AustLit

'Holy C.O.W.! SF stories from the Center Of the World is an anthology of Speculative Fiction stories rooted in the ancient Fertile Crescent, Levant and the Middle East, but stretch into the near and distant future. The anthology will also feature some of the best writers from the region, introducing them to the English language community. Editor: D. Avraham. Co-Editor: Allan Dyen-Shapiro. In “The Anzu Protocol,” Brian Trent demonstrates how although our past and future are inseparable, history will only repeat itself for those sufficiently forearmed and forewarned, and who can think on their feet. Mike Resnick shows that not only does the past influence the future, but it might be that the future can also affect the past in his humorous re-interpretation of the Biblical story. What if the mysterious Qumran sect would have survived into the Middle Ages? Jack Dann brings the Sons of Light to life in his captivating story, "The Last Maskil." In Day Al-Mohamed's cautionary tale that takes place in a future Oman, a woman—serving in her traditional role as the wife of a powerful man—empathizes with animals facing extinction in "The Starlings and the Whales." With “The Moon and Mahasti,” Peter Behravesh offers us a brilliant story—inspired by Safavid-era Iran—of a woman battling against the strictures that hinder her receiving the higher education she craves. When a religious Muslim doctor is gifted a mystical horse, we are taken for a quixotic ride in Gay Terry's "Isthmus." Self-sacrifice, the individual versus the community, destiny and choice all come together in Vered Tochterman's compelling story, “Mother.” Amanda McCutcheon explores perceptions and realities; fantasy and truth; tradition and modernity; male and female, and everything in between in her riveting tale from the rooftops of Afghanistan in her story “The In-Between.” Fun and games have real world consequences in David Hoenig's “Crowdsourced,” when a young college student gets caught up in a virtual, but all-too-real world of his own making. Boundaries are tested when an uneasy tenuous status quo, a coexistence of separation, is threatened in Allan Dyen-Shapiro's “Crossing the Boundaries of Virtual Jerusalem.” G. Scott Huggins also explores coexistence, and the terrible price one must pay for it in his excellently crafted alternative history that takes place shortly after the Battle of Yarmouk: “Day of Atonement.” While there is much diversity among the cultures of the Middle East, all of them share the central value of hospitality. Therefore, give us the honor of being our guest; allow us to invite you in to this alluring and enchanting world. Kick off your shoes, let us wash your feet, serve you a demitasse of strong, dark coffee or a steaming glass of sweet tea, along with a healthy serving of socio-cultural sublimities and strictures, triumphs and tragedies. May you depart refreshed, enriched, enlightened, and entertained—Peace be upon you.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)