Novels

 NAKED  INTO THE NIGHT

Upon examining his life, Winn Conover, family man, successful businessman, pillar of his community, discovers that “something was missing.  It was not material…it was something inside.”  Investigating further, he learns that he is much more than the maddening clutter of his life.  Finding that sacred self within but unable to maintain its presence in the moral bankruptcy of the television age, he walks out of his big suburban home one night naked, literally stripped of his old identity. Thus begins a spiritual odyssey that takes him across the country to the Southwest.  In Santa Fe, living among the pueblo Indians, he becomes “Anglo Who Became Chief Old Woman’s Son.”  But before he can claim his new identity, he must return to his family and allow them to release him.

“Monty Joynes is a genuine find by Hampton Roads.  His novel portrays not only a culture, an environment, a political reality, but also a psychological drama that includes gripping scenes like one in which the protagonist makes peace in a bar fight, and another where he becomes a spiritual guide to a friend dying of cancer.  Joynes has written the tale of a man who undergoes a radical inner transformation, walks away from his life as a successful real estate broker, husband, and father, and manifests in his new life as a homeless drifter, the outer life that reflects his inner transformation.  In lucid prose, Joynes narrates as compelling an example of a person choosing essence life and accepting the consequences as you are likely to find in modern fiction.”   The Independent Press Book Review

    LOST IN LAS VEGAS

White Wing, the future spiritual leader of a diminishing Pueblo tribe, is one of the best ritual dancers. He dances with such dignity and skill that he transcends this world like a sacred eagle, filled with grace and light. Lured by the excesses of modern society he uses his power of dancing for monetary gain rather than to fulfill the spiritual needs of his tribe.

Winn Conover, who first appeared in the novel Naked Into the Night, and now called “Anglo” by his adopted tribe, is called upon by the tribe’s elders to rescue White Wing from Las Vegas. Fulfilling ancient Native prophecy that white people will join forces with and help save Native spirituality, Anglo enters the hedonistic world to retrieve and guide, a lost and sacred son. Ultimately Lost In Las Vegas is a shared vision quest that reveals the path home, not only for White Wing and Anglo, but for all of us.

“LOST IN LAS VEGAS continues the story of NAKED INTO THE NIGHT.  After a profound, likely authentic, visionary kiva ritual, the Anglo’s adopted Pueblo tribe elders select him to rescue a young Indian man who is a prodigy of traditional dancing, and a potential successor to leadership, from the lifestyle of a performer in a Las Vegas resort hotel.  The contrast, between the consciousness that the Pueblo traditions propagate and the brilliant distractions of Vegas life, could hardly be more dramatic.  It makes for high drama, genuine spiritual struggle with illusion of various kinds, and excellent reading.” The Independent Press Book Review

SAVE THE GOOD SEED

Save the Good Seed is the third novel in the ongoing saga of Anglo, a middle-aged white man whose internal enlightenment leads him to a new life on an Indian reservation.

Today “Anglo Who Became Chief Old Woman’s Son” lives among the Pueblo Indians, a long way from his life as Winston Conover, middle-aged Virginia businessman. His disillusionment with that life led him to discard it—along with every vestige of his identity—as described in the first book of this series, Naked Into the Night. In the second novel, Lost in Las Vegas, Anglo repays the tribe by using his knowledge of the white man’s world to help reclaim a lost member of the tribe who had been seduced by the show business life.

Now Anglo is still among the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, finding the sacred in everyday life, not just in ceremonies and vision quests. But there are mutterings: Why is this white man living among them? Is he not a “pretend Indian?” Anglo came to the reservation for his own reasons, but he now finds himself a point of contention between those who want the tribe to become “modern” and those who want to return to past values, reclaiming the way of life some say is lost forever. And as Anglo becomes more immersed in the daily rhythms of tribal life, a young man half a continent away begins a long journey to find his home after half a lifetime spent among the whites. Ultimately, their paths cross . . .

In Save the Good Seed, Monty Joynes creates a vivid portrait of the disappearing world of ritual and harmony. His gift for creating real characters lays bare the pain and waste of the human spirit when denied its birthright, and demonstrates the courage and spirit need to find the way home.

“Monty Joynes, an “anglo,” (also the name of one of the main characters) presents an insightful novel on the intuitive consciousness vs. the rational, and how these modes play out in the human drama between Native American and white materialist cultures.  “What could be the evolutionary purpose in such radical psychological differences?” asks Joynes. Joynes writes with a refreshing humility, seemingly aware that he is a white man from a white culture.  He has to change his consciousness to authentically touch the repressed side of his own heart and mind in order to write about an Indian culture with integrity, understanding, and real respect.  By writing this story, he is able to harmonize the two distinct aspects of perception shown by two clashing cultures, creating a new myth of synthesis that could have major healing effects on individual, cultural, and archetypal levels.”           Paul Amero, Magical Blend

     DEAD WATER RITES

The water-which comes naturally from the earth and sky, the priceless compound of elements that forms and supports life-is dying. Warned in a vision, the tribal elder of the pueblo sends his chosen one to discover the fate of the precious life source. That man is Anglo, formerly known as Winn Conover, a white man who shares the work and vision of the tribe. Anglo must discover the true spiritual nature of the water in order to save it from encroaching land developers.

The fourth book in Joynes’ Booker series about a white man’s continuing search for meaning amid the indigenous peoples of the American Southwest, Dead Water Rites is lucid and literary, an articulate and artful plea to cease our self-destructive exploitation of the environment and native peoples.

“Dead Water Rites is the fourth book in the Booker Series by Monty Joynes.  However, readers new to Joynes will understand its powerful message of man’s fate if he continues to rape the earth.

A white man known sometimes as Booker and sometimes as Anglo “searches for new identity and spiritual completeness among the Pueblo people.” He learns how water is the very lifeblood of the People, and that they regard it as a “living being.” A tribal elder sees the water drying up and dying, and trusts Booker with the mission of finding the source of the “sick water.” If the water is truly dying, then the dead water rites will be performed, and life will cease to exist.  As he searches for the sick water, Booker also continues his journey of spiritual growth.  He meets a militant female environmentalist and begins learning of some of the politics involved in water rights.  He also learns that perhaps the celibate life isn’t right for him after all.

A group of land developers with the philosophy that “any day is a good day to make money” are also looking at the water.  They draw up a proposal for a gambling casino, replete with promises of economic security.  Buried in the fine print are the clauses handing over all water rights. A former real estate developer himself, Booker recognizes the true impact of the casino on the People.  He explains this to the tribal elders, who say that they will “continue to pray and seek a vision.”  Booker and the young woman are seriously injured in a car accident, from which it takes months to recover.  The developers move ahead unhampered with their plans.

DEAD WATER RITES “is lucid and literary, an articulate and artful plea to cease our self-destructive exploitation of the environment and native people.”  Those who read it will gain a new respect for the liquid essential to all life on Earth, and a better understanding of those who seek to keep it alive.” The Midwest Book Review

PSALM MAKER: THE JOURNAL OF BOOKER JONES

Psalm Maker: The Journal of Booker Jones is the fifth novel about an Anglo man’s entry into the social issues and metaphysics of contemporary American Indians.  The first four novels in what has become known as The Booker Series (Naked Into The Night, Lost In Las Vegas, Save The Good Seed, and Dead Water Rites) are third-person narratives about the man’s physical and spiritual adventures among the Pueblo Indians and other tribal peoples of the American Southwest.

The final book in the series is written from the point of view of Booker Jones himself as he evolves into a deeper spiritual experience, finds a female companion, and comments on the events that were dramatized in the first four novels. For many readers of the Booker Series, access to Booker’s inner life as expressed in his journal entries makes Psalm Maker their favorite book in the quintet.

The wisdom that Booker Jones articulates throughout his life changing odyssey is offered as “Insights and Meditations” at the end of the novel as if Booker’s companion Cathia had collected them.  Booker introduces the addition to his journal by saying, “What is herein expressed is a gift passed through one consciousness to another part of itself. For the speaker it is merely breath sent forth as the vortex of the living water that Creation provides as the basis of relationship.”

Psalm Maker is full of memorable characters and dramatic events that propel the reader through a cross-cultural adventure that has meaning for all humanity.

GRID

The scene is New Orleans, one of 16 Open Cities in the year 2032.  The United States, victim of economic depression, The Great California Earthquake, food riots and anarchy has a new constitution administered by 30 SIG’s (Special Interest Groups) who have divided the production centers of the country.

A spirited street musician dares to compete on the New Orleans Grid tower in a life-and-death gamble to finance his settlement of revolutionary refugees.  The hero’s access to the high-stakes game is dependent on appealing to the tempestuous Grid promotions director, an enigmatic famous beauty that war and the corrupt Open City have jaded against trust and love.

 

 

FLESH

 

There is a contemporary secret society worldwide that believes that eating human flesh has tremendous health benefits and that it is the key to evolutionary survival.  The focus is on the Norfolk, Virginia Chapter of the Roberto Society where a third-generation funeral home operator supplies resource for the taboo practice.

The activities of these serious flesh eaters has a chilling quality of verisimilitude.  The main characters include a medical doctor and his family, a U.S. Senator, and a German professor who has solved the riddle of the missing link and is feeding human brain to gorillas in an effort to make them speak.

When the Society is threatened with media exposure, and the public hysteria and revulsion that must follow, the life of every Society member is dramatically affected.

FLESH challenges all preconceptions about cannibalism in this allegorical science-fiction horror adventure of the mind and the stomach.  Read at your own gut-wrenching risk!