A.Paj Turner, born in 1971, was raised on the South Side of Chicago, where he resided until joining the military at nineteen years old. After 28 years of faithful service in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, Turner earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and retired honorably. A trailblazer, he is the first African-American to achieve the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Five in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. Pinned as an awesome storyteller by his two daughters, Turner has the ability to captivate his audience by transforming them into a fly on the wall as they witness his stories unfold.Â
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he started writing to occupy his mind and time, and now it’s his passion. He is currently living in Tampa, FL, and he often visits his immediate family, who still resides in Chicago.Â
Christina: What is your Swagger? What makes A.Paj, A.Paj? Â
A.Paj: My swagger can be defined in the way I walk, dress, and talk. I strut with confidence and a command presence in any room I walk into. My style of dress is simple, classic with a powerful undertone that demarcates my intelligence and who I am as a black man. Swagger is hard to communicate, so I just be. I am 135% in everything I do. I am a visionary and one with the universe, so when I want to accomplish something, I ask the universe, hold the trophy, and then do the work to complete the circle. I always think out of the box and go against the norm, and remain odd. Only the “odd” ones can become #1.
A.Paj Turner is well-traveled, with a sense of humor, and deemed a great storyteller by my family and friends. I have been around the world, and this enhances my vivid imagination, which pulls my reader into the pages while I transform them into a fly on the wall visualizing the journey I take them on. Whether it’s urban fiction, Sci-Fi or love chronicles, any book I write it will be A. PAJ Turner.
Christina: What inspired “The Emancipation of Limits”?
A.Paj: I love, love, love my people. Although we have a lot of issues in our community and we are somewhat disenfranchised when it comes to black empowerment and unaware of the power we possess as a single entity. I love who we are (the good and the bad), so I want all the smoke when it comes to us. So, I wanted to create a series that commemorates the success of Black Wall Street. I also wanted to add an entertainment portion with a message to the community that we can recreate what our brothers and sisters accomplished in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921 by putting our minds and finances together.
Christina: How was your experience in the military? Have you always wanted to be a soldier?Â
A.Paj: I loved it. Best decision I ever made. To be clear, I was a man before I left for the military. The Turner/Watson clan did that. But the military honed my skills when it came to organization, public speaking, leadership, and how to effectively communicate with those who do not look like me or those who do but have different cultural backgrounds. I am dangerously diverse as I actually joined the Navy first. In my eighth year, my supervisor informed me that the Army was accepting applications for the Army Warrant Officer Procurement process for the watercraft field in the U.S Army Transportation Corps. I applied and was accepted. So, I am dual hatted for serving both in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
Christina: You were the first African-American to achieve the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Five in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. How did that feel to become the first Black person to receive a ranking like that? A.Paj: It felt absolutely amazing. The first since its establishment in 1942. I was intoxicated with feeling accomplished while opening a doorway to inspire those who look like me and those who do not. Although the Turner name will forever ring in Army history, this wasn’t an accomplishment achieved alone. With the help of family, friends, Soldiers, fellow warrant officers, and officers alike, this was definitely a team effort. I had seen this happening years before it came to fruition. Just ask for it and watch the universe make moves so I could make moves.
Christina: Can you tell us about the character, Richie, in this book? Who or what inspired you to create a character like Richie?Â
A.Paj: There is a lot of me in the character Richie. The similarities we share are our leadership abilities, compassion for our people, straightforwardness, intellect, as we both possess the ability to reach inspired goals regardless of circumstances. He has a military background, which makes him a master at organizing and building teams, which he needs to achieve the movement to recreate Black wall Street. He never quits, and his decisions are always for the greater good.
Christina: The title of your book, “The Emancipation of Limits,” is a pretty powerful title. How did you come up with this title? Did you write the book first and then decided on a title, or was it vice-versa title first, book later?
A.Paj: The title and the book cover came to me before I started writing the book. I wanted the title to be as powerful as the book cover. The word emancipation is a word that is near and dear to the heart of our people. It means freedom. We have a ceiling in our community when it comes to education, housing, and job opportunity, as well as shortcomings to access when it comes to business loans, mental and behavioral health care. We are also dealing with systematic inequality, police brutality, and broken communications regarding reparations for black Americans. Richie wants to free his community from this, removing the ceiling that keeps us locked in a box. Hence, the title, the emancipation of Limits.
Christina: Why do you think Chicago was a good place to have for this book’s setting?
A.Paj: Chicago is my hometown, so I have to put my city on the map. New York has a story, and Los Angeles has their story. Now it’s time for Chicago to have a story. When the book is turned into a series, my city will showcase the city’s beautiful black people, culture, and how we get down.
Christina: OK, so we have talked about your book, and just from reading the back cover, I can say with the utmost confidence that I will be purchasing it. Where can we purchase “The Emancipation of Limits?”
A.Paj: Only on my website, www.apajturner.com. It is not on Amazon or any other big platform. I am taking advantage of 100% entrepreneurship. I own and finance everything.
Christina: Do you have any upcoming events or projects you would like our readers to know about?
A.Paj: The Emancipation of Limits Series is being written in reverse chronological order. I did this to test how attached I can get my readers to the characters and want to follow them to see how they came to be. So, I am currently writing the second book in the Emancipation of Limits Series, The Proclamation of a God. The last book in the series is called “The Beginning…The Reign of Marble Head.” I will then jump into the Urban Sci-Fi genre, creating another Paj Turner for people to enjoy. Lastly, I will be shooting a short film for The Emancipation of Limits in a few months with Snarly Beast Production.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
A.Paj: Yes. Please support the movement. You will love this book. It has everything in it that we are faced with as a people. You will not be disappointed. To all my Black queens out there, all of my books, regardless of genre, I will represent you the way you should be represented. Beautiful, smart, sexy, powerful, and loved. The stereotypes that cloud the truth are outdated. I can’t speak for others, but not in my books. To all my Black kings, let’s support each other. Let’s seek, teach, bond, and build. Black fist going up.
Connect with A. Paj below:
Website: www.apajturner.com
Instagram: a.pajturner
Facebook: A Paj Turner
