Had an absolute ride reading and reviewing this book! The level of thought Mahmud has put into every thread of the story is, very much, madness. The review is also from a new substack of mine, so feel free to follow if you're interested in such writing.

Just received my new favourite comment about TROM from @prashanthsrivatsa.bsky.social. "It thrills me to bear witness to the madness of a writer." 😂 Read his excellent substack on TROM and language and society in India here: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Book 2 teaser that has nothing to do with another UK PM resigning: "I look at it with a maintech’s eye now... if a system keeps throwing up the same fault, then replacing the same part again and again is no solution. If something keeps breaking down, there is a larger problem, a systemic one."

Listening to the UK news coverage today and I'm struck by how much it all sounds like a naff reality TV companion show. "Do you think Wes Streeting has been promised a role? Is he too big a character for Number 11? And how will Ed Miliband react?" Embarrassing journalism.

Aaaaaand good riddance!

Historic, Egypt win first World Cup game 🙌

Watching Egypt at the World Cup is a nerve-racking experience. But I trust in coaches Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan, the Grant and Phil Mitchell of Egyptian football 😂

Mew is flabbergasted I am working so late. I'm on a deadline, Mew. Give me a break!

Metamodernism... the mercurial condition between and beyond irony and sincerity, naivety and knowingness, relativism and truth, optimism and doubt, in pursuit of a plurality of disparate and elusive horizons. We must go forth and oscillate!" - The Metamodernist Manifesto (2011)

Starmer to resign tomorrow? Well, he does have that right.

Oh, the Straight of Hormuz, the Straight of Hormuz, all I hear about is the Straight of Hormuz. When will we move away from this heteronormative language?

Following the sad events in Edinburgh today, the term is anti-Muslim hatred, not Islamophobia. The former is clearly a form of identity-based hostility and prejudice. The latter sounds like a scientific anxiety disorder.

Instead of resisting change, surrender. Let life be with you, not against you. If you think, 'My life will be turned upside down,' don't worry. How do you know that your life is not better upside down? – Shams-i Tabrizi

Trying the writers' trick of interviewing my characters but they are giving me nothing back. My characters don't snitch.

This Is Just To Say (Nupol) I have manged the khawkh that were in the crisper and which tu were probs saving for brekkie Pardonez moi they were delish so dolce and so frio

News: THE FIFTH INFLECTION (formerly THE SENTENCE, in India) now has a cover - and it’s available for pre-order across the world! Get it here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Fi...

An Oxford Union Debate about whether Islam is a threat to the West? Listen, guys, I agree that Islam Makhachev is UFC pound for pound champ but he's just one guy 1/2

bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

This Is Just To Say (Arabic) I have eaten the khawkh that were in the thalaga and which you were ihtimal saving for fitar Forgive me they were lazeez so halw and so bard

If you can't immortalise your cat in print, what's even the point of being a writer? Hilal bent down slowly and held out a metal hand. Mew, intrigued, crept forward and delicately sniffed her platinum fingers. “Hello, Mew,” she said, patting the cat gently. “What’s the rumpus?”

Me watching Iraq play Norway at the World Cup and explaining the Sunni/Shia schism, the battle of Karbala and Ashura

Yes, nationalise Thamea Water. Nationalise the electricity, the railways, the care homes, public transport. Not everything should be about profits. Let's get out of this neo-liberal hellscape.

"Shut your eyes and see," – James Joyce, Ulysses Happy Bloomsday to those who celebrate and remember that the longest way round is the shortest way home

Please Sir, my Scene is Ocean Colour(ed)

BBC commemtator says Al-Ahly are the "current champions of Egypt." No, mate, it's Al-Zamalek. I was there!

and books like ANGEL DOWN by Daniel Kraus that are brave enough to experiment with form and genre give me so much confidence and this is why we read and this is why we write

"Prime Minister, what have you done about the picnic area in a minefield?" "Made it safe." "You removed the mines?" "No, I have banned children from picnics."

I've always wanted to write a scene where a character rushes into a newsroom and shouts, "Stop the presses!" especially because this is not something that actually ever happens in real life and finally I have.

Trillionaire Musk is worth the same as the poorest 46% of the world population. This is how revolutions happen.

A society with one trillionaire and millions of people in poverty is something to be deeply ashamed of, actually

Footballing hot take: England should change their national anthem from 'God Save the King' to 'Vindaloo.'

"Blending politics, philosophy, religion, revolution and the human craving for meaning, El Sayed has delivered a wonderfully imaginative novel of social and psychological complexity." Thank you to The Irish Times 🫡 www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

"You’re going to get left behind if you don’t use AI.” Leave me then. Leave me with my critical thinking skills, my ability to read and write long-form, and books without needing AI summaries.

And now we head to a live address from FIFA President Gianni Infantino about the World Cup controversies.

What it's like being a writer: "He's trying to live happily. Introduce an inciting incident."

Scribing Libro Dva and cogginng about como coves savvy my madeup lingua. Is this kinda palavar too much? Nupol is nish suppsoed to be just some twenty-to-one. It's a serio keek at linguistic relativity. If I force tu to palavar like a rebel, does that make tu more abra to rebellion?

No, they are not "anti-migrant" protests. They're racists.

Banning referees. Banning fans. Banning team members. Border police searching players' phones and subjecting them to hours-long interrogations. What kind of World Cup is this? And for all those who were outraged by Qatar, why won't you speak up now about the US? 🤔

If you love short SF, or SF generally, a subscription to Clarkesworld is incredibly worth it. 50,000 words every month of stories, interviews and art for not a whole lot of money. Highly highly recommended.

Egypt 2920: The new New Administrative Capital has just finished completion. Robot President Fulan Al-Fulani has announced peace talks to halt the war between Cairo's driverless cars and Tuk-tuk gangs. In the North, the mer-people of Port Said make their plans...

A writer talking to their characters after starting a big structural edit. (Yes, the writer is me)

English football commentary: Here comes the cross. Goal! Arabic football commentary: The ball is caressed into the box like a mother rocking her child to sleep. It hits the back of the net with the force of a cannon-ball, a rocket fired from the heavens. Pele, are you watching this from on high?

We're excited to announce the 2026 Future Worlds Prize shortlist: A Blade Drawn from Envy by Ty Ogunade A Corruption of Death by @hadiyahsama.bsky.social A Song of Shir’ja by Harps Aujla Crooked Straits by Olivia Ho 1/2

One Thousand and One Wishes by @rakanrrk.bsky.social The Sun Wells by @aiden-ng.bsky.social There Will Come Soft Rains by Jessica Tsang Zonbi by Zarah Elouis-Ro. 2/2

Had to finish reading @catamaroon.bsky.social's WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN at home. A big bearded Arab guy crying on the tube is not a good look 😂😅 What a great book and such a hopeful uplifting vision of the future.

Writing? I think of it more like editmaxxing or first-draftmogging 💀

Can someone explain all this Middlemarch love? Is it just GCSE nostalgia?

Less than a week until the start of the World Cup and it still all feels meh

Had a lovely chat @kings-dfi.bsky.social Festival of Storytelling yesterday with @catamaroon.bsky.social & @stewarthotston.com ahead of the @clarkeaward.bsky.social announcement. For once, I wasn't the first one to bring up the perils of AI 🤣

I am real late with a review of one of my two most anticipated debuts of the year. But The Republic of Memory is real good. www.tarvolon.com/2026/06/04/s...