u/FaisalWrites

A self-published author, but still.

As I look back on the hundreds of hours I've spent writing this novel, then see it finished and published on an international platform, I know that the effort was worth it.

Here's the thing, I always knew that I was writing the novel for me in the first place, but I didn't know why I was writing it. I kept telling myself, "I have to write this novel because it's in my head and it is screaming to get written." Okay. Right. But why, though?

It was not until I finished the novel that I knew why I wrote it. The story is about a civil war that is tearing a fictional ancient kingdom apart, and one man who (spoiler) manages somehow, against all odds, to resolve the conflict. And do you know who this man is? He is the hero I had dreamt of back in 2006, when my own country (Iraq) was going through a vicious civil war that displaced me and my family. Of course, that hero never came.

So, twenty years later, I made him up. And now I want the whole world to know about him and his ideas and methods. I believe that he is a man worth knowing about.

It's cathartic beyond description, this writing thing. Tears, memories, thoughts rushing in, imagined happy scenarios -- the works. I think I'll do it again sometime soon.

I finally did it!

Please allow me to tell you about me, how I wrote this novel, what it's about, and where you can get it.

About me

My name is Faisal Faris. I was born in Iraq in 1988, lived there most of my life, and I'm still enjoying Iraq's sweltering heat and immense historical character. I started learning English when I was 4 but really picked it up in college. I have read over 130 books in English since then, ranging from A. Pope and Shakespeare to J. R. R. Tolkien and Neil Gaiman.

How I wrote this novel

It took around five hundred hours of actual work. This is my first novel, and I am self-publishing, so everything had to be done by me (except the cover design). I started writing it in November 2025, and worked on it almost every day since then. Of course, there was a preparatory period of research to make sure that I knew what I was writing about. This included visiting some archaeological sites here in Iraq.

The novel is around 75,000 words. This final version is the fifth draft. I have made 4 revisions to the script, followed by two passes of proofreading and general tidying up. The cover was designed by GetCovers.

What's the novel about?

I wrote about something that had affected me personally: civil war. The novel is set in an imaginary but realistic bronze-age kingdom, and it views the conflict through the journey of the protagonist from vengeance to forgiveness and redemption. Our guy is a military leader who rises quickly through the ranks, only to start questioning the narrative and the justification of the war.

Expect: a lean story, a lot of dialogue, battles, descriptions of the Mesopotamia-inspired setting, and barely any magic.

Where you can get it?

Free Chapter 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B8Cbmhp97hWPRi9js4BWCAdIu7fP2DOa/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1NM1H8Q