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MIDNIGHT DOORWAYS

Usman T. Malik

Fables From Pakistan

Usman is about to publish, initially in Pakistan only, a limited run of a collection of some of his best stories: MIDNIGHT DOORWAYS: FABLES FROM PAKISTAN, which has garnered blurbs and reviews from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, S.A. Chakraborty, O. Henry Winner Brian Evenson, and Booker finalist Karen Joy Fowler.

From the winner of The British Fantasy Award and The Bram Stoker Award, a great story collection: * Stranded by the Taliban in the ruins of a pre-Islamic city, a woman chaperoning a school trip faces ancient horrors as boys go missing and the fog rolls in. * Two lovers are set adrift amidst rising floodwaters in 1960s Old Lahore * A Lahori orphanage for girls is haunted by birds and eerie visions. With a meticulously designed cover and beautiful black-and-white illustrations by seven different Pakistani artists, Midnight Doorways is a unique community project highlighting the scope of speculative art and literature in Pakistan. Pakistani-American writer Usman T. Malik. Usman is already a major name in the world of literary sci-fi, fantasy, and horror and over the last decade has published exquisite stories in all the major genre venues, from Tor.com to Wired magazine. He won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story in 2014, and his amazing novella The Pauper Prince & the Eucalyptus Jinn won the 2015 British Fantasy Award. He's also been nominated for Nebula and World Fantasy awards. Usman attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop, the premier venue for literary genre writing in the US, where his mentors included Joe Hill, Chip Delany, and Elizabeth Hand; and also the Sycamore Hill Writers Workshop, where his peers included Kelly Link and Maureen McHugh. Among his many fans are heavyweights like Neil Gaiman and Jeff VanderMeer.

Available products
Book Published 2021-02-01 by KITAB

Comments

Usman Malik's collection of stories Midnight Doorways is a pleasure to read and re-read. Though the stories are authentically rooted in the here and now, they infuse the mind with the subtle fragrance of the uncanny. This work is a standout addition to the literatures of the imagination.

Some writers go a step past, into the darkness, but that step past is just a starting point for Usman T. Malik. But he'll call back for you. You can't see him, he's gone too far, but you can close your eyes, follow his voice. If you dare.

A tremendous achievement. Written in prose of exquisite mellifluousness but also of great emotive power, this book offers us vivid facets of the sights, sounds, and smells of Pakistan. Malik's tales, whether they are of dreamlike fantasy or clutching horror, evoke for us the little tragedies that have disfigured the lives of his characters; and yet, those characters still manage to find a vibrant wonder in the world they see around them. No devotee of supernatural literature, or of fine writing, can afford to miss this book.

With Midnight Doorways, Usman Malik showcases his boundless imagination and a sense of empathy and compassion that does not flinch in the face of horrors both supernatural and human. A brilliant collection, Usman's stories are as timeless as they are timely.

Under the gorgeous prose and vivid images lies a seductive and sinister magic; Malik is the spell-caster par excellence. Uneasy, unpredictable, and unforgettable.

Meet Usman Malik: A New Must Know Voice in Dark Fantasy and Horror - Yesterday, I posted the links to my current horror review column in Library Journal. As part of that issue I also conducted an interview with one of my STAR review authors, Usman Malik. ... Read more...

Rich, textured, and beautifully written, these vivid stories can be disturbing and often horrific and yet they are grounded in a deep well of compassion for human frailty and loss.

Usman Malik is a major talent with a highly original voice, and this is a treasure house of his work. Viscerally vivid and luminously lyrical, his tales bring an entire country to life with an immediacy many veteran writers might envy. There are beauty and awe and the darkest horrors, both supernatural and social, all of which Malik unites into a rich unique blend. An essential book for every aficionado's shelf - haunting, challenging and often powerfully moving.

Usman Malik is the jinn of storytellers. He weaves a magic that is both fresh and familiar, specific to Pakistan and universal, all at once. There's a ruthless honesty to his work, whether he's dealing with lovers, siblings, heroinichis, terrorists, orphans or ghosts.

This collection by a rising star in horror harkens back to classic anthologies by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe or Arthur Conan Doyle, but with a voice that represents the rich storytelling traditions of Pakistan. For fans of dark fantasy and horror. Pair with other works exploring universal fears framed and informed by the author's identity such as those by Stephen Graham Jones, S. A. Chakraborty, and Marlon James. Read more...

Mesmerizing and provocative, Malik's collection is not to be missed. Impossible to put down, achingly gorgeous, even as the tales dive into the deepest and most disturbing depths of both humanity and the ancient - and here, quite justified! - fear of the unknown.

Malik is a master of the uncanny and the sublime. The stories in Midnight Doorways dazzle even as they cast long shadows.