It's Pub Day for my debut novel, THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY. It's an Arabfuturist story of a revolution set on a generation ship with lots of linguistic shenanigans. Chapeau to tu!

Telemachus (in an American accent): My dad is coming home! Oh, i'm worried about Chris Nolan's The Odyssey

May the 4th be with you!

Please, nobody tell Richard Dawkins about Tamagotchis

I started reading The Eternaut by Héctor Germán Oesterheld (artwork by Francisco Solano López). Argentinian science fiction that is as relevant aa ever. Enjoyed the Netflix show last year and now enjoying the original.

The sun is out in London. Londoners: lose their minds and clothes. Me, an Egyptian, glaring up at the weak European sun with my bare eyeballs: IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?

I've been reading a lot of Arabic poetry for my current wip so here's some Muhammad al-Maghout. Tomorrow, o beloved, tomorrow We will awaken early with the sailors and their sails, And we will rise on the wind Like birds, Like raging blood, And roam over the desert As lips roam over lips.

I'm heading to Kenya next month to take part in Nairobi Litfest. Looking forward to talking with Marta Peirano & Frankline Sunday. Brace yourself for some anti-AI diatrabes!

@mahmudelsayed.bsky.social's THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY is a generation ship drama packed to the brim w/a revolutionary heist, family tiffs, fab worldbuilding, & the best invented argot I've read in decades. A polyphonic & clear-eyed imagining of the possibilities and pitfalls of revolution. Out 5/5

Happy Alien Day, everyone. Don't stick your fingers into any extra-terrestrial eggs and keep your face covered at all times!

When writers put their characters through hell for the sake of the plot.

Mew, aura farming worse than Thragg. Happy Caturday, all.

Reading Ilona Andrew's This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. A portal fantasy where the main character is a super-fan of the grimdark fantasy book they are in. It's meta in just the way I like. LOL'd at the 'but the story is unfinished. We've been waiting ages for the final book!'

London Fox: What are you looking at, bruv?

This Sunday! 8:30pm UK time! Live in the Discord with @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social discord.gg/EKGe4CeU8

Friend: Do you want to watch Michael? Me: Michael, the 1996 Nora Ephron classic where John Travolta plays the eponymous archangel who has inexplicably come to Earth and he battles a bull and it ends with Van Morrison's 'Bright Side of the Road?' YES! Friend: Uh....

Hans Zimmer's Dune Part Three Fremen war chant: LSD! LSD! LSD! Me: Well, this tracks!

Story idea: Lovecraftian horror set in a small English town in the nineties but the eldritch horror is Mr. Blobby. "In the House of No'el, the party is ever in a state of upheaval / As Bl'obby, He of the yellow pustules, spreads his Evil."

Finished 'The Spear Cuts Through Water' by Simon Jimenez. Love love loved it! Audacious premise, beautiful prose and really stuck the landing. This book is magical.

A really lovely review of THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY from @princejvstin.com but more an interesting rumination on generation ship stories in general.

*record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, that's me sitting at my desk translating Arabian poet Labid Ibn Rabi'ah into English for a science fiction novel. You're probably wondering how I got here. It all started when I read Frank Herbert's Dune aged 13 and thought, 'Maybe I could be a writer.'

English: Yes Arabic: Inshallah (1/3)

Finished The Republic of Memory by @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social. What a great debut with excellent political and social commentary, exploration of language and memory, and many clever POV choices and experimental literary techniques.

Finally reading 'The Spear Cuts Through Water' by Simon Jimenez and loving it so far. A story within a story within a story told variously in first, second and third person? YES!

Hey, that's a-me! I'm really looking for this.

It's a "mission impossible" Mew Monday.

“Translation is not a matter of words only; it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.” – Anthony Burgess

"Praise be to Allah." Has Trump finally said something I agree with? 🤔

Best Star Trek crew, wrong answer only

Really enjoyed Riz Ahmed's Bait on Prime. Funny and insightful about the British immigrant experience. I only have one criticism: The voice of the pig should obviously have been John Hamm or Kevin Bacon although Patrick Stewart is ofc always excellent.

There is no art without an artist.

Finished Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Raced through it. What a great book and some excellent social commentary on the tech bros. Also very clever POVs doing some interesting (and literary) things. For me, the bleeding edge of experimental litfic remains SFF.

"Dogs own space and cats own time." - Nicola Griffith Mew and Max booked the same 'sitting in the armchair' slot and now neither want to move.

Finally watched Project Hail Mary. Amazingly faithful to the book. Casting was good. Cinematography great. Rocky was amaze amaze amaze. As for the "politics" furore... (1/2)

I just opened the news (Iran War expanding? Trump telling allies, 'get your own oil?' NASA launch to do something we first did in 1968?) and it seems like it's April Fools all the way down!

I’m doing a bit of research for a potential article on reading habits of SFFH fans. So, if you read SFFH do you also read other genres and if so, which ones? All answers welcome and reposts appreciated for visibility. Thank you!

Habibi, come to Arrakis!

Just to be clear: Everything is political. The language you write in, the characters whose POV you choose, the words that they use, the narrative that they follow, the audience you write for – all of it.

I have been robbed... of one hour of sleep!

I am once again reminding you that there are only a few days left to enter my Goodreads giveaway for a chance to win a physical copy of THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY. www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

This is why I subscribe to Barthes' "Death of the Author." It's the text I'm interested in, not authorial intent. In many cases, they ("we" ahem) don't even understand what we've written or why. Project Hail Mary is humanist at its core. It's ironic its "scriptor" doesn't seem to understand that.

"The Great Eye is ever watchful." #Caturday

Thinking about how in Stargate SG-1 Teal'c would sometimes put on a hat and go undercover as 'Murray'

What If... David Coppwrfield but it's Dawood El-Cobberfield? 🤔

What If... A Tale of Two Cities but its Cairo and Baghdad

Last day(ish) to pre-order THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY from B & N. Get it while it's hot!

Baaaaa!

🚨 Goodreads giveaway alert 🚨 Enter below for a change to win an early copy of THE REPUBLIC OF MEMORY from Saga Press. www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

London 2099: Victor Vulpis becomes the first urban fox to be elected Mayor after pledging to deal with the public transport crisis – TFL buses that have become sentient and are gobbling up passengers.

The media yesterday: 250 people were killed in Gaza, mostly women and children. No, we won't tell you their names or show you what they look like or humanise them in any way The media today: Islamophobia is on rise. This is very troubling 🤡