About my book "Red Clay Blood River"

On December 16, 1838, an African woman lies dying on the icy banks of the Mississippi River, comforted by her son and her Cherokee master and mistress. At the same time, not far from her birthplace, the life blood of a young warrior slips into the ground on the banks of the Ncome River in southern Africa. The earth that binds our histories together in a rhythm not our own tells three intertwined stories culminating in these synchronous events. In their connection we enter a narrative of estrangement, oppression, memory, and reconciliation rooted in the simultaneous events of America's "Trail of Tears" and South Africa's "Great Trek."

These events and journeys reverberate in the lives of three contemporary students brought together by their interests in ecology. Through their often difficult friendship and a surprising discovery they begin to unravel the mystery of their estrangements, struggles, and deep connections to each other and to the earth.

Through the many facets of this work we are invited to see our fractured human history from within the sensibilities of an earth that seeks the flourishing of all creatures and transcends their loves and deaths within its life.

Based on ten years of research, travel, and writing in the US, England, and South Africa, this novel combines elements of historical fiction with an unusual narrative style and perspective that provides many layers of enjoyment and reflection for a wide variety of readers.

You can buy the book at Amazon.com .

Welcome to my blog! Here's a little about me...

In the academic phase of my life I authored eight books and numerous articles in social ethics and religion. After over thirty years of teaching social ethics and theology - in Germany, India, and South Africa as well as in the United States - I wanted to turn my hand to a poetically written novel to probe the issues of ecological and human reconciliation.

We live in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, where writing and woodworking are in the blood, the woods, the mountains, and the story-telling culture of both Cherokee and European settlers. The massive tulip poplar behind me in the photo was a sapling when colonial settlers and Cherokee inhabitants struggled for control of this land. Contemporary struggles for reconciliation in these mountains find deep resonance in the experiences of South Africans, with whom I have lived and worked for much of the last ten years. As Lanier Johnson, one of the contemporary characters would say, exploration of these connections is what this book is all about.

When I am not writing, I create furniture for worship settings from the wood that grows around me. For more about my work, go to http://www.wisdomstable.net/, where you will also find galleries of artwork by my wife Sylvia, whose ancestors were the original inspiration for Red Clay, Blood River.