About Peyman Pejman
Peyman Pejman is an award-winning journalist with over 20 years of experience. He has worked with respected newspapers, news agencies and radio stations such as The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Cox Newspapers, The Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Pejman has extensive experience in the Middle East and the Arab world. His tenure in the Middle East has corresponded with important timelines in the region: the Iranian revolution, the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Gulf Wars and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In addition to his journalistic career, he has been a media and communications professor and a media consultant/advisor/trainer.
The Interview
Could you please tell us a little about your book?
The book is somewhat unusual in that it is a fictitious narrative about a very politically-topical issue: Would Iran acquire sufficient technology to attack its biggest enemies: The United States and Israel. But it also tells the story from a human perspective. In it, an Iranian-born American who is a journalist is recruited by the CIA. While traversing hotspots like Cairo, Dubai, Iraqi Kurdistan and Israel, the new spy learns how Iran is trying to destabilize the Persian Gulf and buy Chinese military secrets to achieve its goals. Who is the mastermind of such grandiose Iranian scheme? None other than his estranged sister, who, unlike her brother owing allegiance to the United States, had devoted her life to recreating the old glory of her homeland.
Your biggest critic?
Myself. I am rather a “Type A” type of person, for those who have taken those kinds of tests before. I want everything to be as close to perfection as possible. That is not to say that this book was! I have received criticism from “experts” saying this book is not “fiction enough” or that it does not quite conform to industry-standard style of fiction writing. That may or may not be true. But it was my first book and hopefully the next one/ones will be better.
Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer?
David Ignatius, a respected journalist and novelist. I have read every book he has written and hope that I have learned from him. I know I have a lot more to learn!
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a second novel, about an Afghan boy who leaves his country with family during times of civil war. After a stop in Pakistan, he finds his way in the United States, where he becomes enamored with American values, or at least he thinks he is. Professional ambition and self-doubts enforced by “American way of life” lures him back to his ancestral homeland, where he starts doubting everything he had strived for. In the end he joins the ranks of religious fundamentalists who do not hesitate to use terrorism to advance their goals.
Is there an author that inspired you to write?
Yes, as I mentioned above, former colleague and recognized novelist David Ignatius has been a big inspiration not just in forming my style but in why I want to write.
What are some of your long term goals?
(Very) ideally, I would like to reach a point in life (sometime in the coming few years) where I can work six months a year for a living and then travel around the world to write long investigative magazine piece and use the ideas to generate more books.
What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?
Someone told me long ago that the hardest thing about writing a book is mustering the discipline to actually sit down and write the book. That’s when you know you want it badly enough, I was told. I think writing the first book, and now the second, is in a way my greatest achievement in that I know—I feel—the conviction that I have something I want to say and force myself to find the best way to say it! Whether it sells or not is a product of many factors. Whether it is written well is one factor, but not necessarily the only one.
Biggest weakness?
I have taken to heart the criticism/advice that the book is not “fiction enough,” that it is written by someone who is primarily a non-fiction writer, and I am working on it in the second book.
About Age of Intolerance
Age of Intolerance is both an espionage thriller tackling a serious and newsworthy current affairs topic and heart-warming saga of a relationship between estranged brother and sister, each having pledged allegiance to a political master bent on defeating the other.
Charles Shahin is a American journalist of Iranian descent whom the Central Intelligence Agency convinces to become a spy, skirting a long-held tradition that spy agencies not recruit reporters. Pretending to be a reporter for a US-based Internet newsgathering site, Shahin settles in sleepy Cyprus, long the center of spies and money launderers dealing with or keeping an eye on the Middle East.
While in Cyprus, Shahin gets wind of an Iranian plan to destabilize the Persian Gulf and purchase Chinese military secrets to build nuclear technology capable of hitting the United States and Israel. The plot was hatched by none other than his long-lost sister, now a ranking official in Iran.
Despite repeated warning, CIA bosses fail to mount a coherent strategy. What occupies Washington’s mind more is a spate of domestic acts of terrorism. Careful examination reveals the existence of a fanatic religious group inside the United States, bred and funded by none other than Washington’s best ally in the Arab world: Saudi Arabia. The Saudi goal: to “export” its internal “troubles” and force America to pick a fight with a common enemy: Iran.
Convinced an Iranian attack is imminent, Shahin and his wife — a Saudi princess — try to stop it, knowing US government bureaucracy is fractured and reaching a consensus might take too long.
Help comes from an unlikely ally, which, no doubt, has its own political ambitions, and its card to play.
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