Sequel in the Making

November is shaping up to be one helluva busy month. All of a sudden, after almost one entire month of absolute nothingness, a whole bunch of things are popping up here and there.

If all falls into the right places within the next few days, I will probably be embarking on yet another mini book tour, with a possible 3 to 4 new dates! Its exiting, but its also very tiring. The past three days I've been running around like mad and come around 9ish in the evening I'm so ready to hit the sack that I actually do, which is rather unlike me.

Oh, and speaking of upcoming events, there might be two additional ones within the next couple of weeks. These will be a Models of Success related stuff (I know I've not brought that up for a while have I?) But I'm told that the two dates are confirmed, just a matter of sorting exact time and venue.

And before I forget, if you find the November issue of Bahrain Traveler around – it would probably be somewhere like a newsstand! – pick it up for it has a full, in-depth review of Moments, the most comprehensive the book has so far.

Oddly enough, I've felt an urge to listen to Radiohead and put on their "The Bends" cd, which is brilliant. Not listened to that for ages.

Hello Darwin!

Goodbye, Darwin the Sci-Fi anthology featuring my short story 'Writers' Block' will be laucnhed in November, from Canadian-based Apodis Publishing. It's been a long wait but the book is finally completed and you will be able to purchase it from most major online bookstores. In fact, it is already available through Amazon.co.uk. Have a look. You can also read the synopsis and table of contents here.

This is actually the first anthology I appear in, so it means quite something for me. I had previously had short stories published in magazines, jounals and websites before, but not in a print anthology.

Having said that, there are at least two other anthologies in the pipeline which I just might appear in with other stories. But these have not been confirmed yet. I hope Goodbye, Darwin will be the start of a new trend for me!

Venturing Into TV Land

I'm getting rater excited about this new project I've been working on for the past few weeks. It's a new challenge for me and yes, as you've probably guessed from the title of this post, it has something to do with television!

I can't, at this point, reveal much about it. But I can tell you that I'm involved in creating some sort of new TV show. We've been writing the script for the pilot episode over the past couple of weeks and I can happy that the collaborative writing sessions went brilliantly well. We now have a completed script and this will go through several sessions of editing and redrafting.

I must admit it was a departure working closely on a script like this and found that the creative juices flowed much easily throughout. But like I said, I can't say much more about it. (I promised I won't!) Not until things are all sorted and set to go, which should be over the coming few weeks.

To many, Eid started today. So happy holidays to all of you out there and…

***Eid Mubarak***

Click & Flick(r)

Some of you might've noticed that my Flickr account has disappeared. It's a long story... actually it's not! It was deleted. Somehow. By someone. Probably me. That's what I was told anyway.

Anyhow, I've got me a new account now, and I've gone PRO this time around. Take at a look at some ofthe photos I've uploaded so far and keep checking regulary for more updates.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ali-alsaeed/

Sliders

I remember this show being one of my faves as a teenager. It was one of the few that I enjoyed back then. There weren't many good ones anyway, and I wasn't that big a TV puff. But Sliders was something different and I loved the characters and the whacky adventures they went on.

MBC4 has been showing reruns of the first couple of seasons (the best in my opinion) and I found myself appreciating the show even more now than I did before, revisiting the various parallel worlds that Professor Arturo, Quinn, Wade and Rembrandt went through in their quest to find home again. For a summary of what it is about check out Sliders.net

The series ran for five seasons (1995/2000) but in all honesty I don't remember seeing the later episodes. I think there couldn't be a replacement for the original cast especially the role of Prof. Arturo played by the brilliant John Rhys-Davies, who was only in the first two seasons.

That was perhaps one of the shows that started a whole new wave of SF and fantasy series. It was that along with another big fave of mine, Quantum Leap! It used to be aired on Bahrain's Channel 55 believe it or not. Back then it was our only source of proper telly.

Of course there were way too many duplicates and rip offs, but in my opinion they all failed to replicate the originality of these two shows. If you get a chance check Sliders out on MB4…

… they don't make them like they used to.

A Place To Read

Last night I attended the opening of the new and fabulous Iqra Library in Muharaq, opposite the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Center for Culture & Research.

The library – in addition to being stunningly beautiful – will serve as a reading house for young people and children between 6 and 12, a more than welcome move and one that surely will have an impact on encouraging the young ones to pick a book up and read.

The interior design is simple, contemporary yet grounded in tradition. There is the actual library, the computer hallway, and the gallery hall. It makes perfect use of a small space with calm and soothing decor.

The Arabic word Iqra means 'read'. And intrinsically it was the very first word that from the Koran that was delivered to Prophet Mohammed (PbuH), signifying the importance of reading and how celebrated it is in Isalm.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this library progressed and what sort of response it will get and the various programmes and activities it will introduce. Meanwhile though, I suggest you go down and visit it – and don't forget to take the kids with you!

My Fiction is for Real

I was up till around 6am today finishing up chapter 20 of my novel Buried (working title). I've not been attentive of my writing this past month of so, so it was somewhat refreshing to get back on with things. Whenever I read anything by Neil Gaiman I feel stimulated enough to want to write, and this time was no exception. I had just received my copy of his new collection Fragile Things, which I've been looking forward to and simply reading the intro got me back into the writing mood!

Anyway, I now feel that I'm only 10,000 words away (4 or 5 more chapters) from completing the novel. But at the same time I'm expecting it would take a lot fro me to revise, redraft and edit the thing once it's done. The process of writing Buried has been completely different than what I did with QuixotiQ. Here, I have the whole story mapped out in my head, unlike with Q, but it's also a very different kind of story.

Wherein Q was a violent voyage of a desperate man in a world of fantasy and nightmare, Buried is a more subtle character-driven story amidst a murder mystery. The only common element in the two novels is that they both take place in a small town, one fictional and the other real.

You can now read my interview* in the recent issue of Oh La La! Magazine and take a moment to visit my website to check out the latest updates. (*PDF might take moment to downloaded)

Fail/Feel Better

The first half of Ramadan has been very unproductive. My days are all messed up and I can't seem to be able to focus on anything. Perhaps I was a little worn. I've been working hard on Moments these past couple of months and with the two-week tour, I had plenty on my hands to do…

There's still plenty to do. But I'm starting to find it a bit difficult to maintain. I'm not sure if I can entirely blame Ramadan for it. But I suppose it at least has something to do with it.

The latest good news is that Al Hilal Bookshop has agreed to stock Moments in all of its 14 branches across the country, including its stall at the airport departures. So you won't have any excuse for not buying your copy, even if you're planning to escape the country for a while!

Still no development on the Gulf front though. I've had interest in a couple of places in Saudi and Dubai, but it's all far from confirmed yet.


Submissions round up:

POSSIBLE
The Purple Rose – Strange Stories of Sand & Sea anthology

ACCEPTED
The Bullshiter - In Posse Review

REJECTED
The Red Hand of Ottoman – Butcher Shop Quarterly anthology & Stride Magazine
Bow – Failbetter
The Purple Rose - Clarkesworld Magazine

It's My Sundae

A note to let you know that Culturally Speaking, my weekly column in the Gulf Daily News, is now appearing on Sundays, instead of Thursdays. You can read today's column here. And to access previous columns visit the Culturally Speaking blog.