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Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState
These two stories explore love and beauty in the context of fear and threats. Jamali Kamali is a book-length poem about two men who lived in 16th century India. Little about them is known but they are buried together in a small tomb in Delhi. For hundreds of years, the story that these men were lovers has been passed down through the generations. Jamali Kamali is a fictional account of their love, longing, separation, and death. ZundelState, a novella in verse, takes place a thousand years in the future in a repressive land where history is banned, and dreaming has vanished. Joe, a lover of history, is rebellious and secretive. Marianna is a model worker for the State where she works in the HistoryShit Apparatchik Division. They fall in love against all odds. These two tales of outsiders, one from the distant past and the other from the far-off future, echo and reflect upon each other in surprising ways.
194 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 9, 2025
Karen Chase’s Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState is a mesmerizing literary experience that beautifully intertwines past and future, poetry and prose, historical imagination and speculative vision. Chase presents readers with two distinct narratives, each uniquely powerful in its exploration of love, identity, and time.
The first narrative, Jamali Kamali, is a vivid and lyrical epic poem inspired by a visit to the tomb of the Sufi court poet Jamali and his enigmatic lover Kamali, located near Delhi. Through captivating and emotionally charged verses, Chase resurrects the love story between these two figures from 16th-century Mughal India, enveloping readers in a sensual exploration of forbidden passion and tender intimacy. Her poetry beautifully balances delicate imagery—of moonlit rendezvous, exotic fragrances, and the haunting cries of distant wildlife—with profound emotional depth. The powerful dynamic between Jamali and Kamali transcends historical limitations, speaking eloquently of longing and societal constraint.
In contrast, ZundelState, set in the speculative year 3090, employs poetic prose to craft a novella that imagines a world where individual identity clashes with oppressive societal constructs. Chase deftly explores the profound tension between public life dictated by authority and the fiercely guarded privacy of personal spaces. Marianna, a young artist, and Joe, a seeker of historical truths, represent a timeless struggle against conformity and control. Their stories intertwine mysteriously, driven by their shared ancestry and an enigmatic, almost mystical connection. The narrative is imbued with philosophical reflections on the fluidity of time, the significance of art, and the potent resilience of human consciousness.
Together, these two narratives complement each other brilliantly across centuries, creating an immersive experience that defies traditional categorization. Chase excels at blurring the line between reality and imagination, fact and fiction, ultimately compelling readers to question the nature of historical truth itself.
A highly recommended read for those who savor poetic beauty, historical intrigue, and thought-provoking speculative fiction, Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState is a literary gem that elegantly captures the infinite complexities of love and identity across time.
The first narrative, Jamali Kamali, is a vivid and lyrical epic poem inspired by a visit to the tomb of the Sufi court poet Jamali and his enigmatic lover Kamali, located near Delhi. Through captivating and emotionally charged verses, Chase resurrects the love story between these two figures from 16th-century Mughal India, enveloping readers in a sensual exploration of forbidden passion and tender intimacy. Her poetry beautifully balances delicate imagery—of moonlit rendezvous, exotic fragrances, and the haunting cries of distant wildlife—with profound emotional depth. The powerful dynamic between Jamali and Kamali transcends historical limitations, speaking eloquently of longing and societal constraint.
In contrast, ZundelState, set in the speculative year 3090, employs poetic prose to craft a novella that imagines a world where individual identity clashes with oppressive societal constructs. Chase deftly explores the profound tension between public life dictated by authority and the fiercely guarded privacy of personal spaces. Marianna, a young artist, and Joe, a seeker of historical truths, represent a timeless struggle against conformity and control. Their stories intertwine mysteriously, driven by their shared ancestry and an enigmatic, almost mystical connection. The narrative is imbued with philosophical reflections on the fluidity of time, the significance of art, and the potent resilience of human consciousness.
Together, these two narratives complement each other brilliantly across centuries, creating an immersive experience that defies traditional categorization. Chase excels at blurring the line between reality and imagination, fact and fiction, ultimately compelling readers to question the nature of historical truth itself.
A highly recommended read for those who savor poetic beauty, historical intrigue, and thought-provoking speculative fiction, Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState is a literary gem that elegantly captures the infinite complexities of love and identity across time.
May 7, 2025
Karen Chase’s Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState is a haunting, lyrical meditation on love, beauty, and resistance, set against backdrops of fear and oppression. The writing style throughout both tales is lush and evocative, blending poetry and narrative seamlessly. Chase crafts verses that pulse with longing, desire, and rebellion, giving voice to characters whose very existence defies the forces that seek to silence them.
Jamali Kamali tells the imagined story of Jamali and Kamali, two men buried together in 16th-century Delhi, whose love survives through oral tradition but remains undocumented by history. Chase’s poetic rendering is intimate and sensual, filled with imagery that celebrates both the physical and the transcendent. The verses shimmer with a delicate tension between devotion and despair, as Jamali’s voice reaches across time and distance toward Kamali:
“On the map of your body, there is nowhere I would not travel.”
Here, the body becomes a sacred geography, a site of exploration and worship, even as the lovers are torn apart by external forces and inner conflict.
ZundelState, in contrast, projects us a thousand years into a dystopian future, where history is banned and dreaming itself has become a lost art. In this sterile, controlled world, Joe—a secret lover of forbidden histories—and Marianna, a loyal worker in the State’s HistoryShit Apparatchik Division, find themselves improbably drawn to one another. Their relationship becomes an act of quiet defiance, an insistence on remembering, desiring, and imagining despite the State’s suffocating rules.
Read the full review here: https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
Jamali Kamali tells the imagined story of Jamali and Kamali, two men buried together in 16th-century Delhi, whose love survives through oral tradition but remains undocumented by history. Chase’s poetic rendering is intimate and sensual, filled with imagery that celebrates both the physical and the transcendent. The verses shimmer with a delicate tension between devotion and despair, as Jamali’s voice reaches across time and distance toward Kamali:
“On the map of your body, there is nowhere I would not travel.”
Here, the body becomes a sacred geography, a site of exploration and worship, even as the lovers are torn apart by external forces and inner conflict.
ZundelState, in contrast, projects us a thousand years into a dystopian future, where history is banned and dreaming itself has become a lost art. In this sterile, controlled world, Joe—a secret lover of forbidden histories—and Marianna, a loyal worker in the State’s HistoryShit Apparatchik Division, find themselves improbably drawn to one another. Their relationship becomes an act of quiet defiance, an insistence on remembering, desiring, and imagining despite the State’s suffocating rules.
Read the full review here: https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
June 1, 2025
Thank you Poetic Book Tours for the gifted review copy.
Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState are indeed two different tales that, at first glance, have nothing to do with each other but in retrospect are stories of passion and playing with what is truth and what is fiction.
I really enjoyed Jamali Kamali. I thought it was beautiful, evocative and sexy. In reality we don’t know the true nature of the relationship between Jamali and Kamali but as Chase says in her author’s note, “Who is to say if this is fact, fiction, or the truth?”. I learned a lot from this poem, I was constantly googling places, people, and events and went down some rabbit holes as I read along. I don’t read a lot of poetry but I enjoyed Chase’s style. I felt it flowed nicely and told a love story that at times was a bit manic and obsessive but at other times was romantic and sweet. To me the weakest section was Part Four, told in Kamali’s voice, but perhaps that was intentional. After all, Jamali was a famed poet and Kamali an unknown person.
ZundelState was certainly weirder, but once I just let it wash over me I was able to enjoy the ride. In the year 3090 dreaming no longer exists, but Albert Einstein somehow was able to pass on the gene for dreaming to his descendants. After another rabbit hole search, I found that Zundel was a neo-Nazi and published Holocaust denying literature, and in the novella “ZundelState prohibits the study of history.”. Art is also banished. Another example of a fictional dystopian future that doesn’t sound altogether improbable.
There was a lot about this story that I think went over my head. I think what I understood of the premise would make a really interesting full length novel. The story was rather bleak but, ultimately, ZundelState was also a love story. When Marianna thinks of Joe and Pavel she comes to the conclusion “Joe was the ground in all its fertile, wide-ranging glory. Pavel was the sky.”. What happens in the end? Couldn’t tell you, but I think reading this novella will lead me to reading more prose in verse.
Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState are indeed two different tales that, at first glance, have nothing to do with each other but in retrospect are stories of passion and playing with what is truth and what is fiction.
I really enjoyed Jamali Kamali. I thought it was beautiful, evocative and sexy. In reality we don’t know the true nature of the relationship between Jamali and Kamali but as Chase says in her author’s note, “Who is to say if this is fact, fiction, or the truth?”. I learned a lot from this poem, I was constantly googling places, people, and events and went down some rabbit holes as I read along. I don’t read a lot of poetry but I enjoyed Chase’s style. I felt it flowed nicely and told a love story that at times was a bit manic and obsessive but at other times was romantic and sweet. To me the weakest section was Part Four, told in Kamali’s voice, but perhaps that was intentional. After all, Jamali was a famed poet and Kamali an unknown person.
ZundelState was certainly weirder, but once I just let it wash over me I was able to enjoy the ride. In the year 3090 dreaming no longer exists, but Albert Einstein somehow was able to pass on the gene for dreaming to his descendants. After another rabbit hole search, I found that Zundel was a neo-Nazi and published Holocaust denying literature, and in the novella “ZundelState prohibits the study of history.”. Art is also banished. Another example of a fictional dystopian future that doesn’t sound altogether improbable.
There was a lot about this story that I think went over my head. I think what I understood of the premise would make a really interesting full length novel. The story was rather bleak but, ultimately, ZundelState was also a love story. When Marianna thinks of Joe and Pavel she comes to the conclusion “Joe was the ground in all its fertile, wide-ranging glory. Pavel was the sky.”. What happens in the end? Couldn’t tell you, but I think reading this novella will lead me to reading more prose in verse.
May 19, 2025
The Review
This was such a wildly creative and emotional read. The author did an incredible job of finding just the right balance between lyrical writing styles and engaging storytelling, with each story giving readers an emotional depth that instantly draws them in. The writing style was perfectly captured in the beautiful imagery capturing each scene between the two characters, from moonlit encounters between one another to the sounds of wildlife beckoning from the surrounding forest and so much more, and each verse touched upon the heartfelt connection not only between the characters, but the reader and the characters themselves.
The second story in this collection draws parallels between itself and the first story, while owning its own unique creative take on the genre. The exploration of what happens when public life is the rule of law and private individuality is oppressed felt very relevant to many of the issues facing our world. The themes of social conformity and oppression were intertwined beautifully with the character’s love story.
The Verdict
Author Karen Chase’s “Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState” is a passionate, heartfelt, and engaging read. It is a unique yet memorable story that is a must-read today. The inclusivity and raw beauty of the author’s poetry and storytelling will stay with readers long after the final tale ends.
This was such a wildly creative and emotional read. The author did an incredible job of finding just the right balance between lyrical writing styles and engaging storytelling, with each story giving readers an emotional depth that instantly draws them in. The writing style was perfectly captured in the beautiful imagery capturing each scene between the two characters, from moonlit encounters between one another to the sounds of wildlife beckoning from the surrounding forest and so much more, and each verse touched upon the heartfelt connection not only between the characters, but the reader and the characters themselves.
The second story in this collection draws parallels between itself and the first story, while owning its own unique creative take on the genre. The exploration of what happens when public life is the rule of law and private individuality is oppressed felt very relevant to many of the issues facing our world. The themes of social conformity and oppression were intertwined beautifully with the character’s love story.
The Verdict
Author Karen Chase’s “Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState” is a passionate, heartfelt, and engaging read. It is a unique yet memorable story that is a must-read today. The inclusivity and raw beauty of the author’s poetry and storytelling will stay with readers long after the final tale ends.
August 5, 2025
• Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and Zundel State
• By Karen Chase
• Reviewed by William Kornblum
Poet Karen Chase spins two beautiful tall tales of love and adventure. Jamali and Kamali are historic figures in Indian history, a noble and his servant, whose vivid feelings and erotic love for each other were never recorded. Chase brings lovers to life here in finely crafted fictional monologues. Zundel State projects us into a future five hundred years hence where people must hide their individuality and take on the collective personalities they learn through government regulated dreams. The main characters, Marianne, Joe, and Pavel, stumble through a fabulous post-apocalyptic, timeless, and boundless landscape where they encounter Albert Einstein in a Seven Eleven on Long Island’s North Fork and much more.
Both are reading experiences of the could-not-put-down variety.
I listened as well to the Audible audio production. The narration and production values, sound, music, were outstanding.
• By Karen Chase
• Reviewed by William Kornblum
Poet Karen Chase spins two beautiful tall tales of love and adventure. Jamali and Kamali are historic figures in Indian history, a noble and his servant, whose vivid feelings and erotic love for each other were never recorded. Chase brings lovers to life here in finely crafted fictional monologues. Zundel State projects us into a future five hundred years hence where people must hide their individuality and take on the collective personalities they learn through government regulated dreams. The main characters, Marianne, Joe, and Pavel, stumble through a fabulous post-apocalyptic, timeless, and boundless landscape where they encounter Albert Einstein in a Seven Eleven on Long Island’s North Fork and much more.
Both are reading experiences of the could-not-put-down variety.
I listened as well to the Audible audio production. The narration and production values, sound, music, were outstanding.
May 9, 2025
This is poetry destined for obscurity.
The first of the two long poems, "Jamali Kamali," isn't awful, but it has all the passion of a Hallmark greeting card. There are a few memorable lines in it, but that's because they are laughable:
Your muskpod —
I need
to smell
your chest.
"ZundelState" reads like it was written by someone who has heard about speculative fiction and dystopias, but didn't bother to read beyond Wikipedia. It contains gems like:
I'm playing harmonica in a zone called Rome, singing "I dreamt I
was walking into World War Three."
I say to Marianna "Our love's gonna grow ooh-wah, ooh-wah.
Let's go play Adam and Eve."
The whole thing is, to put it bluntly, risible.
One and a half stars, rounded up.
Received via NetGalley.
The first of the two long poems, "Jamali Kamali," isn't awful, but it has all the passion of a Hallmark greeting card. There are a few memorable lines in it, but that's because they are laughable:
Your muskpod —
I need
to smell
your chest.
"ZundelState" reads like it was written by someone who has heard about speculative fiction and dystopias, but didn't bother to read beyond Wikipedia. It contains gems like:
I'm playing harmonica in a zone called Rome, singing "I dreamt I
was walking into World War Three."
I say to Marianna "Our love's gonna grow ooh-wah, ooh-wah.
Let's go play Adam and Eve."
The whole thing is, to put it bluntly, risible.
One and a half stars, rounded up.
Received via NetGalley.
August 13, 2025
The audio book Jamali Kamali and Zundelstate is spectacular. What I loved best were the narrator’s voice, smooth and inviting, and the author’s preface—so rare for a writer to share such insight into poetic inspiration and context in a work of lyrical fiction. I do not know whether Chase wrote the two tales in anticipation of an audio recording, but the tales seem as if they were always meant to be heard. This audio book is a special treat for those who love poetry and those who love to dream.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews