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The Republic of Memory

Brief Description
The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their 'ancestors' - the final remnants of Earth's doomed Network Empire - by keeping... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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From the winner of the 2023 Future Worlds Prize comes a blisteringly ambitious piece of science fiction, introducing the Arabfuturism genre.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their 'ancestors' - the final remnants of Earth's doomed Network Empire - by keeping them alive in cryostasis.

But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions. Why should the crew continue to toil for people none of them remember? What exactly gives Administration its authority over everyone else?

And when the blackouts start, they set in motion a chain of events that will change life on the Safina forever. A reckoning is coming. The system is only secure so long as those in power maintain the obedience of those beneath them.

And the crew has had enough.

A science fiction odyssey of breathtaking scope, The Republic of Memory is a gripping examination of what divides us, and what brings us together. This is a modern and ambitious work of Arabfuturism, and is perfect for fans of The Expanse, A Memory Called Empire or Children of Time.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399626347

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 14 May 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Gollancz

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 496

About the Author

Mahmud El Sayed is a British-Egyptian SFF writer and translator. He lives in East London where he spends his time pondering linguistic oddities and running story ideas by his cat. A former journalist, he covered 'serious' Middle Eastern politics until he had enough of chasing people up for boring quotes and decided to write about generation ships, sentient libraries and memory taxes instead. He won the prestigious 2023 Future Worlds prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Colour and his work focuses on Arabic and Islamic-inspired themes in a genre he is calling Arabfuturism.

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