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Syed M. Masood is the author of The Last Man in Paradise, which is available now.
Syed M. Masood grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. A first-generation immigrant twice over, he has been a citizen of three different countries and nine different cities. He is the author of The Bad Muslim Discount, a Book of the Month add-on pick and an Indiebound Bestseller, and two YA novels, More Than Just a Pretty Face and Sway with Me. He currently lives in Sacramento, CA.
Here’s the synopsis for his latest novel, The Last Man in Paradise:
A decade ago, Azaan, a rebellious teenager with dreams of becoming an actor, was exiled from Redding, California to a religious academy in Egypt by his imam father. His crime? Getting caught kissing Madison, the girlfriend he wasn’t supposed to have.
But while letting his family believe he is studying to become a preacher, Azaan ditched school and embarked on an acting career. Given that he has minimal contact and nonexistent plans to return home, he figured no one would ever know.
Now, however, Azaan’s grandfather has a dying wish: he wants to see his grandson one last time. In order to maintain the story he’s told his family for years, Azaan decides to become a fake imam. Playing at being a religious leader, he finds a community in Redding on the brink of a scandal involving his family. It’ll be the most challenging role of his life.
Navigating his new identity and old relationships, Azaan reunites with Madison, connects with old friends, and uncovers a shocking truth about his family history that threatens to expose his father as a fraud. It turns out, Azaan isn’t the only one pretending to be something he isn’t.
Before he can finish weighing the consequences of exposing his father or protecting him, an untimely death shakes Azaan’s priorities. He is forced to grapple with his religion, future, and family in a way that is sure to break hearts, but might heal a few along the way.
Let’s get to know Syed as he talks favorite novels, story inspirations, his TBR and more!
What are some of your favorite novels?
I adore the Victorians and never regret spending time with them, but focusing on more contemporary novels, the following three come to mind:
The Remains of the Day by Ishiguro, Kazuo
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
When did you know you wanted to become an author?
I think Grade 4? Right around that time. I remember having to write a story for an assignment in class and truly being immersed in it, really feeling…well, happy, I suppose. But it was – and still is – a specific kind of happiness that I only experience during the drafting process, when all the pieces are falling into place.
I remember thinking then that I wanted to be a writer. As to being published, that never seemed like a realistic possibility, but I suppose sometimes, thankfully, our grasp exceeds our reach.
Where do you draw your story inspirations from?
It varies, honestly, depending on the project. It can be a documentary, a song, another novel, a newspaper article…. It’s not so much the story idea that matters, I think, as much as the character concept that does. What happens is often less interesting, or less important anyway, than who it happens to and how it leaves them altered.
When I do think of an idea, I try to ask myself what kind of ‘person’ would work best as a protagonist given the plot and ideas I want to explore. I focus on that first, the rest follows (or so one hopes.)
What can readers expect from The Last Man in Paradise?
“The Last Man in Paradise” is a comedy, though it is at times a dark one. I’m a little hesitant to employ the word ‘irreverent’ because I feel like it’s overused, but as a novel it genuinely does take on the sacred, and it does so with a bit of a smirk.
I suppose readers can expect to be amused, to encounter absurd situations and, if they are particularly religious and entrenched in views they’ve either inherited or adopted, I suspect they can expect to be oWended.
That’s a good thing, by the way. The modern apprehension of being oWended and giving oWense – all this fear and trembling – is quite destructive to creativity and intelligent thought. One must simply take care not to oWend anyone accidentally. If you are going to oWend people, you owe it to them to make sure, as best you can, that you’re doing it on purpose.
I hope to have accomplished that, if nothing else.
What was your favorite chapter or part to write?
The romance subplot as a whole was very sweet, so I did enjoy that. But aside from that, really, any scene with Baba was a pleasure. He’s a larger-than-life character, so his flaws are bigger than anyone else’s flaws, but so is his humanity.
There is one particular scene where his grandson visits him in the hospital and Baba manages to admit that he’s afraid of dying, though he thought he wouldn’t be, which I had a lot of fun putting together.
What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?
I’m in the research phase of a new project, so a lot of my reading has been non-fiction and history recently. Books of note I’ve read in this process, setting aside any scriptures, include “God Is Not Great” by the inimitable Christopher Hitchens and “My Ordeal with the Quran” by Abbas Abdul Noor.
In terms of fiction, I read this beautiful novella recently, “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan. My TBR is – as always – a very long list, but includes Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney, “Wellness” by Nathan Hill and “The Horse” by Willy Vlautin.
