By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD “Fucking men like you built the hydrogen bomb. Men like you thought it up. You think you’re so creative. You don’t know what it’s like to really create something; to create a life; to feel it growing inside you. All you know how …
Read More »Spy thiller legend John le Carré passes away
John le Carré, who forged thrillers from equal parts of adventure, moral courage and literary flair, has died aged 89. Le Carré explored the gap between the west’s high-flown rhetoric of freedom and the gritty reality of defending it, in novels such as The Spy Who Came in from the …
Read More »‘Writing for the sake of collective survival’ – the emotional brilliance of the Palestine Writes Festival
BY ALICE ROTHCHILD DECEMBER 9, 2020 This past year, the isolated loneliness of being a writer has been magnified by the cruelties of the pandemic. Spending five intense virtual days at the Palestine Writes Literature Festival with over 3,000 people from 75 different countries was an exhilarating and welcome relief, even though it …
Read More »Gender Benders: A Follow-Up on Mackenzie Davis and the Remakings of the Female Other – PART II
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself by being a cabbage. Nowadays it’s no good being a cabbage – unless you have an agent and pay him a commission. Nothing is free anymore to sell itself or give itself away. …
Read More »Words that Liberate and Enslave Us: Christina Marie on Dragons, Zombies, Aliens & Male-Female Tropes
Dear Christina “DZA” Marie, First off all let me thank you on behalf of all the readers of The Levant newspaper in the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s not every day we get to talk to a distinguished author and, better yet, someone who teach authors how to write. …
Read More »Trump admits he deliberately played down the real threat of coronavirus, says Bob Woodward
U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged to a journalist early in the coronavirus pandemic that he played down the danger of the health crisis despite having evidence to the contrary, according to a new book. “I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told author Bob Woodward on March 19, days …
Read More »The Taste of the Earth: Medallions of Memory in the Poetry of Hedy Habra
Hedy Habra, The Taste of the Earth (Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2019). By Layla Azmi Goushey In June 2020, I had the good fortune to attend a virtual poetry reading where Hedy Habra, author of the recently-published poetry collection, The Taste of the Earth, read selections from her work. …
Read More »Welcome to the post, post-Apocalypse: An Esoteric reading of Youssef El Sherif’s Al-Nihaya (The End)
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I’ve been planning to write about Youssef El Sherif’s Al-Nihaya (The End) since the holy month of Ramadan began but found it difficult to research and preferred to wait till the end before passing judgement on it. It is Egypt’s first ever sci-fi TV …
Read More »New film ‘The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19’ goes viral on social media
The first part of ‘The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19’ a new film by Plandemic went viral on the internet in the past 24 hours. The documentary reveals the agenda of the scientific and political elite who run the global health system and shows the sinister role of U.S. president Donald …
Read More »From the East to the East: Romania’s Darius Hupov interviews Egypt’s Ammar Al-Masry
This interview was conducted by Darius Luca Hupov. Hupov is the Editor-in-chief of Romania’s top sci-fi online publication, Galaxy 42, covering the activities of sci-fi enthusiasts from Europe to China and the Middle East. Darius Hupov has been writing science fiction since 1987 ans has published in the Banat Renaissance, …
Read More »Reviewing ‘Amin Al-Ulwani’ by Faycel Lahmeur – When the Sci-Fi Sun rises in the West!
As an SF author, activist and reviewer from the Eastern part of the Arab world, I can’t help but feeling humbled if not downright jealous of what is going on in the Western part of the Arab world, the so-called Maghreb. I say this after reading a novel I’ve been …
Read More »Splicing and Dicing: interview with Fantasy-SF author Asmaa Kadry
Emad El-Din Aysha: Tell me something about yourself, your CV? Asmaa Kadry: Forget CV’s, they’re highly overrated. I think you could say that I’m an eclectic soul: Internationally accredited Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist & NLP life coach Public speaker & certified trainer Author whose written and published 10 books until now mostly …
Read More »Heart of Atlantis: Ammar Al Masry’s Not-So-Artificial Intelligence Epic Nears Completion, for Now!
I’ve written previously about Ammar Al-Masry’s novels Shadows of Atlantis and Throne of Atlantis, so it only seems fair to write about the third and supposedly final instalment in the New World series, Heart of Atlantis (2019). I’d finished reading the novel the previous year but held out on writing …
Read More »Death of Ahmed Gaid Salah leaves Algeria at a crossroads
Just 11 days after Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president of a deeply polarised Algeria, the country’s powerful military chief Lt Gen Ahmed Gaid Salah died of a heart attack. This unexpected development has prompted questions about the future of Algeria’s political system; it is obviously too soon to tell if …
Read More »The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinian Christians that Nobody is Talking About
By RAMZY BAROUD Palestine’s Christian population is dwindling at an alarming rate. The world’s most ancient Christian community is moving elsewhere. And the reason for this is Israel. Christian leaders from Palestine and South Africa sounded the alarm at a conference in Johannesburg on October 15. Their gathering was …
Read More »‘Palestine + 100’ Review
By Layla Azmi Goushey In Palestine + 100: Stories from a century after the Nakba, twelve Palestinian writers answer the question” What might your country look like in the year 2048?” Their answers are encased in a thrilling collection of speculative, dystopian, and futuristic short fiction edited by Basma …
Read More »Review of Political travails of Time travel
“I enjoyed the question you posed about why Bester didn’t have Hassel murder Jesus.” – Richard Chwedyk Hi Gouthama, At last, I’ve gotten around to reading Political Travails of Time Travel and found it most entertaining and thought-provoking. I was most intrigued with the Indian folktales about the trees of …
Read More »Political travails of Time travel by Gouthama Siddarthan
By Massimo Luciani “Political travails of Time travel” (“Kaalap payana Arasiyal”) by Gouthama Siddarthan was published for the first time in 2018 with the English version translated from the Tamil by Maharathi. Partly an essay on time travel, partly a commentary on two short stories on the subject by …
Read More »If on a science fiction’s night a traveller
By Gouthama Siddarthan When my book, ‘I travagli politici del viaggio nel tempo’ – (Translation by Davite Mana), was published in Italian, it was Domenico Attianese, who for the first time introduced it. It was thanks to his introduction that my book hogged a widespread attention. Also, Vincenzo Barone …
Read More »Meditating The Levant News Exclusive – On the Music and Sufi Science Fiction of Dawoud Kringle
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD As journalist with The Levant and a member of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction (ESSF), I’m always on the lookout for fellow Arab and Muslim authors of science fiction, and one area that has peaked my interest as of late is Sufi science …
Read More »Behind the Flaps of the Curtain… lie the Arabic Espionage and Sci-Fi Novel!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Here’s a blast from the past. I remember reading an annoying interview once by the director of Quantum of Solace (2008) where he explained his misplaced sense of realism in the movie, which pissed off a lot of fans, myself included. He said …
Read More »Filling the Lacuna: First Anthology of Poetry on the Partition of India in 1947
Reviewed by Ameer Imam* Some wounds never heal up and bleed for ages. History is always in a hurry. It never thinks what is left behind. It never cares if its work is finished or unfinished. It moves like a river without thinking for a while that its banks …
Read More »Short Story in Focus – “Lambs of the Desert”
By Layla Azmi Goushey* “Lambs of the Desert”, a short story by Dr. Emad El-Din Aysha is an intriguing blend of science fiction and resistance Literature.[1] Dr. Aysha, who is bilingual in English and Arabic, and whose birthplace is the United Kingdom, is currently a resident of Cairo, Egypt …
Read More »ShiBboLeTh and India
A message about Silvio Gesell, author of The Natural Economic Order, and the mind behind Money with Demurrage, was received approvingly Friday by The New Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. The message was sent by Angel NicGillicuddy author of ShiBboLeTh the book. India has a history of supporting the …
Read More »Klaus Kinski – Toshiro Mifune – Dhanush Kasturiraja: State of Madness And Art of Madness
By Gouthama Siddarthan* If a debate is initiated on the art of histrionics in the world cinema, it will pivot on German personality Klaus Kinski. Shunning the acting style born out of a director’s dictation, scenes which break out from the inner inspiration can be seen in the film, “Aguirre, the …
Read More »The Invisible Theatre
By Gouthama Siddarthan* The other day I happened on a performance of ‘Annanmaar koothu’ (Elder Brothers Theatre), one of the Tamils’ antediluvian folk story-in-songs. This folk form assumes significance, deeply rooted in the western part of Tamil Nadu, that is, Kongu region, and narrating aesthetically designed battlefield scenes conjuring …
Read More »Car designing and postmodernism
By Gouthama Siddarthan* Among several programmes on the my favourite American TV channel History TV, the most charming and appealing one is the Leepu and Pitbull reality television series. That has gone down well with lovers of cars remodelled out of the old and the condemned. The show revolves around …
Read More »A Review too Far: Ammar Al-Masry’s Throne of Atlantis confounds expectations as good battles evil in alphabetical order!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD What can I say about Ammar Al-Masry’s Throne of Atlantis, the long awaited sequel to Shadows of Atlantis? It’s a mind-boggling treat! To remind those who have forgotten, myself included, here is a summary. In Shadows of Atlantis you have a near perfect world …
Read More »Prasanna Vithanage: A Political Proof of Western Cinema
By Gouthama Siddarthan* The famous school of post-modernist art and literary thought enjoins one to study a work of art not only from just an artistic perspective but also from a multi-dimensional viewpoint which will ferret out the subtle features of the work. We are living in a critics’ …
Read More »Between Galactic Comedies and Earthly Tragedies – The Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, vol. IV
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD This is a different review than any other I’ve written to date. The reason is, I’m a proud participant in the book in question – The Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror volume IV! This is an anthology, and a big one at …
Read More »An interview with Gouthama Siddarthan – Interviewer: Domenico Attianese
Hello, Mr.Gouthama, welcome to Melange ! Could you please tell us about you and what you are ? From the International arena, you welcome me and my writings. I thank you and International readers of sci-fi as well on behalf of Tamil. I am primarily a fiction writer …
Read More »Married to a Bedouin
A New Zealand nurse visited the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, where she met a Bedouin seller of souvenirs and loved him and lived with him in his cave. By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — ‘”Where you staying?” the Bedouin asked. “Why you not stay with me tonight – in …
Read More »May the Fortunes Smile on You… A Dialogue with Eslam Abdel-Rahman, Egypt’s answer to Dan Brown!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ ۚ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ And [remember, O Muhammad], when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you [from Makkah]. But they plan, …
Read More »Can a Horror Be an Evilma?
By Gouthama Siddarthan* — Speculative fiction has, of late, been catching up in the world of writing which is highly enamoured of it. But there is a great danger of this fascination falling into the groove of popular legal thriller. The danger bristles with the risky possibility of …
Read More »Dispatches from the Beyond: ‘The Greek Papyrus’ proves Ahmed Al-Mahdi can outdo the Hellenists at their own Game!
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I’ve never been very partial towards reading heavy-duty fantasy novels, I’m loath to admit, let alone a full length fantasy novel in Arabic. So it was a refreshing change from my usual diet of hard sci-fi to read Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi’s The Greek Papyrus: …
Read More »Egyptian Science Fiction: Criticises Arabs
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 »Palestinian cuisine, reflecting and creating the nation
Yasmin Khan’s new cookbook, “Zaitoun,” documents her travels in the West Bank and Gaza, and the beauty of the food she encountered there… taken from The New York Times. “Zaitoun: Recipes From the Palestinian Kitchen,” which is being published in the United States this week by W.W. Norton & Company, …
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 »Angolan President arrives in UAE
His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received the President of Angola, Joao Lourenco, who was in the UAE to attend the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, ADSW, at Al Shati Palace on Sunday. H.H. Sheikh …
Read More »UAE commercial exchange with Armenia on the rise
The total value of non-oil trade between the UAE and the Republic of Armenia reached AED920 million during 2017, compared to AED375 million in 2015, the Ministry of Economy has said. In a report on the trade policy review between the two countries, the ministry said that doubling of trade …
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 »‘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 »“The Sole Spokesman: Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Founding of Pakistan”
“The Sole Spokesman: Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Founding of Pakistan” – by Ayesha Jalal (Author) — Reviewed By Dr. Geoffrey Cook* — In the West, it is easy to paint Mohammad Ali Jinnah as the “evil” nemesis of Gandhi in the struggle for self-rule on the Indian subcontinent. The one …
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