Charles Bastille·PinnedMember-onlyTo Fix Racism, I Had to Delete the United StatesFor the novel I am working on, Restive Souls, I wanted to create a world where Blacks played key roles in governing and operating the nation. I wanted a world where Blacks in North America not only were equal partners throughout the economic, social, and jurisdictional strata of the continent…Writing20 min readWriting20 min read
Charles Bastille·Jun 18Member-onlyThe Capture of George WashingtonAnd the end of the Colonial Rebellion — An excerpt from Restive Souls, an upcoming novel about the rise of a great African empire in South Carolina’s Low Country. Background: George Washington has been captured after his spy, John Honeyman (a real-life character), betrays him. The narrator is Honeyman’s friend, a freed Haitian slave named Guillaume Diderot. The…Juneteenth12 min readJuneteenth12 min read
Charles Bastille·Feb 19Member-onlyRestive Souls: The Journey BeginsA journey to an alternative world where slaves were freed after the Revolutionary War — I’ve begun the process of querying agents for my new novel, Restive Souls, a novel set in an alternative world where slaves are emancipated after a failed Revolutionary War and a great African empire rises on the North American East Coast. Perhaps you are even one of those agents. If…Black History9 min readBlack History9 min read
Charles Bastille·Sep 25, 2022Member-onlyOnlookerA mysterious stranger approaches the Creek town of Pakanahuil — 1838 Hasse Ola Oak-fus-ka-Har-jo can see through the trees. Surrounded by a man-sized fort, he is perched atop a massive black oak that stretches well above other types of trees that should be taller than the oak tree acting as their sentinel. Its mightiest branch extends from a sprawling network of…Restive Souls8 min readRestive Souls8 min read
Charles Bastille·Jun 19, 2022Member-onlyIt’s Juneteenth, So I Wrote a Novel about the 1778 Emancipation of SlavesAnd the rise of a great African nation on the East Coast — Well, actually, I didn’t just sit and write it today. It has taken me two years of research and writing to invent a world in which the British defeat the colonials in the Revolutionary War and emancipate the slaves in 1778. The result is a novel called Restive Souls. I’ve…Restive Souls8 min readRestive Souls8 min read
Charles Bastille·Nov 28, 2021Member-onlyRestive Souls Sneak Peek is HereBut there’s only one way to read it — I don’t know about you, but I hate being asked to subscribe to newsletters. Especially by those annoying website pop-ups. But in order to encourage people to download and read this sneak peek into Restive Souls, guess what I did? I made it available exclusively to readers of my newsletter. …Fiction2 min readFiction2 min read
Charles Bastille·Jan 13, 2021Member-onlyThe Day the World Got WokeFiction for a Broken Country — When I went to sleep last night, everything was normal. When I woke up, everything was different. Everything was Black. But not like, hip hop Black, really. Just, well, Black. Black culture, everywhere. With lots of Native American culture mixed in. And people referred to Native Americans as First Settlers. …Fiction20 min readFiction20 min read
Charles Bastille·Dec 17, 2020Member-onlyCelebrating Josh Gibson and Other Black Baseball LegendsIn “The Trial of Summary James”, Joshua Gibson’s Major League status was never in doubt — In my novella, The Trial of Summary James, a bat with Josh Gibson’s signature plays a prominent role, sadly, in the death of the character that triggers the trial on which the title of the novella is based. So I thought it was cool that Major League baseball conferred Major…Josh Gibson4 min readJosh Gibson4 min read
Charles Bastille·Dec 15, 2020Member-onlyThe Timeline for Restive SoulsThe alternative history behind Restive Souls (subject to change) — This is the timeline for the Restive Souls series. It is a work in progress and is subject to change as the novel and/or series develops. Let’s see if you history buffs can notice when the changes begin! Book One of the trilogy is centered around John Honeyman and the…Restive Souls14 min readRestive Souls14 min read
Charles Bastille·Dec 3, 2020Major Congregations in the Carolina UnionThese are the congregations that play key roles in the “Restive Souls” timeline. — Major congregations within the Restive Souls timeline as of this writing: Notes *Note: The Carolina Union Constitution requires all congregations to be Christian, but this rule is routinely ignored for Jewish congregations, as well as a number of…2 min read2 min read