iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 12h

Do other writers actually export from Scrivener to Word? I prefer to laboriously copy and paste each chapter and read as I go like a true artisanal craftsman, a literary sculptor of yore.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 15h

Man Utd owner and Monaco-residing billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has appeared in a Reform ad talking about the UK being "colonised" by immigrants. The satire writes itself these days.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 22h

RAF Fairford, the "bomb plot" without any bombs but don't worry, crack detectives Trump and Rubio are sure that it was Iran. 'Bad Cop and Worse Cop' coming to a World War III near you soon!

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sinestro really out here looking like a post-Brexit John Cleese

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The future: Muse: Hi, I'm Muse calling on John Smith's behalf.... Muse: Hi, Muse, I'm Muse, answering on Maggie Smith's behalf... John Smith's wife: Honey, did you call your mother today?

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A new Skywalker trilogy? I know I'm in the minority here but I actually liked The Last Jedi's "Your parents were nobodies" thing. Successive galactic wars can't all be part of a single family's drama.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We won't boycott but we will wear black armbands and refuse to shake hands or exchange pennants is an Ed Sheeran level take from the Irish football team. Respect to Gavin Bazunu.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've noticed a lot of media focusing on the Unabomber recenrly. A TV series, a few docs and now a movie. All of which view Kaczynski's anti-technology philosophy (if not his actual crimes) somewhat sympathetically. I can't help but view this as a commentary on the rise of AI.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Ethnic minority author accused of using AI: Cancel him! Destroy him! White author admits to using AI: Get that man a New York Times profile! Give that woman a Nobel Prize in Literature! (I'm more anti-AI than most but the above is nothing to do with the use of AI in art)

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Sooo, they've invented tamagotchis?

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Past Mahmud, I let you down! The WIP is still IP and yet Control is out. Help me Future Mahmud, you're my only hope.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Israel bans all Arab parties from the elections. But tell me again how they are the only democracy in the Middle East.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

UK media primer: Cost of living - Inequality crisis/Late-stage capitalism Settlers/Settlements - Colonists/Colonies Anti-migrant protests - Racist riots/pogroms Legitimate concerns - Racism Far-right activist - Racist

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We need more grounded sci fi shows. May I humbly suggest: Law and Order: Ganymede NCIS: Enterprise CSI: Mars Europa Vice Housewives of Alpha Centauri

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Burnhan announces 2027 G20 in Manchester? That's gonna be mint, our kid!

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Lanterns, who knew gritty superheroes x true detective would work. Loving this show and especially that it shows, not tells.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Real question: Why are all these billionaires absolutely miserable?

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Coffee should not be drunk in a hurry. It is the sister of time, and should be sipped slowly, slowly. - Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness

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Reposted by Mahmud El Sayed

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 21/09/2026

apart from the known standard model of novels, novellas, and novellettes, we are yet to find evidence of the hypothesized novelino, noveletto, noveluccio, noveluzzo, or noveluolo. a great deal of work remains to be done

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Going Dutch: Splitting the bill Going Egyptian: Fighting with each other and swearing to God to pay the entire bill wallahi it's on me, no, put your money away, khalas i already swore to God, don't make me a liar, no, don't you dare.

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Reposted by Mahmud El Sayed

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

4 PM ET Does Colonialism Ever End? Karim Kattan (Eden at Dawn) and Mahmud El Sayed (The Republic of Memory) discuss literature’s power to expose structures of domination, from the colonial era into the imaginary future. Moderated by @jeremytiang.bsky.social brooklynbookfestival.org/event/does-c...

brooklynbookfestival.org

Does Colonialism Ever End? - Brooklyn Book Festival

What does it mean to describe colonialism as past when its borders, hierarchies, violence, and silences continue to shape the present—and even imagined futures? Bringing together Karim Kattan’s Eden a...

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Ed Sheeran said the thing! And then he cried and said, "this concert is still a place where everyone is welcome and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views." Unless, apparently, you want to stand on stage and say Free Palestine 🙄

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Waiting for Ed Sheeran's 'I'm listening and learning' statement

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The EU talking about Canada to another political bloc: "And this is Canada, a friend of ours. Fuggedaboutit!"

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Reposted by Mahmud El Sayed

Anita 🧜🏽‍♀️🏴‍☠️🪐 @mythopoetica.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My thoughts on multilinguality in SFF is always thus: if seasoned SFF readers can absorb conlang, complex structures and twisty plots without much exposition, why can't they absorb earth languages that might be foreign to them?

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Mulligan Stew by Gilbert Sorrentino It starts with fictional rejection letters from editors, includes characters ahem borrowed from other novels who are aware they are fictional and hate their author who is also slowly losing his mind. This is the book that kindled my love of metafiction.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The thing that strikes me about the Ed Sheeran situation is that it has always been more profitable to be wrong with everyone than right alone. The difference now is that the balance has shifted (finally!) and the elites simply failed to notice

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My favourite thing about the new cat is that he looks absolutely FURIOUS to have been discovered

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Opinion: Writing fight scenes is hard. Fight me! (Actually, yes, please, fight me. I might be able to use it in this scene).

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Alright, I've got a spare tenner and some ideas: - Guz Khan as the Doctor obv - The companions are all Bill and Ted figures from history. Tutankhamun is the kid comic relief. Karl Marx provides the social commentary. Lord Byron brings the drama. - I am available to write ahem

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Showing Mew a picture of the Tilcayo Tiger Cat. "It managed to keep itself secret for hundreds of years. Yet if I sleep in and am late with breakfast you come and scream at me. You could never survive the wild!"

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Just finished The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. The best so far. I'm so jealous of authors who can write with restraint 😅 One day, Mahmud. One day.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

And we've already reached the stage of the season where I say, "I'm out!"

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Apoliticism is code for supporting the status quo. In Gaza, that means supporting genocide.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Watching the Sheeran Macklemore fallout and remembering how the BBC tried to take Gary Lineker off of MOTD last year for similar reasons and Ian Wright and Alan Shearer said if he's out then so are we. Solidarity!

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Willem Dafoe is brilliant in Late Fame. An interesting movie that was in parts slow and melancholic but also bitingly satirical. Only Dafoe could make it work. It made my post-structuralist heart cringe.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Republic of Memory audio book gets a shoutout from the brilliant @veronicarothbooks.com in the Stylist! I think the real credit goes to voice actors George Greenland, Kaffe Keating, Lara Sawalha and Sami Abu Wardeh who did an amazing job with the text. ift.tt/hXbuPIc

ift.tt

Best audiobooks to listen to in 2026, according to top authors

Lucy Foley, Rebecca F Kuang, Jodi Picoult and more recommend their favourite audiobooks for 2026. Plus, why we’re in the middle of an audiobook boom.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's so easy: Just cap political donations.

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"Michael Bay, you directed five Transformers movies starring Optimus Prime, a robot from outer space that can turn into a truck. Have you checked to see if Optimus Prime is ULEZ compliant?"

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I hated Ed Sheeran before it was cool

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I have decided I shall not touch Control: Resonant until I finish my WIP. Don't let me down, Future Mahmud!

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Google "Burnham backtracks" and you will see that he is Keir Starmer in a cool jacket. What's the point of having political beliefs – about political funding, building council houses, rent control etc etc etc – if you're going to backtrack as soon as you have the power to enact them?

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Mahmud El Sayed @mahmudelsayed.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Watching the news. They've brought out the maps again. The normals are learning about the Bab Al- Mandeb.

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