Sonia Sulaiman

Sonia Sulaiman writes speculative fiction inspired by Palestinian folklore. Her work has appeared in Arablit Quarterly, Beladi, FIYAH, Lackington’s Magazine, Seize the Press, and other venues. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best New Weird Award, Lammy, and Palestine Book Awards. She is a Hugo-nominated first reader (formerly of Augur, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny). In her spare time, she is a co-editor of Anathema Magazine. Follow her at her website, soniasulaiman.com, and many fine social media platforms as Sonia Sulaiman.

Negative Theology of the Child from ‘The King of Tars’

Sonia Sulaiman

The muse calls me ‘Digenia.’ It is not my real name; that is suspended while I am traveling through these verses, now some 690 years old. To pass through this realm of allegory and myth, of device and symbiotics, one needs to carry a standard. Mine is of the ‘two-blooded.’ Twice-blooded, I want to say. Down through the ages, this language which I speak and write in has no words that contain me. There are plenty of hyphenated adjectives: Half-breed, mixed-blood. But, like the Great Mystery, symbols slide off me. Looking too close is dangerous. I might look back.