Book 3: The Qaraq and the Subversive Manuscript
The qaraq struggles through 9/11!
“… having read Mr. Weinstock’s “Qaraq” novels, I knew to brace myself for seismic shifts in focus and place. You do have to pay attention as you wind through 88 chapters. Not so easy to keep track of people and places and epochs!”
Sarah Berges, choreographer, editor
A new edition of The Qaraq and the Subversive Manuscript launches on 10/01/26. Be the first to know about any other sparkling new volumes. Join The Maqaraqan for all updates. The huh? The 1001 series’ newsletter that comes with a free Reader’s Guide to help sort out the reincarnation stories. Join now for updates, posts, and more.
As she flees from the burning tower on 9/11, Ooma Qadir’s traumatized soul receives searing visions. A cabal of mysterious storytellers, a dangerous anthology from Islamic Cordova, and seven magical kisses.
Sharing her gift to recall past lives, Ooma is part of a qaraq, a group of souls with emotional relationships across countless incarnations. Cast out of the group in this lifetime, she is desperate for acceptance, for power, and for an illicit love. Are her powerful visions of the qaraq’s creation of a subversive manuscript in 1001 AD enough to bring her back into the fold? Or will she tear the group apart?
The Qaraq and the Subversive Manuscript, Book Three of Stephen Weinstock’s 1001 series, explodes in the aftermath of 9/11. The Reincarnation Chronicles conjures up a wildly imaginative, whimsical, and visionary saga. Check out future Upcoming Books.
Original cover for Book Three.
My wife Sarah St. Onge is always the first reader of my first huge, messy draft. Poor thing, that’s love! Sarah is also a trauma therapist. After reading the manuscript of Book Three, set during 9/11, her main comment was, “Wow, this is pretty dark for you. But if it’s 9/11, you gotta give the characters some post-traumatic stress!”
Oops. Details, details. The way my addled brain works, I was more interested in a structural conceit. I had four co-narratives going: one during the 11 hours after T-Zero, when the first plane hit The Tower; another during the 11 days afterward; a third during the 11 weeks after; and a fourth during the 11 months after. Who wouldn’t have PTSD after all that?
But I’m a good husband and a slightly less good taker of criticism. So I asked Sarah what are the symptoms of PTSD, and there’s a bunch of them! Since I love me a good structural conceit, I handed out one symptom on that list to each of the ten qaraqis. Amar got hypervigilant, Bax became recklessly daring, and Ooma had a dissociative identity split. Some had fled the Towers, some were in lower Manhattan that day, some were nearby in New Jersey, but they all suffered a PTSD symptom during the 11 hours, 11 days, 11 weeks, and 11 months after the catastrophe. It was a great note from Sarah, gave me clear character work on the next draft, and deepened all those co-narratives.
That’s just the present day part of the novel. How did it affect all the reincarnation stories?
MORE TO EXPLORE:
I am delighted to share stories with my readers!
How about The Tale of the Two Albino Elephants?
Speaking of reincarnation stories, here’s a moment from the 11-hour co-narrative, when Amar and Ooma have just escaped from the collapsing Tower. Disassociating from the nightmare, they drift into this past life memory. One way trauma intersects past lives.
LET’S CONNECT
Have a question about Book Three? Wanna share your 9/11 co-narrative? Or your own elephant story?
Me, Sarah, and a friend outside Jaipur.