James R. Poyner

Presently working out of my third floor aerie in Chicago, I am retired from selling books, as well as from proofreading and editing, while I am now fully focused on writing fiction. Then, there is a kind of spirit associated with this apartment—I am not the first published writer to have lived here—while that spirit seems quite congenial, if not inspiring. Indeed, why toy with such a thing?

Otherwise, I do believe I am now doing what I was meant to do. I am content, while my current project is coming along very well. Yet, I mean to try something different with that, and so, for now, the only new title will be "Passing the Torch", the newest and the eleventh book in the fantasy and action/adventure world of the Travellers. The latter should be out before the end of March.

Although I wrote verse when I did my first year at Millikin in 1968-1969, I began writing tales in 1970, while learning to be a flight operations clerk at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. By the time I was hunkered down in North Phu Bai, a year later, I had begun rereading and revising my efforts, something that continues, although much of my stuff has gotten good enough that I am curtailing that habit. Once Book VI of "The Travellers" is finished (mid-April), then that habit will also be finished, as is only fair. You see, my ten years at CCH as an editorial assistant not only honed my mechanics, but also let me develop a good inner ear. If something you've written bothers you, try reading it out loud. When you do, you're almost certain to note the flaw, and when you've fixed it, the piece will be better. Try it!

Otherwise, if in looking over my Author Page, you then wonder where all the titles came from, then just remember that 1970 was over 45 years ago. If you then divide all of those titles into 45, then that should soften your wonder. Further, thanks to the way Amazon lays things out, it's not hard to note that some of the offerings are simply earlier versions of my books. You'd do well to go with the newest versions, while so ignoring the earlier versions also reduces the catalog still further.

For now, Nature be with you! James R Poyner

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