THE IRANIAN DECEPTION
EDIFICE OF THE SUN AT GOLESTAN PALACE
In the beginning of the novel, the crowds in Tehran are celebrating the appointment of their new Ayatollah, Marzban Shir-Del, who stands on the balcony of Golestan Palace with President Avesta and Major General Lajani. During the years of the last Shah of Iran, the Palace was used was for formal receptions, but during the course of my research of sites in Iran, I became captivated by the sheer number of rooms that the palace has, each with a different theme. I was especially drawn to Mirror Hall because I liked the visual of the mirrors displaying all of the movements in the room as it seemed like good symbolism for the idea of the new Ayatollah keeping a watchful eye on the people in his inner circle. From a literary standpoint, it seemed like the perfect location to have celebrate the beginning of a new era in the Ayatollah regime. If you get a chance, check out the multiple YouTube videos of tourists capturing their strolls through each room in palace. It is truly a breathtaking location!
SI-O-SE-POL BRIDGE
Built in the early 17th century, its technical name is the Allahverdi Kahn Bridge, named after the commander-in-chief of the Persian Army at the time. It is the largest of the eleven bridges along the Zayeanderud River in Isfahan. Due to its magnificent thirty-three arches made of yellow bricks and limestone, it has taken the same Si-o-se-pol, which means arches. Its original purpose was to service as a connection between the mansions belonging to the elite class, but today serves as more of an attraction and nightlife gathering place for both western tourists and Iranians alike. My characters Farhad and Donya are frequent visitors to the bridge so that they can make money distributing illegal alcohol. But beware, the Revolutionary Guard is known to raid the gatherings at the bridge from time to time. Due to low pay, the soldiers’ intent is to hassle anyone there defying Iranian law for payments to look the other way, but they will not hesitate to make arrests and break up a party if they are forced to.
NAQSH-E-JAGAN SQUARE
After Thrasher and Dhoni arrive in Iran, Farhad takes them to Naqsh-e-Jahan Square to have their first undercover meeting with Donya. Nearly one million square feet large, the Square is truly a site to behold. It is not only surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era but by four mosques which loom over its visitors: the Shah Mosque is on the south, the Shiekh Lotf Allah Mosque on the east, and the Ali Qapu Mosque on the west side.
The Qeyasarie Gate on the north side opens into the Imperial Bazaar, where trading that dates back to ancient times when Isfahan was a crucial stop along the Silk Road, which is why the Square is still depicted on the back of the Iranian 20,000 rial banknote. Today, the Square is occupied by a variety of tents run by tradesman who pay a weekly fee to the government. It is an excellent place to trade or buy any number of goods such as spices or coffee and has numerous vendors offering fresh cut fruit and hot meals straight off the grill. Isfahan is known to be a very friendly city for foreign travelers, even Westerners, but undercover Revolutionary Guardsmen are known to roam around the bazaar looking for foreign spies or to secretly partake in the prostitution that is known to still go on there if you know where to look.
JOSEF MENGELE
There’s not much that I can say about Hitler’s henchman who is known for performing deadly experiments on the prisoner’s at Auschwitz that hasn’t already been written. However, during the course of my research for the novel, I became fascinated with Mengele’s early attempts at mind control which is where I got the idea for fictionalizing a connection between the Iranian government and the Nazis. I envisioned the Ayatollah regime being able to “grow” nuclear scientists from university students. Mengele: The Complete Story by Gerald Posner, one of my favorite non-fiction authors, was a thorough and fantastic read for my research.
But research on Mengele only took me so far. I remembered that the CIA used to clandestinely and illegally experiment on people using LSD with Project MKULTRA during the 1960’s for the purpose of weakening individuals so that they could brainwash them in the same way that was depicted in The Manchurian Candidate movies with Frank Sinatra and Denzel Washington (my favorite actor!). The best book I found about the experiments and Project MKULTRA was Poisoner-In-Chief by Stephen Kinzer, which discusses the chief scientist of the project, Sidney Gottlieb.
For sake of transparency, there is no connection between the Iran and the Nazis, that I know of, but the idea of creating a connection between two of the evilest regimes in modern history was too fun to pass up.
CHROMOSOME SIX DEFICIENCY
I was scrolling through Facebook one day and found an article on the Daily Mail about a little girl in London who was diagnosed with the extremely rare condition of Chromosome Six Deficiency, which allows her to barely eat, sleep, or feel pain. She was once his by a car and dragged down the street but then got up and walked away without so much as a tear! It is believed that she is the only person in the world with such a condition. So, I started to think, what a great idea for a villain for my novel! You guys recognized the character of Marzban Shir-Del from Surviving the Lion’s Den, so I decided to bring him back for the second novel, and have a little more fun with him. If you like him in The Iranian Deception, I think you are going to love to hate him in the final novel in the series, The Ayatollah Takedown!
