TMR 43
SUMMER FICTION ’24
Our literary editor takes us on a deluxe reader’s tour of the stories behind the stories in the double summer fiction issue for 2024.
- TMR 43
- Editorial
Why Summer Fiction? For the Wonders & Miracles
Our literary editor takes us on a deluxe reader's tour of the stories behind the stories in the double summer fiction issue for 2024.
- TMR 43
- CENTERPIECE
“An Inherited Offense”—a Levantine story on the island of Leros
In this short story by Nektaria Anastasiadou, the male and female terebinth trees of a Levantine childhood help heal a fractured family.
July 5, 2024 • By Nektaria Anastasiadou- TMR 43
- Featured Artist
Deena Mohamed
Featured artist Deena Mohamed is an accomplished Egyptian graphic novelist and author of the fantasy trilogy "Shubeik Lubeik" [Your Wish Is My Command].
July 5, 2024 • By Katie LoganMORE FROM THIS ISSUE
“Firefly”—a short story by Alireza Iranmehr
In this short story, an Iranian conscript keeps disappearing from duty. The natural world leaves clues of his whereabouts.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY ALIREZA IRANMEHR
“The Mulberry Tree”—an excerpt from Altercation in Jahannam
In the Libyan village “Hell,” temperatures soar to unimaginable heights, and war breaks out over a parking space in the shade of a tree.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY MOHAMMED ALNAAS
Victoria—An Excerpt
We present the first chapter of Karoline Kamel’s debut novel in a new translation in English by Ranya Abdelrahman.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY KAROLINE KAMEL
Dune in 2024: A World Beyond Saving
The meta-narrative in Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy foresees the modern disaster of never-ending colonialism and a planet destroyed by oil.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY AHMED NAJI
The Top 12 Books to Read This Summer
Travel through the center of the world this summer from the comfort of your couch when you pick up any of these wonderful books.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY RANA ASFOUR
“The Social Media Kids”—a short story by Qais Akbar Omar
In Qais Akbar Omar’s short story, a surprise homecoming threatens to upend the lives of a 14-year-old and her independent mother in Kabul.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY QAIS AKBAR OMAR
Flaubert’s Poison Pen
Flaubert's theory of meaning and form rests on a mystical conception of the nature of writing, alongside the theory of music in writing.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY TAREK ABI SAMRA
The Mourning Diaries of Atash Shakarami
The diaries provide a complex double-layered narrative of Nika as a victim of regime brutality, and of Atrash as a survivor of state horror.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY POUPEH MISSAGHI
“A Blind Window on Childhood”—a short story by Hamoud Saud
Omani writer Hamoud Saud’s short story “A Blind Window on Childhood” translated from Arabic by Zia Ahmed, reveals a family's secret history.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY HAMOUD SAUD
“Ten-Armed Gods”—a short story by Odai Al Zoubi
In a stream of consciousness short story by Odai Al Zoubi, a minister under investigation in the Syrian government awaits his fate.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY ODAI AL ZOUBI
“The Lakshmi of Suburbia”—a story by Natasha Tynes
In Natasha Tynes’ new short story, “The Lakshmi of Suburbia,” an unhappy wife falls in love with herself and an internet influencer.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY NATASHA TYNES
“The Cockroaches”—flash fiction
In the violence of the Gaza war, a love that dares not speak its name blossoms at a hefty price in flash fiction by Stanko Uyi Sršen.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY STANKO UYI SRSEN
“Keeping Up”—fiction from Mohamed Farag
The more things change, the more they become strange, or so finds the confused narrator of this Kafkaesque adventure in a developing country.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY MOHAMED FARAG
The Butcher’s Assistant—a true story set in Alexandria
While studying abroad in Alexandria, Bel Parker becomes a butcher's apprentice to immerse herself in the local language and culture.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY BEL PARKER
“Certainty”—a short story by Nora Nagi
In this latest story by Nora Nagi, an Egyptian woman trapped in a loveless marriage far from home finds freedom.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY NORA NAGI
“The Doll with the Purple Scarf”—flash fiction from Diaa Jubaili
Iraqi novelist Diaa Jubaili's short story, translated by Chip Rossetti, portrays dolls as unlikely victims of life under the Islamic State.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY DIAA JUBAILI
“We Danced”—a story by MK Harb
In exercises to “release your inner child,” meditation, or psychotherapy, Beirutis search for mental and physical relief, in MK Harb's latest short story.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY MK HARB
“Frida Kahlo’s Mustache”—flash fiction from Abdullah Nasser
In this flash fiction by Abdullah Nasser, a couple struggling to conceive undergoes a transformation that changes everything.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY ABDULLAH NASSER
“Madame Djouzi”—a story by Salah Badis
Salah Badis' short story follows an elderly Algerian woman contemplating the end of her life amidst the threat of earthquakes or having to sell her cherished furniture.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY SALAH BADIS
“Deferred Sorrow”—fiction from Haidar Al Ghazali
In Haidar Al Ghazali's short story, a Palestinian father during the war on Gaza makes an impossible choice.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY HAIDAR AL GHAZALI
“Besara”—an excerpt from Things Are Not in Their Place
An excerpt from Omani writer Huda Hamed’s bittersweet coming-of-age novel about race and self in a new English translation by Zia Ahmed.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY HUDA HAMED
Ripped from Memoirs of a Lebanese Policeman
True reflections of a former officer of the law in Lebanon from his hit memoir, translated by Lina Mounzer.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY FAWZI ZABYAN
Plenty of Marjanes & Leilas: Collective Strategies of the Women’s Protest in Iran
Marjane Satrapi's edited anthology "Woman, Life, Freedom" shows that the story of the movement cannot be told with only one voice.
5 JULY, 2024 • BY KATIE LOGAN