Jim has always wanted to be a writer. He wrote his first story when he was in the 4th grade but thought it was boring so he threw it away. Flash forward fifty-plus years to 2011. By then he’d been married and had children and grandchildren. He’d had a long career in sales and technical training for a large manufacturing company. He’d even owned a small business. But, while helping to care for the last days of a loved one, he realized that life was passing him by and he’d better get going if he wanted to fulfill his dream. The next day he started writing and hasn’t stopped since.
He began by writing a poem a day for a year. Then a haiku a day for a year. Then a four-line stanza a day for a year. Then a six-line rhymed verse a day for a year.
In 2015 he started writing short stories. He took an online writing class and met a successful author who became his mentor. She suggested he write the best possible stories he could and post them on a blog. He followed her advice and continued working and honing his craft.
He began submitting stories in early 2018 and in March his first short story was featured on CafeLit. He was off and running. Since then over 400 stories have appeared in online publications such as CafeLit and Spillwords, where he was voted Author of the Month for December 2019, and in print anthologies, such as the Best of CafeLit 8 and Nativity through Bridgehouse Publishing, and the Gleam, Portal and Glamour anthology through Clarendon House Publishing.
He also reads his stories for broadcast on Talking Stories Radio, and his own Jim’s Storytime.
Here are his publications:
Resilience, a collection of twenty-seven short stories, was published through Bridge House Publishing in February 2021.
Periodic Stories, a collection of thirty-one stories, was published in March 2021 by Impspired.
Periodic Stories Volume Two, a collection of twenty-six stories, was published in July 2021 by Impspired.
Short Stuff, a collection of thirty-two flash fiction and drabbles, was published July 2021, through Chapeltown Books.
Something Better, a dystopian adventure novella, was published in July 2021 by Dark Myth Publications.
Dreamers, a collection of thirty-six short stories was published in March 2022 by Clarendon House Publishing.
Periodic Stories Volume Three – A Novel was published in May 2022 by Impspired.
Haiku Seasons was published in September 2022 by Impspired.
A collection of short stories entitled Holiday Stories was published in November 2022 by Impspired
The Alien of Orchard Lake a full-length novel was published in July 2022 by Dark Myth Publishing.
Periodic Stories Volume IV was published in January 2023 by Impspired.
The Alchemy of Then a collection of 101 poems was published in February 2023 by Impspired.
The YA fantasy novella The Battle of Marvel Wood was published in June 2023 by Impspired.
Dancing With Butterflies a collection of flash fiction was published in June 2023 by Impspired.
The novel Conversations With the Dead was published in July 2023 by Impspired.
A collection of short stories Old Man Jasperson and Other Stories was published in August 2023 by Bridge House Publishing.
A collection of poems The Metaphysics of Now was published in November 2023 by Impspired.
A collection of poems The Evolution of Tomorrow was published in January 2024 by Impspired.
The novella Eye of the Beholder was published in January 2024 by Dark Myth Publications.
A collection of Poems The Science of Forever was published in March 2024 by Impspired.
All of his publications are available on Amazon or through the respective publisher.
He continues to write every day from his home in the small town of Long Lake, Minnesota and prefers to be published as Jim Bates. He is happy. He has achieved his dream.
Here is a complete list of where his stories have appeared:
His stories and poems have appeared online in CafeLit, The Writers’ Cafe Magazine, Cabinet of Heed, Paragraph Planet, Nailpolish Stories, Ariel Chart, Potato Soup Journal, Literary Yard, Spillwords (Dec 2019, Author of the Month), The Drabble, The Academy of the Heart and Mind, World of Myth Magazine, The Horror Tree, The Terror House, Fox Hollow Stories, Mad Swirl, and Bindweed Press. In print publications: A Million Ways, Mused Literary Journal, the Writers and Readers Magazine, Paper Djinn Press, Literally Stories, Fiction on the Web, Flora Fiction, The Best of Mad Swirl, Gleam Flash Fiction Anthology #2, the Portal Anthology, Glamour Anthology and Poetica #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 and the Galaxy Series 3,4,5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 by Clarendon House Publishing, The Best of CafeLit 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 by Chapeltown Publishing, the Nativity Anthology and Mulling It Over Anthology by Bridge House Publishing, Forgotten One’s Drabble Anthology by Eerie River Publishing, Fenechty Anthologies, Gold Dust Magazine, Down In the Dirt Magazine, cc&d magazine, Mad Swirl, Piker Press, Pure Slush Lifetime Anthologies, the Oceans Anthology and the 20/20 Anthology by Black Hare Press, the Summertime 2023 and the Wintertime 2023 Anthology by Bindweed Press. He was nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize by The Zodiac Review for his flash fiction story, “Aliens.” His story “The Maple Leaf ” was selected as Best Story of the Year for 2021 by Spillwords. Most recently, he was voted Spillwords Author of the Month for December 2022.
You can check out his Author Page on Amazon at:
theviewfromlonglake 