothes but the shadows can confound. Mario’s ten short stories, besides unsettling, will take you through a story of life in Goa that pictures appealing bodies, unfinished sex and stains of blood, of the many murders, that twirl round the mind of the author.
Mario, if you know him, is a nice chap. Actually, a maverick of literature and his stories whilst attempting to be gory, tell stories of honesty, passion and reason. Death is inevitable but, the way it is drawn in the book, it does appear avoidable.
The stories in the book have a sprinkling of bodies and women characters and yet the author draws a line on how deep it needs to end. “Sex is important in life but when writing about women, the purpose is not to make a story salacious,” says Mario with a grin.
Like many, Mario has a good eye for women and it does translate into his stories, though at times, they read as though he is holding back – not clear whether deliberately or unsettlingly.
Sample this: “And now the moans become louder and more frequent, and I could hear the creaking of the bed, and animal grunting, and my brain shut down completely, I tiptoed to the bedroom door – mine and Bella’s. It was ajar, and I could see her naked, half hidden by the naked form on top of her……..”
“…….I could see his tight, firm buttocks and long, muscular back, and that ponytail of his bouncing up and down with every thrust. The animal grunting was coming from him. Carlos, my brother. My best friend. In all the world.”
This extract from the fifth story titled Still Waters – the longest story – is of love, betrayal, multiple sex and murder. Yet, as the book suggests the tale are not settling because Mario, in his own way, has penned instances that are part of the societal landscape of Goa.
Moonlight and Shadow has characters that throw light on the psyche of Goa, the rural and urban, and does cast shadow on how deep the human mind can penetrate for the feel of sex in English, that is well defined and logical to the end.
Mario narrates his stories in the first person thus trying to bring alive his characters and when everything appears all honest and smooth, the twists are thrown in to bring a gory end to sometimes mundane beginnings.
The ten stories in Mario’s first book – he has penned many stories for children before – are tales directed to unsettle the imagination of youngsters and in many ways takes forward the author’s mark from writing for kids to adolescents.
“The book,” according to the author, “is for people who can withstand the evil in these characters.” Fortunately, a lot of the evil is brushed with logic thus making the end not as gory as envisioned.
Mario’s first book, dedicated to his parents, in many ways is a dedication to his upbringing that is seen through the clear lines of thoughts manifested in the stories. It is about, hunger, pain and satisfaction.
Priced at Rs 250 plus Rs 40 for delivery by Amazon, though the layout lacks finesse, Moonlight and Shadow is a good buy. “I am working on a system to make the book available in most stores,” promises Mario as he turns his mind to his next book.