This week for Ramadan (~kinda?) we are reading SQUIRE by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas - a comic set in an alternate history Middle East and North Africa. Squire follows Aiza, a 14 year old girl training to become a knight for a war-torn empire while hiding her true background as a girl from conquered lands...which could be any major world civilization. Born Ornu - a second-class citizen of the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, Aiza dreams of a better life of glory and citizenship - by leaving her family to enlist in the empire's military. She must navigate friendships and rivalries, train rigorously and confront the bitter societal truths...and lies...being told to ALL of the people of the empire. SQUIRE is informed and inspired by many actual elements of Islamic culture and history. And since Ryan is off working on a final draft of his Junji Ito // One Direction fan fiction - Raman teamed up with one of HIS favorite indie geek podcasts - GROUNDED GEEKS - with sibling co-hosts Lena & Aman Shareef. https://anchor.fm/grounded-geeks EXTRA CREDIT: for Raman's exclusive chat with SQUIRE co-creator Sara Alfageeh - head over to Modern Minorities, where we're talking to top Muslim American creators for the entire month of Ramadan - modmypod.com