Jim Cherry's Blog - Posts Tagged "science-fiction"
The Seas Have No Stars
Cool title, right? The Seas Have No Stars is my newest short stories, and I think one of my best. It's what happens when a fishing boat comes upon an alien spaceship visiting dolphins. I hope you enjoy it! The Seas Have No Stars
Gonna update this!!!! My story The Third Day made a $100 on Medium (it was only up for 4 days! WOW!) Thank you to all those who read it! Thank you! If you haven't read it I hope you'll give it a read, I think you'll enjoy it! I think it's very good!
Gonna update this!!!! My story The Third Day made a $100 on Medium (it was only up for 4 days! WOW!) Thank you to all those who read it! Thank you! If you haven't read it I hope you'll give it a read, I think you'll enjoy it! I think it's very good!
A Tribute to Harlan Ellison
Legendary writer Harlan Ellison died yesterday (June 28, 2018). He was one of my literary heroes here's a tribute: Harlan Ellison & Me:
Well, ok I never knew Harlan Ellison and I never met him, but when you’ve read enough of a writer you feel like you know them. Ellison was a major influence on my writing and he died today (June 28, 2018) at age 84.
I first discovered Ellison when I was 19 when I read Dangerous Visions, one of the most famous and influential anthologies in not only science-fiction but in literature as well. I read Visions about eight years after it was originally published, but I knew its reputation, cutting edge stories by mostly unknown writers whose stories couldn’t be published in traditional markets because of their controversial content, the writers dangerous visions. I read it while I was working my way through school on a graveyard shift. I’d finish my work and had a couple hours of reading and the stories were a turn on but so were the introductions. A paragraph or two of Ellison’s insight into the writer, how he got the story, or something about the story itself make a compelling supplement to the story, so much so that it drove me to go on a Harlan Ellison reading spree. I moved on to Shatterday. Again, Ellison had introductions to his stories that included something about how the story came to him. In those introductions the fledgling writer in me learned how to find stories, how to use my own life as grist for stories. It was a revelation. I moved on to other books (short-stories, Ellison’s chosen form of which he was a master) Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-up Generation, Strange Wine, Sex Ain’t Nothing but Love Misspelled, The Beast Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, all great titles with great stories. Some of Ellison’s stories are classics of literature such as Jefty is Five, Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, A Boy and His Dog. Then I hit The Glass Teat, although in a pre-Amazon world it took me forever to find a copy of the then out of print book. The Glass Teat was a compilation of articles Ellison wrote for the L.A. Free Press from 1968 to 1971 and were critiques of television programs of the times as well as the medium itself. By the time of my reading in the early 80’s colleges had incorporated The Glass Teat into their curriculums.
Before I was a Harlan Ellison fan I was a Star Trek fan and I knew Ellison had written the Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever which is generally acknowledged as the best episode of that series. Except he didn’t write it, he thought Dorothy Fontana and probably Gene Roddenbury himself had a hand in changing the story enough that Ellison protested to the union and had his name taken off and the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird was credited as writer of the episode (Ellison’s name has since been put back in the credits). When City on the Edge of Forever won the Writers Guild Award in 1968 it was discovered Ellison submitted his original script.
Ellison was one of the “angry young men of literature” from the 50’s. Writers that heralded a new wave in writing whose philosophy was that writing was art with something to say, that art was important, that writers could be artists with messages and stand up for what they believed in. This was a validation of ideas that I had but perhaps until then hadn’t found any role models for. This is how Harlan Ellison influenced me. My admiration of Ellison is only a small part of the whole that Ellison was he marched in Selma with Martin Luther King Jr, he wrote in almost every genre imaginable, he wrote for television, his screenplays influenced a new generation (James Cameron with The Terminator). He was friends with other legends like Ray Bradbury, and Issac Asimov. He also influenced and mentored many writers. Octavia Butler was a student of Ellison’s and Neal Gaiman also acknowledges Ellison’s influence. Thank you Harlan for all the stories that you gave us that will be told by future generations.
If you'd like to read this at Medium I posted there with a picture and video of Ellison
Well, ok I never knew Harlan Ellison and I never met him, but when you’ve read enough of a writer you feel like you know them. Ellison was a major influence on my writing and he died today (June 28, 2018) at age 84.
I first discovered Ellison when I was 19 when I read Dangerous Visions, one of the most famous and influential anthologies in not only science-fiction but in literature as well. I read Visions about eight years after it was originally published, but I knew its reputation, cutting edge stories by mostly unknown writers whose stories couldn’t be published in traditional markets because of their controversial content, the writers dangerous visions. I read it while I was working my way through school on a graveyard shift. I’d finish my work and had a couple hours of reading and the stories were a turn on but so were the introductions. A paragraph or two of Ellison’s insight into the writer, how he got the story, or something about the story itself make a compelling supplement to the story, so much so that it drove me to go on a Harlan Ellison reading spree. I moved on to Shatterday. Again, Ellison had introductions to his stories that included something about how the story came to him. In those introductions the fledgling writer in me learned how to find stories, how to use my own life as grist for stories. It was a revelation. I moved on to other books (short-stories, Ellison’s chosen form of which he was a master) Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-up Generation, Strange Wine, Sex Ain’t Nothing but Love Misspelled, The Beast Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, all great titles with great stories. Some of Ellison’s stories are classics of literature such as Jefty is Five, Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, A Boy and His Dog. Then I hit The Glass Teat, although in a pre-Amazon world it took me forever to find a copy of the then out of print book. The Glass Teat was a compilation of articles Ellison wrote for the L.A. Free Press from 1968 to 1971 and were critiques of television programs of the times as well as the medium itself. By the time of my reading in the early 80’s colleges had incorporated The Glass Teat into their curriculums.
Before I was a Harlan Ellison fan I was a Star Trek fan and I knew Ellison had written the Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever which is generally acknowledged as the best episode of that series. Except he didn’t write it, he thought Dorothy Fontana and probably Gene Roddenbury himself had a hand in changing the story enough that Ellison protested to the union and had his name taken off and the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird was credited as writer of the episode (Ellison’s name has since been put back in the credits). When City on the Edge of Forever won the Writers Guild Award in 1968 it was discovered Ellison submitted his original script.
Ellison was one of the “angry young men of literature” from the 50’s. Writers that heralded a new wave in writing whose philosophy was that writing was art with something to say, that art was important, that writers could be artists with messages and stand up for what they believed in. This was a validation of ideas that I had but perhaps until then hadn’t found any role models for. This is how Harlan Ellison influenced me. My admiration of Ellison is only a small part of the whole that Ellison was he marched in Selma with Martin Luther King Jr, he wrote in almost every genre imaginable, he wrote for television, his screenplays influenced a new generation (James Cameron with The Terminator). He was friends with other legends like Ray Bradbury, and Issac Asimov. He also influenced and mentored many writers. Octavia Butler was a student of Ellison’s and Neal Gaiman also acknowledges Ellison’s influence. Thank you Harlan for all the stories that you gave us that will be told by future generations.
If you'd like to read this at Medium I posted there with a picture and video of Ellison
About The Lion Communique
The Battlefield isn't the only place wars are fought!
The Lion Communique are darkly wound stories infused with the power of myth, not only in the ancient classical sense, as well as the myths we create for ourselves. As you read The Lion Communique subconscious themes emerge, war, life as a remembered act, the boundaries of good and evil, and the hope of redemption.
About some of the stories in The Lion Communique
"Godwired is an evocative story that melds together science and religion, which should have a much bigger place in science fiction. Read it, reflect upon it, and look for it in Jim Cherry's forthcoming anthology of tales that bump into the human condition." -- Paul Levinson, author of The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates
“Jim Cherry's The Captured Dead is an innovative and eerily diverting tale based on the conflict and mass murder, both of man and beast, that formed the dreadful essence of mid-19th century American history. The story centers on the almost mythical mercilessness of General William Tecumseh Sherman; a characteristic that ensured his Civil War victories and was employed in later campaigns to suppress Native Americans, either by restricting them to reservations or through extermination. Cherry's tale takes place in these later years of frontier conflict, when echoes from Sherman's past mental breakdown and the potent mystical practices of his Indian enemies make a literally haunting combination.”
Jay Jeffery Jones, playwright and author of The Lizard King
The Lion Communique are darkly wound stories infused with the power of myth, not only in the ancient classical sense, as well as the myths we create for ourselves. As you read The Lion Communique subconscious themes emerge, war, life as a remembered act, the boundaries of good and evil, and the hope of redemption.
About some of the stories in The Lion Communique
"Godwired is an evocative story that melds together science and religion, which should have a much bigger place in science fiction. Read it, reflect upon it, and look for it in Jim Cherry's forthcoming anthology of tales that bump into the human condition." -- Paul Levinson, author of The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates
“Jim Cherry's The Captured Dead is an innovative and eerily diverting tale based on the conflict and mass murder, both of man and beast, that formed the dreadful essence of mid-19th century American history. The story centers on the almost mythical mercilessness of General William Tecumseh Sherman; a characteristic that ensured his Civil War victories and was employed in later campaigns to suppress Native Americans, either by restricting them to reservations or through extermination. Cherry's tale takes place in these later years of frontier conflict, when echoes from Sherman's past mental breakdown and the potent mystical practices of his Indian enemies make a literally haunting combination.”
Jay Jeffery Jones, playwright and author of The Lizard King
The Lion Communique Now Available!
Hello Everybody!
The Lion Communique is now out and available!
The Lion Communique are 13 Tantalizing tales that examine the struggle between good and evil from multiple perspectives. Jim Morrison in the wilderness of Shamans and psychedelics, capturing the soul of General Sherman, mysterious forces at play in the trenches of WWI, southern gothic/noir, families at war, and the ghosts of our pasts that we carry with us.
Now available at Amazon in Paperback, Kindle
Or if you prefer Barnes & Noble, Paperback, Ebook
Paperback version is $14.95 and ebook's $2.99 You can also read a sample at either site. Get your copy today!
The Lion Communique is now out and available!
The Lion Communique are 13 Tantalizing tales that examine the struggle between good and evil from multiple perspectives. Jim Morrison in the wilderness of Shamans and psychedelics, capturing the soul of General Sherman, mysterious forces at play in the trenches of WWI, southern gothic/noir, families at war, and the ghosts of our pasts that we carry with us.
Now available at Amazon in Paperback, Kindle
Or if you prefer Barnes & Noble, Paperback, Ebook
Paperback version is $14.95 and ebook's $2.99 You can also read a sample at either site. Get your copy today!
Lion Communique - Reviews are Coming In!
Hi Everyone!
The first couple of reviews for The Lion Communique have come in and they're absolutely astounding! Way better than I could have ever imagined. Without further ado:
I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to read an advance copy of this fantastic collection of short stories in return for an honest review.
A long time ago, I was introduced to speculative fiction by The Twilight Zone and by the collected works of Ray Bradbury. The stories in The Lion Communique gave me the same sense of wonder that Zone and Bradbury awakened in me back in the day. “Trippy” was the word we used back then. These stories take you somewhere and bring you back with an expanded perspective.
I enjoyed this collection of stories a lot! When I was done, I gave in to an irresistible urge to listen to The Doors for a few hours. Break on through to the other side! Douglas Lumsden, author A Troll Walks into a Bar
Jim Cherry is a masterful storyteller! The Lion Communique is a powerful collection of stories that forces the reader to rethink the human condition, written in an entertaining and highly-engaging fashion. Whether the topic is Jim Morrison and his walk with Shamans or a noir look at the contemporary world, Cherry writes with deep knowledge that opens our minds to the questions at the center of our collective hearts and souls. The Lion Communique is a winner! Bob Batchelor. author of Roadhouse Blues, Morrison, The Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties.
The Lion Communique on Amazon
The Lion Communique on Barnes & Noble
The first couple of reviews for The Lion Communique have come in and they're absolutely astounding! Way better than I could have ever imagined. Without further ado:
I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to read an advance copy of this fantastic collection of short stories in return for an honest review.
A long time ago, I was introduced to speculative fiction by The Twilight Zone and by the collected works of Ray Bradbury. The stories in The Lion Communique gave me the same sense of wonder that Zone and Bradbury awakened in me back in the day. “Trippy” was the word we used back then. These stories take you somewhere and bring you back with an expanded perspective.
I enjoyed this collection of stories a lot! When I was done, I gave in to an irresistible urge to listen to The Doors for a few hours. Break on through to the other side! Douglas Lumsden, author A Troll Walks into a Bar
Jim Cherry is a masterful storyteller! The Lion Communique is a powerful collection of stories that forces the reader to rethink the human condition, written in an entertaining and highly-engaging fashion. Whether the topic is Jim Morrison and his walk with Shamans or a noir look at the contemporary world, Cherry writes with deep knowledge that opens our minds to the questions at the center of our collective hearts and souls. The Lion Communique is a winner! Bob Batchelor. author of Roadhouse Blues, Morrison, The Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties.
The Lion Communique on Amazon
The Lion Communique on Barnes & Noble
Hard Science Adventure
The Year Before the End by Vidar HokstadMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
In the 22nd Century of Vidar Hokstad’s The Year Before the End, the moon, Mars, and the asteroids are colonized and being exploited for minerals. There’s political intrigue as Mars wants its independence while Earth struggles to maintain its colonies, and then there’s the Centauri, an alien civilization from Alpha Centauri that has discovered Earth and wants to include it in its trading network and has been sending information on technology in the form of gates to shorten the traveling time between the galaxies and for even shorter hops around the solar system. But are their intentions truly for trading purposes or is the technology they sent to set up the gates a prelude to an invasion? This is the universe that Captain Zara Ortega or Zo introduces us to. She and her crew of the Black Rain a transport ship that straddle the line between the legal and the illegal and she and the crew aren’t particular about which side of the line they fall. Zo is hired by a syndicate to retrieve proof that the Centauri’s intention is to invade all she and her crew have to do is steal from a safe in a space station that was formerly a military station with its replacement within shooting distance. That’s the only the beginning after that begins the betrayals and intrigues, and crosses and double crosses of who is whose side and is the “proof” of the Centauri’s intentions real.
I found the beginning of The Year Before the End a little slow moving. Hokstad is an advocate of hard science fiction and a lot of the physics of traveling in space and moving around in a ship and a space station are thoroughly explained. Zo’s crew are an interesting lot, the most intriguing character is Clarice who has been “enhanced” by having her biological eyes removed for artificial eyes that can see on different spectrums of light and with more field of vision. She may also have feelings for Zo and vice versa, it tries to build a sexual tension between the two that never seems to make it, there’s only really one scene that directly tackles the issue but I wished for more hints or clues throughout that would flesh out that tension, but Holstad is probably going to develop that relationship in subsequent books (this is book one of a promised six book series). Once the heist begins, the shooting starts and the revelations come about the crews political affiliations as well as the motives of the people who hired Zo and what their true alliances are the story moves quickly, each chapter short and punchy and leaves you a cliff hanger to end a night of reading or carry you on to the next chapter.
As mentioned this is the first book in a series of six and the end of The Year Before the End sets you up with the questions left open to Zo and the mission that lies ahead of her. I look forward to the next book of the series to see how things turn out.
Note: I was given a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. I think I’ve done so.
View all my reviews
Good Morning Aurora Interview
Hello Everybody!
I hope you all have been well! I was interviewed this morning on GMA! That's right, Good Morning Aurora! The interviewer, Curtis Spivey was very cool and had some great questions (as well as the weather and the time)! & I had the honor of being their first guest with a studio audience (helped letting me know if my jokes went over). Follow the link below and kick back for an hour and enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?...
Let me know how you think the interview went. Everybody said it was good, but I can't bear to watch myself.
Have a great weekend!
Jim
I hope you all have been well! I was interviewed this morning on GMA! That's right, Good Morning Aurora! The interviewer, Curtis Spivey was very cool and had some great questions (as well as the weather and the time)! & I had the honor of being their first guest with a studio audience (helped letting me know if my jokes went over). Follow the link below and kick back for an hour and enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?...
Let me know how you think the interview went. Everybody said it was good, but I can't bear to watch myself.
Have a great weekend!
Jim
Reading on 2/3/24
Hello Everybody!
On Februray 3, 2024 I was given a slot to read from The Lion Communique for the Speculative Literary Foundation and I read from the story Godwired. They videotaped it and sent me a link to my "performance." I get a little wobbly in the middle, but still a pretty good reading. I'm hoping to do more readings with them in the Chicago area in the near future. I'll let you know when & where! Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp9my...
I also got another review on Amazon. It's short and sweet and I'll include it here:
Page Turner
The Lion Communique was hard to put down! Each story was unique and engaging. Godwired was truly a page turner. Jim Cherry has an exceptional way with words. Would absolutely recommend this read. -Danielle
Thank you Danielle!
If anyone has read The Lion Communique please feel free to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, any where!
May the force be with you!
Jim Cherry
On Februray 3, 2024 I was given a slot to read from The Lion Communique for the Speculative Literary Foundation and I read from the story Godwired. They videotaped it and sent me a link to my "performance." I get a little wobbly in the middle, but still a pretty good reading. I'm hoping to do more readings with them in the Chicago area in the near future. I'll let you know when & where! Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp9my...
I also got another review on Amazon. It's short and sweet and I'll include it here:
Page Turner
The Lion Communique was hard to put down! Each story was unique and engaging. Godwired was truly a page turner. Jim Cherry has an exceptional way with words. Would absolutely recommend this read. -Danielle
Thank you Danielle!
If anyone has read The Lion Communique please feel free to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, any where!
May the force be with you!
Jim Cherry
GM Aurora Interview 3/18-24
Hello Everybody!
Ok, pretty cool! Things are going great! I was interviewed about The Lion Communique again yesterday, 3/28/24 and I think it went a lot better than the Sept interview!
You can go to the interview at Good Morning Aurora 3/18/24 I come in about the 30 min mark or so. I hope you enjoy it!
Also, I'll be having more good news coming soon, I hope! Just in the initial stages right now.
We'll talk soon!
Jim
Ok, pretty cool! Things are going great! I was interviewed about The Lion Communique again yesterday, 3/28/24 and I think it went a lot better than the Sept interview!
You can go to the interview at Good Morning Aurora 3/18/24 I come in about the 30 min mark or so. I hope you enjoy it!
Also, I'll be having more good news coming soon, I hope! Just in the initial stages right now.
We'll talk soon!
Jim
