Archive for Palestinian Voices

PodCastle 867: The Witch of Endor

Previously published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

The Witch OF Endor

by Karim Kattan

 

There remained, in the mountains of Endor, a scattering of the elder people. Most of the others — the handfuls left — had moved to the cities of the south decades before. These people of mountains and hills, of ice fields and pine trees, now dwelled in seashore havens and desert cities, resort towns and neon oases.

The few families who had remained, huddled in the mountains surrounding Endor valley, lived in a half-dormant, savage state. He was acutely aware of their presence, hiding in the snow and behind the pine trees. Their half-closed almond eyes burned with a wildness he knew well. He was himself descended from these elder people; this mountainous terrain was his original land, this cold, this smell of pine trees. Yet the wind bit his flesh; the mountain suffocated him. He was only from here in imagination. In reality he was from an oasis of the south. His world was one of gurgling springs, swaying palm trees, and the bustling black market where anything — including eyes, diamonds, livers, rifles, children — could be sold and bought. His was the world where the hot winds wrap the body in a gentle, insistent caress. Here the wind was a slap in the face. (Continue Reading…)

PodCastle 866: Palestinian Voices – Badia’s Magic Water

Previously published by The Book of Ramallah

 

Content warnings for death, cultural misogyny, stillbirth, and references to murder and infanticide.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:17 — 43.4MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

Badia’s Magic Water

by Maya Abu-Alhayyat, translated by Yasmine Seale

 

Badia walks into Ramallah Hospital like she owns the place, unhurried, greeting everyone and taking in their greetings. Stories fly to meet her in a brew of caution, curiosity, and fear. From Samira the receptionist (recently married, keen to please) she wants to know if the tranquillisers had their effect on her husband, who makes love to her like a bull. To Said the errand boy she promises a special treatment for his spine, which keeps him up at night. Now handsome young doctor Sami, whom the nurses like to stop and ask ridiculous questions about the weather and incurable diseases, is running towards her, reverently kissing her hand in the way of old movies. “God keep you from harm,” she says with a laugh and asks about his mother, Sitt Fikriyya, who devoted her life to his becoming a doctor. (Continue Reading…)

PodCastle 865: Handala. The Olive, The Storm, and the Sea

Previously published in the collection Muneera and the Moon: Stories Inspired by Palestinian Folklore, 2023.

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Show Notes

Rated PG

Handala. The Olive, the Storm, and the Sea

by Sonia Sulaiman

 

The little boy raised an umbrella over his head and looked out over the sea. His clothes were tattered, loose stitches of what had been a carefully sewn tunic and pants. His hair was like a bird’s nest. His feet were torn and blistered. The rain swept down in sheets that shimmered and waved across land and sea alike. The boy walked on, down a long winding road of stones and sticks. It climbed limestone bones and terraces with trees aflame and broken. He stopped to look at these, his face to the fires, his back to the sea. Water and fire warred together, and the sky was brightened by the flashes of lightning coursing through the clouds that hung low like a shroud on the land. It was half-light, either dawn or dusk. The weather was wrong and unnatural. The boy looked on with ageless eyes in a face that had the freshness of only ten years under the sun.

He went where his tired feet directed him. If there were three gods following his step, that was not his concern; they could offer him no blessing he did not already possess. If they chose to throw obstacles in his path, he would climb over them step by painful step. He had faith not in gods, but in himself.

(Continue Reading…)

PodCastle 864: PALESTINIAN VOICES – Al-Kahf

Previously published by Lightspeed Magazine

Content warning for the death of a child

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

Al-Kahf

الكهف

By Beesan Odeh

 

There once lived a man who was stolen from the sea. Rare and magnificent, he lived in his cave, rising to the surface every so often to pluck the strings of his violin for the birds before retreating into the water to play for his kin. They spent their days enthralled by the doleful songs of the man who lived in the littoral cave. But there came a day when the songs ceased and the people stopped going and the man was nowhere to be seen. His people first forgot his face. Then they forgot his voice. And then his name. Until they remembered only the sweet music he played to keep himself company in the cave day and night.

Talub had experienced much in his thirty years, including heartache at the loss of others like him, rare and magnificent and stolen from the sea. Few existed, living in trenches and corals and caves, each possessing an instrument chosen in youth, forever playing a song that kept them alive — a song that was theirs to play and only theirs. Adored for their sublime skill, they were also hunted by men from the surface who sought their music’s healing properties. It was rumored that the rich notes of a horn or a few strums of an oud could cure injury and illness, but mankind could not leave rumors as rumors, nor could he forsake the opportunity to benefit. (Continue Reading…)

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Palestinian Voices Month

PodCastle is extremely proud to present Palestinian Voices, our special month of stories by Palestinian authors. We will be publishing one of these fabulous stories every week during November 2024, and we’re so excited to get to elevate these authors and to share their talent, creativity, and voice with the world at a time of such horrific oppression for the Palestinian people. This month is about celebrating and uplifting Palestinians, and I hope you’ll join us to read and listen to these four fantastic tales from four terrifically talented writers:

 

“Al-Kahf” by Beesan Odeh, narrated by Zeina Sleiman

“Handala. The Olive, The Storm, and the Sea” by Sonia Sulaiman, narrated by Peter Adrian Behravesh

“Badia’s Magic Water” by Maya Abu-Alhayyat, narrated by Mahtab Chenevix-Trench

“The Witch of Endor” by Karim Kattan, narrated by Amal Singh

 

We’re also thrilled to be featuring beautiful artwork by Iasmin Omar Ata, based on Sonia Sulaiman’s “Handala. The Olive, The Storm, and The Sea.” Iasmin is a Middle Eastern & Muslim award-winning comics artist, game designer, and illustrator who creates art about coping with illness, understanding identity, dismantling oppressive structures, and Arab-Islamic futurism. Their recent graphic novel, Mis(h)adra, has resonated with readers and reviewers alike with its vivid and searingly honest account of epileptic lived experience. Iasmin has been reviewed by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Electronic Intifada, Library Journal, NPR, and such; they’ve taught & spoken at the New York Public Library and Harvard University. They thrive on dedication, dreams, and hard work — and believe wholeheartedly in the healing power of art. They are an Ignatz Award winner and an Excellence In Graphic Literature Award finalist, and their newest graphic novel, NAYRA AND THE DJINN, is now available in stores everywhere.

Our cover art design is by Matt Dovey.

 

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Special Submissions Call: Palestinian Voices

It is in deep solidarity, and continual demand for a ceasefire, that PodCastle would like to announce our special call for fantasy stories by Palestinian writers. As Nina Simone once said: “An artist’s duty… is to reflect the times.” We recognize our position as a publication offers a unique opportunity to insist on art that reflects the times, and as Ursula K. Le Guin offers, “Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”

We stand in solidarity with Palestinian people and their words. The hope of this call is to insist on the right to create spaces for Palestinian imaginations; imaginations for a future that protects Palestinian lives, a past that restores their right to a home, and a present that centers their dignity and self-determination. We want to see stories from Palestinian authors regardless of where they live – whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or diaspora anywhere in the world.

Whilst we can only consider stories written in English, we strongly welcome translations of stories originally written in Arabic (or any other language), and any story that is previously unpublished in English will be treated as an original regardless of whether it has been previously published in a different language. Payment for translated stories will be split between the author and translator. We also especially encourage stories that incorporate more than one dialect, stories that offer alternative structures to the expected linear standardized arc, and stories that offer a fresh take or new perspective on a history that has not been considered universal. We are not necessarily looking for stories set in Palestinian territories or featuring Palestinian characters, though we of course very much welcome those perspectives. Our only special requirement for this call is that you are a writer who claims Palestinian heritage.

We’re a fantasy publication, so all stories must have a fantasy element that’s crucial to the tale, though it can be subtle. We are unable to consider science fiction or straight-up horror, though dark fantasy is more than welcome. We will consider both originals and reprints for this call, paying our standard rate of 8 cents per word for originals (defined as any story previously unpublished in English) and $100 for reprints. We’re looking for stories between 2,000-6,000 words, though we will consider up to 7,000 words for reprints. These upper limits are strict: unfortunately we cannot consider reprints above 7,000 words or originals above 6,000 for this submissions call.

Our standard guidelines apply to anything not already mentioned here. Please submit your stories via our Moksha portal, which will be open for these submissions from the 8th to the 22nd of April 2024.

Narrator Auditions

We will also be opening to auditions for Palestinian narrators during this submissions call! If you are of Palestinian heritage and would like to potentially lend your voice to one of these stories, we would love to consider you. We offer a token payment of $30.00 for the narration of stories above 1,500 words, and $15.00 for flash pieces of 1,500 words or less. Please read our Narrator Guidelines, particularly the Preparation section, and then record a 2-3 minute sample of yourself reading an excerpt of fiction in English. You can now upload your audition via our audition portal until the 30th of April. In the cover letter section, please include a short, third-person bio to tell us a little about yourself. The word-count box can be filled in with any random number, as it’s not relevant to audio submissions. We prefer samples recorded in mono and saved as .wav files.

 

We very much look forward to reading your stories and hearing your voices.

~Shingai Njeri Kagunda and Eleanor R. Wood
PodCastle Co-Editors