Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories by Gordon Johnston

Credit: Mercer University Press

 

In this episode of Narrative Edge, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya explore Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories by Gordon Johnston, a collection of short stories set along Georgia’s Ocmulgee River. With each tale deeply rooted in place, Johnston turns the river itself into a character: dangerous, ancient, and transformative. The stories introduce us to complex, often mysterious characters navigating quiet struggles and moral uncertainty, from a woman who discovers a silent boy stranded midstream to a grocery store manager chasing a lost cart and stumbling into something much deeper.

Johnston’s inspiration comes from paddling the river’s entire length, a journey that shaped his storytelling with a strong sense of class, spirituality, and mystery. In conversations marked by terse dialogue and unspoken histories, the book leaves readers asking, “What just happened? And what happens next?”