Hussain A. Ayoub

Thanks Mahmud!

So proud of Hussain for this! Clinging to the Stones (a fantasy heist novel) is coming to an agent's inbox near you soon!

Thrilled — and a little stunned — to have won first prize in the Al Azhar Writing Prize for a short story that’s part of the prequel novella to my #WIP, Clinging to the Stones.

So grateful to the judges & organisers!

And great many thanks for @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social!

#WritingCommunity

That stage in writing when ‘starting fresh’ is really just a polite way of admitting you have no idea what you’re doing. #WritingStruggles #AmWriting #CreativeProcess #WritersLife

Today's writing caveat: Drones are more terrifying than dragons. You cannot reason with an algorithm.

#amwriting #fantasy #SciFiAuthor #WritingCommunity

"There is no better place to keep a secret than in an unfinished novel."

Italo Calvino

Congrats Mel!

Past issues of Inner Worlds are now available to buy in EPUB and PDF form 📚🤖👻🧚🏻

innerworlds.gumroad.com

"Three daughters bind you: one will pass without you, one will weep for you, one will burn with you."

An #agentsguide to CLINGING TO THE STONES:

* Adult Epic Fantasy.
* Inspired by Levantine history.
* Multi-POV.

#amquerying #mswl #agentguide #amwriting #WritingCommunity #fantasy

Support Inner Worlds 1) Send us your words! We're not a pro rate paying market at this time, but we promise to treat all submitted stories with care. 2) Subscribe! There are a few different subscription levels available ...

I know everyone's broke and everything's awful 🫠

But if you like what we're doing here and you have a few £ spare it would be wonderful to be able to pay our authors and artists a little more. Subscribe here 👇🏻

inner-worlds.ghost.io/support-inne...

Collage of six Inner Worlds covers with different art styles and colourful mastheads.

All the stories from our previous issues are available to read online! 68 speculative stories about our inner lives ✨️🧠❤️✨️ inner-worlds.ghost.io/past-issues/

After a lifetime studying politics, democracy, and propaganda, I can tell you—skip the books. Just watch #Andor. It’s all there. #StarWars #TV #PoliticalDrama #SciFi #Rebellion #WritingCommunity

A quote from a new WIP: "Some unfortunate places remain unknown until a massacre mark their name in blood. Karhae is one."

Just sat down to write again after two rough months. It feels like coming home to a place I forgot I missed. #WritingCommunity #amwriting #writerslife

Whether you're into Arabfuturism or not, do yourself a favour and follow the brilliant Mahmud!

Help us increase our pay rates for authors and artists?

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;

“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”

-Stephen Crane

Photo of a moody red lit corridor overlaid with text reading speculative stories about our inner lives, 500-2,500 words, £0.02 per word £20 minimum

We're open for submissions to our sixth issue through January! 🌟

Read the guidelines and submit here: inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g...

#SFF #SpeculativeFiction #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

Congrats. What a way to end the year!

#WIP
#amwriting #WritingCommunity #Quillers25 #fantasy

So excited to be on this judging panel with these amazing people. The @futureworldsprize.bsky.social is an amazing prize run by wonderful people. If you're an SFF writer of colour, don't self-reject, submit now!

😁😁😁

I'm just discovering the thing (I know, I'm too old), but I pronounce it Gif.

Is that the right answer? 😕

If you’d like to follow more up and coming authors, our 2026 debuts cohort made a handy starter pack:

go.bsky.app/9Sw356k

For the purposes of personal research regarding my second book, I need the help of an Albanian and a Bulgarian writer who know of their culture's folklore traditions and are willing to help their Greek neighbour out by answering some very specific questions! Please RT or send me a pm! 🙏🏽😍

The Arab Spring... IN SPACE!

Suicidal Macbeth kidnaps Berenice of Egypt... And the whole world goes mad.

If you love epic #fantasy with immersive and unique worldbuiling, beautiful Rothfuss-like prose, memorable characters, and a grand plot full of mysteries to uncover, you MUST buy Lamia's book.

If you don't, you STILL MUST BUY IT!

Well done! Sometimes edits can be a hell more frightening than writing itself.

"Autumn's breath
On sheets of hay
Water's blood
A colour we call morning."

#HaikuSaturday

Using gif, spoil an event that happens in one of your books without context.