Yusuf Toropov's Blog: Literary Striver, page 14

JIHADI: A LOVE STORY: "Superb debut"

Here's a rundown of the initial reaction to JIHADI: A LOVE STORY, on which I worked from mid-2007 to November of 2015. The ebook is now available from Orenda Books.

**Publishers Weekly has weighed in, calling JIHADI: A LOVE STORY "smart and searing" -- this from the ABNA competition, where the book was a quarterfinalist.



**
Edward F. Wilson, author of A VERY BRITISH ENDING, had this to say:

"An utterly fantastic tale ... a book for our time"
**
Some very nice words indeed came in from The...

JIHADI: A LOVE STORY: "Superb debut"

Here's a rundown of the initial reaction to JIHADI: A LOVE STORY, on which I worked from mid-2007 to November of 2015. The ebook is now available from Orenda Books.

**Publishers Weekly has weighed in, calling JIHADI: A LOVE STORY "smart and searing" -- this from the ABNA competition, where the book was a quarterfinalist.



**
Some very nice words indeed came in from The Well Read One, Safie Maken Finlay, who called the novel "a superb debut." (I had the honor of beta reading Safie's amaz...

The Five Books I'm Reading, January Edition (Plus One)

Yes. I read multiple books simultaneously. So?

There is a Top Six now, which aberration from the norm I intend to make a New Year's tradition. All the links connect to Goodreads. Connect with me there!

THE HOLY QURAN (two translations, Irving and Yusuf Ali -- I move back and forth)

CONTEMPORARY FICTION (amazing collection of short stories from 1970 forward)

THE STAND (vast, enthralling Stephen King masterpiece)

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES (scathing, exquisitely written Thomas Hardy indictment of soc...

Praise for JIHADI: A LOVE STORY from Texas Book Lover

Wow! Very kind words from Michelle Newby, a reviewer I have admired for a long time.

"Timely and spookily prescient ... a magical mystery tour through a labyrinth of competing ambitions and motivations, wherein truth and justice are matters for interpretation."

Thank you, Michelle!

My publisher ORENDA BOOKS has just released the ebook of JIHADI: A LOVE STORY. Order it here.

Fascist Leads GOP Polls; Primaries Just Weeks Away

No, really.

It's as if America has secured a time machine, whooshed back to 1951, given Joe McCarthy speed & steroids, and said, "THIS guy. Yeah." 

Or maybe even a couple of decades earlier. So as to curry the favor of a promising. up-and-coming orator making the rounds in Berlin.

My rant concerning RUBBER SOUL, practiced over many years ...

... may be found here.

Coexistence is a conversation.

Wow. Instant LANDMARK FORUM refresher course!

This glossary from Wikiversity covers, I believe, all the bases. Essential reading if you've been through Landmark, and a good teaser if you haven't.

I should say here that I only finished my novel JIHADI: A LOVE STORY after Landmark Forum helped me clarify that one of the reasons I was avoiding completing the novel was that I didn't want to be responsible for it. One of many breakthroughs from that weekend.

Werner Erhard, the founder of this work, is a great contributor to the human race, and...

Free download of my short story A DEAL

My short story A DEAL is now up on the Orenda Books website. 

Take a look! Not sure how long it will be available there. It's a free download.

A different world from Jihadi: A Love Story, plucked from a bigger novel I'm working on.