Charles Johnson

In 1830, Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed slave leading a dissolute life in New Orleans, finds himself forced into marriage.

Middle Passage

David Cordingly

Originally published in 1724, this famous account chronicles the lives and exploits of the most notorious pirates from Anne Bonny to Blackbeard.

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates

Steven Barnes

From award-winning authors Charles Johnson and Steven Barnes comes a graphic novel anthology of interconnected Afrofuturistic parables inspired by the teachings of Buddha Eight strangers looking for enlightenment from an ancient spiritual teacher are trapped in a cave high in the mountains on their way to his temple. One of his acolytes directs them to each tell a story that the group can learn from as they wait out the horrible snowstorm that rages outside the cave's entrance. One by one the travelers each share a story that, unbeknownst to them, is actually a morality tale representing one of the aspects of final enlightenment as taught in Buddhism. As the wind howls through the night, they tell symbolic stories of horror, dystopia, high adventure, cyberpunk, and urban fantasy. Each story is a spoke on the symbolic Dharma wheel, and each interlocking tale gets the travelers closer to their true destiny--unveiling the future of the entire human race. This remarkable collection borrows heavily from the traditions of pop-culture morality anthology series such as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Lovecraft Country, and the publications of E.C. Comics. Heavily influenced by the science fiction pulps of the 1950s and 1960s, this brilliant collection remixes classic social narratives such as Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and The Arabian Nights, through an edgy, contemporary, yet spiritually centered lens. In The Eightfold Path, our destinies lie in heeding the lessons given in every one of these entrancing tales.

The Eightfold Path

In these eight fables and allegorical tales, the author writes of the events of this world as influenced by spiritual or strongly cultural forces.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

One night in the antebellum South, a slaveowner and his African-American butler stay up to all hours drinking Madeira and playing cards. Finally, too besotted to face their respective wives, they drunkenly decide to switch places in each other's beds. The result is a hilarious imbroglio and an offspring, Andrew Hawkins, whose life becomes the Oxherding Tale, a deliciously funny, bitterly ironic account of slavery, racism, oppression - and the African-American spirit - in the Old South. Through sexual escapades, picaresque adventures, and philosophical inquiry, young Hawkins walks the line between white and black worlds and comments wryly on marriage, human nature, slave catchers, and culture along the way.

Oxherding Tale

"Organized into six accessible, easy-to-navigate sections, The Way of the Writer is both a literary reflection on the creative impulse and a utilitarian guide to the writing process. Johnson shares his lessons and exercises from the classroom, starting with word choice, sentence structure, and narrative voice, and delving into the mechanics of scene, dialogue, plot and storytelling before exploring the larger questions at stake for the serious writer. What separates literature from industrial fiction? What lies at the heart of the creative impulse? How does one navigate the literary world? And how are philosophy and fiction concomitant? Luminous, inspiring, and imminently accessible, The Way of the Writer is a revelatory glimpse into the mind of the writer and an essential guide for anyone with a story to tell."

reflections on the art and craft of storytelling

The way of the writer

A masterful story collection—thirteen years in the making—from National Book Award winner Charles Johnson, showcasing the incredible range and resonant voice of this American treasure. This new collection of stories from National Book Award winner Charles Johnson offers an eclectic, engaging range of narratives, tied together by Buddhist themes and displaying all the grace, heart, and insight for which he has long been known. In “The Weave,” Ieesha and her boyfriend carry out a heist at the salon from which she has just been fired—coming away with thousands of dollars of merchandise in the form of hair extensions. “Night Hawks,” the titular story, draws on Johnson’s friendship with the late playwright August Wilson to construct a narrative about two writers who meet at night to talk. In “Kamadhatu,” a lonely Japanese abbot has his quiet world upended by a visit from a black American Buddhist whose presence pushes him toward the awakening he has long found elusive. “Occupying Arthur Whitfield,” about a cab driver who decides to rob the home of a wealthy passenger, reminds readers to be grateful for what they have. And “The Night Belongs to Phoenix Jones” combines the real-life story of a “superhero” in the city of Seattle with an invented narrative about an aging English professor who decides to join him. Spanning genres from science fiction to realism, these stories convey messages of tolerance, hope, and gratitude. With precise, elegant, and moving language, Johnson creates memorable characters and real, human struggles that have the power to enlighten and change us as we read.

Stories

Night Hawks

Patricia Smith

WGBH Series Research Team

The history of slavery is chronicled through the eyes of slaves, from their landing in Jamestown to the Civil War.

America's Journey Through Slavery

Africans in America

Sam Willis

General History of the Lives, Murders and Adventures of the Most Notorious Rogues

The Classic Account of the Most Murderous and Felonious Exploits from the Golden Age of Piracy

General History of the Pirates

From Charles Johnson—a National Book Award winner, Professor Emeritus at University of Washington, and one of America’s preeminent scholars on literature and race—comes an instructive, inspiring guide to the craft and art of writing. An award-winning novelist, philosopher, essayist, screenwriter, professor, and cartoonist, Charles Johnson has devoted his life to creative pursuit. His 1990 National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage is a modern classic, revered as much for its daring plot as its philosophical underpinnings. For thirty-three years, Johnson taught and mentored students in the art and craft of creative writing. The Way of the Writer is his record of those years, and the coda to a kaleidoscopic, boundary-shattering career. Organized into six accessible, easy-to-navigate sections, The Way of the Writer is both a literary reflection on the creative impulse and a utilitarian guide to the writing process. Johnson shares his lessons and exercises from the classroom, starting with word choice, sentence structure, and narrative voice, and delving into the mechanics of scene, dialogue, plot and storytelling before exploring the larger questions at stake for the serious writer. What separates literature from industrial fiction? What lies at the heart of the creative impulse? How does one navigate the literary world? And how are philosophy and fiction concomitant? Luminous, inspiring, and imminently accessible, The Way of the Writer is a revelatory glimpse into the mind of the writer and an essential guide for anyone with a story to tell.

Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling

The Way of the Writer

Short stories reflect on the African experience of slavery in America and slavery's profound impact on American life, from the colonial period to Emancipation.

Soulcatcher and Other Stories

A Novel About Martin Luther King, Jr.

DREAMER

Linda Wagner-Martin

Shelley Fisher Fishkin

Mark Twain

Offers a debate on the topics of free will, determinism, faith, and human nature

What is Man?

A facsimile edition of a classic source for the history of piracy, as used by Robert Louis Stevenson in the writing of Treasure Island. Captain Charles Johnson s General History of Pirates was one of the best-selling books of 1724, when it was first published. It provides a sweeping account of what has come to be called the Golden Age of Piracy. It went through four editions in two years, and without doubt owed a substantial part of its success to a dramatic writing style that vividly captures the realities of pirates savage existence. The book contains documentary evidence of events during the lives of its subjects. In the 270 years since its original publication, Johnson s work has come to be regarded as the classic study of one of the most popular subjects in maritime history.

A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates

Ralph Ellison

An African-American man's search for success and the American dream leads him out of college to Harlem and a growing sense of personal rejection and social invisibility. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Invisible Man

Daniel Defoe

A General History of the Pyrates From their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present Time By Daniel Defoe and Captain Charles Johnson A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pseudonym for one of London's writer-publishers. The prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared. It pandered to the British public's taste for the exotic; revelling in graphic stories on the high seas. English naval historian David Cordingly writes: "it has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates."

Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates

A General History of the Pyrates

The Original and Best Pirate Book. Often considered to be the primary source for information about the pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy, this book was written around the time these marauders plagued the Seven Seas. Scholars have often linked the pseudonym of Charles Johnson to Daniel Defoe and other authors, but whoever the true author was they speak with obvious knowledge of the subject and of maritime matters in general. This work contains both Volumes of the History of Pirates, with chapters on the following pirates: Henry Avery, John Martel, Edward Teach (Black-beard), Major Stede Bonnet, Edward England, Charles Vane, John (Calico Jack) Rackam, Ann Bonny, Mary Reid, Howel Davis, Bartholomew (Black Bart) Roberts, Thomas Anstis, Richard Worley, George Lowther, Edward Low, John Evans, John Phillips, Francis Spriggs, John Bowen, William Kidd, Thomas Tew, John Halsey, Thomas White, Christopher Condent, Samuel (Black Sam) Bellamy, Captain Fly, Thomas Howard, David Williams, Samuel Burgess, Nathaniel North, and John Augur, as well as the fictional pirates James Misson, William Lewis, and John Cornelius. To round the volume out are extra chapters on Sir Henry Morgan, John Gow, Brigstock Weaver, William Ingram, and John Upton, by the same author. This work is not a cheap scan or the result of copying and pasting; It contains no missing pages, areas of blurred or missing text, photocopier's fingers, coffee stains, or other scanning artifacts. It has all of the original text , reformatted in an easy to read format, with illustrations.

A General History of the Pirates (Expanded Edition)

Elisheba Johnson

When ten-year-old genius Emery Jones accidentally sends Chippy 190 million years back in time, he's not sure he can reverse the process-or if he even wants to. Chippy, his crew of bullies, their teacher, and even Emery's dad don't seem to understand Emery's genius. Will Emery Jones risk traveling to the Triassic Period to rescue a bully like Chippy? You never know what can happen when you have the brains and the technology for bending time...

Charles Johnson

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