New Past Lives: History, Fantasy, and Historical Fantasy. I had the opportunity to chat with the fantastic Shannon Chakraborty about history, fantasy, the medieval Islamicate world, and building better fictional universes. She's delightful and wildly smart! pod.link/1852618120/e...

Interview: Shannon Chakraborty and Historical Fantasy

Listen to Interview: Shannon Chakraborty and Historical Fantasy from Past Lives wherever you get your podcasts!

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We are DELIGHTED to share an excerpt from @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social's The Tapestry of Fate, the highly-anticipated sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi! #booksky

Read an Excerpt From The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty - Reactor

Amina al-Sirafi's quest to track down magical artifacts brings her to the island lair of a sorceress whose woven enchantments are impossible to flee.

reactormag.com

The Tapestry of Fate by @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social is a FANTASTIC follow up to the Adventure of Amina al-Sirafi. One of, if not THE, current ongoing series I am most excited about. Full ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review here: bit.ly/4sbSbqY

"The Tapestry of Fate" by Shannon Chakraborty

I am delighted to report that the book 2 in one of the series I am most excited about these days is excellent. Truly a masterpiece of a story. My only complaint is that it ends on a hell of a cliffhan...

bit.ly

Here’s my March reading Wrap Up. My favourite goes to The Tapestry of Fate by @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social We set sail with Amina into a perilous quest across the Persian Gulf to find a fabled island and retrieve a magical artefact of devastating power. A really thrilling sequel!

Preorder alert! Amina's off on a dangerous mission to steal a spindle from a mysterious sorceress in THE TAPESTRY OF FATE, @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social's epic sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Signed Exclusive Edition with sprayed edges: www.waterstones.com/book/the-tap... 🪐💙📚 #SFF

Well this 2,600-year-old clay letter was a journey. It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.

Delighted to finally share this episode of The Ottoman History Podcast doing a historical deep dive on The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2025/11/chak...

A Sea of Sorcery: Roundtable with Shannon Chakraborty

produced by Shireen Hamza and featuring Fahad Bishara, KD Thompson, Liana Saif, Mahmood Kooria, Rebecca Hankins, and Samantha Pellegr...

ottomanhistorypodcast.com

Also, very early galleys of The Tapestry of Fate are in! I'm so excited to start seeing Amina's next adventure out in the wild

Finally sharing possibly the coolest thing that's happened to me this year. Al-'Usur al-Wusta, in connection with the Ottoman History Podcast, organized a round table discussion on The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. The essays can be found here, with the podcast episode soon to come!

Yale Classics Library@yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta Vol. 33 (2025) #openaccess journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al... @alusuralwusta.bsky.social @mideastmedieval.bsky.social @lewread.bsky.social @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social @bishara.bsky.social

In honor of Mother's Day, I'll be matching donations to Believers Bail Out and the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. Please consider a donation! No parents should be facing wrongful imprisonment or occupation. believersbailout.org humanappealusa.org/donate

One of the best perks of being a writer: early books! Cannot wait to dive into these three once revisions are done and my brain ceases being mush

What a lovely discovery (and thread!)

Nghi Vo@nghivo.bsky.social · last yr.

Hey, who wants something nice? So I was on tour this month, and when I was doing my event for the Princeton University Library and the Princeton Public Library, I ended up at the graveyard, where I found this gravestone:

And since I'm already logged in, might as well share the snippet I posted on Instagram from the upcoming sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi!

I'm not very active here but just had to share the stunning cover of The City of Brass deluxe collector's edition. Look at Nahri! Look at CAIRO!

I was very excited to share a few of my favorite historical fantasies (set in our world) over at @nytimes.com last week: Historical Fantasy Novels Offer a Magical Escape Into the Past www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/b...

Historical Fantasy Novels Offer a Magical Escape Into the Past

The author of “The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi” recommends fantastical tales grounded in real history.

nytimes.com

Ancient Assyrian kings didn’t just go to war with other kings. They battled queens of the Arabian peninsula, including the formidable Queen Samsi who may even be depicted on a lost stone relief mid-battle on the back of a camel. Fascinating piece by Ellie Bennet anetoday.org/samsi-queen-...

Samsi, “Queen of the Arabs”, and Her Fight Against Assyria - The Ancient Near East Today

The women referred to in Assyrian inscriptions as “Queen of the Arabs” have been a passing footnote in Neo-Assyrian history — until now. Here is the story of one of them.

anetoday.org

After reading this review by Emily H. Wilson, I sat in my car and wept happy tears. "a new and spellbinding book" "must-read, millennia-spanning history" I'm speechless with gratitude and pure joy. www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

The story of ancient Mesopotamia and the dawn of the modern world

Ancient Mesopotamia comes alive in Moudhy Al-Rashid's must-read, millennia-spanning history, cleverly wrought from tablets written in the world's oldest script

newscientist.com

i just found out that you can briskly walk the distance from the house of the prophet abraham to the house of ea-nasir the copper trader in under a minute and i genuinely don't know what to do with that information

Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce. Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.

A rare morning I have a chance to do some writing before the kids wake up and I open my computer to this 😭

And since we’re doing this conversation again for the umpteenth time, and since people tend to associate the Middle East with “medievalness” because they’re illiterates, a reminder that smallpox inoculation was first brought to Britain via the Ottomans, thanks to Mary Montagu, an ambassador’s wife.

Update: it was indeed fantastic and I'm off to find the sequel this week!

Shannon Chakraborty@shannonchakraborty.bsky.social · 2y ago

There's a certain magic to finally reading a book you've wanted to check out for years and realizing--just a few pages in--that it's going to be a delight

There are some great recommendations in the replies. Thank you to everyone who responded; I'm now terribly spoiled for choice!

Shannon Chakraborty@shannonchakraborty.bsky.social · 2y ago

I might be too new to this platform for any proper engagement of this question: but what are people's favorite print magazines? One of my resolutions for the year was to read more indepth news offline, but I'm trying to think of things besides the usual suspects. Politics and history preferred

The scribe of this book has written, “Here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book… because of it many others did too. And beware not to leave open books at night where cats can come.”

mine will always be the sperm whale who reacted to a Roman soldier throwing a bottle at him off the Byzantine coast by sinking every ship he could off that coast for the next 60 years and had the emperor declare him an enemy of the state and name him after the Titan who attacked mount olympus

Ellie, 2.0@ellieboren.bsky.social · 2y ago

About once a week I think fondly of my personal icon, the elephant who trampled a woman and then came back later to trample her some more at her funeral.

I might be too new to this platform for any proper engagement of this question: but what are people's favorite print magazines? One of my resolutions for the year was to read more indepth news offline, but I'm trying to think of things besides the usual suspects. Politics and history preferred

There's a certain magic to finally reading a book you've wanted to check out for years and realizing--just a few pages in--that it's going to be a delight

My first and favorite Trek. I did a rewatch last year when my daughter was born and still love it

The Spaceshipper 🚀@thespaceshipper.com · 2y ago

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine started 32 years ago today with "Emissary". This is still my favorite Trek series.

At the AHA (@historians.org) meeting this weekend, and stunned to see this story in Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/article.... #Skystorians

The Business of History Is Booming

Books and podcasts about the past are surging in popularity, making them increasingly profitable.

bloomberg.com