John Janda

John Janda writes to learn who he is, who we all are, and 'how best to live, and best die'. Earning a B.A./M.A. at the University of Arizona, and more graduate studies at U.C., Irvine, in European Intellectual History, helped make his work truly literary.

John's novella, AMERICAN SPIRIT, is an Everyman story, not a 'Western' (no bad guys, no bang-bang shoot'em up), set in the Arizona Territory of 1878, when life was simpler but still a challenge. The protagonist, Mort Lewis, awakens one day to find himself in a jail cell, accused of a capital crime he doesn't know whether he committed or not. And the circuit judge is coming to town in three days. Mort comes to terms with all that, by revisiting and reshaping his whole life.

In addition to writing he has been very active in social services, particularly employment services for very barriered individuals - parolees, the homeless, the disabled, refugees, and more. That experience inspired his book about JOBS! For the People Hardest to Serve.