The Blade of Safavid

"The Blade of Safavid may be the best historical fiction book of 2022"

The Blade of Safavid delivers historical fiction lovers a feast of action and adventure as they are thrust into an odyssey through an ancient world spanning the five decades that brought the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, the collapse of the Great Persian Safavid Dynasty and the fall of the Mighty Mughal Empires, as ruthless competitors traverse the continents and oceans hunting for the greatest pirate treasure every captured-a treasure that included not just millions of dollars of gold, silver and gems, it included the priceless relic the Blade of Safavid as well as the Mughal Emperor's own granddaughter, both taken when an armada of five pirate ships attacks the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's treasure fleet on its return from its pilgrimage to Mecca.

Lovers of historical action and adventure will be captivated by stories full of courage, tragedy and drama.

In The Blade of Safavid author Kent Merrell blends history and fiction together so convincingly, this historical fiction novel sends adults both young and old scurrying to the their dusty encyclopedias or the internet seeking to meet legendary characters and decipher between fact and fiction.

On September 7, 1695, an armada of five pirate ships attacked the Great Mughal Emperor's treasure fleet returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The treasure seized was the greatest in recorded history. The attack launched a worldwide manhunt lasting over five decades, and a treasure hunt that continues to this day. The Blade of Safavid and its rightful heir, the granddaughter of both a Mughal Emperor and a Safavid Shah are the prize of not just worldly wealth but the rights two of the worlds great empires.

"Oh my goodness... once again as I read it the second time, I got all teary at the end, and yes, I should have remembered it ended there, I pounded on my screen, wondering "Why won't you scroll!! I need to know what's next!!" But...that was it. A perfect ending for you book. A complete sigh of amazement. I'm really not sure how you managed to pull so many stories all together, but it's incredible. Just incredible."

The Blade of Safavid began as a business book where writer Kent Merrell sought to teach the principles of influence, persuasion and motivation. Culling from a forty year career in advertising and marketing, Kent was confident his sage understanding of the art of persuasion could be a best-seller. It might have been. The problem came when his creative story telling intersected with the principles of persuasion. Soon the manuscript included more adventure than instruction. Over time plot took priority, persuasion lost preeminence and The Blade of Safavid stood alone as an epic historical fiction interlaced with characters both real and fictional.Kent turned his forty year career telling stories to sell products for clients such as Disney, Comcast, Wells Fargo, HBO, VISA, Sam's Club, Discover Card and countless local and regional clients into a passion to create stories proving to be worthy of reading, remembering and sharing.