Trading cards

That's right folks, a little on-line group is producing author's trading cards. I don't know if they'll ever actually print them up, but for now they're creating virtual cards, which we can use to promote ourselves. I've never been the most photogenic person, but like I always say, I'll do anything to promote my writing...

Future Syndicate reviewed

Future Syndicate, an anthology edited by me and containing one of my stories has been reviewed by Tangent Online. Click on the title of this blog entry to read the review...

Book signing

We had a pretty good crowd at the signing today. Almost filled up all of the chairs in the little bookstore, and we sold quite a few copies of Future Syndicate as well.

There are some pictures from the signing in my photo gallery on my homepage. Click on the title of this post, and you'll go right to my page.

An ego trip

We have a site here in Colorado called SF Colorado. It features news and information about the plethora of writers that we have in this state. A visit there last night found my name plastered all over the top of the page...kind of cool.

Book signing

Somehow I seem to have missed mentioning that Rebecca Bates and I will be reading from and signing copies of Future Syndicate at Who Else Books in Denver on Sunday March 4th at 3:00 P.M.

You can bring any of my titles, or buy them there, and I will be happy to sign them.

Hope to see some of the locals there!

LiveJournal

I'm now on LiveJournal...yeah, I know, I'll go anywhere that I can whore my books, right?

It seems like an interesting place to hang out. I've already run into quite a few authors I know...so drop by and say hi...

The Locus Poll

Locus Magazine has opened up its annual readers' poll, and this year, we've decided we're going to try to make a dent in it. The chances of us winning in any category are pretty slim because this is a MAJOR award, and most of the candidates are BIG NAMED writers. Still, Tyree and I have always had a little Don Quixote in us...so we're going to make a run for it, and at least try to get some recognition for Sam's Dot!
Below you will find a ballot that we've put together that we'd like to encourage you to follow. The main difference between this and the P&E poll is 1) It's a lot harder to stuff the ballot box on this one, and 2) The only nominations that appear on the ballot are those that came from the magazine...which means that you have to do a write-in for all of these nominations. It's kind of difficult, and time consuming, but if you love Sam's Dot...it's worth it. The ballot we put together contains mostly people and stories from Sam's Dot, but if we had extra room, we also tried to come up with some names of people we like as well...
One final note, you can vote for up to five in each topic, and the ballot below lists people basically in the order that we came up with them, not necessarily in the order that we think they belong (so no hurt feelings if you think you're better than someone ahead of you.)
SF Novel:
1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
Best First Novel:1) Friends in Dark Places by John Bushore
2) Forbidden Cargo by Rebecca Rowe
Best Novella:
1) The Battle for Newhome by Terry Hickman
2) Urbania by L.A. Story Houry
3) Tower to Heaven by David Wright
Best Short Story:
1) Generation Gap by Tyree Campbell
2) Points of Departure by Jennifer Crow
3) Abstinence by Sarah Kelderman
4) An Asteroid by Any Other Name by David Lee Summers
5) Entropy by J Alan Erwine
Best Magazine:
1) Aoife’s Kiss
2) Beyond Centauri
3) The Martian Wave
4) The Fifth Di…
5) Champagne Shivers
Best Book Publisher:
1) Sam’s Dot Publishing
2) Nomadic Delirium Press
3) LBF Books
4) Apex Publishing
5) Perplexed Puffin Press
Best Anthology:
1) Erwine-Ecotastrophe
2) Campbell-Esperance
3) Erwine-Just Because
4) Campbell-Bondage
5) Erwine-Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 5
Best Single Author Collection:
1) Flashing the Dark by Bruce Boston
2) Long Way Home by R.D. Robbins
Best Editor:
1) Tyree Campbell
2) J Alan Erwine
3) Cathy Buburuz
4) Teri Santitoro
5) Terrie Leigh Relf
Best Artist:
1) Laura Givens
2) Marge Simon
3) 7ARS
4) Jolene Flasher
5) Anselmo Alliegro

It's finally here!

It seems like I've been waiting for years for this, but today is the official release of the new version of my novel The Opium of the People. In this version I've made some corrections to some stupid mistakes I made in the first version, and it also has some additions that have come out of the Bush Blunder...er, I mean the war in Iraq!

The book is currently available through my website, the Nomadic Delirium Press website, The Genre Mall, Amazon.com, and several other booksellers. If your local bookstore doesn't carry the book, you just need to ask them to order it.

ISBN: 1-4196-2588-8

Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 6

Sam's Dot Publishing's annual best of the web anthology is here. Featuring the top poems and stories from the 2005 versions of The Fifth Di..., The Martian Wave, and Aoife's Kiss.

Most publishers don't last more than three or four issues...if they're lucky. This is an annual anthology, and we're already starting to work on Vol. 7...that definitely says something about the staying power of Sam's Dot Publishing.

The collection was started by ProMart Publishing (the company that became Sam's Dot), and we didn't do our first WWW until we'd been around for a few years. There are very few small press publishers that can say they've been around for more than a decade, and I think a major reason we've lasted so long is because of our wonderful contributors...just look at the cover art on this book!

Here's a complete list of the contents of the new book:

Gravity Well by Benny Grezlik
Guardian Winds by Daniel C. Smith
Thou by Tyree Campbell
Dancing In The Martian Rain by Terrie Leigh Relf
Leveling Mountains by Abby Goldsmith
Harvest People by Bruce Boston
Mare Mortis by Gail Kavanagh
Planet-Side Data Retrieval From The Europa Orbiter by Terrie Leigh Relf
Requiem Mass by JE Gurley
Mother Earth by Marsheila Rockwell
Rivalry by t.santitoro
Repercussions Of The Big Bang by Mikal Trimm
Chambers On Io by Scott Virtes
History Repeats Itself by Aurelio Rico Lopez III
Spy by Adam Banks
Cosmic Harvest by Kristine Ong Muslim
Red Mist by Nicholas Scipior
A Raven Between Two Worlds by Philip Reyth
Seedlings On The Solar Winds by J Alan Erwine
Bloom by Jennifer Schwabach
Brew Of The Gods by Ian Brazee-Cannon
Jim And The Reaper Grim by Adam La Rusic
Avatar by Edward Cox
Changing The Rules by Nancy Bennett

I've updated my website

Since there have been several new titles released recently that I've been involved with, I figured it was time to update my webiste...so head on over, and have a look...

Books are now available from Amazon

Even though we're still a few days away from the official release of Future Syndicate and The Opium of the People, Amazon has them listed for purchase. If you're interested in buying them, scroll down the right side of this blog to the "Amazon Buy Now" buttons!

The Opium of the People: After a near-miss of a giant comet, the American people fall under the control of a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian government, ruled by the Grand Patriarchs, that slowly strips away their freedoms and establishes a rule of law that even the dictatorships of the 20th Century couldn't have dreamed up.

Forced into virtual seclusion, Edward Silverberg, a former English Lit professor, finds himself on a path that will lead to either his destruction, or the destruction of the Grand Patriarchs...or maybe both.

Future Syndicate: Crime has always been with us, and probably always will be. Future Syndicate looks at what the future of crime might be, and what criminals might be like in the future.

Featuring the works of Jason Sizemore, Bret Tallman, Jason Andrew, Rebecca S.W. Bates, J Alan Erwine, Lavie Tidhar, Bruce Horner, and Rebecca M. Senese, Future Syndicate gives you eight distinct views of what crime might become...

The Opium of the People

Yes, it's the book that just won't die!

Nomadic Delirium Press has announced that a new version of The Opium of the People will be released on Feb. 1st. The book will list for $15.99, but right now they're selling it for $12.00.

It's important to remember that only by ordering through their website will you get the new version. Other sites are still selling the old version. Once the book has been released, it will be available from most booksellers.

This book was originally released by ProMart Publishing, but has been revised and updated with new content and new cover art.

The American government has been overthrown! After a near-miss of a giant comet, the American people fall under the control of a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian government, ruled by the Grand Patriarchs, that slowly strips away their freedoms and establishes a rule of law that even the dictatorships of the 20th Century couldn’t have dreamed up.

Forced into virtual seclusion, Edward Silverberg, a former English Lit professor, finds himself on a path that will lead to either his destruction, or the destruction of the Grand Patriarchs…or maybe both.

ISBN: 1-4196-2588-8

Future Syndicate

Future Syndicate is an anthology that looks at crime and criminals in the future. The collection was edited by me, and it will be released on January 25th. However, the publisher is currently running a pre-sale on the book through their website. It's just $10 plus shipping & handling.

Right now it's just a pre-sale item, and it can only be ordered through the publisher. Once it's released, it will be available from most booksellers.

Order a copy today!

Just a couple of days left

I just wanted to remind everyone that there are just a few days left on the pre-sale of Just Because at The Genre Mall. Right now the collection is $12.00 + shipping...it goes up to $15.99 + shipping on Jan. 2nd, so if you want a good deal on a collection of works from James Baker, you need to act now!

Click on the title of this entry for all of the details...

Amazon links

I've now added links for a few of my books so that you can order them directly from Amazon.com. I've had several people ask me about that, so now's your chance...

Let it snow!

I just thought I'd upload some pictures I took just after sunrise this morning. We've had close to two feet of snow so far, and the drifts are pretty intimidating. It's still snowing a bit, and we're still expecting another two or three inches.

I would have gotten some better pictures, but I basically can't get off the steps of my apartment unless I want to dive into those big drifts.















You can tell who drove in late in the storm, and who was here for the whole thing...















That's an SUV stuck back there. The white mound behind it is another car...














That's my neighbors car that you can just barely see closest to the camera.

It was ten years ago today

It was ten years ago today
It was ten years ago today that the world lost one of its greatest minds. This is the day that Carl Sagan passed away.
Sagan was well known as a popularizer of science. His PBS show Cosmos had a huge influence on a lot of people, including a ten year old boy living outside of Cleveland.
I was a precocious little geek of a kid that was completely in love with science. I already had a telescope, and I spent hours every clear night outside looking up at the stars, and wondering what might be out there. Then Cosmos came on, and I found that a lot of my questions were being asked on the show, and I loved the potential answers.
Shortly after watching that series, I read two of Carl's books...The Dragons of Eden and Broca's Brain. Some of the material was a bit over my head...I was ten after all...but I understood a lot of it, and he forever changed my life.
It may sound odd, but next to my family, Carl Sagan probably had the biggest influence on my life. I probably wouldn't have become a science fiction writer if I hadn't been exposed to his work.
I never even fully realized what an effect he had on me until I was in college. I can remember sitting on the second floor of the Auraria Campus library...I was supposed to be studying, but instead, I was working on a short story. The story was about aliens living in a gas giant. I thought it was a great idea, but there seemed to be something familiar about the aliens. About six months later, I was watching Cosmos on PBS for the first time since I was ten, and he was describing potential life forms in a gas giant. My aliens were very similar to what he was describing. I hadn't seen the show in a decade and a half, but those aliens had stuck with me, and as I watched the reruns, I realized a lot of other things from that show had stuck with me as well...
Carl Sagan is dearly missed. His voice and wisdom would be greatly welcome in the world we currently live in...

Just Because

Many years ago, James Baker was the first editor to buy one of my stories. Later he would also take me under his wing and give me my first job as an editor. I owe much of my success in this business to that one man.

When Jim was claimed by cancer on September 18th, 2002, I promised myself that I would gather together his stories, poems, and essays and put them into a collection. Unfortunately, time and a job that sucked the life out of me never let me do that.

Earlier this year when I left my real job, I swore to myself that I would finish the book. Now, on what would have been Jim's 81st birthday, Sam's Dot Publishing (the continuation of Jim's ProMart Publishing) has announced that the book will be released on Jan. 2nd.

This book is more than just a collection of one man's works. It also features insights from the people who knew Jim, and it contains a lot of my own personal memories of him...an attempt at drawing a better picture of a man I wish many of you could have known.

The Genre Mall is currently offering the book at a special pre-sale price of $12.00 plus shipping & handling. If you'd like to order a copy, please go to... http://www.genremall.com/anthologiesr.htm#justbecause

New releases

Stay tuned for information on new releases from me...things I've written...thing I've edited...a lot going on.

First announcement will be on Sunday!

A new record...

...and it's not one I wanted. I've gotten three rejections of the same story in a two day period! I didn't even think that would be possible.

The sad thing is that the story wasn't even a simultaneous submission. The first one was a couple of weeks late, but the next two came about four or five hours after I'd submitted the story.

Maybe it's time to go back and re-work this thing...