North Africa… 25 yrs ago

A curious geography, historically active with pirates, djinns and easy paths to drug use…

A strange place for an American college student to do his term abroad design study.

But Christopher Janus was fascinated with the Med, its sun, beaches and the Moroccan pedestrian towns and markets. CJ chose Tangier.

Read his flash fiction stories Thunderstruck, Steganophonic Streetlife and Cthulu 2000. Share his strange experiences in his series of 40 flash fiction stories entitled, Curious Tales.

Sample them for FREE at: https://amzn.to/41v2DNv

Autumn Unvarnished

Autumn IRL

Science has lost its magic since the covid. Academe has lost its magic since the wokeism. I fall  back into the era of Christianity and alchemy where nature and its connection to human emotion is magic, a gift from God… but life ain’t just a bowl of cherries.

Take me where it is real.

https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

“Magical Realism”

I could never get “magical realism” until I spent too many years around the Rub al Khali–the Empty Quarter.

Then I met CJ. He was obsessed. About? I couldn’t figure it out–magical realism or the Empty Quarter.

He wrote: “How to beat, tame, survive–the Empty Quarter–life–magical realism?

Only by imagination.”

CJ tried…and got beat.

It all started in Morocco, Tangier Gardens, then KSA, Egypt and finally, the Empty Quarter.

Dichotomy?

CJ studied fine arts for his first two years at college. In music, literature and painting he found an enigmatic similarity. Many composers, authors and painters were inspired by nature, either the outdoors or human nature. That was clear.

It was, however, the dichotomy of the critics that confused him. 

The critics’ perplexing dichotomy pitted human social nature vs the natural world, nature without humans. He wondered why the dichotomy? Were not humans part of the nature in which we all lived? Even though humans were at the top of the food chain we were still part of the chain. How can behavior, intelligence or spirit separate humans from the nature all around us?

And why have so many sought to make that ‘false’ distinction?

CJ’s own battles with this dichotomy got serious when, after deciding to major in landscape architecture, he went to North Africa, for his term abroad design study.

There he met a couple esoteric horticulturists, one Russian and the other British. They had built and were guardians of an arcane garden, the Oval Garden, behind their Hibiscus House. There they tried to educate CJ–solve his enigmatic fine arts, landscape and garden concerns.

Read about it in Tangier Gardens on Amazon. Buy a copy.

Two Roads Diverged in a Green Wood

Two roads diverged in a green wood… did CJ really have a choice?

Travel to Morocco on a fun trip, weaving culture with horticulture.
That arcane weave is the magic connection of humans with nature.
Discover that weave with CJ, the protagonist.

This action-packed coming of age novel follows Christopher Janus, a determined American university student who, during his last year, is abroad studying landscape architecture in Tangier. But what was supposed to be a simple design study quickly turns into a battle of wits and will as CJ is thrown into a world of unexpected challenges that threaten his degree, professional goals, and even his life. With danger lurking in every corner, CJ must rely on his courage and luck to make it out alive. If you enjoyed the suspenseful thrill ride of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, you’re sure to love Tangier Gardens. Buy at Amazon now before the price changes! Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

You got to look inside

The way in to Tangier Gardens.

These metaphysical autobiographies will transport you to a realm of discovery beyond the limits of nature and the five senses. Christopher Janus graduated a landscape architect, but his true education came from the most unexpected and unfortunate experiences of his life. In his fictional autobiographies, readers follow CJ on his international travels as he discovers the secrets of the landscape. As CJ navigates through this supernatural world and uncovers its hidden powers, he must grapple with the consequences of his discoveries. Along the way, CJ finds himself balancing between love and loss, life and death, and the supernatural and the mundane. If you enjoyed the supernatural thrill of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, you’ll be enthralled by Christopher Janus’s mysterious journeys in The Landscape Architect series.

Did you ever wake up to find… yourself living… in a strange place?

Bad juju? Nah. What else? 

No, no, no—it’s not the evileye. Couldn’t be. The landscape wouldn’t tolerate such violation, would it?

Living in Tangier, 2000, Christopher Janus, CJ, during his six-month term abroad design study, explored northern Morocco. But his geographic explorations were not the entire story. He was swayed—swayed? How? By what?

Unlike CJ had ever imagined, that geography throbbed with a much larger pulse beat—that of the northwest Africa landscape…. 

If you are: 

-A nature lover or a landscape aficionado;

-Curious about all things green—the environment, plants, gardening, horticulture;

-Intrigued about the northwest Africa multi-cultural, mystical history of people and plants, and their arcane interactions with strangers, then…

Pick up a FREE copy of this Amazon E-book here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

NOW, FOLLOW THAT LINK AND PICK UP THE FREE EBOOK, CURIOUS TALESNOW!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You wonder… who is this CJ?

CJ is an American, born in the Midwest, raised in New Mexico—a hard worker who found his muse in the landscape.

At university, he grew to embrace music, literature and all the fine arts with humanitarian, environmental and spiritual sensibilities. Did that help him in Morocco?

Studying landscape architecture, CJ was into pedestrian towns and warm sandy beaches. For his last class, that term abroad design study, he’s been in Tangier, a town with sandy beaches on the Med and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. But CJ got more than he bargained for… and it wasn’t a suntan or a relaxing time.

These 43 curious tales were CJ’s final submittal for his term abroad design study. CJ’s curious tales highlight the strangeness of the landscape he encountered in northwest Africa and… what he learned.

E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

Please share this FREE offer with your landscape friends.

Thank you.

E-Book Free Now Today

E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

This is a tonic for the curious, for those who would delve beyond the surface knowing there is more than meets the eye at first glance.

Please share this with your landscape friends.

E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

Thank you

Graduation? Not yet.

Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures

Travel with us to Morocco on a fun trip. Together we will be weaving culture with horticulture. That arcane weave is the magic connection of humans with nature.

CJ is an American, born in the Midwest, raised in New Mexico—a hard worker who found his muse in the landscape.

At university, he grew to embrace music, literature and all the fine arts with humanitarian, environmental and spiritual sensibilities.

Studying landscape architecture, CJ was into pedestrian towns and warm sandy beaches. For his last class, a term abroad design study, he was in Tangier, a town with sandy beaches on the Med and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. But CJ got more than he bargained for… and it wasn’t a good time.

And the subject of CJ’s 43 tales? …his daily life, the high points, the low points–nothing was normal–it was all curious.

Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures

Please share this with your landscape-minded friends.

Thank you.