Book excerpt: A medieval slave-turned-sultan, an alien who declines to visit Earth, a prophet who dares to ask “is God funny?” and a ghost who fears the living—these are among the terrifying, tragic, passionate, and comic characters who animate Michael Oren’s stories. Crisscrossing genres, they explore the outer bounds of imagination and artistic freedom, exposing the reader to a kaleidoscope of human emotions and experience. In The Night Archer, the acclaimed historian, political commentator, and statesman Michael Oren is revealed as a writer of bold versatility.