Bøker av Aberjhani

At the heart of the 8 compelling nonfiction stories and 5-article appendix which make up Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is this interesting question: What would your life mean if you were living someone else's dream of what it should be? Possible intriguing answers arise from different individual perspectives, historical situations, and contemporary challenges.The introduction sets the unusual stage for the texts which follow as the author contemplates Georgia state founder James Oglethorpe's dreams for America's thirteenth colony and his possible reactions to conditions in thecity of Savannah today. "What he did not," the author proposes, "and perhaps could not, envision was the extent to which increasing cultural diversity and individual genius would begin to alter our collective experience of history..."In the title story, a well-known chronicler of the Harlem Renaissance contemplates what there is to gain or lose by editing a series of books on the American Civil War as it impacted, and still impacts, his hometown of Savannah. Without at first realizing it, a dream prepares him (almost) for a number of surprising results, including a flood of compassion for people he had never thought of as anything but enemies.The city's more cosmopolitan aspect and how that plays into the narrator's emotional and intellectual experiences of it is examined through several stories. They include: "Cities of Lights and Shadows and Dreams," "A Brazilian Thanksgiving in Savannah," and" [Claude] Monet, [Luther E.] Vann, and [Kahlil] Gibran at the Telfair Museum of Art."The humorous and yet serious tale of "Riding the Bus with Man-Boy and Shaniquananda: And Then Not" takes a look at how traditions and history sometimes clash with modern forms of communication in public spaces. In this case, how should a group of elderly African-American women respond to younger Blacks speaking loudly on cell phones about sexually intimate matters in their lives? "Savannah by the Twenty-first Century Numbers" is the most unusual of the book's narrative's as it combines a study of social realities with metaphysical analysis.By maintaining a steady focus on the evolving dynamics of his hometown and immersing himself in its cultural currents, Aberjhani has been able to glean and share insights applicable to individuals and communities around the world. From informed musings on family life, global warming, immigration, and slavery, to examinations of the power of art, technology, and numbers, he continuously engages readers' imaginations in thrilling and unexpected ways.

How does anyone greet an iconic author--like Flannery O'Connor, James Alan McPherson, or John Berendt--at the back door of his or her mind? Is such a thing even possible? Maybe it is when the voice of such an author no longer restricts itself to a printed page. Instead, adopting the form of searches for answers to troubling questions, longings for more engaged connections, or the sudden manifestation of an unexpected dialogue, it takes up residence in a particular life.For more than one demographic of America's diverse populations, back doors were once synonymous with emblems of racial, economic, and political oppression in their most cutting conspicuous forms. They stood alongside crosses burning with flames of hatred as opposed to crosses gleaming with messages of love or redemption, with "Whites Only" and "Coloreds" signs attached to public restrooms and water fountains, seats at the backs of buses and trains or up in balconies of theaters, segregated beaches, pamphlets on eugenics, and "strange fruit" (as Billie Holiday sang of lynched bodies) hanging from southern trees.The back door as it is approached, entered, and exited in the pages of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind represents points in time, places in space, and regions of spirit where sensibilities of an uncanny nature either collide or converge. The results are the kind which continue to increase literature's indispensable value as it pertains to specific communities and the world at large, providing solace and shelter during the best of times and the worst.

VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK is composed of 2 works of short fiction and 52 poems. It was first written and published as the global community not only came to grips with the reality of the attacks on 9/11 in 2001 but as a number of catastrophes shook humanity to its collective core throughout the first decade of the new century. People during that time on the one hand found themselves often reeling from the manmade horrors of war and terrorism. On the other, they also had to cope with the seemingly increasing fury of nature in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Yet these external challenges frequently intensified individuals' inner resolve and moved them to confront physical world chaos with a persistent kind of grace and startled integrity.

Movie-goers, television-watchers, and readers of novels --not to mention students of world spirituality-- have long been accustomed to the idea of paranormal partnerships between humans and angels and terrifying clashes with demons. What they had not seen or heard -until "Songs of the Angelic Gaze" -- were such passionate classic struggles presented in the voice of a modern poet who seemed to have occupied a front row seat to battle in both heaven and hell while transcribing all he witnessed into highly original and powerfully mesmerizing literary art. Those unfamiliar with "Songs of the Angelic Gaze" and "The Bridge of Silver Wings" will be glad to know that THE RIVER OF WINGED DREAMS contains all the works presented in the previous volume plus much more.

For the past two years (2006-2008) The Bridge of Silver Wings has earned a name for itself both as a series of poems published in different e-zines and as a book first published in 2007. What makes this 2009 edition a special one is the inclusion of five new poems: "Angel of Better Days to Come"; "Midnight Flight of the Poetry Angels"; "Photographed Light of My Grandmother's Soul"; "There upon a Bough of Hope and Audacity"; and, "What Angels Call a Poet."Readers exploring the pages of this book are likely to experience it in different ways as they move back and forth between one poetic state of being and another. The Bridge of Silver Wings 2009 may at times appear to be nothing more than a silk-thin illusion --resembling at moments either a terrifying nightmare or a healing vision--spread across an evening mist. While at other times it will register as solid as a concrete sidewalk or a giant boulder.(from author's Foreword)

"When a reader enters the pages of a book of poetry [with fiction], he or she enters a world where dreams transform the past into knowledge made applicable to the present, and where visions shape the present into extraordinary possibilities for the future. One of the funny things about those dreams and visions is that although they spring from the heart and soul of the writer, it is not unusual for readers to sometimes see themselves reflected in their light. This is possible because the reality of a serious writer is a reality of many voices, some of them belonging to the writer, some of them belonging to the world of readers at large." --From Introduction to VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK

More than a book of popular quotes, this volume is a powerful reference tool for some of the most frequently-cited poems, news articles, fiction, memoir, history, and creative nonfiction on the web. It also provides the largest single selection of quotes by the author, many available only in these pages, including the entire special section titled TAO OF THE RAINBOW. In addition, the book as a whole demonstrates the ability of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Google+ to help make positive and inspiring differences in 21st-century life. "Journey through the Power of the Rainbow represents a condensed compendium of literary efforts from a life dedicated to transforming the themes of injustice, grief, and despair that we all encounter during some unavoidable point of our existence into a sustainable life-affirming poetics of passionate creativity, empowered spiritual vision, and inspired commitment." --Aberjhani, from Journey through the Power of the Rainbow