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Adventures in Printing (and other things)

11/7/2021

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Hello hello hello!

I have something super exciting to share, and that is that...I PRINTED MY BOOK! I've heard about and known of Lulu.com, but I finally kicked myself into gear and sent Rivener (draft 1) to get printed! What actually spurred me to act was that the lovely June shared one of her short stories with me, and I loved it so much I told her I wanted it on my bookshelf, and would she mind if I printed it out? She said yes!

Initially I was just going to do it myself, but then I thought I'd rather have it done with proper book binding, and once I saw how easy it was to do, I decided to do Rivener too! 
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Yes, that is hardcover! I splurged because why the heck not. I looooooove it. The quality is impeccable, and the only 'issue' is that I didn't know how to format the manuscript for printing, so the chapters don't all begin on their own page. But the affordability (which I just got an email about them changing due to increased demand for their services, so bear that in mind) was well worth it!  

I almost teared up, holding my book in my hands. My actual hands. ​Mindblowing! I'm going to get all my short story collections and my fable printed next!

And now, a word from the author of Muscle Memory...

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(Full disclosure that I chose the book cover and it's not her design, because I got so excited I forgot to ask her if she had/wanted a specific cover).
Hi, Mayyah’s friends!

I’m June, the author of Muscle Memory, a short story about various themes that were important to me. I don’t want to prattle on too long about it, but the basic gist is that I wanted a summer romance that featured Vietnamese American youngsters. 

(Before I prattle about the deep stuff, the short and sweet summary of the story is that a girl named Y Nhi wants so badly to fall in love but has been destroyed by it so entirely in the past. Her childhood friend Vinny has picked up her pieces many times before, but he kinda…wants to put her back together for the rest of her life while also never letting love destroy her again because his love is different.) 
I’ll be honest, being a Vietnamese American is kind of weird. You know there’s a bunch of others like you, but sometimes you can’t see them? Y Nhi and Vinny are both part of a church youth group. In my head, this is a very real organization, the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement aka TNTT (you can look it up! It’s actually international, but you might encounter the US-based VEYM.net first). I’ve been involved with them since I was in kindergarten. Very instrumental to my development as a person. The general program involves intersecting faith formation and cultural roots, since that’s been fading at an alarming rate. 

But it’s not something a lot of people know about. I explain it to my friends and they tell me it sounds like I’m in a cult. Which… Has not been my favorite interpretation of this. Is VEYM especially important to the plot of Muscle Memory? Not really. But a lot of the undertones and inspirations came from experiences I correlate with the group. 
I tried to mess around with love languages a little bit in this short story.

The intersection of Vietnamese and American general love languages was on my mind. For example, the adults of my life are more likely to show their affection by buying my favorite food than necessarily giving me a hug. They’ll do outrageous acts of service but will never say, “I love you.” I understand this language. But sometimes it feels like they don’t understand mine because, well. I like hugs and being told that people are proud of me and love me. And I was thinking about how two people who love each other so deeply can miss each other just because their love languages don’t match up. About how love is an effort in small ways like that. 


So anyway! It’s a pretty layered wip considering its astounding < 5k word count. Here’s the link to the full wip on tumblr, and here’s a playlist I made for the wip.

Shoutout to our bff Mayyah for loving this work of mine so much she straight up got it printed. ❤️

And lastly...

My friend and fellow author Hyba is not only writing several books in various genres, all intriguing and varied, she is also writing a thesis! It's on the viability of enhanced fiction ebooks (a fancy way of saying ebooks that make use of multimedia). To complete her study, she really needs people to partake in her survey! It's very quick and not at all technical—anyone who reads using a medium other than physical books can participate! 

I'd really appreciate if you guys could help her out! Plus, by completing the survey, you get to have a free copy of her incredible thriller novella Apartment. Which is honestly such a bargain, that book is amazing. One day I'll share a proper review of it! 

Well, that's all I have for you today! As always, happy reading and writing!
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Magnificent Muslim Women - A Brief List

7/10/2020

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Photo by Mari Potter on Unsplash
You may or may not know that I'm writing a Muslim-themed fantasy epic temporarily titled The Chronicles of Mourra (or CofM for short). I've been working on it off-and-on for about a decade now, which means I've been doing research for it for the same amount of time. I'm quite blessed in that I grew up surrounded by easy access to an excellent Islamic education (any and all ignorance is a reflection of me entirely lol).

My parents especially instilled in me a love of my history, traditions, and religion. Both my parents are educators and storytellers, in different ways, so that I haven't really needed 'outside' research to create the world of CofM (as it stands now). I base a lot of it on my lived experience!

​Still, when someone on Facebook asked me if I was able to do my research easily, and lamented struggling to find resources on notable women in Islam, especially in positions of power and leadership, I went on a researching binge and compiled a very non-exhaustive list of resources on magnificent Muslim women.

This is more a jumping off point so you can have a direction when researching online (there's a lot of books out there too!) I focused mostly on medieval women, as there's a wealth of easily accessible information out there on all the incredible female companions and contemporaries from the Prophet's (ﷺ) time. (Although, if y'all want a list of them, do let me know and I'll make a part 2 to this!)
1) Via Ballandalus, a truly excellent online resource on Islamic history:
  • 15 Important Muslim Women in History 
  • 20 Influential Medieval/Early Modern Muslim Women 
  • 20 Influential Medieval/Early Modern Muslim Women 
  • Women in Islamic History 
  • Famous Historical Muslims of African/Black Origin
  • 27 Prominent Medieval Andalusi Women
​
2) Extraordinary Women from the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation via 1001inventions
​

3) Women’s Contribution to Classical Islamic Civilisation: Science, Medicine and Politics via MuslimHeritage

All these links include references that should lead you to more information! I did my best to make sure they're all credible too. Some standout favourite women I want to learn more about include:
  1. Lalla Fatma N’Soumer
  2. Rābi‘a al-‘Adawīyya
  3. Lubna of Cordoba
  4. Fāṭima b. Abī al-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Rahmān b. Muhammad b. Ghālib al-Ansārī al-Sharrāṭ
  5. Shajar al-Durr
  6. Zaynab b. Ahmad
  7. Sayyida al-Hurra
  8. Parī Khān Khānum
  9. Fatima al-Fihri
  10. Maryam bint Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Fihr
  11. Mariam “Al-Astrolabiya” Al-Ijliya
  12. Zaynab Al Shahda
  13. Gevher Nesibe Sultan
  14. Queen Amina of Zaria
  15. Zubayda bint Abu Ja’far al-Mansur
  16. Dhayfa Khatun
  17. Sitt al-Mulk
  18. Shajarat al-Durr
  19. Sultana Razia
  20. Umm al-Dardā’ Hujayma bt. Ḥuyayy al-Sughra
  21. Sayyida Nafīsah al-Ṭāhirah
  22. Kanzah bt. Isḥāq b. Muḥammad al-Awrabiyya
  23. ‘Arīb al-Ma'muniyya
  24. ‘Ā’ishah b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Qādim
  25. Zaynab bt. Isḥāq al-Nafzāwiyyah 
  26. Fāṭimah bt. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Samārqandī
  27. ʿĀʾisha al-Mannūbiyya 
  28. Fāṭimah al-Ḥurrah
  29. Ā’ishah al-Ba‘uniyyah
  30. Malahayati of Aceh
  31. Gulbadan Begum
  32. Nūr Jahān 
  33. Nānā Asmā’u 
Do you know of notable Muslim women of history that are absent from this list? I would particularly like to find more women from outside the Arab world! Comment below and let me know!
Until next time, happy reading!
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  • Home
  • Books
    • Legends of Mourra
    • Oracle
    • Rivener
  • Short Stories
    • The Queen, the Lion, and the Rings
    • A Net of Stars, Woven
    • The Peacock, The Crown, & The River
    • October Odds
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  • Poetry
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  • Podcast
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