Lion's Blood is a 2002 alternate history novel by American writer Steven Barnes. The book won the 2003 Endeavour Award. It is followed by the sequel Zulu Heart. The novel presents an alternate world where an Islamic Africa is the center of technological progress and learning while Europe remains largely tribal and backward. Throughout the novel, both the Gregorian calendar and the Islamic Hijri calendar are used. The title draws its name from Abu Ali's sacred knife, which is called Lion's Blood (or "Nasab Asad" in Arabic), which was carried into battle by members of Abu Ali's family for ten generations. It is made of "razor-sharp steel and bone…Its hilt was crafted of black rhino horn, bolted to the tang with six heavy steel rivets. Legend held that the steel blade was smelted from a fallen meteorite by Benin smiths, its white-hot length quenched in the living blood of a lion". Source: Wikipedia (en)