Walkin' Blues
is a meditation and speculation on the life and legend of bluesman Robert Johnson. It is a hero's journey, largely set in 1930's Mississippi. Johnson takes his sweet time rambling across the state and singing for his supper in jukes as he encounters curious women, jealous men, ugly racism of the time, the aftermath of the 1927 flood, and much more. He's a man who is walking to think and walking to forget.
is ruminating as revolution by a writer who, for over 40 years, has had one eye on the telescope, the other on the microscope, and the forthrightness to speak on it as strongly as anyone in our era.
is the first published novel by Salaam.