Inspired by a book his grandfather wrote eighty years ago, master storyteller and author Tahir Shah set about creating SCORPION SOUP, an intense experience of interlinked and overlapping tales. Having been raised on stories from both East and West, Shah believes that tales work on numerous levels, subtly influencing the way we see the world, and the way we learn from it. Magical instruments, and secret machineries in their own right, stories are within us all. And, the way we appreciate them, from the cradle is, Shah believes, part of the default setting of Mankind. Introduced in early childhood to the wonders of A Thousand and One Nights, Shah learned to receive and appreciate complex structures and storytelling devices. These have been used throughout history to pass on ideas, cultural values and information, as well as, of course, to entertain. Having been inspired by The Nights, especially in the way that one story leads into another, and yet another, Shah used this technique (known as the frame story) in SCORPION SOUP. An interwoven and intoxicating collection of tales, the book descends down through many layers, as one story progresses into the next, and eventually brings us back to the first. There is the tale of the Capilongo, a sophisticated bird-like creature that lives in the jungle with sloth-servants, who invites his would-be assassin to dine before allowing himself to be killed. And there is the tale of the Clockmaker who harnesses the soul of a Jinn, in the guise of a hoopoe, and uses it to travel back in time to the realm of Harun Al-Rachid. There is the cautionary tale, too, of the Man Whose Arms Grew Branches, and the story of the Fish s Dream. Unlike anything that has been published in the Occidental world before, SCORPION SOUP is a rich and diverse feast for the senses, and a book that instructs as much as it does entertain.

Beyond the Devil's Teeth: Journeys in Gondwanaland

Shah, Tahir

Travel

Secretum Mundi

TimbuctooBy Tahir ShahInspired by a true story:In October 1815, an illiterate American sailor named Robert Adams was discovered roaming the streets of London, half-naked and starving. In the months that followed, high society was rocked by his tale.At a time when the European powers were posturing for empire, there was one quest above all else, one destination to which no Christian had ever ventured and returned alive – Timbuctoo.Regarded as a golden metropolis par excellence, an African Eldorado, fashioned from the purest gold, it was for centuries a European obsession. The British, Germans, French, and others, dispatched their most capable explorers to seek it out and to sack it. Most of them never returned.The only nation uninterested in the mania for Timbuctoo was the fledgling United States. And so, when a young American sailor claimed to have visited the city as a guest of its king, while a white slave in Africa, it caused uproar on an unknown scale.More shocking still was the sailor’s description of the Eldorado – as a poverty-stricken and wretched place – and the fact that he seemed blasé and uninterested at having been there at all.Set against a backdrop of the British Regency, a time of ultimate decadence and avarice, of haves and have-nots, Robert Adams’ tale has been all but forgotten, until now.An astonishing story of survival and hardship, it’s a one touched with irony. A man who had set out to make his fame and fortune through trade, Robert Adams gained both, but by selling the tale of his journey.Almost twenty years ago, Tahir Shah noticed an inch-thick quarto-sized book propping up a water pipe in the basement of the London Library. Pulling it out, he first set eyes on Robert Adams’ Narrative, published by John Murray in 1816.The book became an obsession to Shah, just as Regency London was itself fixated with the golden metropolis of Timbuctoo. Packed with well-researched detail of the time, and inspired by Adams’ ordeal, Timbuctoo is a fast-past and compelling read. It’s a tale of treachery, greed, love and, above all else, of survival in the face of insurmountable odds.

Timbuctoo

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Through a life cloaked in mystery, Edwardian polymath Hannibal G. Fogg pushed the boundaries of exploration, science and code-breaking – producing feats of unrivalled cerebral dexterity. Hailing from a landed family, Fogg was a confidant to world leaders, a soldier, swordsman, prolific author, inventor, collector, and quite probably the most extraordinary man ever to have lived. But, while such genius won him accolades and fame, it also fanned the flames of envy. Unable to take Fogg’s triumphs any longer, the British establishment sought to have him discredited. His life work was publically destroyed in what was to become known as the ‘Great Foggian Purge’. Banished from England, he lived out his days in secrecy – before disappearing on an expedition to Manchuria in the winter of 1939. Almost eight decades passed. Then, one morning William Fogg receives a letter from a legal firm in London, claiming he’s the sole inheritor to his great-great-grandfather’s Estate. Knowing almost nothing of his forebear, he takes possession of the single object left in the bequest – a large rusty iron key… the key to a door in Marrakesh. And there begins the treasure trail of mystery, danger and uproar, as William pieces together the clues left for him by Hannibal Fogg. Zigzagging through five continents, the quest reveals how Alexander the Great was never beaten in battle. By completing the life work of Hannibal, William Fogg strives to lift the veil on the Supreme Secret of Man. First in a series of ground-breaking adventure novels from master storyteller, Tahir Shah, Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man is unlike anything published in recent times. Ten years in the making, it’s as worldly and wise as the indefatigable Hannibal Fogg. By the celebrated author of The Caliph’s House, a TIME Top Ten Book of the Year.

Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man

Through a life cloaked in mystery, Edwardian polymath Hannibal G. Fogg pushed the boundaries of exploration, science and code-breaking – producing feats of unrivaled cerebral dexterity. Hailing from a landed family, Fogg was a confidant to world leaders, a soldier, swordsman, prolific author, inventor, collector, and quite probably the most extraordinary man ever to have lived. But, while such genius won him accolades and fame, it also fanned the flames of envy. Unable to take Fogg’s triumphs any longer, the British establishment sought to have him discredited. His life work was publicly destroyed in what was to become known as the ‘Great Foggian Purge’. Banished from England, he lived out his days in secrecy – before disappearing on an expedition to Manchuria in the winter of 1939. Almost eight decades passed. Then, one morning William Fogg receives a letter from a legal firm in London, claiming he’s the sole inheritor to his great-great-grandfather’s Estate. Knowing almost nothing of his forebear, he takes possession of the single object left in the bequest – a large rusty iron key… the key to a door in Marrakesh. And there begins the treasure trail of mystery, danger and uproar, as William pieces together the clues left for him by Hannibal Fogg. Zigzagging through five continents, the quest reveals how Alexander the Great was never beaten in battle. By completing the life work of Hannibal, William Fogg strives to lift the veil on the Supreme Secret of Man. First in a series of ground-breaking adventure novels from master storyteller, Tahir Shah, Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man is unlike anything published in recent times. Ten years in the making, it’s as worldly and wise as the indefatigable Hannibal Fogg. By the celebrated author of The Caliph’s House, a TIME Top Ten Book of the Year.

Oddball and loner Oliver Quinn was raised by his uncle, the proprietor of New York’s most bizarre emporium of Oriental rugs, Ozymandias &amp; Son. Zoned out more than he’s zoned in, Oliver perceives patterns in everything – from fallen autumn leaves in Central Park, to the freckles on a stranger’s face. When his uncle gives him a mysterious paperweight said to have been in the family for centuries – since it was discovered by a farmer on the Mongolian Steppes – Oliver’s life changes in the most extraordinary way. Gaining entry into the secret Realm that shrouds all our lives, he learns what he imagines to be reality is no more than a fragment of what actually exists. In a multiverse, where every permutation is not only possible but certain, our world is an insignificant backwater. With the veil lifted, Oliver is introduced to a parallel life form with which we share the multiverse…The mysterious and all-powerful race of Jinn. Far from the loveable blue-skinned giants projected by Hollywood, Jinn are capable of wreaking terror on an unknown scale. When they go rogue, as they frequently do, they must be captured. This perilous task is entrusted to the bravest fraternity of warriors in existence – the Jinn Hunters. Stumbling into the secret heart of the Realm, Oliver learns of the Prism. A vast penitentiary fashioned from sheets of impregnable glass, it contains legions of incarcerated Jinn. But, as Oliver soon comes to understand, his arrival is no accident. Having brooded for an eternity – since being imprisoned by King Solomon – the most evil Jinn in all existence has just escaped... Nequissimus. The future of the Realm rests on Oliver Quinn, whose ancestral bloodline is primed to capture the great Jinn, thereby saving not only humanity, but the entire multiverse. A cross between The Thousand and One Nights and The Men in Black, THE PRISM is the first awe-inspiring novel in Tahir Shah's much-awaited JINN HUNTER series. Quite possibly the most original book of its age, it lures the reader into a Twilight Zone conjured from pure imagination.

Jinn Hunter: Book One: The Prism

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fantasy

The wise fool of Oriental folklore, Nasrudin is known across a vast swathe of the globe – from Morocco in the west, to Indonesia in the east.
Appearing under different names and in all manner of guises, he’s universally admired for his back-to-front brand of genius – so much so that at least a dozen countries insist he was one of them.
In reality, he is of course found everywhere – even in regions where he has no name.
Tales of Nasrudin’s wise-foolery have been told in caravanserais and teahouses since ancient times, just as they are recounted in cafés, office buildings, and homes the world over today.
In the Land of Nasrudin, the wise are foolish and the foolish are wise. Leading us through a keyhole into a realm that’s back-to-front and inside-out, the stories turn what we think we know and understand on its head.
At the same time, Nasrudin tales form a cornerstone in an ancient and advanced psychology. As you laugh at the off-beat humour, the subconscious turns the puzzle-joke around, working away at it like a terrier worrying a rag doll.
Tahir Shah was first introduced to Nasrudin by his father – the writer and thinker – Idries Shah. In his childhood, and in his travels, the wise fool has provided a lens through which Tahir has perceived the world.
As he says, ‘By training my attention to the methods of the wise fool, I have found new dimensions reveal themselves to me – both in lands I thought I knew, and in fresh dominions.’
 A remarkable work of exploration through human culture, and an observant self-examination, Travels With Nasrudin is unlike any other work of the travel genre published in recent times.

Travels with Nasrudin

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

During a career of thirty years, Tahir Shah has published dozens of books on travel, exploration, topography, and research, as well as a large body of fiction. Through this extraordinary series of Anthologies, selections from the corpus are arranged by theme, allowing the reader to follow certain threads that are of profound interest to Shah. Spanning a number of distinct genres - in both fiction and non-fiction work - the collections incorporate a wealth of unpublished material. Prefaced by an original introduction, each Anthology provides a lens into a realm that has shaped Shah's own outlook as a best-selling author. Regarded as one of the most prolific and original writers working today, Tahir Shah has a world-wide following. Published in hundreds of editions, and in more than thirty languages, his books turn the world back to front and inside out. Seeking to make sense of the hidden underbelly, he illuminates facets of life most writers hardly even realize exist.

The Anthologies: Taboo

The Anthologies: Africa

The Anthologies: Ceremony

The Anthologies: Childhood

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Books by Secretum Mundi

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Secretum Mundi publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beyond the Devil's Teeth: Journeys in Gondwanaland

Timbuctoo

Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man

Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man

Jinn Hunter: Book One: The Prism

Travels with Nasrudin

The Anthologies: Taboo

The Anthologies: Africa

The Anthologies: Ceremony

The Anthologies: Childhood