​Author and Lecturer
Ronald R Johnson
Like many of my colleagues in the field of philosophy, I try to excite my students' imaginations through thought experiments or "what ifs?"
I've written a few novels with that same approach.
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In Small World, I ask the reader to consider whether they would be willing to save the world if they were first required to reach out to their least-favorite person.
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A journalist and a reclusive professor have ten days to find an alien named Basil or the world will be destroyed. A hand-held device offers clues, but only the professor can read it, and the journalist doubts the man's sanity. Along the way, they must...
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*kidnap a Reality TV star,
*seek help from a female ex-convict with a mysterious past, and
*rely on a dysfunctional family of cloned geniuses...
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...while staying one step ahead of...
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*journalists from competing networks,
*gangsters, and
*soldiers.
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Kirkus Reviews calls Small World "a snide, witty, thoroughly entertaining romp through human nature and all its foibles.... Johnson, a philosophy professor, has more up his sleeve than great writing and a funny, extremely readable story; readers will also have fun searching between the lines for deeper implications and references."
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You can order Small World (or get more information about it) by clicking on any of the following links:
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Smashwords (a clearing house for a number of online merchants)
What if you had to compete against your neighbors on network TV for the chance to save your home? That's the question that Eminent Domain asks.
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Carson Street is a close-knit neighborhood where everyone looks out for everyone else... until a TV production crew arrives, announcing that they must compete against each other on a new reality show called Eminent Domain. Only one house will be left standing when the show is over; all the others will be destroyed.
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But they don't just have each other to worry about; they must also compete against Victor's Summit, the gated community towering over them on a nearby hilltop. Mysteries abound at Victor's Summit, and the residents of Carson Street soon learn that they have much more to fear than the loss of their homes.
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You can order Eminent Domain (or get more information about it) by clicking on any of the following links:
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Smashwords (a clearing house for a number of online merchants)
The question I pose in The Temporary Telepaths is: What if you and your adversary could read each other's minds?
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A pool of sentient slime wants to enter the world of the Athoah against their wishes. When the Athoah (an innocent race of talking sheep) are summoned to appear before the Galactic Council for refusing to admit the slime, creatures all over the galaxy take sides.
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In defiance of the court, a media personality called The Inflated One announces that he’s going to make the parties come to terms, but terrorists have vowed to pop him on arrival.
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Attorney Tony Lamont represents the Athoah, and he has promised that they’ll win. But he’s facing legendary attorney Vonda Sheffield, who has never lost a case. She’s Phrenarian (a species with superior intelligence), but she’s trying to pass as British. She’s been running from her identity her whole life.
It just caught up with her.
She has one week to embrace her heritage, but she doesn’t know how. She unintentionally forms a telepathic bond with Tony, and if they don’t learn the rules by the end of the week, they’ll both “shrivel up inside.”
It’s a romantic comedy about the Culture Wars with an Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant vibe.
You can order The Temporary Telepaths (or get more information about it) by clicking on the link below:
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For more information on my ongoing work in these and other subjects, please email me (ron@ronaldrjohnson.com) and ask for my free newsletter. I'll email it to you once a month.
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