Ambiguous is a worthy name - "Negative Theology of..." by Sonia Sulaiman
BogiReads brings you the daily speculative reading recommendation of editor Bogi Takács.
Today's recommendation -
Author: Sonia Sulaiman
Title: “Negative Theology of the Child from ‘The King of Tars’”
Venue: Fantasy Magazine, Oct 2023 (eds. Christie Yant, Arley Sorg)
Type: Short story – 1560 words
Themes: Fantasy, history, metafiction, folklore
Where to read: Text free online
A magical, metafictional exploration of being of mixed background and Palestinian; a travel through story and poem. Some of my favorite lines in all of 2023: “Ambiguous is a worthy name. If I wished to list the horrors unleashed by the Specific and the Formal, I would run out of breath.” This is so relatable to me it’s actively painful. I’ll keep on thinking of it throughout 2024 too.
Somewhat relatedly, Sonia Sulaiman is starting a new independent press that you can support! I already participated in the fundraiser and I’d like to encourage you to do so too.
It's sad that this was the last issue of Fantasy Magazine. It was already resurrected once, maybe it will happen again in the future...
Take care,
Bogi.