Fan Fic Collab

M Carmel is the author of the Arkavian Intelligence Services series. Earlier this year we agreed to collaborate by producing a piece of fan fiction based in each other’s fictional worlds. J M would write a story set in the world of The Changeling King, focusing on Det. Karen Rainbow’s catholic roots, and I would […]

The Ink that made me

Every hero (and writer) has an origin story, here is mine… I tell people that my aspirations for becoming a writer began when I heard my teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis to the class. That story got me into reading and wanting to write. It makes for […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

The Miraculous Resurgence of Books

Clearly, books are not dead. Nor has the book apocalypse (bookopalypse?) taken place as predicted when ebooks started popping as PDFs, ePubs and .Mobi files. If anything, book sales are experiencing a healthy upswing again. The only people that seem to be reading ebooks is Gen-Xers like me. According to Nielsen Book Data (2022), 80% […]

Review: The Mammoth Book of Nebula SF

The Mammoth Book of Nebula Awards SF by Kevin J. Anderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Put together an eclectic collection of Nebula award-winning short stories and novelettes, as well as a full length novella selected by Kevin J Anderson and you know you’re in for a treat. Each story is distinct in its […]

Legacy

My son turned 4 this week. I bought him a World War Hulk action figure (he’s a big Hulk fan). He played with it all day and went to sleep clutching it in his hand. But as my children get older, so do I (33 at the time of writing this post). Only a […]