Dear Reader:

I'm happy to present to you 47. This is not only my newest novel but also a new kind of novel for me to write. It is written for the young adult audience, but that isn't all.

The story is about a young slave boy named, and numbered, 47 on a nineteenth-century Georgia plantation. This boy encounters all of the brutality and injustice of the system of slavery, and that's only the beginning. He meets a strange being named Tall John, who appears to be another slave boy-a runaway. But as 47 comes to realize, John is an extraterrestrial visitor who believes that his destiny is intertwined with the young slave's.

Tall John is a science fiction creation, but he is also a reinterpretation of High John the Conqueror-a character taken from old slave myths about a spirit come from Africa to confound the slave masters and (ultimately) to free all slaves.

I wrote this multigenre (mythical, historical, speculative) book for young adults to achieve a specific end. For a long time I have known that many young black children find it hard to read stories about slavery because of their healthy resistance to identify with victims. My goal for this book was to create a character that rises above his role as a victim by becoming a victorious hero.

To accomplish this end, I used the speculative and mythical genres to create possibility where more realistic storytelling and historical perspective might not.

I hope you find the book satisfying.

Walter (Mosley)