What do you think?
Rate this book
Drill Bit
Malan was angry. The wall was thin. The drill bit was long.
What begins as a petty act of rage becomes a surreal collision with one of the most powerful men in the country. As their lives entangle in increasingly strange ways, Drill Bit unfolds into a quietly disturbing alliance shaped by proximity, accident, and the slow erosion of identity.
Set in a world without borders or timestamps, where names are invented and culture is deliberately blurred, this is a story that resists classification — and invites reflection.
A short story about transformation, and what happens when you find yourself on the wrong side of the wall, even when there's no wall anymore.
Available on:
InternetArchive: Archive[dot]org/details/mahtab-safdari-drill-bit-a
What begins as a petty act of rage becomes a surreal collision with one of the most powerful men in the country. As their lives entangle in increasingly strange ways, Drill Bit unfolds into a quietly disturbing alliance shaped by proximity, accident, and the slow erosion of identity.
Set in a world without borders or timestamps, where names are invented and culture is deliberately blurred, this is a story that resists classification — and invites reflection.
A short story about transformation, and what happens when you find yourself on the wrong side of the wall, even when there's no wall anymore.
Available on:
InternetArchive: Archive[dot]org/details/mahtab-safdari-drill-bit-a
33 pages, ebook
Published October 30, 2025
About the author
Mahtab Safdari
53 books54 followersplaywright, short story writer, translator
автор и переводчик
письменниця та перекладачка
نویسنده و مترجم
I keep my friend list very small so I can actually read and appreciate your thoughts. If I don't accept a request, please don't take it personally; I'm just an author hiding in her own quiet cave, reading and writing. Still, we can always talk books in the comments section, if you'd like. 📚
автор и переводчик
письменниця та перекладачка
نویسنده و مترجم
I keep my friend list very small so I can actually read and appreciate your thoughts. If I don't accept a request, please don't take it personally; I'm just an author hiding in her own quiet cave, reading and writing. Still, we can always talk books in the comments section, if you'd like. 📚
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 18, 2026
A DRILL BIT TO THE HEAD IS A PERFECT FIX
Submerging her readers in the darkest and wickedest black humor, while simultaneously locking them into a room with the most insane and inane situation unfolding, Mahtab effortlessly draws the lot of us into prime time of the Theater 🎭 of the Absurd.
Malan drills a hole in the wall in his flat. It goes through into the ear and head of a man on the other side, Sharyad. Malan can do nothing but try to comfort him. Anything the physicians do to remove the drill bit is likely to kill or paralyze Sharyad.
The solution? Sharyad will leave things as they are, renovate the flat he lives in, and continue on with his life and his business with the drill bit in his head.
This makes him a public figure. This makes him famous. And Malan too. And soon much of the world is rushing to get one or two or three drill bits in the head and so achieve fame and fortune and political power.
It’s hilarious. It’s wild. It’s absurd. Thus the whole story reads like a script for a snappy stage play of the Theater of the Absurd. Wonderful fun and a sharp satire of the kind of world we live in.
Eugène Ionesco, the French/Romanian godfather of the Theater 🎭 of the Absurd, would be proud.
Mahtab writes with wit, verve and bite. And not a little bit of black magic.
🌖 🌓 🌒 ✨✨✨
The story/play can be picked up for free on Hulu.
Submerging her readers in the darkest and wickedest black humor, while simultaneously locking them into a room with the most insane and inane situation unfolding, Mahtab effortlessly draws the lot of us into prime time of the Theater 🎭 of the Absurd.
Malan drills a hole in the wall in his flat. It goes through into the ear and head of a man on the other side, Sharyad. Malan can do nothing but try to comfort him. Anything the physicians do to remove the drill bit is likely to kill or paralyze Sharyad.
The solution? Sharyad will leave things as they are, renovate the flat he lives in, and continue on with his life and his business with the drill bit in his head.
This makes him a public figure. This makes him famous. And Malan too. And soon much of the world is rushing to get one or two or three drill bits in the head and so achieve fame and fortune and political power.
It’s hilarious. It’s wild. It’s absurd. Thus the whole story reads like a script for a snappy stage play of the Theater of the Absurd. Wonderful fun and a sharp satire of the kind of world we live in.
Eugène Ionesco, the French/Romanian godfather of the Theater 🎭 of the Absurd, would be proud.
Mahtab writes with wit, verve and bite. And not a little bit of black magic.
🌖 🌓 🌒 ✨✨✨
The story/play can be picked up for free on Hulu.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 10, 2025
Die Geschichte umfasst ca. 35 Seiten und beginnt mit einem Absturz. Malan, ein 27jähriger Student wird wegen mangelnder Leistungen der Universität verwiesen. Zornerfüllt stellt er zu Hause fest, dass er zu allem Überdruss auch noch müffelt und als er sich waschen will, bricht die schlecht befestigte kleine Ablage fürs Shampoo und knallt auf den Boden. Das bringt das Fass zum Überlaufen. Er greift zu drastischeren Mitteln um das Problem gründlich zu lösen. Eine Bohrmaschine samt passendem Bohrer muss her. Man könnte sagen, er packt den Stier bei den Hörnern. Denn was nun beginnt, wird sein Leben für immer verändern. Durch einen Unfall gelangt Malan auf die andere Seite (der Macht) und plötzlich scheint alles möglich.
Die Story ist ein Freudenfest für Interpretationshungrige, voller Symbolik, Zahlenmystik und surrealer Wendungen. Alles scheint eine Bedeutung zu haben. Zum Beispiel: Die Formulare, die zur Entlassung des Studenten noch fehlen, tragen die Bezeichnung 12-5 und 19-6. Nimmt man das „wörtlich“ als Rechnung, dann kommen als Ergebnis die ambivalenten Zahlen 7 und 13 heraus. Glück, Verheißung, Transformation, Unglück? Die Ambivalenz ist bereits im Titel angelegt. Der Bohrer, der „(Drill) Bit“ weist auf eine Doppelbödigkeit hin. Bit kann auch für binary digit stehen. 1 oder 0, hopp oder tropp.
Ich hoffe ich habe nicht zu viel gespoilert, die Story ist absolut lesenswert und sehr gut und kurzweilig geschrieben, hat mir viel Spaß gemacht.
Es ist die Art Geschichte, die einen - ähnlich wie in The Sixth Sense oder Memento - am Ende angekommen gleich wieder nach vorne springen lässt, um zu checken, wie war das noch mal genau?
Ich kann mir das auch gut als Übungslektüre zum Interpretieren vorstellen, nicht nur für Native Speaker, sondern auch zum Beispiel für den Englisch Unterricht in höheren Klassen.
Die Story ist ein Freudenfest für Interpretationshungrige, voller Symbolik, Zahlenmystik und surrealer Wendungen. Alles scheint eine Bedeutung zu haben. Zum Beispiel: Die Formulare, die zur Entlassung des Studenten noch fehlen, tragen die Bezeichnung 12-5 und 19-6. Nimmt man das „wörtlich“ als Rechnung, dann kommen als Ergebnis die ambivalenten Zahlen 7 und 13 heraus. Glück, Verheißung, Transformation, Unglück? Die Ambivalenz ist bereits im Titel angelegt. Der Bohrer, der „(Drill) Bit“ weist auf eine Doppelbödigkeit hin. Bit kann auch für binary digit stehen. 1 oder 0, hopp oder tropp.
Ich hoffe ich habe nicht zu viel gespoilert, die Story ist absolut lesenswert und sehr gut und kurzweilig geschrieben, hat mir viel Spaß gemacht.
Es ist die Art Geschichte, die einen - ähnlich wie in The Sixth Sense oder Memento - am Ende angekommen gleich wieder nach vorne springen lässt, um zu checken, wie war das noch mal genau?
Ich kann mir das auch gut als Übungslektüre zum Interpretieren vorstellen, nicht nur für Native Speaker, sondern auch zum Beispiel für den Englisch Unterricht in höheren Klassen.
Read
November 2, 2025🟣🔵🟢🟡🔴
Malan was angry. The wall was thin. The drill bit was long.
What begins as a petty act of rage becomes a surreal collision with one of the most powerful men in the country. As their lives entangle in increasingly strange ways, Drill Bit unfolds into a quietly disturbing alliance shaped by proximity, accident, and the slow erosion of identity.
Set in a world without borders or timestamps — where names are invented and culture is deliberately blurred — this is a story that resists classification and invites reflection.
A short story about transformation, and what happens when you find yourself on the wrong side of the wall, even when there’s no wall anymore.
By Mahtab Safdari
A generous gesture from an indigent author, marking the publication of the 51st book.
Now available on:
Internet Archive
Scribd
Lulu
Malan was angry. The wall was thin. The drill bit was long.
What begins as a petty act of rage becomes a surreal collision with one of the most powerful men in the country. As their lives entangle in increasingly strange ways, Drill Bit unfolds into a quietly disturbing alliance shaped by proximity, accident, and the slow erosion of identity.
Set in a world without borders or timestamps — where names are invented and culture is deliberately blurred — this is a story that resists classification and invites reflection.
A short story about transformation, and what happens when you find yourself on the wrong side of the wall, even when there’s no wall anymore.
By Mahtab Safdari
A generous gesture from an indigent author, marking the publication of the 51st book.
Now available on:
Internet Archive
Scribd
Lulu
May 29, 2026
I just finished reading Drill Bit, and I had to immediately drop you a line. What a wonderfully bizarre and sharp story!
You’ve managed to take a frustratingly relatable situation—the absolute nightmare of university bureaucracy and those ridiculous gold versus silver embossed certificates—and twist it into this massive, surreal critique of power and conformity. It reads like a brilliant piece of political philosophy wrapped up in a dark, absurdist comedy.
But honestly, my favorite part of the whole piece is your narrative voice. The deadpan, almost clinical way the narrator reports on complete madness is so effective. I genuinely laughed when the narrator casually broke the fourth wall to roast the "dim-witted reader" who might lose focus. The language is so deliberate, utilizing this dry, bureaucratic tone that creates a perfect, jarring contrast with the grotesque reality of a powerful man casually conducting global negotiations naked in a steamy bathroom with a drill fused to his head.
If I were to nitpick just a tiny bit, Malan's jump from a furiously angry, cursing student to a compliant assistant felt slightly sudden. I almost wanted to see a little more of his internal friction before he totally surrendered his rebellious streak to the safety of the system. But the payoff at the end is fantastic.
The story is absolutely packed with brilliant, subtle layers—from the deliberate naming choices that hint at a paralyzed past and modern weariness, to the claustrophobic absurdity of a steamy bathroom becoming the seat of global power. The imagery of literally raising the earth to accommodate an expanding ego, and that terrifyingly mechanical, delayed laughter, are just masterful touches. I’d love to dive deeper into all these details with you, Mahtab, but unfortunately, the Goodreads messaging is closed, and I’m really afraid of spoiling too much of the story for everyone else!
You’ve managed to take a frustratingly relatable situation—the absolute nightmare of university bureaucracy and those ridiculous gold versus silver embossed certificates—and twist it into this massive, surreal critique of power and conformity. It reads like a brilliant piece of political philosophy wrapped up in a dark, absurdist comedy.
But honestly, my favorite part of the whole piece is your narrative voice. The deadpan, almost clinical way the narrator reports on complete madness is so effective. I genuinely laughed when the narrator casually broke the fourth wall to roast the "dim-witted reader" who might lose focus. The language is so deliberate, utilizing this dry, bureaucratic tone that creates a perfect, jarring contrast with the grotesque reality of a powerful man casually conducting global negotiations naked in a steamy bathroom with a drill fused to his head.
If I were to nitpick just a tiny bit, Malan's jump from a furiously angry, cursing student to a compliant assistant felt slightly sudden. I almost wanted to see a little more of his internal friction before he totally surrendered his rebellious streak to the safety of the system. But the payoff at the end is fantastic.
The story is absolutely packed with brilliant, subtle layers—from the deliberate naming choices that hint at a paralyzed past and modern weariness, to the claustrophobic absurdity of a steamy bathroom becoming the seat of global power. The imagery of literally raising the earth to accommodate an expanding ego, and that terrifyingly mechanical, delayed laughter, are just masterful touches. I’d love to dive deeper into all these details with you, Mahtab, but unfortunately, the Goodreads messaging is closed, and I’m really afraid of spoiling too much of the story for everyone else!
May 27, 2026
If Vonnegut had read this after publishing 'Player Piano,' he would have quit writing. Imagine how much more space there would have been for real talent to have a voice. It's easy to recognize genius; it must be infinitely harder to be one.
#respect
#respect
May 26, 2026
Malan is a chronically irritated student who treats adulthood like a group project he refused to join. The university finally decides it has had enough and performs the academic equivalent of tossing him out with a broom.
He returns to the apartment he technically does not own, does not rent, and absolutely does not have permission to live in. The place belongs to a distant relative who made the fatal mistake of trusting a young man with a key.
After a long day of verbal combat with every authority figure in sight, Malan tries to fix a bathroom shelf. This is where the universe politely clears its throat and informs him that he is not qualified to handle power tools. He picks up a drill, selects the most ridiculous screw imaginable, and performs what can only be described as home improvement roulette.
The drill goes through the wall. The drill also goes through something else...
Here is where the story begins to warm up its satirical engines and this is the point at which the book reveals its true personality.
Through inventive Kafka and Dostoyevsky storytelling, the plot blossoms into a wicked satire about power, vanity, and the global willingness to mimic nonsense if nonsense is wearing a suit. Malan becomes entangled in a world where influence is built on spectacle, everyone believes whatever benefits them most, and authority can thrive even when literally nailed to a structure.
The humor is bone dry. The bureaucracy is weaponized. The dialogue is a slow roast of human self importance. And the chain of events grows bigger, stranger, and sharper without ever losing its straight face.
I absolutely loved this tale that can be downloaded from the Internet Archive (though I would love to get my hands on an actual copy). It is clever without bragging, brutal without gloom, and funny without flailing. It skewers power structures with the delicacy of a chef and the spite of someone who has waited in too many government lines. It also respects the reader enough to trust that they will understand the joke without neon signage pointing at it.
Anyone with a refined taste for sly, sharp, morally flexible fiction will not be able to resist this work where society responds to catastrophe by nodding firmly and saying, Yes, that seems correct. Let us escalate.
Thank you, Mahtab, for this wonderful little gem.
💎💎💎💎💎
❤️ 🇮🇱
He returns to the apartment he technically does not own, does not rent, and absolutely does not have permission to live in. The place belongs to a distant relative who made the fatal mistake of trusting a young man with a key.
After a long day of verbal combat with every authority figure in sight, Malan tries to fix a bathroom shelf. This is where the universe politely clears its throat and informs him that he is not qualified to handle power tools. He picks up a drill, selects the most ridiculous screw imaginable, and performs what can only be described as home improvement roulette.
The drill goes through the wall. The drill also goes through something else...
Here is where the story begins to warm up its satirical engines and this is the point at which the book reveals its true personality.
Through inventive Kafka and Dostoyevsky storytelling, the plot blossoms into a wicked satire about power, vanity, and the global willingness to mimic nonsense if nonsense is wearing a suit. Malan becomes entangled in a world where influence is built on spectacle, everyone believes whatever benefits them most, and authority can thrive even when literally nailed to a structure.
The humor is bone dry. The bureaucracy is weaponized. The dialogue is a slow roast of human self importance. And the chain of events grows bigger, stranger, and sharper without ever losing its straight face.
I absolutely loved this tale that can be downloaded from the Internet Archive (though I would love to get my hands on an actual copy). It is clever without bragging, brutal without gloom, and funny without flailing. It skewers power structures with the delicacy of a chef and the spite of someone who has waited in too many government lines. It also respects the reader enough to trust that they will understand the joke without neon signage pointing at it.
Anyone with a refined taste for sly, sharp, morally flexible fiction will not be able to resist this work where society responds to catastrophe by nodding firmly and saying, Yes, that seems correct. Let us escalate.
Thank you, Mahtab, for this wonderful little gem.
💎💎💎💎💎
❤️ 🇮🇱
November 12, 2025
Disclaimer, I’ve never met the author, but we are friends here on goodreads.
This is a short story about a university student that goes home upset over loosing his place there, and ends up trying to do certain home repairs with a drill that have a lasting impact on his life and on the life on a very powerful man in the country.
This is not a realistic story. It’s more on the surreal side of things, but the tone of it is consistent through out. There are moments that made me laugh, but there is also a more serious undertone. There is probably something in the subtext that I’m not getting because of cultural differences, but I enjoyed the read. It’s an interesting story, well written and an enjoyable read.
This is a short story about a university student that goes home upset over loosing his place there, and ends up trying to do certain home repairs with a drill that have a lasting impact on his life and on the life on a very powerful man in the country.
This is not a realistic story. It’s more on the surreal side of things, but the tone of it is consistent through out. There are moments that made me laugh, but there is also a more serious undertone. There is probably something in the subtext that I’m not getting because of cultural differences, but I enjoyed the read. It’s an interesting story, well written and an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews