From the land of Arabian Nights, comes a story teller of a different kind.
I try to imagine you – the future reader of my yet unpublished novel. Thinking about what squares in the circles of your mind fills me with dread. The pipes of my inner plumping clog and drain in fits of anxiety as I imagine you reading words that have escaped from my fingertips onto the [...]
There is a bronze statue in Stanley Park of a lady sitting on a bench searching through her purse. She is looking for her glasses. I assume to read a book. The glasses are on her head. In life the things we yearn for are within easy reach, if only we look. People are always [...]
The victory was the beginning of the defeat. I look back at the way I wrote my first book and shake my head with disbelief. Ridicules, stupiduficuleos, Moroniclitionliouse. Superclumsyfitxlilioucious. Should I burn with the fire shame ? Or drench myself with the more comforting waters of laughter. Water and fire knocking on the door. Will [...]
Reading a chapter from my novel Graffiti Hack – a story about the east-west cultural clash told through the viral language of the internet. A Little more about the novel Inspired by her country of origin, Nelly creates a font where each letter is shaped out of a peacock’s feather. When her website design [...]
A shorter version of this story was published in The Globe and Mail on April 17, 2013. You can read that version here. My daughter is both a vegetarian and a Lady Gaga fan. I told her a few months ago that one day when I am famous and about to win an award of [...]
Recently I read a book that is mentioned at the bottom of this post and it inspired the following story. It just popped into my head and I had to write it down. My grandmother used to start stories by saying “Kan ya ma kan, fi qadeem al zaman”. Long long time ago, there was [...]
I saw this poem performed live at the a poetry slam a couple of months ago and it was my favorite thing I heard in an evening that included many talented poets. The poem by Johnny MacRae felt like some sort of a cosmic response to the story I wrote earlier about the Fish and [...]
There is a vicious voice inside my head, that says the most horrid things. Most of the time, its triads are aimed at me. I call her my inner critic. “You are stupid, worthless, a failure”, the inner critic repeats in an endless cycle, over and over again. Like a waterwheel inside water, generating an [...]
The annoying garden gnome that won’t go away
Frakash attends a meeting and inspires a new design.
Frakash’s heart was banging against his chest the way the Beanstalk Giant knocked on doors. A swift freight overtook him and he couldn’t remember the tranquility spell from his book – Mastering the Art of Mischief of Every Kind. Down the hallway in a corner next to a window, he saw a few potted plants. [...]
A garden gnome discovers his real passion … he hates magic.
Special Note: Writing non-fiction has become too painful. I will write mostly fiction from now on. The following is fictional; all characters were made up in my imagination. Any similarity to people is accidental. Doug had been checking his email every 5 minutes all day. The anticipation was hitting him like sea waves hitting the [...]
Once upon a time, not so long ago and not so far away, lived a beautiful princess. The princess lived in a strange country surrounded by mountains and filled with rivers and valleys. Everybody lived a peaceful and happy life. There were no recent memories of crimes or deprivation in these lands. To the contrary, [...]
The following is a story written by my eldest daughter (age 13) The Heart Hunter
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