It seems to be a day for literature and literacy! No sooner had I finished posting about newspaper circulations and the poetry blog - when a comment came in from the author of a new book. So, once again I delved into cyberspace and came up with a book that certainly looks like a fascinating read.

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Irving Karchmar, the 59 year old author of Master of the Jinn, holds a Masters degree in Philosophy from DePaul University in Chicago. He has been a poet, writer, editor and publisher for many years, and a darvish of the Nimatullahi Sufi order since 1992. He now lives in Sag Harbor, New York, where he is currently at work on his second novel, a sequel entitled Tale of the Jinn.

Here is a tale set on the Path of the Heart, a mystical adventure wherein a modern-day Sufi master sends seven companions on a quest for the original Ring of Power, and the greatest treasure of the ancient world - King Solomon's ring. It is the very same seal ring of a hundred legends, given to King Solomon by God to command the Jinn, those terrifying demons of living fire.

By sea and across deserts, they are led by a strange faqir guide of many names. Through the mightiest of storms and into a lost city, the travelers come at last to the gateway of the Subtle Realm, the land of the Jinn.

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But the quest has a strange effect on everyone chosen to go: visions enter their dreams, remembrances and tears fill their hearts, and mysteries abound; unearthly storms and unending night, the Gates of Heaven open at last, and invincible demons of smokeless fire.

It is a tale woven of ancient legends found in the Old Testament, the Talmud, and the Koran, and although it is set in the present, the search for the truth of the ring leads them into a circle of ageless destiny, where the companions discover not only the fate of the Jinn, but also the Path of Love and the infinite Mercy of God.

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