listening to the podcast

For descriptions of each episode, check out my Show Notes at the top of the page. This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real people or events is purely coincidental.

WARNING: Some of the language may be offensive, but no worse than you would expect in an R rated movie.

Special thanks to NASA for the image of the galaxy.

Podcast of the novel BETWEEN EARTH AND ARCTURUS

Who is James Prescott?

Who the heck am I?

     I began writing many years ago in my bathtub. It seemed like the ideal place, with piping hot water; good lighting; Fleetwood Mac blasting through my headphones; plenty of blank pages on a clipboard. I found it therapeutic at the end of a long day. Try it and see for yourself.
     Of course, I had to eat, too, which means I also worked a real job. In fact, I’ve worked a number of real jobs. Each one taught me something about life, people, the world, and myself. And that’s what I draw on for much of my inspiration.
     I write about places, situations, events, and technology, but most of all I write about people. Some of my characters are based on people I have known, but many more on based upon myself, or aspects of myself at different times in my life. We all change—hopefully for the better—and some characters in my stories are built upon a part of who I once was at an earlier moment.
     Yes, even some of the bad guys started with a dark side that I’d seen in myself, and built upon until a whole new, unique character was fleshed out.
     Science and the mysteries of the universe always seemed pressingly important to me, but spirituality and the mysteries of eternity were equally important, and so I sought to reconcile the two. This requires a fair measure of open minded philosophy and a willingness to doubt all sides of an issue.
     Since leaving the industrial arena and planting myself in an institution of pure research I’ve grown ever more familiar with real scientists, and learned that science does not have all of the answers to everything. There are still more questions than answers and the scientific community can be wrong. Just ask Copernicus, Galileo, or Louis Pasteur.
     This is actually a great thing for Science Fiction writers, because it gives us the courage to continue weaving tales of faster than light spaceships and free energy. If writers don’t imagine it, scientists may never aspire to it. After all, H.G. Wells published The First Men in the Moon 68 years before Neil Armstrong made that giant leap for mankind.
     By the way, James Prescott is not my real name. I took this alias years ago so that I could do my job getting technical information from online catalogs without opening up my personal email account to spam. When I joined an online writers group I continued using the alias.
     While considering whether I should use James Prescott as a pen name, or use my real name, I discovered that there is already a published writer with my name. So, the alias is now my pen name.
    I currently work in a physics research laboratory which is literally deep underground.  I sometimes start work in the morning (like normal people), sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes at midnight. That, combined with being underground contributes to not always being sure of what day it is.
   My past work experience has been in satellite technology, military radar, and surveillance technology. There was also some work with plasma generators and statistics.
   My travels for work and pleasure have taken me to other countries and to places in the USA that are off the tourist path, broadening my world view considerably and giving me a better understanding of cultures, and some perspective on my own culture.
   All of these have provided seeds for stories and for characters. The various things I've experienced in my travels, work, and hobbies gives me a reference for what is possible.