What sets The Secret of the Cylinder apart from other books in its genre? And what is its genre?

I’m a Renaissance person, and so like many things I do, this book doesn’t fit into just one box. It is romance, fantasy, historical fiction, adventure, chick-lit and drama all rolled into one! Not only appealing to feminists, pagans, and history enthusiasts, this book will intrigue mothers, daughters, grandmothers, brothers, fathers, and grandfathers alike. Anyone who might be affected by war and all its consequences. It’s very timely as its setting is a volatile Iran, in 1979, during the Muslim Revolution; when all the efforts at westernizing the country were undone by a new regime.

Meticulously researched, The Secret of the Cylinder takes the reader on a magic carpet ride through intrigue, danger, love and chaos all amidst the backdrop of a culture and country unravelling. As the Middle East currently becomes more and more under the control of non-Western, non-Christian ideology, here is a firsthand glimpse of choices by Ground Zero stakeholders—what’s motivating them, and what they’re feeling. What sets this book apart is that it suggests our strongest weapon against darkness is love. And in this case love is hard-coded onto magical clay that was obtained from a star-traveler, into an instrument of peace. Love and peace are ideas. Ideals we feel very strongly about. By giving them physical form, and having this object, the cylinder, be a sort of relay-race baton, used by people and then nations to restore balance and harmony, I am planting the idea that we have what we need to ensure the longevity of our planet and mankind. Maybe with a little divine nudge. And the divine in this book isn’t bound to any belief system except love and healing.