The is a translation of an interview conducted by Mohamed Nazreen Shahul Hamid and published in the November 2018 edition of “Dewan Sastera“, a Malaysian literary magazine edited by Zaharahanum Kamarudin. The interviewee, Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD, is currently a member of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction (ESSF) and a …
Read More »A Dialogue with my Friend the Resistance author!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Resistance literature, in the Arabic tradition, has been defined as: The literature of any group or people that are aware of their identity and fighting for their freedom against an aggressive other, and for their collective deliverance. The key words are freedom, collective …
Read More »Double Trouble: Moataz Hassanien’s ‘2063’, charting a course for today, from the world of tomorrow!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I had the good fortune of attending a book signing event once, with Ibrahim Nasrallah as the guest of honour, and during the question-answer session, somebody mentioned George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984. This was no coincidence since the book being signed away was Nasrallah’s …
Read More »The Bitter Aftertaste of M. M. Tawfik’s ‘Candygirl’, a Sorry Excuse for Science Fiction
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I made the mistake of reading, and the even bigger mistake of ‘buying’, M. M. Tawfik’s novel Candygirl: An Egyptian Novel, published in English by the AUC Press in 2013. (Mr. Tawfik did the translation himself, and he does a reasonably competent job …
Read More »Can Human Hibernation take us to Mars?
By Anna Kucirkova The problems of overpopulation and environmental issues have our world leaders considering what the next step is to ensure the survival of humanity. What are we to do once the population has reached the critical tipping point? What about if the earth become uninhabitable? Our sister …
Read More »‘Backwards’ by Whose Standards? Twists and Turns Along the Evolutionary Course of Egyptian SF
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD* Iritdad or ‘Backwards’ is a science fiction novel by Egyptian author Muhammad Ahmed Al-Nagui, published originally in 2016. As you can probably guess from the title, the novel fits in the time-travel genre. The story is set in the distant future, 2107 to be …
Read More »12 fantastic science fiction and fantasy novels that you should check out this July
Robots are a regular staple in science fiction, from Isaac Asimov’s book I, Robot to the latest episode of Westworld. So while I was at an event in Boston, I picked up Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation by Terri Favro. It’s an interesting and funny …
Read More »BOOK REVIEW – Apocalyptic Aftermath: Ahmed Al-Mahdi’s Malaaz (2017) takes on The Road Warrior, and Beats Him!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD We tend to think of post-apocalyptic novels as the exclusive preserve of the modern world. We tend to think of science fiction in general as the exclusive preserve of the modern world. Not so, says Egypt’s youthful fantasy, SF author Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi[1] in his …
Read More »What Science Fiction can tell us about Arabs, History and Historians
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I was attending a lecture once by an Egyptian science fiction writer, quite a distinguished engineer in fact, and he gave a hilarious example. He talked about an Egyptian boy that had grown up in America and had come back to Egypt, as it …
Read More »BOOK REVIEW – Split Personality: Ammar’s Shadows of Atlantis Challenges Arabs to Better Themselves through Science Fiction!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Shadows of Atlantis (2017) is an alien invasion/post-apocalyptic story penned by a youthful Egyptian author, Ammar Mahmoud Al-Masry. The one human city that has been able to withstand the storm is New Atlantis, an Egyptian city built in the Western desert, becoming a refuge …
Read More »UAE firm takes a hand in US robotic surgery venture
“Calling Dr Robot, calling Dr Robot, your next surgery’s waiting…” Such a vision needn’t be confined to the pages of sci-fi books of their movie spin-offs. A UAE-based investment group is pumping in millions of dirhams to make this compelling image a reality in local/regional hospitals. Crescent Enterprises, the …
Read More »BOOK REVIEW – Akwan: Walking the Razor’s Edge between Western Science Fiction and Egyptian Morality
By Emad El-Din Aysha,PhD Akwan (2017) or ‘Universes’ is an exceptional novel by Egyptian standards, and for several reasons. One, it’s a science fiction novel and a hard-core sci-fi novel at that, dealing with parallel universes and alternate dimensions. (The Egypt of nowadays, horror and supernatural thrillers count …
Read More »Ambitions Postponed: Killer Robots in Debate, Between Science Fiction and Political Reality
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD An open letter was just issued at the world’s biggest artificial intelligence conference – the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) – for the outright banning of ‘lethal autonomous weapons’, more commonly known as killer robots. The letter, signed by a 116 of the …
Read More »Robots in Vogue – From Sexbots to Sequels on the Silver Screen
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Art is always one step ahead of reality. If you’ve watched Blade Runner (1982) you’re introduced to custom-tailored, genetically engineered humanoid robots – called ‘replicants’ – made for everything from combat duty to assassination to off-world colonisation to, last but not least, pleasure models for …
Read More »ARABIC SCIENCE FICTION – “Ramadan Tidings” by Emad El-Din Aysha
The inventor put down the newspaper, frustrated. Food sales were skyrocketing and prices flying out of control in Egypt, as was to be expected, during the holy month of Ramadan. The very month people were supposed to be eating ‘less’ in because they were fasting. This has got to stop. …
Read More »ARABIC SCIENCE FICTION – “The Revolving Door” by Emad El-Din Aysha
The azza [funeral or wake, take your pick] at the Egyptian mosque was proceeding. People shook each other’s hands and wished each other an end to the days of their sorrows. The young men thanked the other youngsters for actually showing up. The men either wore dark suits or were …
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