Fortune Told in Blood

Fortune Told in Blood (Fal-E Khoon) is a novel by Davud Ghaffarzadegan about an Iraqi lieutenant and soldier in the Iran-Iraq war. The novel is known as a modern war story. Fortune Told in Blood's context is an important feature of the novel. The main language of the book is Persian and it was published in 1996 by Soreie Mehr Publication Company. M.R. Ghanoonparvar, emeritus professor of Persian language and literature at the University of Texas, translated the book into English in 2008, published by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has more than 20 years of experience and has published several translated literature books from the Middle East. The book won an award in the "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category (which consisted of about 700 books.)

Narrative
Fortune Told in Blood is a novel about two Iraqi soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war. There are differences between them but the war demolished both of their lives. An Iraqi lieutenant and soldier are sent to a mountain in order to identify Iranian movements and installations. Their situation on the mountain was relatively safe as they were snowbound in a bunker, for this reason, they did not worry or fear. They had many magazines in their trench to keep them from boredom and keep thoughts of death aside. One day after lunch, they performed cartomancy and saw bloody events in their tarot cards. After this day, bloody events would befall them.

Author
Davud Ghaffarzadegan, the Iranian teacher and writer, was born in 1959 in Ardebil. He wrote more than two decades and published over twenty-five short story collections and novels for adults and teenagers. His stories were translated into English, Chinese, Turkish, and Arabic. In the Fortune Told in Blood, he wrote the novel from the Iraqi's view and emphasized the human role in war. The novel and its suitable translation outspread the Iran-Iraq war to the west.

Publisher
The book was written in 1996 and published in Persian by Soreie Mehr Publication Company in 2011. Fortune Told in Blood has been nominated for and received numerous awards, and has been reprinted many times in Iran. According to critics, Fortune Told in Blood is one of the most prominent novels about the Iran-Iraq war in recent years. In 2008, the book was translated from Persian into English by Mohammad Reza Ghanounparvar and published by Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of Texas at Austin. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has experience more than 20 years and has published several translated literature book from the Middle East.

Translator
Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar is UT Professor of Persian and Comparative Literature. Ghanoonparvar has written several books about Persian literature and culture as In a Persian Mirror (1993), Translating the Garden (2001), Reading Chubak (2005), and Persian Cuisine (2006). By the Pen, The Patient Stone, Savushun, and The Myth of Creation are the books that Ghanoonparvar has translated into English.

Awards
On 27 September 2009, Fortune Told in Blood won award of "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category. The book was selected between 700 books in the festival.