Liberated Space is the final novel in Dolphin's Trilogy of the '60s. Here our hero, Joe Madison, describes the events taking place in Haight Ashbury between 1967-68, telling of realities and transformations occurring at the heart of the cultural revolution that changed the mindscape of America.

This is the sequel to 39 Blows on a Gone Trumpet. After the passion of energies described in 39 Blows, Dolphin explores the world of underlying meaning, the patterns behind the facade of cultures and the new forms emerging in synchronicity around the globe. In a series of episodes, he takes us to the Magic Room in Tangiers, to the Tombs of Knowledge in Egypt and Asia and into the cruel realities of Vietnam, returning to the Real Cafe in New York. It is now the 60's and the hero's return coincides with the start of the 'counter-revolution' in the USA for which his journeys have prepared him. The third volume will take us into the heart of the Haight-Ashbury phenomenon, telling of things quite beyond the popular images and memories of that event.
Woven into the novel, like its precursor 39 Blows, is the passionate literature of the ages: from Mayakovsky's ardor to Blake's ecstatic wrath; from the eloquence of Whitman to the density of Joyce; from the 'cut-up' technique of Burroughs to the terse and exact poetry of Brecht; and the love of the unknown that stretches from Khayyam to Baudelaire.

Cover illustration by Ralph Steadman

 

The first novel of the Trilogy, one of passion, youth and energy exploring the power of the world, what it means to act and influence the course of history, to be where change is created and to endlessly explore the intricacies of being human - lover, thinker, poet. 39 Blows swings with its own rhythm, its prose near to poetry and music, 39 riffs sounding the unique historical beats of Manhattan, Iran and Morocco as they were in the early '60s.

Cover Illustration by Gerald Wilde

 

Collectively, the titles in Johnny Dolphin’s trilogy (39 BLOWS ON A GONE TRUMPET, Journey Around an Extraordinary Planet and LIBERATED SPACE) explore every area of human activity while simultaneously illuminating a time period (the sixties) that remains one of the most vigorous and captivating eras of the last century.

In 39 BLOWS, the protagonist, Joe Madison, comes face to face with the power of the world, his own power, and the prospect of having an influence on the course of history. He also discovers what it means be a thinker, a poet, a lover, and a human, in the fullest sense of the word. Manhattan, Iran and Morocco provide the pulse for the action in this energetically philosophical novel.

In Journey Around an Extraordinary Planet, the second title in the trilogy, Dolphin’s Joe Madison has the opportunity to learn about global synchronicity through a series of adventures that takes him even deeper into his exploration of the world around him. His visits to the Magic Room in Tangiers, the Tombs of Knowledge in Egypt and Asia and through the harsh reality of 1960s Vietnam are remarkable and unforgettable. His return to the New York coincides with the start of the American counter-revolution, for which, he finds, his journeys have somehow prepared him.

In the final novel of the trilogy, LIBERATED SPACE, we follow Joe Madison into the heart of the Haight-Ashbury during the counter-revolution. The descriptions that Dolphin provides of that particular time and place offer the reader perhaps the most accurate and conclusive chronicle ever written.

In addition to having the opportunity to experience the world vicariously through the wonderfully spirited and creative mind of Johnny Dolphin’s Joe Madison, the trilogy reflects Madison’s (and therefore Dolphin’s) fervent passion for the literature of the ages: from Maykovsky's ardor to Blake's ecstatic wrath; from the eloquence of Whitman to the density of Joyce; from the 'cut-up' technique of Burroughs to the terse and exacting poetry of Brecht; and the love of the unknown that stretches from Khayyam to Baudelaire. Because of the richness of these (and other) literary references, as well as the richness of philosophical engagement resulting from Madison’s encounters with various characters from other cultures, to read the trilogy is to experience a sense of the universal… even as we zero in on a decisive moment in the history of our world.

 

"Appealing ... witty/tough nice/neat ..."

-City Limits, London

 

 

 

MY MANY KISSES AND OTHER SHORT STORIES features 20 highly entertaining vignettes of people who have decided to change their lives and then go out do so. Dolphin, whose body of work is always about potential, gives us characters who, for the most part, understand that wisdom opens many doors. We meet a miner who has decided to become a mystic, a man who understands that his constant failures are really successes when the bigger picture is observed, a wandering poet whose goal is to have enough money to pay for his meals and enough talent to entertain his friends and others. These are characters who are “ready,” who expect things to happen and so they do.

There are great life lessons in these pages, but they never overwhelm the stories themselves. Dolphin proves himself a true master of the craft of short-story writing, giving us real characters and pacing their plots so that they tell us precisely what we need to know and no more. In this way the stories are swift and compelling, meaningful and memorable...and, ultimately, universal.

 

"...the author recreates the authentic mood and the tone of the time he describes. There's an amazing energy that rises right off of the pages...a series of mini-biographies…."

--Georgia Jones-Davis, Southwest Book View

 

 

This performance is dedicated to Brion Gysin: friend, painter, historian, raconteur extraordinaire who used montage and non-linear thinking to coax truth from the cracks of a discontinuous universe.