Gollancz pre-empts Mahmud El Sayed’s ‘blistering’ début science fiction epic

World all-language legal rights in both publications by Mahmud El Sayed were pre-empted by Gollancz commissioning editor Brendan Durkin from John Baker at Bell Lomax Moreton. The first title, The Republic of Memory, is set up for magazine in spring 2026.

Durkin claimed: “The Republic of Memory is a blistering examination of the lengths to which people need to visit produce lasting adjustment– and the limits of those activities. It has a seriousness to it unlike anything I’ve checked out in the past, with worries that are rooted deeply in the real life. Also as it goes to dark locations, it never ever loses its warmth or mankind.”

El Sayed was inspired to create the story by the real-world occasions of the Arab Springtime; Gollancz said it was an ambitious impressive, “perfect for followers of The Stretch [series], A Memory Called Realm and Kid of Time”. Guide additionally includes “Nupol”, a dialect designed by El Sayed that was motivated by an option of modern languages, Polari and A Clockwork Orange’s “Nadsat”.

El Sayed said publication of his publication “comes at a time when it is more vital than ever before to pay attention to voices from the Center East, and to imagine Arabs and Muslims in the future. Sci-fi has constantly been a realm for exploring the political and I really hope that The Republic of Memory can adhere to in the very best traditions of the genre”.

The first title was called a “impressive work of Arabfuturism set upon the generation spacecraf ‘Safina’ throughout a period of increased agitation”. With the ship suffering apparently unintentional blackouts, its team members are compelled ahead to terms with the inequality separating them, as the powerless look for to change life on the ship permanently.

El Sayed is an east London-based British-Egyptian SFF author, translator and previous journalist. He previously covered “significant” Center Eastern politics up until he “had sufficient of chasing after individuals up for monotonous quotes and determined to blog about generation ships, sentient libraries and memory taxes rather”.