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1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles #2
The Qaraq and The Maya Factor
What if your déjà vu lasted ten minutes? Involved ten neighbors? Linked to a 1001 lifetimes with this group? This is your qaraq. Sahara Fleming, with her magical time travel powers, is her qaraq’s Scheherazade. But her estranged husband wants her back; she enjoys their romance, but Sahara sees their reincarnations as visionary terrors.
Then the Maya Factor shatters her qaraq. Maya, or "worldly illusion," blocks some from receiving their reincarnation stories. Others uncover shocking links between ancient tombs, the sinister Red Isle, and a seventeeth century coven.
Is there a grand vision to the qaraq’s lives? Or is it another layer of Maya, obscuring the truth? Sahara can’t tell. If something exists beyond the Maya Factor, will it save the qaraq? Or tear it apart?
Structured as a modern Arabian Nights, Stephen Weinstock’s wildly imaginative 1001 conjures up magical, dark, humorous, and visionary reincarnation stories. The Qaraq and the Maya Factor follows Book One, The Qaraq, of 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles.
Then the Maya Factor shatters her qaraq. Maya, or "worldly illusion," blocks some from receiving their reincarnation stories. Others uncover shocking links between ancient tombs, the sinister Red Isle, and a seventeeth century coven.
Is there a grand vision to the qaraq’s lives? Or is it another layer of Maya, obscuring the truth? Sahara can’t tell. If something exists beyond the Maya Factor, will it save the qaraq? Or tear it apart?
Structured as a modern Arabian Nights, Stephen Weinstock’s wildly imaginative 1001 conjures up magical, dark, humorous, and visionary reincarnation stories. The Qaraq and the Maya Factor follows Book One, The Qaraq, of 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles.
686 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2015
320 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Weinstock
5 books31 followersFor years I had the idea of a novel puzzling out a past life history between a group of souls, the frame tale structure of The 1001 Nights holding it together. For free stories, blogposts, and offers, see my website. For the series, 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles, see The Qaraq, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor, and The Qaraq and the Subversive Manuscript.
In my past life before 1001, I created music for theater (Magic Theater) and dance studios (Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham). I worked as a musician/teacher at UC Berkeley, Juilliard, and the 'Fame' school, as well as the NYU Musical Theater Writing Program. By day I bring dancers to ecstasy with my improvisations, but at night I enter the world of metempsychosis, historical fiction, and fantasy.
In my past life before 1001, I created music for theater (Magic Theater) and dance studios (Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham). I worked as a musician/teacher at UC Berkeley, Juilliard, and the 'Fame' school, as well as the NYU Musical Theater Writing Program. By day I bring dancers to ecstasy with my improvisations, but at night I enter the world of metempsychosis, historical fiction, and fantasy.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 7, 2015
The Qaraq and the Maya Factor
This book is very special. It’s about a group of souls, a spiritual union called Qaraq, that share karmic ties and try to work them out together. There are various characters whose many life-times and journeys are bound into one epic story, which was inspired by the One Thousand and One Night, aka Arabian Nights. And this made the novel even more interesting for me.
The novel has a complex and explicit storyline, so I believe it is well suited for patient readers who like to think about what they are reading and philosophise. Those who take time to read carefully and with good attention will, in my opinion, benefit greatly.
I like books that deal with past lives and this one reminded me of one of my long time favourites, The Seven Lives by Marcel Vanek, though the Quaraq and the Maya Factor explores so many more spiritual themes. And that’s what I found most unique about it – that it deals with other curious metaphysical, psychic phenomena such as soul split, telepathy, sudden OBEs and such.
Also, the characters don’t only experience their own past lives, but even each other’s past live moments at times. What I appreciated the most, however, was that sometimes the characters found themselves in other life forms such as plants or animals, or even mythological beings such as mermaids or mermen. I have never seen that in fiction before and enjoyed this approach. My favourite part was when one of the main heroine’s soul travels to the prehistoric period, where she was a wild dog who fell in love with another dog. This was simply adorable and one of the many original elements that this novel has. I also liked the unusual character names… Well I could go on and on praising this one-of-a-kind book, so perhaps I should just end here and add that I remain fascinated by it.
This book is very special. It’s about a group of souls, a spiritual union called Qaraq, that share karmic ties and try to work them out together. There are various characters whose many life-times and journeys are bound into one epic story, which was inspired by the One Thousand and One Night, aka Arabian Nights. And this made the novel even more interesting for me.
The novel has a complex and explicit storyline, so I believe it is well suited for patient readers who like to think about what they are reading and philosophise. Those who take time to read carefully and with good attention will, in my opinion, benefit greatly.
I like books that deal with past lives and this one reminded me of one of my long time favourites, The Seven Lives by Marcel Vanek, though the Quaraq and the Maya Factor explores so many more spiritual themes. And that’s what I found most unique about it – that it deals with other curious metaphysical, psychic phenomena such as soul split, telepathy, sudden OBEs and such.
Also, the characters don’t only experience their own past lives, but even each other’s past live moments at times. What I appreciated the most, however, was that sometimes the characters found themselves in other life forms such as plants or animals, or even mythological beings such as mermaids or mermen. I have never seen that in fiction before and enjoyed this approach. My favourite part was when one of the main heroine’s soul travels to the prehistoric period, where she was a wild dog who fell in love with another dog. This was simply adorable and one of the many original elements that this novel has. I also liked the unusual character names… Well I could go on and on praising this one-of-a-kind book, so perhaps I should just end here and add that I remain fascinated by it.
August 21, 2017
Inspired by The Thousand and One Nights, Weinstock’s second book of an eleven-volume series is a collection of vignettes that chronicle the many lives of Sahara Fleming and a group of her friends. Like Scheherazade, Sahara is a storyteller. But without the risk of losing her beautiful head in the morning, she recounts her past lives and past loves. She also knows how to hypnotize others to enable them to do the same. This book is the retelling of past lives that have criss-crossed over centuries, stories shared by Sahara’s “qaraq” or companions of her 1001 life cycles. 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.
Stephen Weinstock’s The Qaraq and the Maya Factor, reminded me a bit of Ulysses by James Joyce. When Ulysses was first released, people were appalled. They declared it obscene, blasphemous, and above all, unreadable. Even today, some readers have the same reactions. However, many have lauded the work as a seminal masterpiece, in which the story is not so much a plotted tale as it is a stream of private perceptions and experiences erupting uncensored, from a modern Dubliner’s mind. It seems to be a model for Weinstock’s novel.
Arguably, Arabian Nights and Ulysses can be read with relative ease if you are willing to suspend expectations for a traditional narrative form, uniform characterization, and a protagonist with a drive to succeed at something concrete.
The Qarag and the Maya Factor is not so easily followed. It takes a bit of effort to stay with the slippery points of view of characters who seem to swim into and out of their skins, and whose sole purpose is to find love.
Like Ulysses, the book is also very long. Interestingly, Joyce saw the universe in Dublin on one particular day, a day distinguished by its human normality. Weinstock stands back and offers a cosmic view. 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 as easily as the characters slip into and out of each others’ beds. Erotically charged, funny and imaginative, it is a New Age-ey version of magical realism, inclusive of author’s companion notes and charts.
Stephen Weinstock’s The Qaraq and the Maya Factor, reminded me a bit of Ulysses by James Joyce. When Ulysses was first released, people were appalled. They declared it obscene, blasphemous, and above all, unreadable. Even today, some readers have the same reactions. However, many have lauded the work as a seminal masterpiece, in which the story is not so much a plotted tale as it is a stream of private perceptions and experiences erupting uncensored, from a modern Dubliner’s mind. It seems to be a model for Weinstock’s novel.
Arguably, Arabian Nights and Ulysses can be read with relative ease if you are willing to suspend expectations for a traditional narrative form, uniform characterization, and a protagonist with a drive to succeed at something concrete.
The Qarag and the Maya Factor is not so easily followed. It takes a bit of effort to stay with the slippery points of view of characters who seem to swim into and out of their skins, and whose sole purpose is to find love.
Like Ulysses, the book is also very long. Interestingly, Joyce saw the universe in Dublin on one particular day, a day distinguished by its human normality. Weinstock stands back and offers a cosmic view. 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 as easily as the characters slip into and out of each others’ beds. Erotically charged, funny and imaginative, it is a New Age-ey version of magical realism, inclusive of author’s companion notes and charts.
December 23, 2017
Stephen Weinstock’s The Qaraq and the Maya Factor inhabits a vast, and expanding universe. 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, memories of which are sonorous, aromatic, many-colored, and way too numerous to connect in one’s conscious mind all at once. To read this novel is to journey through millennia, into outer space, transported and transfixed: it is an experience of huge proportion.
In this novel, a group of friends, members of a qaraq, or “souls traveling through time together,” share recalls of past lives. An organizing narrative derives from the actual Arabian Nights, riffing on stories about Scheherazade, Sinbad the Sailor, and certain historical figures from 4th Century AD Persia who created and/or became parts & characters of Arabian Nights. So, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor is both a chronicle of the present day characters’ interrelated recalls and a fascinating exploration of the genesis and history of the Arabian Nights.
Even if past lives are not your thing, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor is like a magnet – once you cycle through the first stories, you’re drawn into the next series of stories, wondering “what could be next?” And, “how is Stephen Weinstock going to top this one?!” The sheer scope of the author’s imagination is exciting; the infinite, often magical detail that adorns each story compels close reading. For example, there is a witch’s mirror that enables one of the characters to project himself anywhere in Time and Space. Also, poet John Donne is featured in the novel; in fact, his study contains “all of Time and Space,” and, in a beautifully written description of the study, everyday objects are alive with the souls of humans.
Also, if you’re not aware already, it’s probably useful to know that this novel lines up behind Book One of a series entitled “1001 – The Reincarnation Chronicles.” I read Book One, The Qaraq, and, although it’s not critical to read The Qaraq first, if you do, you’ll become familiar with the main characters whose stories continue in The Qaraq and the Maya Factor. Also, Book One includes some exquisite storytelling from realms not visited in Book Two. My advice: read them both!
In this novel, a group of friends, members of a qaraq, or “souls traveling through time together,” share recalls of past lives. An organizing narrative derives from the actual Arabian Nights, riffing on stories about Scheherazade, Sinbad the Sailor, and certain historical figures from 4th Century AD Persia who created and/or became parts & characters of Arabian Nights. So, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor is both a chronicle of the present day characters’ interrelated recalls and a fascinating exploration of the genesis and history of the Arabian Nights.
Even if past lives are not your thing, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor is like a magnet – once you cycle through the first stories, you’re drawn into the next series of stories, wondering “what could be next?” And, “how is Stephen Weinstock going to top this one?!” The sheer scope of the author’s imagination is exciting; the infinite, often magical detail that adorns each story compels close reading. For example, there is a witch’s mirror that enables one of the characters to project himself anywhere in Time and Space. Also, poet John Donne is featured in the novel; in fact, his study contains “all of Time and Space,” and, in a beautifully written description of the study, everyday objects are alive with the souls of humans.
Also, if you’re not aware already, it’s probably useful to know that this novel lines up behind Book One of a series entitled “1001 – The Reincarnation Chronicles.” I read Book One, The Qaraq, and, although it’s not critical to read The Qaraq first, if you do, you’ll become familiar with the main characters whose stories continue in The Qaraq and the Maya Factor. Also, Book One includes some exquisite storytelling from realms not visited in Book Two. My advice: read them both!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews