In the Empty Quarter

by G. Willow Wilson

A woman’s journey to self-discovery collides with the ancient legends of the Rubʿ al-Khali desert in this short historical fantasy by the award-winning author of Alif the Unseen.

Jean is the young wife of an American businessman searching for oil near the Persian Gulf in 1952. In the bustle of the market and the dark eyes of her husband’s colleague, Jean is searching for something else: a life far from the one she knows. Then, after one wrong step in a desert gully, Jean finds herself trapped in a cave-in—and she’s not alone. When legend comes to life and offers a path forward into the unknown, for Jean there is no going back.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks, Middle East

37 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2021

About the author

Hugo, World Fantasy and American Book Award-winning author of novels and comics, including THE BIRD KING, INVISIBLE KINGDOM, and ALIF THE UNSEEN. Co-creator of Ms Marvel. Honorary doctor of letters, Rutgers University. I accidentally started a dutch baby baking cult during quarantine. Not very active on here right now, but often found on Twitter.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first reading experience of G Willow Wilson's writing and I am certainly keen to read more after this stellar short story set in 1952, in the Rub' al-Khali desert, near the Persian Gulf. American Jean is the young, bored, selfish and self centred wife of Harold, a TransAtlas businessman, searching for oil in the area. Bored with the company of the other wives, she is looking for adventure and romance, she fixates on Mahmoud, working with her husband, pushing the limits of acceptable behaviour as he acts as her guide to the town, its culture and history. When Mahmoud turns down her request to accompany him and Harold on a oil well testing trip, Jean turns to Harold who doesn't have the heart to deny her. She fails to understand the discomforts she will face, and compounds her problems when she refuses to listen to Mahmoud's advice, which in turn leads her to falling into a cave.

Jean becomes enveloped by a rising tide of primitive fear as she encounters ancient legends, 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here', that force her to face unpalatable truths about herself, and questioning and re-evaluating the decisions she has made in her life. Considering the constraints of the short story format, the author does an superb job with characterisation in this complex tale that touches on issues of race and colonialism, and the treasure and curse that is oil for the locals. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: Meh. Typical, typical, typical!

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Story Synopsis:
Too bored to type one! Read the blurb; it’s accurate enough.


What you can expect from this story:
😐 Characters:
👉 A typical naïve white woman whose eyes open after an unexpected encounter.
👉 A typical self-absorbed white man more interested in exotic discoveries than in his own wife.
👉 A typical middle-eastern man focussed on the white memsahib, until he’s suddenly not.
👉 An atypical fantastical being who seems to come from a hodgepodge of cultures. The only “person” in the story with some personality, but the sketching wasn’t accurate to the culture.

😐 The historical setting (1950s Persian gulf) is strong but clichéd.

😐 The fantastical element comes too late.

😐 A reference to ‘Vikram and Betal’, one of my favourite legends, but how is this Indian story connected to the Arabian setting?

😐 Some truly great themes herein – colonialism, feminism, racism, but all the –isms end up only as truisms.


All in all, this could have been fabulous has the premise been executed without resorting to so many stereotypes. Then again, it’s just 37 pages long, so I didn’t waste much time with it.

A no from me, unless you are a Westerner attracted to the exotic setting and the mild white-saviour vibes.

1.5 stars, rounding up as there was no wastage of time.


This standalone story is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.




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[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4★
“Jean almost told him she’d never before thought of an Arab as being ‘well-bred’, but she stopped before the words left her mouth, silently pleased by her own sensitivity.”

Jean is along for the ride on her new husband’s oil survey trip to a country unlike anything she’s known. He is busy, the other wives in the group are boring and uninquisitive, while she is revelling in the chance to be taken sightseeing by her husband’s colleague, Masoud, a handsome, black-eyed Arab.

When she says she’s never seen such black eyes before, he says that they are “common among the City's oldest families, considered a mark of good breeding” – hence the introductory quotation above.

She frequently pats herself on the back for being observant and broad-minded (and “sensitive”), obviously unlike the aforementioned boring wives.

She enjoys the little thrill she feels with the attention she gets from Masoud as they watch the sunset and he tells her about his country. She convinces the men that she is going to go with them for their survey work to the area known as the Empty Quarter, so hot it has “not so much as the memory of shade”.

“‘Out of the question,’ said Masoud. ‘The deep desert isn’t safe. They don’t call it the Empty Quarter for nothing. You could get heatstroke, or break your leg in a gully. Women never go on these sorts of expeditions’.”

Well, maybe his women don't, but she's different. Right? Not like those wives who stay in the City and shop. She does go, and her desert experience is nothing like I expected – certainly nothing like she expected – but it could have come from Masoud’s book of Indian folk tales.

What a lot of fun her rude awakening is. This is one from the series of Amazon Original Stories that I have been enjoying. You will find them on your country’s Amazon website under Kindle / Kindle Singles / Amazon Original Stories.

Thanks to Amazon for promoting one of my favourite genres and to NetGalley for the preview copy.

[jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are just so, so few writers in the world as good at the collision of cultures and the human results of imperialism and magic and faith and bravery as G Willow Wilson is.

[Roslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I really enjoy a story in which a character undergoes a real transformation, especially when it is as multi-layered and beautifully written as this one.

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that the author destroyed a good idea somehow. Spoilers ahead though:

It's a very interesting short story, Jean is an American newlywed who came to Saudi Arabia I guess (maybe?) the Empty Quarter is located between four countries: Saudi, Oman, Emirates, and Yemen. She's like all the other foreigners looking down at Arabs (she thinks she's different but her remarks are 🙄) yet she fancies one of them over her husband Harlod, Masoud is handsome, attentive, educated, and charming and she's lonely. They head to the empty quarter desert and Jean falls in a crevice under the sands, there she meets a jinn monster who helps her decide her future and helps her get out. I felt the story needed more of a kick of fantasy, more spice, more romance. The encounter with Vikram is creepy I'll give you that. The story is in the fifties.

[Josh Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the brevity of this novella, I actually quite enjoyed the story. Interestingly enough the main character is a very unlikable woman, yet by the end of the book I found I cared what happened to her. She is stuck in the 1950s social trap that American women had to accept. Her only real path in life was to get married and have children. I can understand how she became the way she is due to the circumstances that were forced upon women of that era.

I found her interactions with the supernatural being to be quite entertaining. In fact, I was entertained the entire way through, which is all one can really ask from for such a short story.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean almost told him she’d never before thought of an Arab as being ‘well-bred’, but she stopped before the words left her mouth, silently pleased by her own sensitivity. [loc. 120]

Set in 1952 in the Rub' al-Khali desert, near the Persian Gulf. Jean's husband Harold is an oil company executive: Jean is bored out of her mind, sneeringly dismissive of the other company wives, and cultivating an affair with Masoud, who's the cousin of a prince. She is allowed to accompany Harold and Masoud on a desert survey: disregarding Masoud's warnings, she falls into a cave and is trapped by a rockslide. Which is the least of her worries.

Jean is an unlikeable character, though she has imagination and a streak of romanticism which soften her sharp edges a little. It's likely that by the end of this short story (barely a novella) she has become somewhat less racist, a little more mature: I'd have liked an afterword to hint at what happens next. But this is a well-structured and nicely layered tale, and I am reminded that I enjoyed Wilson's debut novel (Alif the Unseen) and would like to read her latest, The Bird King.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this simple, but profound short story, we meet Jean--a headstrong young woman who is traveling around the Persian Gulf with her husband who happens to be in the oil business. Jean is discontent with her life and prone to being petty and impetuous. Hoping for adventure and intrigued by her husband's colleague, she talks her way into going out in the desert with them, but things come to head when she makes a series of poor decisions.

For all the constrains of a short story, Wilson accomplishes some really great character development. Jean looks like a very unlikeable character, but she's still relatable and grows a lot in the few pages we have to get to know her. Wilson also tackles racism and colonialism in a way that doesn't feel heavy-handed, but really works well with the story.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. There were moments where I actually laughed out loud, but I've also been left with things to think about and ruminate on. This is definitely worth a read!

Thank you to G. Willow Wilson, Amazon Original Stories, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this short story!

[Simoné Eloff · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC received via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really need to rethink my aversion to short stories because clearly, I've just not been reading ones by the right authors. This is the second in a row that's caught me off guard by just how good it is...

This is such a layered and bright little tale. I remember reading Alif The Unseen years ago and being struck by the complexity behind Wilson's simple writing style, and it was even more prominent here. It's not something I really do in general, but I feel like this is a short story I could reread a few times, and I would still find some layers to peel back on each return.

I would absolutely recommend going into this blind. There are some small elements that you might be able to anticipate as being a part of the narrative, but the beauty lies in exactly where Wilson decided to take the story and how she decided for it to get there. So good.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting. A historical slice of life with fantasy elements. I think it worked well as a short story.

[Charlotte Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a historical fantasy short story that follows Jean on a journey of self-discovery. At under 40 pages there wasn’t much in the way of development. G. Willow Wilson managed to build a brilliant setting and convincing characters but the main events of the story went by so quickly that there wasn’t much room for convincing development. The conclusion of the story felt too quick but I enjoyed the other elements of the story enough to read something else by this author.

3 out of 5 stars!

[Chrystopher’s Archive · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really clever, interesting little short story.

I loved how well the characterization came across, and Wilson set it up so quickly! A really brilliant piece of writing. There were also a lot of tropes she was playing with here, and I really loved how they got spun around like a handful of tiny, colorful tops.

I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

[Mrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a by-chance short find. Fantasy is usually not my choice of reading. As I first started reading, I still was not sure. Then I really got into it, and it grabbed my attention. This was a great read, going to be at the top of my favorites for a while.

[Rhonda Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Good

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this short story. Truthfully, I read it because it met an Amazon kindle reading achievement. I had a long list of books to choose from and this was in prime reading plus it was short. But I am so glad I chose it. I would have gladly read a longer version that continues with the life of the young American wife, Jean. This story is like a fable, part fantasy and part truth. The wife is with her husband in some unnamed middle eastern country. The husband works for an oil company in the mid-1950's. Jean is a bored, disillusioned, naive young woman who starts a flirtation with her husband's high level middle eastern liaison. She insists on accompanying them Into the dessert, which is hot, and potentially dangerous. She tears off, contrary to her guide's wishes, into an unstable cave. There she is hurt falling, and encounters someone who is not human. Here is where the the fascinating parts of the book occur. Through this dangerous encounter, Jean learns some hard truths about her own personality weaknesses and is made to face the lies she tells herself. And in the process, we, the reader, also learn some harsh truths about the impact of foreign presence in this Arabic country. That part of the story is subtle. This is not a book about politics and capitalism. The story really is about Jean, and making her look at herself from other people's perspective. This short story was not only good, it was thought provoking. And it makes me wonder what Jean decided to do.

[Megan Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

A woman encounters a djinn after falling into a cave in the Rub’ al-Kahli desert. The supernatural creature calls out the absurdity of Jean’s efforts to fill her unhappiness at one man with another’s temporary attention but does help her out of her current deadly scenario as a reward for freeing him from imprisonment.
* * * * *-------* * * * *-------* * * * *
There are some engaging ideas in this short story fantasy, but they get buried in execution. The narrative rebukes 1950s expectations. However, simply bringing attention to misogyny or cultural insensitivity is not enough to make a statement. The average reader does not influence American business interests in the Middle East or societal expectations of marriage. They also cannot elect to have an out of body experience to help them learn not to avoid their problems. The main action moments of this tale (physical injuries, attacking dogs, a cave-in) are handled in a nonchalant way to where they become meaningless. The supernatural elements don’t have a lot of explanation, grounding, or consistency. There is some humor to this transformational moment for Jean’s character and the writing itself is fine. Perhaps it is a format issue, but I just didn’t cherish the piece.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertainingly interesting.

I’m really giving this 3 1/2 stars, but you can’t have half the star for whatever reason.

At first when you get the gist of who this woman is and how she views everything you kinda dislike her. This is set in the 1950s so you have to put your mind in that era and of a woman in her situation. As you reader you come to the realization that she’s exactly what she hates and doesn’t realize it, and doesn’t know how to get away from it either. Perceptions, society, and the roles we play in defining them are at play here. She’s foolish, reckless, inconsiderate, blindly offensive, and unhappy. When an accident happens she experiences something otherworldly that can potentially change her profusely. They way this story ends it feels like it’s left to us to decide her fate. We can imagine whatever road we want her take. Really enjoyed this. Well written, imaginative, and I really liked the fantastical and magical experience of it all. It’s a unique and different enough approach to a story about self discovery.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The empty quarter is a term referring to the deepest part of the desert near the Persian gulf, a place so desolate and hot and miserable that it is avoided when possible.

Jean is a bored housewife who is with her husband, Harold, with who, she is very bored. She’s also bored with the other wives, the place she is staying and absolutely everything else. She is determined to have fun and adventure and maybe even an affair with her husband’s business partner, Masoud. Her husband gives in and takes her along into the empty quarter even though he and his partner warn her of the danger and the boredom.

Her life becomes very exciting way out there in the empty quarter. She finds herself trapped in a cave in with a mythical creature who is very real.
Will her life ever be the same?

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story does a fair bit of heavy lifting in regards to colonialism, feminism, and bringing a woman to understanding herself more fully, all through the use of the swarthy foreigner trope, played out on two levels. While set in the 1950's, it is all still very relevant, to the point that knowing when it takes place really doesn't matter. The issues she tackles are all still present, if anything even more ingrained in the cultures represented (especially on the American side). If you're looking for a big fantasy spectacle, this isn't it, but it is a moody, introspective glimpse into a person, using a fantasy lens.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

My inclination is to call this story "interesting", but that word by itself isn't helpful.

An extremely short version of the premise: a woman accompanies her husband to the Persian Gulf area, befriends a local, and goes on an accidental adventure. This setup felt a bit slow to me, but then things got...weird, and then I loved it.

I wish more of the story was dedicated to the "weird" portion (I won't say more to avoid spoilers), rather than the setup portion. Felt like it ultimately burned out quickly; it got interesting, and then it was over. That's partly the fault of the form, though.

If you like magical realism and beautiful descriptions of desert landscapes, check this one out.

[Sinamile · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC Review: Received for free via NetGalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

CW/TW: ableist slurs, racism, poverty, oil rigging, animal death, injury, racism

Short and quick. Intriguing and a little scary. I've heard the warnings about jinn, so you bet your butt I'm going to feel some type of way about reading about them, lol. I like the mystery though and lowkey would've been fine if there was a kiss, because I'm that kind of person. But I liked this.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and Different

This short story wasn't like most of the stories I read. I was actually pretty skeptical about whether I'd enjoy it. Surprisingly, I did. It wasn't the awful attitude of the bored wife, or the unhappy disinterest of her husband, or the suave work colleague which drew me. But the execution of the story was extremely well done in my opinion. I found the scenery so descriptive, it was like breathing to enter the place. If you're looking for a short story which is well-written, then give it a try.

[Christine Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a strange but haunting short story by G Willow Wilson, In the empty Quarter. It is about the wife of an American surveyor, who has come to explore the area where the Americans will be drilling for oil in the desert, changing the landscape and lifestyle of the Arabian community for ever. It is told in the 1950’s,at a time when women were expected to marry and have children and the men were the breadwinners but this woman wants more.
An interesting story.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having spent 6 years living in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I was hooked by Wilson’s book title the minute I saw it. The story did not disappoint! A combination of reality and a story about a jinn (genie to us Westerners), this was a jewel to read. Wilson captured the reaction of an American woman to the expat experience very well, reminding us to be sensitive of other cultures. I highly recommend this short story and look forward to reading more of Wilson’s work.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, quick read of a woman in the 30s feeling trapped in her marriage and her expected societal role, and the trip she takes to the Middle East as her last hurrah before settling into a life of childbearing. Her last hurrah ends up intersecting with Vikram the Vampire (who it was an immense pleasure to see again after Alif), and some self discovery by way of quantum unentangling and being trapped in a cave in occurs. I was done with this in under a half hour, and it was a solid short story. Definitely worth a look if you get the chance.

[Rose Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting of this short historical fantasy is the Rub' al-Khali desert, near the Persian Gulf in 1952. Jean is traveling with her husband, an oil surveyor. He has agreed to let her join him on this trip as one last adventure before she settles down to raise his children. For such a short work it managed to delve deep into colonialism, racism, feminism, and culture clashes. This was a unique and thought provoking read. I will have to look for more from this author.

[Bookphile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but wasn't totally over the moon about it. It has some interesting things to say about colonialism and the ways in which mankind draws dividing lines and then uses those lines as an excuse to take advantage of and discriminate against one another, plus some glimmers of feminism. I think maybe the story needed some more room to breathe, though.

[Jacqui Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a chance short read.
And was very different from my usual choice of book.
I started reading I still wasn’t sure but once I got into it, it followed along. But I didn’t realise this was a fable and couldn’t make out what I was reading to begin with.
If I’m honest I would say it was a good book/story just not for me

[Carly Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wife on a trip with her husband, finds comfort with another man on his team. When she goes on a trip with them, she falls into a whole. A box in her pocket breaks and a magical being comes out and helps her realize she won’t be happy with either man and she moves on (a genie in bottle essentially)

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and was a nice short read. I feel it could also be expanded into a larger story. Great characters and story. Will need to read more of G Willow Wilson. #IntheEmptyQuarter #NetGalley