Mountain of Fire by Radhika Puri

the Polestar award, an Indian award for excellence in journalism, for her coverage of the Internet phenomenon that year.
    Radhika moved to Indonesia with her husband in 2005. There, she dabbled in some writing, but spent more time enjoying the country’s beauty. In 2007, she moved to Singapore and nowworks at the Institute of Water Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as a research associate.
    She first started writing stories for her daughter and now hopes to write many more.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Although I have lived in Jakarta and travelled a bit around the country, I never actually visited the volcano Merapi. Therefore, I have relied on many excellent travel and news blogs, and other online sources for my information about the Merapi and the most recent 2010 explosion.
In particular, I would like to mention here an excellent article in the New Dawn Magazine by Australian spiritual writer Victoria Lepage titled Magic and Mysticism in Java. This piece provided me with my first insights into the Baduy and the prominence of mysticism in Javanese life.
My parents. My mother who has been nothing but loving and supportive and is the most gracious person I know. My father, who instilled in me a constant curiosity about the world and taught me to acknowledge “The Other” without judging it. Without that upbringing, all that is in this story would have never crept into my consciousness.
To Vineet, who works very hard, which allows me to sit on the couch and dream up this stuff.
Thanks to Eliza Teoh who took a chance on this odd little story about two kids and a volcano. Her advice and input was invaluable in getting it to its current form.
Thank you to Aneesha, who saw this book in me before I did and then harangued me till I wrote it.
Thank you to my daughter, who is the joy of my life and the reason I really do anything.

COPYRIGHT
    First published in print in October 2013 by Bubbly Books Pte Ltd 40C Hongkong Street, Singapore 059679
    First published in digital form in 2012 by Monsoon Books ISBN (ebook): 9978-981-4423-80-9
    Text Copyright © 2013 Radhika Puri
    Illustrations Copyright © 2013 Bubbly Books Pte Ltd
    The moral right of the author has been asserted.
    All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
    This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.
    Monsoon Books Pte Ltd
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #01-01
Mediapolis Phase Ø
Singapore 139951
www.monsoonbooks.com.sg
    Visit www.monsoonbooks.com.sg to learn more about all our books.
    Follow us on Facebook at www.monsoonbooks.com.sg/facebook to find out about our latest news, forthcoming events, new released, and special discounts.