10 Iraq writers were given the task to write short stories simply with the theme: what the place would look like in the next century. The stories were all based on 2103 and the book will be appearing for the first in the US which has popular for publishing scientific speculations in all genres. This is amazing as the book writes about the influence of the invasion of American soldiers in 2013 and how it will appear in the future.
Comma Press originally published the work that was edited by writer and filmmaker Hassan Blasim (he has adopted Finland as his home after fleeing Iraq for criticizing Sadam Hussein) who feels that the lack of technological innovations in the country will be changed by more and more speculative writings that lead to more interest in science and technology.
The stories all point out the way local Iraqi’s view the presence of foreign forces and they cut through the skin of normal sci-fi as they are not out to dazzle with brilliance (though it is not devoid of it) but they bare the plight the citizens face and fear to face in the coming years.
The stories contained in the publication are:
The Worker by Diaa Jubaili (translated by Andre Leber).
The Day by Day Mosque by Mortada Gzar (translated by Katharine Halls).
Baghdad Syndrome by Zhraa Alhaboby (translated by Emre Bennet).
The Here and Now Prison by Jalal Hasan (translated by Max Weiss).
The Gardens of Babylon by Hassan Blasim (translated by Jonathan Wright).
Operation Daniel by Khalid Kaki (translated by Adam Talib).
Najufa by Ibrahim al-Marashi.
Kuszib by Hassan Abdulrazzak.
Kahramana by Amoud.
The Corporal by Ali Bader (translated by Elisabeth Jaquette).
This should be a call for many more Nigerian writers to rise in the fashion of writing these kinds of stories that are not weighed down by the ‘what does this story teach us’ 200-pound weight question around the neck of young writers since as far back as secondary schools.
Nnedi Okorafor is doing it already and the same can be said of Omenana Online magazine. Science fiction is not a ‘not serious’ writing style that many term it as (this was why some raised eyebrows when Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for Literature) but it most times tell more about the circumstances that launch the settings of the story than even the writer intended and still gives the freedom to rise above the restrictions of writing factually though there will be integrations of scientific facts in some areas.
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