City of Red Midnight: A Hikayat, by Usman T. Malik

I am not alone in not knowing what a hikayat was, but the Google tells me it's a story.  There might be more to it than that, but this is a fun story to read.  It's a nested story and is self-consciously a story, in that the setting is a storyteller entertaining tourists in Lahore.  But there's much more to it than that.  The way it weaves in and out is pretty cool, but some things come out of nowhere--the extremely gory sequences (content alert) are unexpected and almost like a jump scare.  It's also an interesting take on how feminism works for a Pakistani author describing a male-dominated culture.  In some places not very feminist at all.  Overall I liked it though.

The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, by Usman Malik

The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn is the second story I've read this year from the Nebula Award nominees, linked from my favorite site, Free SF Online.  The story is set in modern times, where an American muslim with Pakistani roots is trying to understand his past through the stories of his grandfather.  Gramps tells him the story of a Mughal princess, now poor after being deposed and split from India.  She ran a tea stall protected by a fearsome Jinn, and kept a secret.  Our protagonist pursues that secret back to Pakistan.

The imagery in this story is the strongest point--there are fascinating descriptions of Turkish calligraphy and weaving.  The story is also interestingly self-conscious.  The protagonist is an academic.  One presumes his field is Islamic studies, but it's hard to really say.  In any case he is following his grandfather's scholarship and comes across descriptions of Jinn as keepers of a certain reality--not so much as personal demigods.  He says to his girlfriend "this could be a major reimagining of what Jinn mean"--and this itself is a very different description of what Jinn are.

The story has several layers, twists and turns, and really keeps one's attention.  It's a brilliantly written navigation of Islamic heritage--these have turned up more often in recent years but still are not too common.  I give it a good 3 stars.  Enjoy.

The Vaporization Enthalphy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family, by Usman T. Malik

The Vaporization Enthalphy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family is another very short nominee.  It's a protest story, which I find is somewhat common to this format.  For me it's OK but does not really hang together very well,and when it ties together it's a bit of a letdown.  The issue is very present in Pakistan, though, so it gets relevance points.  Still, just average, only 2 stars from me.