RIM's Author of the Month for March- Gerald Johnson

Reader's In Motion March

Author of the Month

Gerald Johnson

Tell us about you.

I am a Father of "several" wonderful kids. I have been writing for most of my life because my parents got me started reading and writing at a very young and impressionable age... and currently, I am in remission from an acute form of Leukemia which I must honestly say I’m still trying to get used to. 

What inspired you to write your

 first book?

Well first you have to understand, My first book was written and completed when I was about 16 years old. I had found my love of sci-fi/fantasy and began reading everything I could from mythology to middle ages stories and just loved the idea of swords and sorcery and dragons...etc. So after reading about Conan the Barbarian and similar stories and playing Dungeons and Dragons I began to write along that genre. Sadly that book was recently lost when my mom's house flooded and a lot of my papers and some of my books were destroyed. Since those days I’ve allowed myself to explore different means of literary expression just because I do love to write and I try to write daily.

How much of the book is realistic?

-Of My two new books, Liquid Eroticism & Pitch Darke: the Poetic Chronicles of Damien Darke, both of which have been recently published; Pitch Darke is more like My Darker side as it conveys several years of my life over the course of relationships from friendships to marriage and of course several other moments from pains to moments of levity through my use of poetic prose. A lot of these poems were written years ago and saved over the course of time in the hopes of one day putting together this book and I have to say thank you to my publishing company for believing in my work with this book as well as Liquid Eroticism.

What books have most influenced

 your life most?

 To be truthful, the books that influenced my writing life the most I read when I was younger and pushed me into my first genre of writing which was sci-fi and fantasy. I am a huge Robert Howard fan and I do believe I have read just about every Conan the Barbarian book he wrote. I have a collection of his Conan books in my library including some that were copy written back in the late 60s. The overall influence was that those books allowed me to use and then expand my imagination and opened my mind to my own thoughts were my writing was concerned. It was as if a floodgate had been opened and once I began to write it was impossible to stop and to this day I’m still that way. I love to write and I love that when I do get into that zone it’s like watching a movie in my head and then putting it all into words. Mr. Howard opened that zone for me and if he was still alive he would definitely be one of those persons Id love to meet.

What are your current projects?

 -Currently, I am quite busy with a couple of different projects, but my most important one is my very first Urban (I do hope this is politically correct) Lit book that I have named Tainted: the Book of Revelations. This is the story of a young bride who is pretty much "innocent" in the ways of the streets and she finds herself caught up in her new husband's true business nature after he decides he is going to groom her to take over operations when he realizes he has been poisoned by is business partners. Now she has to grow up and find her ruthless side in order to take over the business, and in the end a few things are going to be revealed to those she must now deal with in order to survive. If all goes well with this book it will be the first of 3 in a series. I am hoping to have the last of the book written by the end of March with editing and proofing done for an April or May release.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

Her very first words to me when we finally introduced ourselves to one another was, "I've been watching you and your work for quite a while," and she had been. I went back into my fan page on Facebook and I found where she had initially liked it almost 6 to 8 months prior to us talking for the first time. She could tell me about some of the poems and short story works I had on the page. After talking for a little bit, which we did at a Starbucks in Jacksonville, FL, she told me that she would love to help me do something she could tell I wanted and that was get my work published. That's exactly what she did, Dawn Rivers has definitely been one of the most influential people I know where my writing, graphics, and my life overall is concerned. She has become a great friend and an important part of my life and I would never want to replace her. Thank you Ms. Rivers for everything.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

 What I would tell readers would depend on 2 things... 1 if you are a writer and you’re reading this please do me one big favor... write...write... and write some more... even if you feel that you don’t have anything to write or what you’re writing will make no sense still write. the more you write the more you’ll find you have something to say. and 2. If you are a reader please let those whose material you’re reading know what you think of what you read, good or bad, most of us really do want to know that way we can improve on what we have to offer.

For Me, I do not write because I have to, I write because I love to... I write because it is a part of who I am. Many call themselves Authors ... I call myself a Storywriter, a Minstrel, I am a Scribe of words...I write because to do otherwise would mean I’m not being true to myself.

Gerald Johnson's steamy hot novel Liqiud Eroticism can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in both paperback and ebook version.

This month we are giving away a free autographed copy of his novel Liqiud Eroticism. The winner of the novel will be chosen at random at the end of the month. Sure make sure you leave a comment to be enter.