The Qaraq

(Paperback)

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Description

Embark on a complex journey through time and space with Stephen Weinstock's 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles. In this Arabian Nights-inspired epic, a group of souls known as a qaraq discovers they have been reincarnating together lifetime after lifetime. The qaraq's Scheherazade is Sahara Fleming, gifted with great power to recall fantastical past life stories.

Sahara is struggling with disturbing visions of past lives, including a 4th-century Persian orgy, a vengeful Goddess from the mythic Red Isle, and an existential crisis on Earth's fiery first supercontinent, Vaalbara. She dismisses these bizarre fantasies as stress: she's four months pregnant and married to an emotionally aggressive stockbroker. But when her neighbors reveal themselves as her qaraq, she learns that the visions hold mysterious clues about their remarkable karmic history.

As the qaraq recounts past life tales in secretive meetings, Sahara realizes her stormy relationship with husband Amar goes back centuries. Desperate to save her marriage, she shares the stories with him, but his jealousy threatens to tear them apart. Sahara must abandon the group or risk losing her husband and child.

With stories within stories fashioned like a serpentine Arabian Nights saga, The Reincarnation Chronicles is a wild and imaginative ride. "There is nothing in contemporary fiction, historical myth, or literature to compare with The Qaraq," says one reviewer. If you love complex, mind-bending narratives, you'll love this literary adventure!


PRAISE FOR 1001, THE REINCARNATION CHRONICLES

"Stephen Weinstock's imagination is fevered, surreal, fantastical. It will take you places you never dreamed you would go."

Barry Jay Kaplan, author, Black Orchid

"Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, this is a book that will expand your universe."

Donald Kroitsch, publisher

"How do you hold it all in one thought, one impression You don't. You read every one of the 616 pages then sit back and bask in a satisfied feeling of having lived through an unpredictable, bewitching journey ... through millennia, into outer space, transported and transfixed: it is an experience of huge proportion."

Sarah Berges, editor and choreographer, Sarah Berges Dance

"The kind of book that keeps you up later than you intended at night."

Brendan Pulver, Artist

Reviews

"Stephen Weinstock's imagination is fevered, surreal, fantastical. It will take you places you never dreamed you would go."

Barry Jay Kaplan, author, Black Orchid

"Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, this is a book that will expand your universe."

Donald Kroitsch, publisher

"How do you hold it all in one thought, one impression You don't. You read every one of the 616 pages then sit back and bask in a satisfied feeling of having lived through an unpredictable, bewitching journey ... through millennia, into outer space, transported and transfixed: it is an experience of huge proportion."

Sarah Berges, editor and choreographer, Sarah Berges Dance

"In this volume, the characters have lived in many forms, including a lovesick merman, a drifting seed, frolicking dogs and, among other things, a horny glacier."

Robin Gregory, author, The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman

"A love spat between two atomic particles, that tickled me - It could get dangerous!"

Eric Van Lustbader, author, Jason Bourne, Ninja Cycle, Evan Ryder series

"The kind of book that keeps you up later than you intended at night!"

Brendan Pulver, Artist

"Where in the name of Heaven did all this come from It is Symphonic."

William Young, Composer

"His book is written in an amusing tone, sometimes leaping into stream-of-consciousness, purely lyrical one minute and street-wise the next. Physics, metaphysics, mythology and fabulism slip into and out of each other."

Robin Gregory, author, The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman

"The more you read this incredible book, the more it blurs the lines between the stories, mythology, science and your own life. It is as if you start to feel yourself part of this epic journey. 1001 steals you away, makes you think, remember, transport."

Deepak Menon, author, Skymerge

Author Bio

Stephen Weinstock's epic fantasy series, 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles, won Finalist in the Best Books Award for Multi-Cultural Fiction. As a multi-talented artist, Weinstock created award-winning experimental music theater works, including an adaptation of Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics, and pioneered curriculum for NYU's Musical Theater Writing program. A maestro of music for dance, he worked with prestigious institutions like UC Berkeley, Juilliard, and the "Fame" school. He resides in New York's Hudson Valley, determined to finish the genre-bending series before his next reincarnation as a revered temple elephant.