Signed Author: Shikhandin

Shikhandin is the pen name of an Indian author and the author of seven books, including Impetuous Women (Penguin Random House India) and Immoderate Men (Speaking Tiger). Her work has been widely recognized, with honours including a shortlist for the 2024 Asian Prize for Short Fiction, Pushcart Prize nominations from Aeolian Harp (USA, 2019) and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong, 2011), and a Best of the Net nomination from Yellow Arrow Publishing (USA, 2023). She has also been a runner-up in the George Floyd Short Story Contest (UK, 2020) and the Erbacce Poetry Prize (UK, 2018), won second prize in the India Currents Katha Short Story Contest (USA, 2016), and first prize in the Anam Cara Short Fiction Competition (Ireland, 2012), among other accolades.

Her speculative novella, The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor (Red River, India), was published in 2024. Her science fiction story, “Communal”, appeared simultaneously in two anthologies—A Dying Planet (Flame Tree Press, UK) and Avatar (Future Fiction, Italy). Her satirical sci-fi work Ruddy Apes and Cannibals was among the most-read pieces at After Dinner Conversation (USA). Her other speculative fiction has appeared in SpecPoVerse, The Raven’s Quoth Press, Reckoning, Sybil’s Garage, Silver Blade, Enchanted Conversation, JayHenge Publishing, and elsewhere.