Loch Raven Student Becomes Published Author

At 18 years old, Abdul Hammed Akbaryeh has accomplished what many people only aspire to—he's a published author. For the Carney native, the publication of his novel, A Hero's Plight, is the culmination of more than four years of hard work.

Now a senior at Loch Raven High School, Abdul began working on the book, a medieval fantasy story in the vein of Lord of the Rings, when he was in the seventh grade at Pine Grove Middle School.

"The story has changed enormously since then. It took me two years to write and another two years to edit," Akbaryeh said. "It's been a constant chipping away and building back up."

His story follows several heroes, all from different imagined cultures and backgrounds, as they attempt to set things right in the wake of a centuries-old war that left their world ravaged. 

"I tried to base the nations and cultures in the book off real-world nations—the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, African tribes," said Akbaryeh. "There's a lot of symbolism both from those cultures and from my own life. I tried to emphasize that although one group can seem villainous, in their eyes they might be doing the 'right thing,'" he said.

Akbaryeh, a first-generation Iranian-American, said he drew inspiration from a wide variety of authors, including Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joseph Conrad and J.K. Rowling. 

"Reading Poe really helped warp the story—he left me intrigued with the beauty of the language," said Akbaryeh. "Later on, as I was editing, I read a lot of Oscar Wilde—I would edit some, read some Wilde, go back and edit more—that really helped me to work on the flow of my words."

According to Akbaryeh, though, nothing inspired him to write more than his seventh grade English teacher, John Ward, and a book called Watership Down by Richard Adams.

"Mr. Ward was so excited about that book—I really got into it. I thought 'I could do this,'" Akbaryeh said.

No one was more surprised to hear about Akbaryeh's book than Ward. 

"He struck me as very attentive, but he wasn't one of those who had his hand up all the time—obviously he took something away from it," Ward said.

"I feel flattered and I'm very proud of him; it's a cool thing when the student is able to surpass the teacher. This is the next level—it's something else," he said.

If writing the book was a monumental task, finding a publisher was at least as difficult. Abdul thought about big publishing houses like Tate and Penguin but, after reading the conditions for submitting a manuscript, ultimately chose to self-publish with a private publishing company called Author House.

"I have to sell 114 copies before I'll make back my investment," Akbaryeh said.

The book is availble on the web at Author House (where you can find a free preview), Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Brick-and-mortar stores will have the option to carry it—but Akbaryeh will have to do all his own promotion. A store like Barnes & Noble would only choose to carry A Hero's Plight if Akbaryeh could convince them to do so.

With one book published and high school almost over, the ambitious National Honor Society president has a lot on his mind. Applying to colleges (Princeton, UPenn and Duke, among others), where he plans to enter medical school ("Literature always interested me, but I'm a math and science guy," he said), promoting his book through signings, and starting to work on his second book, a sequel.

"After really editing and understanding what I wanted to give to the audience, I decided that [the story] would be best served as a trilogy," Akbaryeh said. "I always knew where it was going.  I'm giving myself three years to get it done."