Why do readers love dismal tales of people being held captive? The short answer is…because we want to see how they escape. We want to know that the wrongfully imprisoned have the determination, the ability, and the opportunity to escape and provide us, the reader, with the possibility of being able to do the same.
We can read and watch dystopian fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale and watch fictional characters overcome oppression in fictional societies. Or we can draw from real life and look to our own histories in order to reenact versions of true events.
Author Kaycee Jones has produced her own version of the latter with her novel, The Black Magician, a historical fiction novel that explores the planning, execution and bravery required to escape from an inescapable situation. Below is my review of The Black Magician: The Escape Plan, followed by an interview with Jones about her story.
The Black Magician plot summary
George is a southern slave who was born to a mother who died in childbirth and raised by Granny, a Nubian princess who was kidnapped from her homeland as a young woman. Granny has spent her life earning the trust of their white slave masters and teaching her grandson how to use special herbs and powders to heal the sick and deceive their owner, Massa Smith.
Feeling the effects of her age, with her remaining time, Granny decides to spend it helping fellow slaves to freedom. Together, she and George dig a pit in order to hide people out for a time before disguising them with impressive makeup or arming them with different tools and tricks to outwit any slave hunters they might encounter along their journey.
One by one, they employ these tricks and lead countless slaves to Pennsylvania. But as the slave owners and hunters begin to get wise to their plan, it’s George’s turn to make it to safety, but he intends to do so while also helping a pregnant woman to freedom, giving her a chance that his mother never had.
The story
The Black Magician is a compelling escape tale that utilizes cunning, trickery, and a little mysticism in order to tell a historical tale. History has given the story the advantage of establishing right off the bat that the slaves are the good guys and the owners are the bad guys. But Jones goes a step further by humanizing her characters by giving them backstories, strengths, weaknesses, and hardships to overcome. So, we not only root for them because of their situation; we root for them as individuals with various histories, motivations, and desires.
The story can be split into three parts: the motive, the preparation, and the execution. The motive is all of the backstory that is presented to the reader in the early chapters in order to drive home the desperate circumstances in which our characters find themselves. The preparation chapters are more tension building and full of interesting and elaborate plans that must be made under the noses of their captors. The execution of the plan is the forward-driving action.
As the story unfolds, we see the genius of the plan and the measures that are taken to determine its success. And most of all, it provides hope in an otherwise hopeless circumstance.
The characters
The Black Magician relies heavily on its strong narration to tell its story. Detailed backstories of its main heroes are explored before the plan goes into effect. It’s one of those rare instances where telling versus showing helps to serve the story.
These histories are brutal and elaborate, and they shape our heroes into fully formed individuals. George is an intelligent man with a blacksmith’s talent and a sixth sense that helps him to recognize special individuals. This sense helps him to determine who best to help get away while his intelligence allows him to play dumb so that he and Granny can prepare for and carry out their plan right under the nose of Massa Smith.
Granny is a wise and patient woman who has never forgotten her royal lineage. Her story is one of countless slave women who were raped and forced to reproduce only to die in childbirth or have their children taken from them. Her plan is to ultimately free her daughter’s son in an act of justice for all of the women who had to endure the same.
The white slaveowners are a little more two-dimensional. Massa Smith is a particularly harsh man who means to dehumanize his slaves as much as possible in order to maintain control. But once they start to go missing, he begins to encourage family relationships among them in order to tie them down to his property, particularly once he sees that, not only are they willing to risk being caught and tortured or disfigured, but their efforts are so successful that there’s no way to show them the consequences of their actions. This is a small step to recognizing that his property are actually people, but it’s too little too late, and freedom is a much more enticing option for many of his crew.
My recommendation
The point of The Black Magician is to show what a human being will do not only for survival but to live fully. Their actions don’t put an end to slavery or even punish the villains. But they do ensure that their culture not only survives in freedom but thrives. Because George hand selects the benefactors of their plan, he makes sure that his actions have an everlasting effect not only on his life but in the lives of generations to come.
I recommend The Black Magician to anyone looking for a captivating historical fiction novel that focuses on hope in a hopeless situation. It’s going to bring out all of the appropriate emotions: anger, fear, sadness, triumph, and catharsis. And it doesn’t undo the past but shows the reward of risk and how the decisions we make now will have lasting effects on the future.
My rating
An interview with KayCee Jones
About the author
Hi. I’m Kaycee Jones, I grew up in Los Angeles, California born and raised. Growing up in Los Angeles taught me diversity and gave me the indication to never give up.
In Los Angeles, we are always seeing celebrities or people that’s trying to make it in Hollywood. Some make it but most don’t, and then there are that 5% that keep trying. You don’t see too many quitters out in LA; there’s so much opportunity at every corner. Los Angeles is a rough place to grow up in, but it also teaches discipline, respect, dignity, and honor, and I would never change it for anything.
My eBook was selected this year for 2023 Indie California. The Black Magician is now available in Indie California, a collection of books from local indie authors available exclusively on the BiblioBoard Library mobile and web platform. This collection is available to patrons of participating libraries all across your state/region. I have attached a link to the indie California project as well.
What is your advice for anyone who is thinking about writing, or is in the process of writing, a historical fiction novel?
My advice to any newbies considering becoming an author, please do it to get your story out there. You will feel more independent, and you will make some mistakes along the way, but that’s fine. It’s just a learning process to continue to write.
You also have to remember that agents have their own genre that they love! So, you need to find readers that you love your genre and push through that way.
For instance, one thing I love about the book is that’s it’s about slavery, so I tried to push my book in the category of historical fiction and African-American slaves, which made it real easy to get positive feedback and to get more readers interested.
My advice for anyone interested in historical fiction, it pays to do some research, even if you have to hire out. It’s worth it. Writing has its own way of teaching. I hope my readers can have a deeper appreciation for history after reading The Black Magician.
Did you extensively outline the story before you started writing, or did the story develop as you wrote?
Yes, in fact I do have a general idea where the storyline is going. I pretty much know the beginning, middle and end. I have issues putting things together.
When I get ready to write, I try to name the chapters to help me focus on what ideas I need to make the chapter captivating. It all comes together eventually. Sometimes I find myself rearranging chapters so the story line can flow with ease. Sometimes when I’m stuck or need an unbiased opinion, I tend to speak with strangers or my family.
Author name/pen name
Kaycee Jones is my pen name I chose in memory of my Grandmother Cassie who encouraged me to pick up the pen.
What kind of research did you do for this book?
Some of the research I did was basically using my computer reading articles and facts. I read a lot about black inventors and black millionaires. I enjoyed learning and reading about black historical figures and the history of the slave trade.
I needed to learn about women’s rights, so I did research on the beginning of the women’s movement and was quite surprised by the outcome. I haven’t always known the story of how black descendants were stolen from their land, to work as slaves in a land unknown to them. In fact, I was an adult when I first started to hear stories about how there were kings, queens, princesses, doctor scientists, who were also taken along with other people.
Growing up in Los Angeles, the school district in Los Angeles and Compton did not teach us about our heritage as black students. Instead, we were taught about Christopher Columbus and how he saved the Indians and invented Thanksgiving.
But when I started hearing people talk about the royalty being stolen from their land, I was caught off guard. I must admit, it was mesmerizing to me. I was intrigued to know this was factual and felt proud to be black.
For once in my life, I was hearing positive things about black people. So, I began to explore and educate myself on slavery and the unspoken voices. Turns out, it was true. Black people of all social status were kidnapped and sold into slavery around the world. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks one day! I needed to tell this story in my own words.
It has been proven countless times that kings, queen princesses, doctors, astrologers, scientists, herbalists, surgeons, were indeed stolen. When you stripped everyone of their attire, it was hard to tell the difference between royalty and regular people. Not that it would have made any difference.
I don’t believe the slave catchers were asking questions about their social status during the kidnapping. So, I feel it’s my duty, honor and my privilege to tell the stories of my ancestors.
There is a magical element to this story. What are your personal beliefs about the supernatural, auras, etc.?
The magic in the story is gifted around the supernatural experiences that exist on earth. I am a true believer in the supernatural spiritual world. I do not believe in coincidence. I do believe things are aligned in a design that is beyond human understanding.
I have personally seen many things I cannot understand or explain. I also believe our ancestors have not left us but have only transitioned into another realm where they still support us and uplift our spirits. Just like there is a light, I do believe darkness is real too.
Our mission as humans is to fulfill our mission on Earth only to return to our creator. I have seen ghosts, spirits, demons, and angels. It is very real.
Do you have a favorite character?
I’m always split between Granny and George. They both have different attributes that contribute to my love for them.
George is strong, faithful and has a hint of perfectionism to him. Then there’s Granny, a fire, on the edge, carefree, risk taking, militant, loving character.
It’s really hard to choose from the two. They are both mysterious. But if I had to choose, it could be the courageous George, because of his will to create, invent and help.
Do you have a favorite escape method that is used in the book?
The mute nun was my most brilliant and believable disguise. Only a certain personality could be able to pull it off. I wanted to make sure all my escape methods were believable. I love, absolutely love, this question.
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
It will bring me joy to know that, after reading The Black Magician, a person can achieve the following:
- A person would see value in hope in another person’s struggle, whatever that struggle may be.
- I would love my readers to know that there is a “George” inside of you begging to come out. “George: A master at solving problems.”
- Everyone has a story that needs to be told.
This book is supposed to bring out the best in a person.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently promoting my other book entitled. If You Sprinkle When You Tinkle, Please Be Neat and Wipe The Seat, a book that teaches young readers the importance of bathroom etiquette. I’m also in the process of writing my next novel about a girl who has to find strength within herself to get free from an abusive family. This one is going to be a keeper. Stay tuned!
The Black Magician book summary
This book is about a gifted Nubian princess who was stolen from her land in Africa and was brought to America to live in a place unknown to her. Overnight, she went from being the royal daughter of the great warrior Manley – Chief of the of the Zauzuuzuu tribe, to living in chains with very minimum to eat.
In the 1800’s, being a slave in South Carolina was a scary place to be. Being beaten and separated from your family was an all too familiar story for slaves in this state. In this lonely, abandoned place of extreme pain and hardship, you will meet an intelligent genius slave named George, also known in the 1800’s as, “The Black Magician” for his remarkable tactics of helping slaves escape north into freedom.
George uses his witty inventions, brilliant disguises, and crafty tricks to help slaves escape slavery. George is instructed and guided by his grandmother, the Nubian princess, stolen from Africa. His grandmother had been trained since birth by the best warriors, doctors, and scientists.
George’s grandmother teaches him about his royal family history and special invention skills their family possesses and how to use his special talents to help certain slaves gain freedom. In the course of the story, they are helped by a Caucasian young woman, “Shelby ” and “Red,” an Indian man.
While setting out on the mission to set slaves free, George has to contend with a money hungry slave catcher, untrustful friends and many other trials and tribulations. The magic of the whole story comes to life when we get to see the historical black people who became the descendants of the runaway slaves. George will prove to readers how he earned the name, “The Black Magician.”
Author links
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Audiobook (narrated by Earnest Johnson Jr.), eBook, hardcover, or paperback from Amazon
Free library link for California residents
The Black Magician Goodreads page
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Love the sounds of this book and the chance to learn more about what went into it and how it came about! Thanks for sharing. 🙂