Jonathan M. Bryant
Occasional Posts focused on writing
Over forty years ago, a photograph awakened my curiosity.
This photograph was in Franklin Garrett’s Yesterday’s Atlanta, a collection of historic Atlanta photographs published in 1974. Taken in July 1939, the photo shows Peachtree Street in what was then called the theater district. The former Davidson's department store, Capitol Theater, and Roxy are on the right; farther down the street are the Paramount and Loews Grand, site of today’s Georgia Pacific Building. Hanging over Peachtree is a Nazi flag, with the Coca-Cola sign behind. Banners on the lampposts welcome the Baptist World Alliance to Atlanta.
Bizarre and interesting, so it stayed with me.
About fifteen years ago, I remembered the picture. A bit of newspaper research (the hard way back then: microfilm) revealed that the Baptist World Alliance met every five years. In July of 1939, 40,000 Messengers, representing more than sixty countries, assembled in Atlanta.
Meeting in July of 1939, a central concern was the promotion of world peace, justice, and the prevention of war. Perhaps I could write a scholarly article based on this story?
Events at the meeting were remarkable for 1939 in Atlanta, Georgia. Early in the proceedings, the Alliance leadership, given permission by Mayor William Hartsfield, removed the legally required segregation signs in meeting venues. In tandem with this, vigorous debate erupted over Nazi Germany’s racial policies and over the worldwide spread of totalitarianism. Despite the protests of almost 300 German Messengers, a resolution condemning Germany’s race laws passed.
There was even a strong anti-imperialist element in the resolutions.
“We condemn all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, colored people, or the subject races in any part of the world.”
Soon, however, I was caught up in the research and writing of Dark Places of the Earth, and I put the article on the Baptist World Alliance meeting aside.
(Dark Places of the Earth: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope, Liveright/W.W.Norton, 2015)
Spending time with creative writers at Georgia Southern University awakened an interest in writing fiction. Fiction allows you to address truths and illustrate the human condition in ways that are impossible while writing history. Influenced by the image of Peachtree Street with the Nazi flag, I sketched out ideas for a period espionage and crime novel set in Atlanta. But I didn’t have time to write it.
Then came the pandemic.
Archives and libraries closed. I had begun a project focused on the case of Fletcher v. Peck's impact upon Native American land rights, and even spoken about my project at the American Society for Legal History. But, with the archives and libraries closed, I couldn't continue. So, inspired by my research on the Slave Ship Antelope, I began work on a novel about the illegal slave trade in the early 19th century. The result was The Slaver’s Apprentice, and the manuscript recently won a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association.
(I hope to soon find a publisher)
After writing The Slaver’s Apprentice, I returned to the Atlanta story. Market trends showed that readers love genre series. Perhaps this book, set in a little known but fascinating time and place, could be more than a one-off? Perhaps this could be the first volume of a noir crime and espionage series set in Atlanta? Tales in the tradition of Joseph Kanon, Philip Kerr, Robert Olen Butler, Alan Furst, and, most recently, Thomas Pynchon. Books I enjoy. In my naiveté about the fiction world, I didn’t know I had set a very high mark.
Thus, the stories of Mark Morgan and Emma Connor began to emerge. Not simply of them navigating the dangerous world of organized crime and spies, but also building an investigative partnership amidst the fits and starts of a budding romance. In the Noir tradition, it’s first person. While most fiction these days is read by women, it felt false to write with a woman’s voice. Mark has to carry the burden of telling the stories.
Despite his privileged background, nothing is easy for Mark Morgan. He’s not only ignorant of the seamier side of Atlanta, he’s also impulsive and haunted by recent personal, but devastating events. A man who was on top, but now he’s broken and increasingly cynical about his world. He's struggling to build a coherent life and new relationships.
Emma Connor, a former librarian, works for the WPA Writers Project. Bright and remarkably knowledgeable, she’s cautious and deliberate in her actions. A superb investigative partner, Mark does not at first grasp the potential of her insightful contributions. Of course, she has a hidden past not yet fully revealed.
How will these two very different people deal with phantom killers and Nazi spies?
What could be more noir than that?
Coming Soon!
Volume One in the Consulting Agent Series