TAMANRASSET
By Edward Parr

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:  Historical Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

TAMANRASSET is historical fiction set on the edge of the Sahara as the ancient world begins to fade and great empires collide. Four strangers—a mature Foreign Legionnaire, a Sharif’s wrathful son, an ambitious American archaeologist, and an abandoned Swedish widow—become adrift and isolated, but when their paths intersect, the fragile connections between them tell a story of survival and fate on the edge of the abyss. Blending the sweep of classic adventure with the horror of a great historical calamities, Edward Parr’s TAMANRASSET is a saga about the crossroads where nomads meet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

The Sun had not yet risen above the ruins of the Mechouar Palace, but at the mosque nearby many Muslim people of the city of Tlemcen were already at their morning prayer. It was a great privilege to be admitted to one of the oldest mosques in Algeria, over eight hundred years old, and an even greater privilege to be allowed to pray before the mihrab there among the great white columns that lined the enormous hall. As the prayers ended, there was a gentle rustling of movement as the faithful rose and exited to the open and airy marble-tiled courtyard of the mosque, still quiet in the twilight of dawn. Isabel retrieved her leather boots and exited a side door beneath the shadow of the towering brick minaret. Covered by her tightly drawn dark brown burnouse, khaki pants, white shirt, and a black hijab, Isabel walked along the great stone wall to the main gate of the palace. The few buildings in the complex that were still usable had been made into offices for the French army, but the pool and gardens of the central courtyard were peaceful and shadowy. She passed an alcove that featured Islamic calligraphy carved into the stucco, and Isabel stopped to read it: “Allah is God, there is no god but He: the King.”

A quiet voice behind her asked: “Madame Pedersen?”

She turned to find a short, elegantly dressed French officer approaching her. His flat-topped white hair was soldierly, but his crisp, tailored uniform, polished boots, and wide waxed mustache displayed a carefully composed appearance.

“Peace be with you,” she said, casting her eyes downward and crossing her arm over her chest as she nodded.

“Peace be with you, Madame. I apologize if I disturbed you; will you come inside?”

“As you wish.”

She followed the French colonel to a charming wood-paneled room overlooking an orchard of citrus trees bearing large green fruit. The colonel sat on a bare wood chair beside a wide wooden table, crossed his legs, and twirled the end of his wide mustache. Isabel stood silently before him in a respectful posture.

“I have the greatest respect for your beliefs, my dear, but it would be helpful to me if you would sit and speak to me informally. Would you be so kind?”

“Of course,” she said and she sat on the chair beside his. Her demeanor now expressed more of her experience and self-assurance, her hijab more a symbol of her confidence than of her humility. The colonel raised an eyebrow in appreciation of her serene face and brilliant blue eyes.

© 2025 by Edward Parr and Edwardian Press (New Orleans, Louisiana)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guest Post By Author, Edward Parr

So you’re starting off as a new author, congratulations!

Writing, especially writing a novel, can seem like a daunting challenge, but it becomes easier when you break it down with these basic rules:

1. Start with an overarching idea about what your story is about and make a commitment to get to the end. It’s not about perfection, it’s about flow. Keep the story moving forward as you write. Don’t sweat the details or try to achieve instant perfection. You can’t revise a blank page, but you can refine a messy draft. Writing is a process.
2. See and understand the world your characters live in. Whether you’re writing historical fiction, fantasy, or contemporary realism, think carefully about setting, atmosphere, and the “rules” of the world. Readers stay engaged when characters act and struggle within a world that feels consistent and tangible.
3. Some writers like to plot out everything that will happen in the story, while others like to make it up as they go along. Which are you? I like to have some ideas about what’s going to happen before I start but be open to discoveries along the way. Maybe there are some events which are absolutely key moments in the book – the moment of revelation or the untimely death or the first kiss – and you will want to think about how those moments get set up and how you get there. It’s really popular right now to structure your narrative to be like a Hollywood movie – I beg you: Don’t Do It! Write your own story with whatever beginning, middle and end you want, and to Hell with the stupid cat!
4. But, let your characters drive the story.Plot grows naturally from desire and conflict. Ask of each major character: What do they want? What stands in their way? What will they do to overcome it? Your novel will find its shape when characters’ decisions propel events rather than when events are imposed artificially.
5. Write regularly in manageable sessions.Writing a novel is a hike in the woods, not a sprint. Set a routine you can realistically maintain. An average book page is about 250-300 words. Writing only one page a day, you can write an entire 75,000-word novel in well under a year. Consistency matters more than bursts of inspiration, prevents burnout and keeps the story alive in your head. You can think about what’s happening next in your free time or as you’re falling asleep at night.
6. Finally, embrace revision. Whatever you put on the page is clay. AFTER you write it, only than can you really shape it. That’s what real writing is all about. Be prepared to cut, restructure, and rewrite—even drastically. Great novels are sculpted through revision, not born whole.

Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad is my newest novel. I wanted to tell a story that would reflects the amazing place and time of the classic pulp fiction stories but with the benefit of what we know now about what would happen in that region, treating all the characters and their beliefs with respect, and based on the actual events that occurred at that time. In the story, the lives of four protagonists become entwined: A mature Foreign Legionnaire who has made a home for himself in the harsh life of France’s desert fortresses; the young Arab son of the Sharif that leads the tribes in the western Sahara fighting to protect their families; an ambitious American archeologist in charge of the excavations at Carthage; and a young Swedish widow in Fez who adopts Islam in order to earn a place for herself in the community there. Each of them suffers a crisis which isolates them – death, betrayal, murder and the struggle with one’s weaknesses – and it is only through the chance intersection of their lives that they become bound to each other and come to influence a world that stands on the brink of vanishing. It’s is a novel about loss and alienation and the fragile, often transitory bonds that tie people together. The story, I hope, reflects something of a world of ancient mysteries that was erased forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Edward (“Ted”) Parr studied playwriting at New York University in the 1980’s, worked with artists Robert Wilson, Anne Bogart, and the Bread and Puppet Theater, and staged his own plays Off-Off-Broadway, including Trask, Mythographia, Jason and Medea, Rising and an original translation of Oedipus Rex before pursuing a lengthy career in the law and public service. He published his Kingdoms Fall trilogy of World War One espionage adventure novels which were collectively awarded Best First Novel and Best Historical Fiction Novel by Literary Classics in 2016. He has always had a strong interest in expanding narrative forms, and in his novel writing, he explores older genres of fiction (like the pulp fiction French Foreign Legion adventures or early espionage fiction) as inspiration to examine historical periods of transformation. His main writing inspirations are Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Bernard Cornwell, Georges Surdez, and Patrick O’Brien.

Socials:

Website: https://edwardparrbooks.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-parr-5808b15/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7369165.Edward_Parr

Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Edward-Parr/author/B00GACO3NC?ccs_id=a023fe74-dd9a-429f-b56a-5cfe148dafc5

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/DryCar9119AB/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwardparrbooks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576965808471

Amazon: https://a.co/d/44XsoJU

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tamanrasset-edward-parr/1148255148

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.