Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Fatwa Declared Against Novel Golden Dawn!

Islam
Islam (Photo credit: rogiro)

At first I thought the threatening email was a joke; spam. Then a Google alert notified me that a news story had broken containing my name. The e-mail said: “Infidel, you shall die. The fatwa shall be.” I cursorily knew that a fatwa was an Islamic death threat. The Associated Press news story began, “The leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued the fatwa that the novelist Thomas M. Kostigen has violated sharia law….” I sat back for a moment to digest the news. I couldn’t believe it. I searched the Internet for confirmation; the stories were rolling out from myriad sources and media outlets. Apparently, the threat was true. The fatwa was real. My phone rang. It was my literary agent, Miriam. “I just heard the news. Have you seen it? The fatwa?”

Kostigen, Thomas M. (2012-10-23). FATWA (Kindle Locations 15-22). Macmillan. Kindle Edition. 

What would you do if an Islamic death threat, or “fatwa,” was issued against you? Where would you run to? How would you hide?
In this electrifying short-story account, New York Times best-selling author Thomas M. Kostigen describes escaping from Iranian assassins who descend upon his Beverly Hills home seeking retribution for charges in his latest novel, Golden Dawn, in which he writes about a maniacal ayatollah.
Just as thrilling and fast-paced as his book, this heart-stopping narrative will have readers so absorbed they’ll want to know where Kostigen is right now.


If you ask me, I'd say read FATWA after you read Golden Dawn--that's what I did and it was downright scary!

On the other hand, besides the short story, which is in essence an afterword of what happened after Golden Dawn was published, you also get an excerpt from Golden Dawn, so if you haven't yet decided whether you want to read it, this portion would help a little. I'm not a total fan of excerpts, mainly because I read so many books, that if I read a portion, then I'm not quite sure whether I've already read the book...saves me time, only reason for me to decide no...

So here I am, having just finished Golden Dawn, and I start reading FATWA. Now in my defense, I also read the blurb above... Essentially, a Fatwa was called because of the content of Golden Dawn regarding the president of Iran. At the beginning of the story, the exact reason was not described so that there was a concern that anybody involved in creating the book would be covered by the Fatwa.

Well, all I can say is my heart stopped!

Because the Fatwa was called against what the novel Golden Dawn stated about the character who was the president of Iran. And there were already men after the author...

And here I am spotlighting reading the novel and talking about it! 

After my physical response returned to normal, I thought, what a great idea! This author knows exactly how to pull us all in!

So, I immediately slightly revised my interview questions, coming soon at Book Readers Heaven...and that's all I'm saying. But do take my advice if you want the sudden thrill of a heart attack read it afterwards, but, of course, if you are reading this, you will already realize that something is...strange...

Guess it goes to show just how much I "fall into" each book I read...LOL I loved this!


GABixlerReviews

THOMAS M. KOSTIGEN is a journalist and New York Timesbestselling author. He writes a global column for Dow Jones MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. A former Bloomberg News editor, Kostigen has reported from natural wonders and war zones around the world. The author of numerous nonfiction books, Golden Dawn is his first novel.

(Picture at book signing for one of his nonfiction books)




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