R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) is ascience fiction play written by the Czech writer Karel Čapek which is the source of the word Robot. The play imagines synthetic people called roboti (robots) who are created to work for humans but eventually rebel which leads to the extenction of humans. R.U.R wasContinue Reading
A number of Science Fiction Cons that are being cancelled is increasing. The latest one to succumb to Coronavirus is SFRA (Science Fiction Research Association). I was looking forward to the conference, hoping to attend my first SFRA conference is 2020. However this won’t happen this year. Let’s all hopeContinue Reading
(Image Source: Financial Times) The award winning British-Pakistani novelist, Mohsin Hamid, published a short story on an Alien Invasion in Financial Times which was quite well received. Here is an excerpt from the story: A hot wind rattles the roof of our shanty. Corrugated metal bucks up and down, scrabbling againstContinue Reading
While there is no such thing as Magic in Islam, through out history people from Muslim cultures have esoteric things which have been described as magic by outsiders. (Muslim scholars universally consider Magic to be haram (Forbidden) in Islam.) In the medieval era Muslims in Europe were sometimes accused of practicingContinue Reading
Ali Pourahmad is a director and writer based in Iran who has directed a number of short Science Fiction movies. He not only directs but also writes the story line for his short movies which have a high element of CGI animation. Here is a summary of some of theContinue Reading
I had the good fortune to meet the President of Egyptian Society for Science Fiction Dr. Hosam El-Zembely and its member Emad Aysha in Nasr City (a suburb of Cairo) at their headquarters last week. The Egyptian Society for Science Fiction (جمعية المصرية لأدب الخيال العلمي) is a Science FictionContinue Reading
In Ian Douglas’ Star Carrier there is a brief story line that involves Muslims who have settled on a planet, the main story involves a Muslim pilot also. [Thanks to Mohamed B. for the pointer]
I usually do not post about my projects but this one is relevant to the theme of the site so here it is. I will let the project speak for itself. Here is a relevant excerpt from the site: Silicon Arabic combines the aesthetics of the traditional and ancient IslamicContinue Reading
I will be on a couple of panels at the 36th annual WisCon 23 this weekend being held in Madison, Wisconsin. WisCon is the world’s leading feminist-oriented science fiction convention and conference. I will mainly be talking about Science Fiction in translation (mainly from the Muslim world) and Science FictionContinue Reading
Official Website: www.larissasansour.com/ Bio: Larissa Sansour is a Palestinian artist. She was raised in Palestine but had to move when the events in the Middle East forced her to move first to Europe and then for higher studies in the US where she received MA in Art from NYU. HerContinue Reading