Gate of the Burnt One

Based on an intriguing alternative history hypothesis this novel imagines a world where the Moors never left Southern Spain after their 800-year reign but instead expanded their empire across Europe. This fascinating premise is explored through the chaotic lens of a bumbling film crew in the Sahara desert. The director lost in a haze of Moroccan kif has embraced the local culture a little too enthusiastically. With the scriptwriters gone and the leading actor in a perpetual sulk inside his Airstream the production is at a standstill. <br>Enter Tinctorio Indigolin a bitcoin billionaire on the run from a Shakespeare-quoting Irish assassin. In a bid to leverage a tax loss Indigolin acquires the film rights injecting a new lease of life into the project. Mysteriously a captivating screenplay begins to appear on set page by page night after night. Penned by an enigmatic writer the script proposes a world where the Moors didn't just resist expulsion in 1492 but went on to dominate Spain France and Italy creating an Islamic State of Europe. <br>As the screenplay unfolds it transforms the lives of everyone involved in the film. <br>The narrative weaves through a labyrinth of twists assassinations and narrow escapes employing the most unexpected methods only to culminate in the most uplifting conclusion you'll encounter this year.