Photo credit: Jeramie Lu. Reprint of photo is permitted for publicity purposes.
Read an excerpt of The Bruising of Qilwa on io9/Gizmodo!
Buzz for The Bruising of Qilwa
See where The Bruising of Qilwa has come up!
io9/Gizmodo cover reveal and excerpt
The Bruising of Qilwa's cover by Elizabeth Story was first revealed on io9/Gizmodo, along with an excerpt from the autopsy scene early in the novella. Content notes for mentions of a plague and graphic descriptions of a corpse (body/medical horror)
Interview and excerpt at khōréō magazine
In partnership with Tachyon Publications, khōréō magazine shared an excerpt of Qilwa with their readers, and included an interview between me and editor-in-chief Aleksandra Hill.
Tor.com
Martin Cahill reviewed Qilwa for Tor.com to high praise: "Jamnia is a writer’s writer, luxuriating in paragraphs that contains as much detail as a page, told with perfectly parsed prose. It is a masterful talent, reminiscent of Steven Erikson and Samuel R. Delany, and one Jamnia employs to their utmost."
Locus Magazine
Locus Magazine positively reviewed Qilwa twice. In this first review, Gary K. Wolfe calls it "something of a Tardis tale, considerably bigger on the inside than it first appears, and it’s a rewarding addition to that growing body of fantastic fiction addressing themes of colonialism, bigotry, gender, and cultural identity."
Book Riot SFF
The Bruising of Qilwa was highlighted on Book Riot's "The Best New Queer SFF for Your TBR," along with authors like Kelly Barnhill, Nghi Vo, Alex Jennings, Sunyi Dean, Victor Manibo and others!
Also shared on CNN Radio News and Book Riot International.
Locus Magazine
In the second review from Locus Magazine, Alex Brown says, "There's nothing simple about this novella. Naseem Jamnia has threaded themself—their identities, their experiences, their histories, their culture—into every layer of the narrative."
Reading Reality
Marlene Harris gave Qilwa a starred review for The Library Journal but returns months later for a reread: "The Bruising of Qilwa is one of those stories that makes the reader think, and feel, and think again, long after the last page is turned. As witnessed by my picking this back up months later to see if it was as good as my memory made it—only to discover that it was even better than I first thought."
Autostraddle
Abeni Jones at Autostraddle thought "The world [of Qilwa] is so fascinating, and the characters so fully developed, I would happily read as many other stories as Jamnia decides to set in this world. It’s a tense exploration of weighty themes that can be easily mapped onto present-day issues, but grounded in lovable, sympathetic characters—many of them queer—and fun fantasy elements that are easy to understand but deep in their implications."
Strange Horizons
Stephen Case reviewed both Qilwa and another Tachyon book, The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg, thinking about the conversation the two have with each other: "Both The Bruising of Qilwa and The Unbalancing are powerful in giving voice to marginalized or dispossessed characters without being flat, formulaic, or overly discursive."
Please note, spoilers abound for both books!
Book Riot
In "8 Notable Nonbinary SFF Books You Need to Check Out," Qilwa joins the ranks of Neon Yang, R.B. Lemberg, Anna-Marie McLemore, Shelly Parker-Chan, and others!
Buzzfeed
So many books come out every month, and August was no exception, but Qilwa made the "The Best Books Releasing in August" BuzzFeed list!
Literary Hub
Qilwa made the list of "10 New SF and Fantasy Books to Augment Your August," sitting alongside Tasha Suri, R.F. Kuang, and others!
Tor.com
August was a really great month for speculative fiction, so small books are easy to overlook. Tor.com, however, included Qilwa in a roundup of the fantasy books arriving in August!
BuzzFeed Books
The Bruising of Qilwa was included as part of "26 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels by Trans and Nonbinary Authors," alongside authors like Janelle Monáe, Neon Yang, R.B. Lemberg, Aiden Thomas, Charlie Jane Anders, and more!
LGBTQ Reads
As a queer book, The Bruising of Qilwa has been mentioned on several LGBTQ Reads lists, including those highlighting books with asexual, aromantic, nonbinary, and West Asian/Persian representation.
Lambda Literary
For a fortuitous start to launch week, Qilwa made the list of Lambda Literary's "August's Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Literature"!
Shelf Awareness
In addition to the starred review, Shelf Awareness put Qilwa front in center during pub week! It was also on the front page during this time.
Foreword Reviews
As part of launch week, in addition to a fantastic review, Foreword Reviews included Qilwa in their "Book of the Day Roundup"!
nerds of a feather, flock together
Roseanne Pendelbury gave Qilwa a "very high quality" Nerd Coefficient, and honestly, what more could this nerd want?
Jo Ladzinski
Jo Ladzinski not only called Qilwa "among the tightest [novellas] I have ever read," they also had me on for Author to Author, where we discussed worldbuilding, research, and my publishing path.
Paul Semel
I interviewed with Paul Semel on his website about Qilwa, writing nonbinary characters and queernorm worlds, and writing in a world I've written in before.
Monica Robinson
Monica Robinson, poet and bookseller, reviewed Qilwa, saying, "I loved this book, and it was everything I had hoped for and more. More to the point, you've never read anything like it." She also created a Qilwa-themed playlist!
At the Bar with Arley Sorg
Fantasy Magazine co-editor-in-chief Arley Sorg invited me to his interview series, "At the Bar," where we chat about conferences and Qilwa and more!
A.R. Frederiksen
A.R. Frederiksen had some great things to say about The Bruising of Qilwa: "What truly shines here, as far as I am concerned, is the theme, the world, and the characters."
Interview with The Fantasy Hive
I chatted with the awesome folks at The Fantasy Hive about Qilwa, my inspirations, my writing process, and why the Simorgh is the best.
Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies
For "Proud in the Diaspora," the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State featured me and Qilwa on Instagram!
Guest Posts
In preparation for launching The Bruising of Qilwa, other authors and publishing professionals were kind enough to give me space to talk about the book and related topics.
John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Mary Robinette Kowal's My Favorite Thing
Nicholas Kaufmann's The Scariest Part
Reads Rainbow
Female First UK
nerds of a feather, flock together
Shelf Awareness
#ReadWithPride, hosted by @AchilleanShelves
© 2022, Naseem Jamnia
Photos of Naseem by Jennie Kaplan, 2018, and Jeramie Lu, 2022