The story of PJ (Paul Johnston, in this case)

Tally, An Intuitive Life, by Mary Clark, is a novel based on the life and stories of Paul Johnston, who came to Greenwich Village, NY in 1919 and remained the rest of his life.   This book is in press at All Things That Matter Press.  Mary Clark met him in 1979, and the memory clearly lingers.

Is it possible to be decent and fully alive in modern society?  To Mary, PJ, also known as The Old Man, Ghost of his wife's husband, The Writer, etc., is an example worth documenting and telling the world about.

Here's Mary's description of 'Tally, An Intuitive Life':


"It is raining love in Greenwich Village. . . When Erin Yes, a young poet, reads these words on a piece of folded paper in the garret of Paul Johnston (PJ), an elderly Bohemian artist, she does not know she is on the threshold of a life-changing adventure. She is brought together with PJ by Rogue, another poet, who has known PJ for a decade. Her presence creates tension between the two men. And PJ confides in her that he needs the female perspective in his study of human nature.
PJ is a living example of Greenwich Village’s “revolution of consciousness.” Coming to the Village in 1919, he took in the full flavor, substance and style of the Bohemian philosophy of life. Over the years, through his heightened awareness, he created his own philosophy. PJ, Erin and Rogue embark on a journey through the human psyche. Erin learns of PJ’s death and rebirth after an operation at the age of 40, in the skeleton of the man he had been. He is reborn into a second innocence, but has the mind and memory of a grown man. In his search for new reasons to live, he forms new identities: The Artist, the Professor of Love, and The Old Man, among others. But who is PJ? And who will Erin become?"

Look for the book to appear some time later this year.

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This is the thirteenth of a short series of Author profiles that features fellow authors in the All Things That Matter Press family.