Twelve facts, and one lie, about me

• I made the shahada (testament of faith) and became a Muslim in 2003.

• I have been to Saudi Arabia twice.

• I made the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, in 2005.

• I cowrote a book about the Quran for Alpha Books.

• I wrote a book about Shakespeare that I am proud of but would like to update for the Internet era. It was published by For Beginners Books.

• I wrote a book about the Beatles that doesn't need any updating. It was published by Harper Collins.

• I wrote a book about Christianity that succeeded only in pissing people off, and that I wish I hadn't written. It was published by Darussalam.

• I was in San Francisco during the so-called Summer of Love.

• I had a crush on Grace Slick, the lead singer of the Jefferson Airplane, in 1967 and hung out with her on multiple occasions.

• My play AN UNDIVIDED HEART was selected for a workshop production at the National Playwrights Conference.

• I am a graduate of Brandeis University.

• I wrote a short story in which a woman goes into labor in a landfill.

• My novel JIHADI: A LOVE STORY, on which I worked for eight years, is available in ebook form from Orenda Books; the paperback comes out in February (in the UK, Ireland) and May (in the US).