Writer friend Sam Kandej has a “top five” story on the venerable site, Fiction on the Web. Here is his BIO:

Hello! My name is Maysam Najafi Kandej, but I prefer to be called Sam Kandej in English. I was born on October 6th, 1988, in Tehran, while my mother was only seventeen.

As Iran is a vast country home to people of different races, languages, and religions, I’d like you to know that I’m a dark-skinned Persian Muslim, grown up in a relatively poor but respectable family.

English classes were the only summer classes my father could afford when I was a teenage boy. I liked the colorful books and the comic stories.

I was an average but hardworking student in high school. Through hard work, I was granted permission to study English Language and Literature at Kharazmi University for free, from 2009 until 2013. In some classes, I was among the top students, and in most of them, I wasn’t.

To be honest with you, I’ve been unsuccessful in almost all aspects of my life. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had my own good, memorable days. I’ve lived, cried, smiled, wept, and dreamt for better days.

I’ve been a teacher for the last sixteen years, but unfortunately, I’ve never been able to make good money from this job because of my country’s endless economic and political crises. You could also say that I haven’t been hardworking enough. I cannot disagree with that!

In my free time, I write short, whimsical stories and translate English stories by my favorite authors into Farsi. You can read my latest flash fiction, “An Unforgettable Yalda,” on Fiction on the Web.

My favorite Persian poets are Khayyam, who encourages us to enjoy the moment and not take this world too seriously, and Ferdowsi, who asks humans to be wise, moderate, and thoughtful.

I’m so fortunate to have been born a Persian, to enjoy the rich literature, and then to savor learning English word by word. If Persian is like red wine to me, then English is definitely my white wine. [Sadly, I don’t drink alcohol in real life!]

I’m currently translating fourteen short stories written by seven authors (three by Mitch Toews) for an upcoming book titled ‘Bike Killer’. The book will be available in Iran this summer.

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Things are scary and unnerving right now, here in the west. Where Sam is, that’s just another day.