Thyme Travellers

This book delivers as promised: it’s a collection of speculative short stories written by Palestinian authors from the diaspora. Most overtly connect to Palestine in some way. From the editors preface, it seems this collection was compiled earlier in 2023, before the current genocide began, which makes these stories all the more haunting and poignant.

I am not Palestinian, so I can’t claim to understand the depths of these stories, but I did generally learn from and feel the words. As usual with collections, I liked some stories more than others, and many of these stories continue to stick with me, including the one about two young women digging a tunnel to Palestine from Australia, and the one about forging a remembrance with sea-aliens. I’ve found myself thinking about those characters and themes as I attmept to process current events.

Overall, this was an excellent short story collection that helped increase my understanding about Palestinian culture, history and contemporary writing, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to support Palestine during these times.

Thank you to Netgalley and Roseway Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An incredible story collection. All stories are very well-written and the speculative fiction is a great fit for the themes covered. I loved the allegories and the range of subgenres and contexts (AI, for example). I will read it over and over. It is brave and insightful.

A beautiful, moving anthology full of unique and creative short stories. Would love to read more from these authors!

It's a profoundly touching and an incredibly timely anthology. It breaks my heart to think it resonates so hard despite being put together way before the events of October 2023. Reading a variety of SFF stories that have the same red thread of hope for a better, safer future for Palestine expressed by own voices: this is what art does, folks. It transcends at the same time as it speaks to reads on an personal level.

Highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

It’s little wonder that this collection of Palestinian speculative fiction is filled with stunning stories; a people torn apart by colonialism, dispossession, invasion, loss, genocide and war write stories of hope, peace, belonging and finding home. This is a short anthology of a diverse range of Palestinian authors, which captures the heart-breaking responses to Palestinian diaspora and conflict. The quality of writing varies dramatically between pieces, but all of them are filled with raw emotion and longing for a better world where Palestine and Palestinians are celebrated. What better genre than speculative fiction to capture this hope.

Down Under by Jumaana Abdu: 5/5
“Forced amnesia is a war tactic’. Poignant play on the childhood game of ‘dig a whole to China’ which I’m sure most Australians are familiar with. An exploration of the loss caused by diaspora and the desperate search for a connection to culture, community and family.

The Third of Fourth Casualty by Ziyad Saadi: 4/5
A clever piece exposing the flaws in reporting deaths as if they are nothing more than irrelevant statistics. Everyone is important to their own story of their life, and their deaths even more so.

Generation Chip by Nadia Afifa: 4/5
Heartbreaking yet sentimental queer story about loss and the sacrifices we make for love, especially the love for our children and grandchildren.

Soul Searching by Rana Othman: 3/5
A story which explores ideas of empathy and the search for closure.

The Heart Knows the Truth by Layla Azmi Ghoushey: 2/5
A lot going on in this story and I struggled to follow its meaning and message. Vast and universe-spanning in scope.

Cyrano de AI by Karl el-Koura: 4/5
A very mainstream speculative story. An interesting look into how AI in encroaching on everyday life and the dangers of augmentative technologies.

The Frontrunner by J.D. Harlock: 2/5
A tale of assassination and its impacts. Felt like this one needed a few more pages to flesh itself out and to explain why the assassinations are important.

A Table Set for Two by Emad El-din Aysha: 3/5
Time travel is always tricky, and it was nice to read an Arab spin on some old tropes. This’ll have you googling some historical figures.

In the Future, We Can Go Back Home by Sara Solara: 4/5
This is a hopeful story, but also bittersweet as it longs for a future that seems so far away in reality.

The Forty by Sonia Sulaiman: 4/5
Wanderers on a pilgrimage as they seek a home, with overt links to Palestinian diaspora.

Remembrance in Cerulean by Elise Stephens: 3/5
This story looks into remembering someone who is not quite as flawless as you though they were. It also explores the ways we can reconciles between vastly different cultures: by sharing memories to build empathy and trust.

Gaza Luna by Samah Serour Fadil: 4/5
A post-colonial flipping of the script, giving Palestinians the chance to land a man on the moon and to plant a flag in a place they can’t be told they don’t belong.

Orlando’s Wolf by Rasha Abdulhadi: 3/5
An overwhelming and intriguing character portrait. Will have you asking a lot of questions.

The Centre of the Universe by Nadia Shammas: 4/5
What do we do for attention? How far are we willing to go to be noticed, to be recognised, to be acknowledged? Are extreme acts of protest ethical? These are some of the questions this piece seeks to answer.

I am not generally a short story/anthology person but I found the majority of these stories engaging and thought-provoking! It has a variety of narratives imagining Palestine in past, present, and future, with significant themes of memory, identity, and resistance.

One of the most memorable to me is one of the shortest (by Ziyad Saadi) a haunting story about a group of Gazan boys swimming in the ocean at night. I also loved the story about the astronaut, and the final story by Nadia Shammas is particularly memorable. Also, interesting trend of stories (in here and a couple other books I've read) about younger generation Palestinians finding out that their grandmother was a lesbian/sapphic?? good for them. I liked those ones too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I requested an ARC of Thyme Travellers in an effort to read more Palestinian voices as a result of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. I really enjoyed this compilation. As with most short story compilations, there were several that stuck out to me more than others, and some that I liked more than others.

This short story anthology deals with a lot of heavy themes, including colonialism, Zionism, communication, connection (and lack of) to culture and community, and grief.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, and rated it 4 stars. I know some of the collected stories will stick with me for a very long time.

A fantastic collection of short stories by Palestinian authors about diaspora, genocide, the apartheid, colonization, and more. The preface states that this book was prepared in the summer of '23, only months before the events only a few months later. These stories highlight the ongoing tragedy that Palestinian's face, and have been facing for years. The stories that particularly gripped me were "Down Under," the particularly devastating "The Third and Fourth Casualty," "Soul Searching," "Generation Chip," "Cyrano de AI", "The Frontrunner," "In the Future, We Can Go Back Home," "Remembrance in Cerulean," "Gaza Luna," and "The Centre of the Universe". With this collection, I was able to find some new authors to look out for in the future.

Some further thoughts:
The Frontrunner had a surprising twist despite being such a short story.
Remembrance in Cerulean was such a gripping and interesting read overall.
"The Third and Fourth Casualty and The Centre of the Universe both do so much in such so little words. Both are devastating in similar, but different ways.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy for review!

This anthology feels particularly timely. When reality seems too surreal, too violent, too alienating to take in, what better than speculative fiction full of alternative realities, imaginaries and even actual aliens to explore what might be, and what should be.
There are stories about futures where there is no more conflict as well as futures where Palestinian characters respond to and engage in conflict in new and different ways.
There is a glossary at the back for terms that are unfamiliar.

I am very excited that I found this absolute gem of a book. I am very much into short stories as well as speculative fiction. To top it off, this is a collection of very important voices of Palestinians in exile.

I cannot describe how honored I felt to be able to read this book.

And it certainly didn't disappoint. Of course, as with every other short story collection, some of them spoke more to me than the others. But every single one of them had some sort of food for thought. The stories here are mentioning very important social and therefore political issues. Some voices seem more bold than others, while there are those that seem more intimate. Nothing is overlooked, all levels of relationships are examined - friendships, romantic love, family, community.

The stories are also very diverse, the main characters vary in age, gender etc. Every new story is its own universe.

For me, this is a very important book that deserves a lot of recognition.

This collection of speculative fiction written by Palestinian authors was incredible!

Each story was hard-hitting to read as someone who is not Palestinian, and I cannot understand the full depth of the stories, but I held some understanding from the language used in each story; they hold so much raw emotion that it was difficult to read sometimes, but the constant idea of Palestine being free one day in each one urged me to continue reading them.

From the preface in the beginning of this book, it seems these stories were being compiled in 2023, before the current genocide began, giving these stories a new hauntingly tragic perspective when reading it in 2024, almost a year later. Even the Author's Notes emphasised the importance of listening, highlighting how Palestinians still need our help.

I cannot stop thinking about Generation Chip and Remembrance in Cerulean. These made me feel all the feelings in the best way possible.

My only wish would be that some stories should have had a little more development or explanation, but that doesn't take away from the meanings behind them at all.

This collection of short stories includes a multitude of themes from colonialism, invasion, loss, genocide, hope, memory, identity and many more. I highly recommended adding this to diversify your reading, especially with the current genocide of Palestinians who need their voices to be heard now more than ever!

This collection of speculative fiction by Palestinian diaspora voices is both thoughtful and thought-provoking. There is much to love in those 14 stories that ask “what if?”. Some stories take that question very literally (what if AI prompted our every interaction, what if we could go back in time and change the future of Palestine), while others are much more poetic and leave things open for interpretation. I was delighted to find a story by Nadia Shammas, author of Squire (one of my favourite books of the year), and really loved it, but there are many strong short stories in this collection and more than a few that will linger in the back of your mind.
Rep: Palestinian cast, lesbian and non-binary rep.
CW: death, colonisation.

This book was an absolute delight! As an anthology of speculative fiction by Palestinian authors, I was immediately intrigued. What I found was an amazing collection of short stories that made me think hard about the world we live in today, and what awaits us in the future.

Thank you to Roseway Publishing for the ARC copy of this book.

These stories are stunning. A beautiful collection of short speculative fiction by Palestinian authors, it is an exploration of Palestinian culture and history, colonialism, family, connection to community, what is, and what could be. Many of these feel a little Black Mirror-esque with stories encompassing AI, time travel, aliens and more. Some were heart-breaking while others were hopeful or longing. I loved them.