Books
In Violation of Human Rights
Published May 2019
The year is 1989. Two decades have passed since the Summer of Love and the San Francisco of ’67 seems a distant memory to a group of friends facing the challenges of sustained idealism after the Reagan years.
Kathleen Murray, now a criminal defense attorney in Berkeley, is passionate about the clients she defends. Among them is a young woman, trapped by mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and facing nineteen years in prison as part of a cocaine conspiracy; her crime—accepting three phone calls from her boyfriend’s contacts. Another of her clients is threatened with sixteen years for carrying drugs for a Mexican cartel; her choice—either become the mule or watch as her mother and young daughter are tortured. An older man from Texas drives a load of marijuana to California; arrested, he learns what it means to become ill in prison. A mother and father living in Humboldt County in California are targeted for the Cannabis seedlings they are growing as medicine for their autistic son; their proposed sentence compounded by the district attorney’s ire with their political promotion of legalization for the sick.
A Nation of Mystics Book One: Intentions
In A Nation of Mystics, author Pamela Johnson creates a trilogy of works that explores the youth subculture of San Francisco and Berkeley in the 1960s—its dedication to free speech, passion to end war, commitment to racial equality, new art and music, and sacramental use of mind-expanding hallucinogens.
Book One: Intentions, begins with the story of the arrival of young men and women from different parts of the world to share in the joy of the Summer of Love, 1967. As they meet, share ideas, and form communes and families, they commit to change and the creation of a new culture—one based on political action, expanded awareness, new insights into the nature of mind, and innovations in lifestyle.
A Nation of Mystics Book Two: The Tribe
In Book Two of A Nation of Mystics, author Pamela Johnson resumes her skillful exploration of the late-1960s and the counterculture through the eyes of a communal family, following the strengthening relationships of the tribe as its members search for enlightenment through mind-expanding hallucinogens and work for political change. The different threads in the lives of the characters finally intersect in the building of a community park on university land in Berkeley. As the youth movement pits itself against the establishment, the idealism of People’s Park ultimately explodes in tear gas and gunfire.
A Nation of Mystics Book Three: Journeys
In Journeys, the decade draws to a close, and as time passes, members of the Tribe are forced into making difficult choices. Christian Brooks finds he must return to India to face his demons. Kathleen Murray searches for a way to continue to hold to her ideals, even though hard men take her innocence. Myles Corbet, now a full agent working in Europe and Asia for Interpol, must finally come to terms with his actions, including the betrayal of his best friend, Jerry Putman. Narcotics Supervisor Dolph Bremer faces the case of his life; he will win all or lose all in his contest with attorney Lance Bormann.
Heart of a Pirate – A Novel of Anne Bonny
Northern California Publishers and Authors Award/ Fiction Published in 2009
Jamaica, October, 1720. The pirate ship of Calico Jack Rackham is captured off the western coast of Jamaica. While most of the crew is too drunk to defend against the onslaught of the King’s navy, two of the crewmembers stand to fight against overwhelming odds. When finally forced to surrender, the commander of the governor’s ship is amazed to discover that the two who defend are women disguised as men- Anne Bonny and Mary Read.