Islamic vs. Muslim Fiction

A common misconception is that fiction featuring Islamic themes is Islamic Fiction. It is easy to confuse or conflate Islam with Muslims and is often done by the media and politicians, both intentionally and unintentionally. In this post, I will define these two key terms before explaining the conundrum of this blog’s title. Islam is […]

Muslim Historical Fiction

1. Introduction Historical fiction is difficult to define in the academic sense. Is it all fiction that is set in the historical past of our world? Brown (1998) suggests that its not that simple. Books set in Ancient Greece or during WW1 may easily be identified as having a historic setting. However, what about stories […]

Alauddin Update

Work has started on this rewrite of something I wrote in my teen years. Initially, it was meant to be a padding out of the original with some more character work and plot. However, as these things go, it’s kind of become a full rewrite. The original was good for a teen project. I was […]

So You Want to be a Writer?

2025 has started and lots of people have begun the year resolving to write a novel. There is lots of advice out there about what a new writer should do, some great and some just plain bad. I have been writing now for over two decades, but I still wouldn’t consider myself an expert. However, […]

2025 Projects

Its been a pretty good year for me. But for the world, It’s been a tumultuous and disturbing one. Humanity seems to be losing … to itself. Despite the best efforts of scientists and science fiction authors, we continually move towards self-destructive tendencies. Climate change, wars, human rights violations, famine. And Donald Trump is yet […]

Fictional Violence vs Reality

Depictions of violence are a staple of genre fiction. This can serve a number of purposes, least of all the glorification of violence. War in The Lord of the Rings was a reflection of the trauma experienced by Tolkien in the trenches. Abercrombie shows the fruitlessness of the cycle of violence in his First Law […]

Magic, Faith and Fiction

Introduction Fantasy fiction has long been linked to the mystical, the unknown, and the extraordinary. This genre contains a unique strand of storytelling. It draws from rich cultural and spiritual traditions. This is known as Muslim fantasy fiction. Combining elements of magic, faith, and folklore, these stories explore new dimensions of the fantastical through a […]

Hidden Realms of Muslim Fantasy

The mind stills. The body relaxes. The spirit rises up, tethered to its mortal shell with a gossamer tendril. Free to wander the spiritual realm but tentatively connected to the physical world. The aim is to lose oneself in the awe of the Almighty. In my last post, I looked at the bestiary available to […]

Clash of Mythologies

The troll hefts its makeshift club and advances cautiously towards the glowing blue figure. He roars a challenge at the strange creature to show his dominance. But the blue figure is uncowed. She just smiles as she hovers above the ground and raises a single hand. The earth rumbles in response. In my last post, […]

When Folk Tales Collide

Western fantasy fiction is heavily influenced by Greco-Roman and Norse mythologies. From pantheons of fickle deities to mischievous fae folk, from great dragons to tunnel crawling wyrms. Over the decades, since fantasy’s emergence as a genre, more and more European folklore has made its way into fantasy fiction. Orcs, goblins, elves, dwarfs, etc., are well […]