SWTXPC Panel: Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Islamic Milieu
I will be part of a panel on Islam and Science Fiction at the Southwest Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association annual conference. The three of us will be discussing science fiction themes especially in the context of Islamic cosmological doctrines and beliefs. If you [...]
Irfan Rydhan
As most “Star Wars” fans know, director George Lucas took spiritual elements, which are common in most major world religions to create his epic saga of good vs. evil. As a Muslim, I always thought of the “Jedi” as what a true follower of Islam should be like. Never mind the [...]
Biography: Craig Thompson is a well known comic book and graphic novels artist. His 600-page autobiographical graphic novel Blankets has won numerous prestigious awards including the 2004 Eisner Award, for Best Graphic Album-New and Best Writer/Artist, Harvey Awards, for Best Artist, Best Cartoonist, and Best Graphic Album of Original Work and two Ignatz Awards, for [...]
Ibn Safi is the pen name of Asrar Ahmad (1928-1980) who was a legendary and prolific Urdu fiction writer from Pakistan. He is one of the better known Science Fiction writers of Urdu, although his mostly famous for writing crime fiction and spy novels. He mostly famous for his works Jasoosi Duniya (Spy World) and [...]
Bio: Naji Abdullaah Perry (Lonnie Perry) is a comic book artist. He has written a number of paperback books for Islamic comic books and has also done animation for the comic books. He is working on a number of titles: HAQQ, Jinn Hunters, Rainbowman, and many others. Rainbowman can be seen on Arabicteacher.com. When Naji [...]
Kolachi Trailer
Techistan has the scoop on an upcoming Science Fiction Movie from Pakistan called Kolachi. The movie was conceived by Summer Nicks who is originally from Australia but is now based is Pakistan. The movie is being produced by Summer Nicks, Meher Jaffri and Craig Peter Jones, and it is being directed by Mansoor Mujahid.
(Thanks [...]
Najiyah Diana Helwani
Background: Najiyah Diana Helwani is an American and is currently based in Syrian. She is the author of Sophia’s Journal: Time Warp 1857 - a time travel coming of age novel set in Kansas right before the Civil War. She has published a number of articles and pieces of poetry. Najiyah [...]
Irving Karchmar
Background: In the current interview we are going to break with tradition somewhat and interview a Fantasy author. Irving Karchmar is an American Muslim convert and is also a darvish of the Nimatullahi Sufi. He is also the author of Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel. The novel revolves around the discovery of [...]
Image Source: University of Exeter
Background: Amal El-Mohtar is an Arab Canadian autor, poet and fiction writer. Her poetry has won the Rhysling award, and her fiction has appeared in Cabinet des Fées and Shimmer. While her primary focus is on the fantasy genre, she has also published in the Apex Magazine’s special issue on Muslims and Arabs [...]
Background: The people who have been interviewed by Islam and Sci-Fi have been Science Fiction authors. This time we are breaking with tradition and interviewing an educator, Yahya Emerick, who has a keen interest in Science fiction. My main motivation is to get some idea about how Science Fiction is received in the wider Muslim [...]
