Journey of the North Star

This fascinating historical novel brings to life the Chinese court of Zhu Di, the Yong Le Emperor, who reigned from 1403-1424 and made China a world power. The story is narrated by the fictional eunuch Ma Yun, who served in the emperor's court. Replete with military campaigns, religious ceremonies and the philosophical foundation that informs the Emperor's decisions through times good and bad, Journey of the North Star will appeal to readers interested in Eastern religions, history, philosophy and the political outlook that still influences China today.

"...with extraordinarily evocative details, moments of disarming poignancy, and an overall verisimilitude that suggests this might really be the found work of a devoted courtier. The reader is completely beguiled by this glimpse of a lost world.” 

                  Publishers Weekly

"This fiction is penetrating and accurate -- and dazzling, amusing, horrifying, informative, compelling."

               Amazon Review

Douglas Penick has worked as a research associate at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at The Institute for Urban Studies, and also as a chef at Gordon Matta Clark’s Food. He has studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for more than 30 years, and written and taught on Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian religion, history, and culture. He wrote the National Film Board of Canada’s prize-winning two-part series on the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the libretti for two operas: King Gesar (Sony CD with YoYo Ma, Serkin, Ax, et. al.) and Ashoka’s Dream (Santa Fe Opera) with composer, Peter Lieberson. He has also written pieces to music by Philip Glass and for choreographer Katsura Kan. He is the author of three books deriving from the epic cycle on the life of King Gesar of Ling: Crossings on a Bridge of Light, the Warrior Song of King Gesar, and The Brilliance of Naked Mind.