Edward Parr's Blog

Nice interview on my book tour today with Lisa Haselton on her excellent blog. Thanks so much for having me!

https://lisahaselton.com/2025/10/07/i...

A few years ago I began looking at novels written in the early 1900’s thinking to compliment the First World War trilogy I had previously written, and I immediately discovered the many terrific action-adventure stories written about the French Foreign Legion set in the tumultuous areas of northern Africa of that time period. While I was drawn to the format, I did not want to write anything pro-colonialist or anti-Muslim – biases which are deeply embedded in many of the stories written in that time period. Instead I wanted to write a novel based on the hard facts we now know, that colonialism was doomed to failure, that generations of war would follow, that good guys were not all good, but the bad guys were also not so bad. Research on that time period turned out to be pretty difficult. Much of the primary source materials are written in French, for example. I also knew that I wanted to include Muslim characters but I didn’t think I could do so without a basic understanding of the practice of Islam. And then I had to figure out what drew me to the era and what events were relevant to the novel I wanted to write. It took me several years to prepare to begin writing, but I think all that preparation shows in the final result.

"Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad" is my attempt to tell a story that reflects the amazing place and time of those classic pulp fiction stories but with the benefit of what we know now about what would happen there, treating all the characters and their beliefs with respect, and based on the actual events that occurred in that region. In the story, the lives of four protagonists become entwined: A mature Foreign Legionnaire who has made a home for himself in the harsh life of France’s desert fortresses; the young Arab son of the Sharif that leads the tribes in the western Sahara fighting to protect their families; an ambitious American archeologist in charge of the excavations at Carthage; and a young Swedish widow in Fez who adopts Islam in order to earn a place for herself in the community there. Each of them suffers a crisis which isolates them – death, betrayal, murder and the struggle with one’s weaknesses – and it is only through the chance intersection of their lives that they become bound to each other and come to influence a world that stands on the brink of vanishing. It’s is a novel about loss and alienation and the fragile, often transitory bonds that tie people together. The story, I hope, reflects something of a world of ancient mysteries that was erased forever.

Great new 5-star review of Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad can be found at Readers' Favorites or buy now at Amazon

Yup - this is it - my new novel coming out October 1. Set in the uncharted Sahara at the dawn of the 20th Century "TAMANRASSET: Crossroads of the Nomad" is a story inspired by classic French Foreign Legion adventure fiction. It follows four lost strangers whose fates become entangled by a journey across a desert on the brink of transformation. Only the HARDCOVER edition will be available until later this year. You can preorder it from Amazon here https://a.co/d/9rh0YI4 or from your favorite bookstore with ISBN 979-8999644619 Tamanrasset: Crossroads of the Nomad

Big news - I have a new novel coming out this summer. More deets to come.

If you're the sort of person who prefers audiobooks, my Kingdoms Fall series is now available in an audiobook format from Amazon/Audible at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CCLC3V?...