For me, a book is something crafted on many levels. It is not just the writing, but the doodles that will never been seen by readers’ eyes, the midnight notes that are scribbled in the dark, the long walks lost in reveries, and the music and art that inspires the author along the way.

Ica’s Tale: From the Treeboat Series is about a girl who dares to wonder what’s beyond the towering walls of the cityfort Citadelia. The thought of leaving her birthplace, creepy creatures she calls Ganglies, and some startling telepathic exchanges with them make for an unrelenting adventure—with a dystopian touch. This novel will be available in paperback wherever books are sold and across all eBook platforms February 2023.

Ica's Tale is complete, the first full edit went smoothly, and a proofcopy has been ordered for further review. Though the intention was to have a Spring 2022 release, the ripening process seems to need more time, so I'm not going to get in the way!
 
This novel is short, being only 60,000 words, and takes a different narrative perspective than its predecessor The Oaql Seed. Looking at a 5 part series for the Treeboat saga, I find that the writing and editing process is just another facet of life now. Still, I hope to have this story circulating in the collective consciousness, contributing perspective in some small way, sooner than later!
 
Also, we've been keeping busy with a new venture called ZtoA.Press, a co-creation with my brother to monetize the writing and editing we do at—nearly—a daily basis.
Check it out at the link above or on the graphic below, and think of us if you have a student who needs to spruce up their essay, tweak their resume, or get a manuscript critique on a creative project!

The Treeboat Series lineup.
5 books: A main trilogy in 3rd person narrative, Ica's Tale in 1st person,
and Biyan the Rainbringer, an epic poem. 

Ica's Tale is complete and in the editing phase.
A short, ~60,000 word, first-person narrative from the perspective of Ica herself.
 
The time has come for Ica to leave her adopted family of bandits, the Piranhas of the outlands. Over the course of seven years she has gathered paper to document the story of her escape as a thirteen-year-old from the oppressive life within the towering walls of Citadelia. She finally decides to share this untold history with her brothers, sisters, and whoever else happens to pick up her diaries.
 
She recounts a troubling atmosphere of poverty, “mouth-diapers,” buildings made of “adamantine,” propaganda infested educational facilities, and even grim, humanoid beings she calls “Ganglies.” For a girl who is naturally inquisitive and defiant, a society that functions on strict protocols of normalcy is nothing more than a cage.
 
Ica’s sense of alienation deepens when she telepathically connects with a Gangly by accident. This causes a chain reaction of normalization interventions imposed upon her, including a regimen of desensitizing drugs. However, there is hope in a reacquaintance with her older cousin Iloy, who lives a seemingly privileged life in the central region of Citadelia. It turns out that Iloy too defies normalization and furthermore seeks to do the unthinkable—leave the cityfort to live a free life in the lawless outerlands.
 
Ica’s rebellious spirit cannot resist the temptation of this new vision of liberty, but she finds out that the path to knowledge, truth, and freedom is anything but the easy way out as she unravels the mystery of the Ganglies.

​Dear readers,

Without giving too much of the plot away, I want to reflect on a key theme in the Oaql Seed:--
the loss of the ability to speak.
​
You may have considered this at some point in your life:
A vow of silence about a particular subject, like a secret?
Maybe for a silent-meditation retreat?
And what if you lost your ability to speak due to a medical emergency like a stroke?
How would you adapt?

In this case, I’m specifically reflecting on expressive aphasia—a condition where comprehension and therefore intellectual capacity may be entirely intact in a person, but their faculty for speech is inhibited or even completely dismantled. For some, the situation is temporary, and they have the good fortune to be able to retrain their capacity for speech, but for others, this can be a lifelong change—a “new normal” so to speak.

A loved one, who is still a central figure in my family's life, has aphasia. His circumstances inspired one of the major plot elements in the Oaql Seed, as well as the plot device of telepathy, that you almost immediately learn is central to the Treeboat Series.

The Oaql Seed: Book One of the Treeboat Series is available on all platforms
​(not limited to the links above).
Including KOBO, Walmart, Powell's Books, Books-A-Million, and more!

The ePUB version of the book has been made from scratch by the BookBaby distributer team, and they did a great job. User friendly in every way- from taking notes to highlighting, keyword search to formatting changes -all the things you love about Ebooks will apply to the Oaql Seed: Book One of the Treeboat Series Ebook version. We are looking at an early October release of the Oaql Seed in all formats and on all the platforms you can think of: including, but not limited to, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Goodreads, as well as print-on-demand physical copies!

I really should be studying for the MCAT ... but the fact that my novel—The Oaql Seed: Book 1 of the Treeboat Series—is now in the process of getting published, my excitement is hard to contain :|
​follow @za_ispharazi ​