First published 2019
Kamal Arslan Agha serves as an officer in the sultan's secret police in a world where Ottoman forces conquered Europe three centuries ago. Paris flies Ottoman flags, Notre Dame operates as the Fatih Mosque, and public spaces separate men and women. Kamal surveys potential threats across the empire as rumors spread about coming war with the Christian Republic of America and attacks by violent extremists. When authorities discover a naked stranger covered in bizarre tattoos on the Seine's banks, Kamal receives orders to investigate. His inquiry uncovers a secret from the empire's past that traces back to 1683, when Sultan Mehmed IV prepared to besiege Vienna and encountered his own mysterious tattooed visitor. The current sultan will kill to protect this buried truth. Kamal partners with Nisreen, a human rights lawyer, as the Z Protectorate pursues them. They race across both the empire and through time itself, carrying knowledge that could transform their world or annihilate it completely.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, thriller, alternate-history
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, race-against-time, secret-history
Setting: America, Europe, Paris, Vienna
Period: 1683, 21st Century
34 pages · Kindle Edition · Forge Books
Content warnings: violence