Part one: Mahmud of Ghazni It was 1007 A.D. and Mahmud of Ghazni was preparing to raid Hindustan once again. Hindustan, which the British with their inability to curl their occidental tongues around alien consonants, and their arrogance as makers of history, would later rename India. And Christopher Columbus would set sail looking for it and rename Nativ...
Chapter Eleven Paradise - 3751 C.E. The space station may have been christened Paradise, although it hadn't always been known by that name, but even Isaac knew that the real paradise to which he expected to ascend would never be like this. This eight hundred year old space colony in the war-torn Meteorite Belt could never deserve such a name. But for Isaac...
When most girls envision their future, most think of their wedding day rather than marriage and family. And that, my friends, is a problem. It takes two to tango, and I honestly feel that if most people put as much energy into their marriages as they did their wedding days, there'd be fewer divorces. Seriously. My name is Tika Danusubroto-Wallace and I was b...
Oh Hi there! Sit down sit down. Hey bartender! Bring me another beer, and get this gent another round of whatever he's drinking. So what's your name? Hi Jack. My name is Lucifer. No not like the devil. I AM the devil. Naw, I ain't nuts. I just got a bad rap from the other side. Hmm? Well I guess I am evil by their narrow standards. But what the Hell,...
Dear God, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha or whoever is up there looking down on us, I have lived my life as best I can. I have always been respectful of others and accepted even those that hated me. I have never stolen, lied, or intentionally hurt another human being. I have abided by every social law. I have given to those less fortunate whenever I could, both mone...
Chapter Twenty-Three James was waiting outside for Carolyn to emerge from the isolation section of her laboratory. When she came through the door and saw him, she ran to him, threw her arms around him and planted a kiss on his lips. "I've missed you so much." "What a welcome," he smiled, "a man can get used to this." "I'm feeling tired," she smirked. "H...
Tell people that you're from Kazakhstan and they stare at you blankly. Same country Borat claimed to be from in that awful movie, I usually say, groaning inwardly and idiotic smiles immediately follow. Now they get it. Cultural relativity isn't a concept most people in North America can grasp. My name is Rashida Jabayev and I was born in the City of Kentau,...
The girl held tight to anything could look like a handle inside the UAZ, and tried to answer in the shortest and harsher possible way to the attempt of conversation (if not of "advances") that the Tajik soldier who drove the car was addressed to her. He had nothing against the Tajiks or the Asian guys in general, but a Tajik philanderer is still a philandere...
Lying in the arms of her beloved Bartleby, Soraya Suleiman felt safe at last. The young Arab woman thought about all the events that transpired this week, and shuddered. Hard to imagine so many terrible and wonderful things could happen in the span of one week. Why couldn't people look past race, culture and religion and see that at the end of the day, we we...
In the year 1221 A.D. the Kingdom of Spain, also known as Al-Andalus, is under Moorish rule, as the Spaniards called the Arabs who rule the Kingdom of Spain and much of the Iberian Peninsula. Omar Hafiz, the tall, dark and handsome son of an Arabian sheikh and Somali princess accompanied his cousin, Arabian prince Khaled Hafiz, from East Africa to the vastne...