Engraved on the Eye

A collection of short stories ranging from Arabian-Nights-fantastic to post-apocalyptic-cyberpunk-inspired and many things in between. The author is apparently Arab-American, which may explain a strong leaning towards middle eastern references, which I quite enjoyed as it was a less usual perspective on the stories. The gunslinging western Muslim wizard was a great character for example. My favourite story was probably "The Faithful Soldier, Prompted" in which an obsolete cybernetic implant operating system sends mysterious messages to a long-retired Muslim soldier, guiding him on a mission of faith to try and save his beloved wife. All the stories were enjoyable though and the book ended too soon.

I was introduced to this author through re-posts of his tweets on Twitter, and decided to check out this collection of his short stories. I'm glad I did.

A nice selection of mostly fantasy stories with a middle-eastern perspective. My favorites were probably the first and last, although I enjoyed them all.

Since the first is apparently a prequel to the author's novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, I'll likely end up reading that book as well.