Bactrian Gold Begins US Tour. The Kabul Case, a Fictional Short Story, from Scriblist.com, Captures the Magic of the Inspirational True Story in Afghanistan.
The Bactrian Gold, the legendary collection of over 2,000 artifacts from Afghanistan, which is on display and now open to the public at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C, is the inspiration in the fictional story ‘the Kabul Case’, written collaboratively by four British competition winning authors, published in April 2008 by Scriblist Ltd.
Washington, DC, May 26, 2008 --(PR.com)-- According to the National Geographical Society website, the famed Bactrian Hoard, a 2,000-year-old treasure cache is considered to be one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. Believed to have been lost or stolen during the years of conflict in the region, the Bactrian gold had, instead, been hidden by locals, who risked their lives to preserve and protect it.
The Kabul Case, the fictional story, is one of five short stories from ‘Five Green Bananas', Book One from scriblist.com. It was written in competition by thirteen different authors aged between 14 and 64, who have never met. The Kabul Case is the longest story in the collection at 14,500 words. It begins in 2002 simultaneously set in London, England and in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In London, a mysterious man known as “Harrods” sits waiting in a darkened room. In Kabul, two young brothers, Rahin and Jamil are the breadwinners for the large family, whilst their landmine-injured father keeps to his bare room, taking care of his sole possessions, a thin metallic bookmark in a shabbily bound book. At the same time, a pale man in Kabul plans a delivery with military precision. What happens when their normal day is interrupted by the unexpected? When the brothers steal a case from a taxi during a street riot they cannot foresee what impacts it would have on them, their family and a much wider circle beyond. The adventure that follows finds the boys pursued by the owners of the case, whose contents remain unknown until the fifth and final chapter of the story. The affects of the theft touch them all and bring the unlikely figures together in a fast-paced adventure.
Jenny Persson (33, living in Munich Germany), who wrote the ending to ‘the Kabul Case’ says she introduced the Bactrian gold facts into the fictitious short story because, ‘it is such a wonderful tale. I also wanted to explore the impact on a single, local family, and on a country’s culture. The Bactrian Gold is unique.”
About Scriblist.com & Book One ‘Five Green Bananas’:
Scriblist was founded by two British teachers to promote creative writing within education. The internet-based collaborative writing platform, Scriblist.com, was set up to give aspiring writers – particularly talented younger writers – the chance to become published authors. However, competitions are open to all. The 2008 Book Two competition is now open.
Five Green Bananas consists of five short stories. The other four stories are; ‘The Witness’, ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’, ‘Under the Acacia Tree’ and ‘2050’.
The collection addresses classic themes of love and death, friendship and family, social injustice and violence, but also talks to contemporary subjects such as autism, adoption and the impact of today’s carbon footprint on the future. It is available for purchase at scriblist.com and from other leading retailers ISBN: 978-0-9558725-0-1
About the Bactrian Gold Tour: (not affiliated to scriblist.com in any way)
The unique exhibit tours: National Gallery of Art Washington DC (May 25-Sept. 7, 2008), the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Oct. 24, 2008-Jan. 25, 2009), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Feb. 22-May 17, 2009) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 23-Sept. 20, 2009).
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mission/afghanistan-treasures/ includes a virtual tour, podcasts and interactive features of the artifacts and relating key figures of the period.
Book Extracts : the Kabul Case - Story Three
“Rahin sat on his wooden shoeshine box at his pitch in the Kabul bazaar. It was the freezing spring of the Islamic year 1423. The boy shivered in the dirty Nike fleece, which bore its counterfeit tick of suggested approval… Rahin was the main breadwinner for his family of seven brothers and sisters. He was eight years old.”
“Behind his back, the tall man was known as 'Harrods,' because he guaranteed to supply anything a customer required. He sat on the simple wooden chair waiting to reconnect to Kabul.”
“His underground group had been particularly fastidious about the security of the Bactrian gold... It reflected the blend of cultures north of the Hindu Kush Mountains and the history of the Afghan Kings. Only Nadim and his closest colleagues in the team knew it was stowed inside the vault of the Central Bank, protected by a complex system of locks and a master key. …. Without the knowledge of the rest of the staff, he had dispersed the three parts of the master key. The holders did not know each other. He had chosen them personally; old friends with no connection to the Museum or authorities, with nothing special about them, except their honour. He had fought alongside them after the Russian invasion, and suffered alongside them in Shiberghan prison where they each had no family background, no class, and no ethnicity.”
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The Kabul Case, the fictional story, is one of five short stories from ‘Five Green Bananas', Book One from scriblist.com. It was written in competition by thirteen different authors aged between 14 and 64, who have never met. The Kabul Case is the longest story in the collection at 14,500 words. It begins in 2002 simultaneously set in London, England and in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In London, a mysterious man known as “Harrods” sits waiting in a darkened room. In Kabul, two young brothers, Rahin and Jamil are the breadwinners for the large family, whilst their landmine-injured father keeps to his bare room, taking care of his sole possessions, a thin metallic bookmark in a shabbily bound book. At the same time, a pale man in Kabul plans a delivery with military precision. What happens when their normal day is interrupted by the unexpected? When the brothers steal a case from a taxi during a street riot they cannot foresee what impacts it would have on them, their family and a much wider circle beyond. The adventure that follows finds the boys pursued by the owners of the case, whose contents remain unknown until the fifth and final chapter of the story. The affects of the theft touch them all and bring the unlikely figures together in a fast-paced adventure.
Jenny Persson (33, living in Munich Germany), who wrote the ending to ‘the Kabul Case’ says she introduced the Bactrian gold facts into the fictitious short story because, ‘it is such a wonderful tale. I also wanted to explore the impact on a single, local family, and on a country’s culture. The Bactrian Gold is unique.”
About Scriblist.com & Book One ‘Five Green Bananas’:
Scriblist was founded by two British teachers to promote creative writing within education. The internet-based collaborative writing platform, Scriblist.com, was set up to give aspiring writers – particularly talented younger writers – the chance to become published authors. However, competitions are open to all. The 2008 Book Two competition is now open.
Five Green Bananas consists of five short stories. The other four stories are; ‘The Witness’, ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’, ‘Under the Acacia Tree’ and ‘2050’.
The collection addresses classic themes of love and death, friendship and family, social injustice and violence, but also talks to contemporary subjects such as autism, adoption and the impact of today’s carbon footprint on the future. It is available for purchase at scriblist.com and from other leading retailers ISBN: 978-0-9558725-0-1
About the Bactrian Gold Tour: (not affiliated to scriblist.com in any way)
The unique exhibit tours: National Gallery of Art Washington DC (May 25-Sept. 7, 2008), the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Oct. 24, 2008-Jan. 25, 2009), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Feb. 22-May 17, 2009) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 23-Sept. 20, 2009).
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mission/afghanistan-treasures/ includes a virtual tour, podcasts and interactive features of the artifacts and relating key figures of the period.
Book Extracts : the Kabul Case - Story Three
“Rahin sat on his wooden shoeshine box at his pitch in the Kabul bazaar. It was the freezing spring of the Islamic year 1423. The boy shivered in the dirty Nike fleece, which bore its counterfeit tick of suggested approval… Rahin was the main breadwinner for his family of seven brothers and sisters. He was eight years old.”
“Behind his back, the tall man was known as 'Harrods,' because he guaranteed to supply anything a customer required. He sat on the simple wooden chair waiting to reconnect to Kabul.”
“His underground group had been particularly fastidious about the security of the Bactrian gold... It reflected the blend of cultures north of the Hindu Kush Mountains and the history of the Afghan Kings. Only Nadim and his closest colleagues in the team knew it was stowed inside the vault of the Central Bank, protected by a complex system of locks and a master key. …. Without the knowledge of the rest of the staff, he had dispersed the three parts of the master key. The holders did not know each other. He had chosen them personally; old friends with no connection to the Museum or authorities, with nothing special about them, except their honour. He had fought alongside them after the Russian invasion, and suffered alongside them in Shiberghan prison where they each had no family background, no class, and no ethnicity.”
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Contact
Scriblist Ltd
Jenny Persson
+44 (0)7919 678529
http://www.scriblist.com
http://fivegreenbananasnews.blogspot.com
Jenny Persson
+44 (0)7919 678529
http://www.scriblist.com
http://fivegreenbananasnews.blogspot.com
Contact
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