2025

Its nearly the end of 2025 and as is tradition, I wanted to reflect back on the year.

Internationally, lets face it, its been awful. The Genocide in Palestine continues. The Ukraine War continues. The world is waking up to the genocide that is taking place in Sudan. We have had a number of natural disasters that have also taken a toll. The Climate Crisis has ticked closer to catastrophe as the Earth has grown another 0.5 degrees warmer than it was. Politicians suck. The media tells lies. The Epstein files were released, giving us an even bigger clue to how many of the rich and powerful are neck deep in vile behaviour. Katy Perry went to the edge of space in a rocket. Did I miss anything?

On a personal level, 2025 has been quite spectacular. I completed my Doctorate in Education, sitting my viva voce in February, submitting my final amendments in July, with the doctorate conferred in October and Graduation in December. I have an article on research methods being published some time soon in Sage Research Methods online. I changed jobs, after 9 years of working for a large Further Education provider. I now work for a small independent training provider, working with adults.

I joined the British Fantasy Society again. I took part in a number of online events, including one on Muslim Fantasy, in which I was a panel member. I also attended the first day of World Fantasy Con, my first ever convention. I met with a number of writing acquaintances (and hopefully now friends).

2025 also marked my return to social media, starting with BlueSky (544 followers). Later in the year I joined Substack and launched Musalmantasy, a newsletter based online publication (77 Subscribers). Then in June, I launched the Fantasy and Faith podcast on YouTube, Substack, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I have 141 Subscribers (currently) on YouTube and don’t know how many subscribers I have on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (if you know how to find, drop me a comment).

In other news, I starting writing longform fiction again. So far I have written the first drafts of Alauddin and Ali Baba. I’m currently 3 chapters into Sinbad. These should be coming out a month apart from each other during the middle of 2026 as ebooks and paperback. I am also planning to launch a hardback omnibus version at FantasyCon 2026 in Glasgow. You can follow my journey on my website, on Substack and on YouTube.

Keep Dreaming, Keep Writing, and Let Your Stories Shine in 2026!!!