The Gate of Dead Trilogy (3 Vols.)


Author: Hamid Reza Shahabadi
Publisher: Ofoq Publication House
Year of Publication: 2018-20
◙ Sample English text is available.
◙ Winner of Book of the Year, 2020
◙ Silver Medallist of The Flying Turtle, 2020
◙ Selected by the International Youth Library for The White Ravens Catalogue, 2019
About the Books:
Book 1:The Vertical Graveyard
ISBN: 978-600-353-387-5
Pages: 240
Hamidreza Shahabadi has yet again created a world of mystery and horror and intricate plot and complex characters. This work is the first volume of a trilogy to be and it revolves around three layers of entangled stories. It has two narrators, decades apart in time with each other. One is a boy (majid) who lives with his father and sister and his mother died a few years ago. The other (Reza Qoli), is a poor boy from the Qajar Era. He was taken from his family and sent to work as a slave for a cruel master who enslaved young boys in a haunted, feared house. Their paths cross in ways neither could imagine. As Expected from Shahabadi, author of Lullaby for the Dead Girl, social issues and historical events are woven into his storyline. He has brilliant dominance over his prose and how prominent each character should be. The details are well-processed and characters are relatable, especially Reza, who was a rebel and finally fled his master’s claw.
The rumor had it that he buried his enemies and unruly servants vertically between the walls of his mansion.
But the mystery started with a rumor, about people disappearing in a pool at that house. He lost his friend, who fell into the pool and came back a changed boy, unlike himself and any other living one. Reza ran away and took shelter with a wise man, struggling with problems to keep his school and fight illiteracy and superstition and ignorance and negligence. They formed a candid friendship and Majid reads about their adventures to stay alive in a diary accidentally fallen into his father’s possession. Majid commenced a quest to find Reza’s school and to fact check his story of the dead whose body never reached the surface of the pool. Friendship, loyalty, history, death, and truth are the main theme of the work. The dead may be gone, their presence lingers over the living and their death is not the end. Majid has lost his mother and Reza, his best friend, Shakoor. They both experienced loneliness and their stories intertwine, with a taste of horror and history.
The children of the mansion didn’t believe Shakoor’s comeback. They kept their distance from him and me as if we are infected with a fatal sickness. I couldn’t leave him alone, he was my best friend who has come back from the dead.
Book 2: Night of the Rampart
ISBN: 978-600-353-487-2
Pages: 240
Hamidreza Shahabadi has yet again created a world of mystery and horror and intricate plot and complex characters. This work is the first volume of a trilogy to be and it revolves around three layers of entangled stories. It has two narrators, decades apart in time with each other. One is a boy (majid) who lives with his father and sister and his mother died a few years ago. The other (Reza Qoli), is a poor boy from the Qajar Era. He was taken from his family and sent to work as a slave for a cruel master who enslaved young boys in a haunted, feared house. Their paths cross in ways neither could imagine. As Expected from Shahabadi, author of Lullaby for the Dead Girl, social issues and historical events are woven into his storyline. He has brilliant dominance over his prose and how prominent each character should be. The details are well-processed and characters are relatable, especially Reza, who was a rebel and finally fled his master’s claw. The rumor had it that he buried his enemies and unruly servants vertically between the walls of his mansion. But the mystery started with a rumor, about people disappearing in a pool at that house. He lost his friend, who fell into the pool and came back a changed boy, unlike himself and any other living one. Reza ran away and took shelter with a wise man, struggling with problems to keep his school and fight illiteracy and superstition and ignorance and negligence. They formed a candid friendship and Majid reads about their adventures to stay alive in a diary accidentally fallen into his father’s possession. Majid commenced a quest to find Reza’s school and to fact check his story of the dead whose body never reached the surface of the pool. Friendship, loyalty, history, death, and truth are the main theme of the work. The dead may be gone, their presence lingers over the living and their death is not the end. Majid has lost his mother and Reza, his best friend, Shakoor. They both experienced loneliness and their stories intertwine, with a taste of horror and history. The children of the mansion didn’t believe Shakoor’s comeback. They kept their distance from him and me as if we are infected with a fatal sickness. I couldn’t leave him alone, he was my best friend who has come back from the dead.
Book 3: The Well of Darkness
ISBN: 978-600-353-886-3
Pages: 224
This is where the world of stories meets history, human feelings, impossible choices, and relatable characters. Hamid Reza Shahabadi has done his magic once more: he entangles human fears with hopes and presents to the reader a rollercoaster of adventures, excitements, twists, and a final huge surprise. In The Well of Darkness, each loose end is tied up so perfectly that all of a sudden, his narrative world makes more sense. Characters finally find their due representation. It has all the elements of a good story, which haunts not only the readers’ minds but also their hearts and for a long time after finishing it, their memory. This is a great example of an Iranian horror story, which is narrated in alternating times. The protagonist is not just one persona; there are at least two. The book picks up what book two left off, however as the author has mentioned, it can be read as an independent historical horror story. We know that Shakour is not the only one who comes to the world of the living; Razi is one of those lost souls who cannot find solace anywhere. He is up to something and here is where Reza’s role becomes bolder. At present, the other protagonist needs answers, if he wants to save the life of an innocent man. Hamid Reza Shahabadi has put a lot of effort into creating an everlasting work of literature that is appealing to both Iranian children as well as young avid readers from around the world. The Vertical Graveyard has been published in Egypt too
About the Author

Hamid Reza Shahabadi, (1967-Iran)
Hamid Reza Shahabadi, an Iranian talented researcher and writer, is educated in history. His main concern is retelling some social incidents of his country's contemporary history in the form of a story. He began his profession as a writer by writing stories for children and adolescents. Hamid Reza Shahabadi in the thirty years of his writing created about 20 works that some of them have been praised and appreciated in many cultural and literary festivals and circles in Iran.
Some Books:
-Dayere Zangi, short story, Kaman publisher, 2001.
-Gothe Street Cafe, novel, Ofogh publisher, 2005.
-Dilmaj (translator), novel, Ofogh publisher, 2006.
-Sleeping song for a dead girl, Ofogh publisher, 2007.
-Slaves’ confession, adolescent novel, Kanoon publisher, 2009.
-When the Eyelashes lost, adolescent novel, Kanoon publisher, 2012.
-No one dares that, adolescent novel, Kanoon publisher, 2013.