Setara's Stories in a Nutshell

While Setara's Genie is a novel, it is presented somewhat in the style of 1001 Arabian Nights. The frame story wrapping all Setara's adventures together is all about a young woman in a bazaar listening to the tales told by an old story teller. A few days ago, I provided more information on the story teller, Abu Nuwas, and the greatest tale teller of all-time, Scheherazade. Read about them on Sue Perkins' blog here.

Setara's seven adventures flow from one to the next with only brief interludes when Abu Nuwas interacts with the young spice seller, Najda. The old man is interested in the girl's story and draws it out of her between pieces of Setara's tales.

But Setara's stories also stand on their own as individual tales. That's how they began, with the first story of how Setara met her genie, Basit. Once she's tasted freedom, Setara seeks further excitement and meets additional characters, each of which possesses some type of magic. A cave demon has power over rock, a pool demon over water, a flying horse...well, he doesn't have control over his magic at the beginning, but learns how to use it with help from Setara and her genie.
Here is a summary of each tale. Mind you, there are spoilers here, so proceed at your own risk.


THE SEVEN ADVENTURES (host-posts for more information)

Setara and the Genie (Barbara Ehrentreu)

Seeking adventure, the bored girl finds herself kidnapped by mountain raiders who promptly throw her into a cave. She is to be a sacrifice to appease the demon who lives within. She soon discovers that it is not a demon in the dank cavern, but a genie seeking a new master. Basit, the djinn, decides Setara will do nicely as his new mistress. But there's always a catch when one finds herself in possession of a genie. There are rules, Basit claims that prevent him from solving all her problems for her. He will only help her when she discovers the solutions to her predicaments.


Setara and the Cave Demon (Meradeth Houston)

Weeks after Setara escapes from the clutches of a band of raiders, she decides she'd better return to the cave, where she had been held prisoner, to see if the raiders had captured some other poor soul. She summons her djinn, Basit, to guide her back to the cave. Setara, Basit, and Sheik, her dog, return to the cave where she was held captive. They find someone in the cave, but not a prisoner as they expected. Setara, Basit, and Sheik take on the raiders again to help a very lonely demon named Azizah find a new home. Kairav, the water demon, takes a liking to Azizah, and the demoness settles into a cave overlooking his pool.

Setara and the Sultan's Horse (On This Blog)

After taking care of Azizah, Setara discovers a beautiful new horse in her father's stable. Hasib, the Sultan's Horse, is lucky to meet Setara, a girl with resources, to help him find and rescue his lovely mare, Habiba. Hasib is not quite in control of his magical abilities, so obviously needs some help. Setara calls on Basit, her two demon buddies, and Sheik, her faithful, but not too bright, dog to help Hasib in his quest. The adventurers must find the stolen horse and confront a band of merciless pirates.

Setara and the Dragon Demon (Pat McDermott)

After the fighting and rescues are done, Setara finds herself bored yet again. She decides to pay a visit to her demon friends, Azizah and Kairav. Finding them missing and with suspicious footprints leading into the tunnels beneath the mountains, she and Basit must investigate and wend their way through the caverns. They come upon the two demons in a furious fight with Azhi Dahaka, the Dragon Demon whose blood created the flying, fire-breathing warhorse Hasib. Setara, Basit, Sheik, and the mare, Nasreen, must fly to the Sultanate of Semidor to save their friend, Hasib, from death by dragon fire. After a dangerous airborne battle, the friends discover that Azhi Dahaka is the long-lost great great great (and more greats) grandfather of Hasib. In any case, the dragon demon's blood was infused into Hasib's ancestors to create the fire-breathing battle horses.

Setara and the Evil Djinn (Barbara Ehrentreu)

Not too soon after, Setara rides her flying mare Rosetta to visit her friends, the demons Azizah and Kairav. She calls for her genie Basit to appear, but nothing happens! Another genie comes instead to tell her Basit is missing. Setara, her demon friends and Sheik, the faithful hound, must find the hidden tomb of the Great Vizier to seek help. Setara and the demons are placed in grave danger on their mission. Setara must overcome her deepest fear to save herself, her companions, and to rescue Basit from a trap set by an evil genie seeking revenge on the the Vizier.


Setara and the Kazikli Bey (Enita Meadows)

Having lived in the plains her entire life, Setara gets an urge to go on a sea voyage. Asking her genie, Basit, to make arrangements, she soon departs for the teeming port city of Gamaal. A meeting with an old witch sets her on a dangerous course toward pirates, slavery, and rescuing Basit once again. In the end, she discovers she was fated to meet a powerful Prince. Little did she know the old witch had steered her to him with a stolen amulet. Setara returns the amulet to the Prince, and he assists her and Basit to return home.



Setara and the Merboy (Rebecca Ryals Russell and Pat McDermott)

While taking her winged mare, Nasreen, for a flight, Setara saves a mute stableboy from Slavers only to find he has a curse on him. She, Kairav, and Basit must go to sea to discover the boy's true identity, the son of Poseidon and heir to the sea kingdom. Setara and her friends help the merboy overcome his evil uncle's
dastardly plans to usurp the throne for himself.