Books by Marcus Johnson

What does it mean to live well? What are the consequences of believing that the world is a bad place? What is virtue? How can we embrace life and living? These are the sorts of questions addressed in Alapaha Paganism. No final, universal, or ultimate answers are prescribed. Instead, a unique perspective, growing in Alapaha, is shared. It suggests this life is good, this world is good, and neither are in need of salvation or redemption.

Not everyone chooses the streets. Sometimes, when everything is taken away, it's all that's left... The slums of Shindjin have long since been the champion of poverty. Violence and extortion are commonplace, where one's fate can literally be determined by a roll of the dice. A place where the fallout of these actions fall onto the shoulders of children. Shou and Jun are two such children, torn from the comfort of the lives they knew. Now thrust into an environment where organized crime IS law. With nowhere to turn, they're forced to become the very thing that ruined their lives.

Harnakhte is the son of the governor of a small town in the very south of Egypt, and Apet-hesit is one of pharaoh's numerous granddaughters. They meet as children and swear an oath to love each other forever. Six years pass and Harnakhte leaves his parent's home to look for his bride in Pi-Ramses. During the time of separation, Apet-hesit's mother was killed by a holy crocodile. Apet-hesit avenges her mother's death and kills the creature. The priests want to execute the killer of the holy crocodile, but don't know who is to blame.Apet-hesit's father fancies his chances to succeed as pharaoh, but he needs money to finance his plan, and sells Apet-hesit as a slave. Then he has her abducted and taken to Sharakh, a secret city in the desert where he hides her from her owner.Harnakhte arrives in Pi-Ramses to find Apet-hesit gone. He manages to find the city of Sharakh, but is imprisoned. The people of Sharakh train one of their girls to act as Apet-hesit and show her to Harnakhte to distract him from the real Apet-hesit. The lovesick man is taken in.Court politics intervene and the two lovers are kept apart. Will Harnakhte ever recognize his true love? Find out in the historical novel Apet-hesit: Scarred for Life.Raised in Holland, Marcus Johnson now lives in New Zealand. Fascinated by history, his last novel was Salome: An Invitation to the Dance.Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/MarcusJohnson