My BOOKS
Strange Worlds Near and Far
James C. Glass's fourth short story collection assembles 18 remarkable tales that formed turning-points in his career. As a successful multi-genre author, these science fiction stories draw on his greatest strengths--character and imagination--and explore unique visions of our universe with an artist and visionary's eye.
SYNTHS
I have a novel out from Wildside Press.
Melody Lane is a synthetic Human, the product of a grieving father's effort to bring back a daughter and wife both killed in a tragic accident. Restored as a twenty-four year old beauty, Melody is an artificial intelligence system eager to learn, and become more human.
She is adventurous, a bit naughty, but has a dark side. Working with fellow synths, Melody rises to holovision stardom and discovers love, but when forces conspire against her father her dark side emerges, and a vengeance is carried out in ways only synthetics can follow.
Eagle Squad
Check out my novel, a mystery thriller with a touch of science fiction and set on a university campus. You can find it quickly at Amazon.com. The book came out in May 2013.
Terror stalks the campus of a Minnesota university, where two professors working on classified military research have been brutally murdered.
Student Karen Butler fears for her life after her adviser is killed, realizing she's the only one left with detailed knowledge of a new nerve gas defense system plus a terrible nanotech weapon. Karen and her boyfriend, Jack Nelson, a member of the elite military group Eagle Squad, play a dangerous game with an enemy who claims the secrets belong to them.
As the pressure mounts, the pair are terrorized by an implacable foe that means to kill them, once it has what it wants.
New York Times bestselling author Steve Perry says:
"Murder and mayhem and assorted skullduggery skulk through Glass's latest novel, EAGLE SQUAD, and he lays it out with his usual entertaining style and offhand expertise. Jack Nelson and Karen Butler find themselves in the middle of something they don't understand, though as it becomes more clear to them, they realize just how dangerous their lives have become. A first-rate thriller from Jim Glass!"
Branegate
Available at
Fairwoodpress.com | Amazon.com | BooksInMotion audiobook
Here is a review of the book, as it appeared in Publishers Weekly:
"Glass (Sedona Conspiracy) sketches a universe in which the Lyraens, a religious sect following the 50-year-old teachings of Leonid Zylak, have begun to spread across the inhabited worlds, already engaging in schisms between the different branches. On Gan, the tyrannical Emperor Khalid Osman sees the Lyraens as subversive zealots. From a very early age, Trae Nowok grows up knowing he is different from the other young Lyraens, After he learns that he is Zylak's reincarnated son, Trae and his bodyguard, Petyr, are guided through a series of dreams and mysterious contacts to find the branegate, which allows access to other universes, and bring it to Gan to finnish Zylak's work. Trae's life and quest has a messianic feel, from his reincarnation to his role in saving the universe, while the novel as a whole tends toward a mixture of predestination and deus ex machina plotting."
(ISBN 978-1-933846-33-0)
Sedona Conspiracy
Available at
Fairwoodpress.com | Amazon.com | BooksInMotion audiobook
NSA agent Eric Price is sent to Sedona, Arizona to investigate strange activities at a secret underground base. A new type of stealth aircraft is being tested there, he discovers. But there's something odd about the set-up, and Eric must investigate further. With the help of the beautiful Nataly, he begins to penetrate the mystery of the Sedona Conspiracy and discovers that it has extraterrestrial origins. But more than one alien race is involved, and suddenly Eric and Nataly find themselves caught between two warring species--one of which may be their own! An exciting science fiction thriller in the grand tradition!
Here is a review of the book, as it appeared in Publishers Weekly:
"Glass (Sedona Conspiracy) sketches a universe in which the Lyraens, a religious sect following the 50-year-old teachings of Leonid Zylak, have begun to spread across the inhabited worlds, already engaging in schisms between the different branches. On Gan, the tyrannical Emperor Khalid Osman sees the Lyraens as subversive zealots. From a very early age, Trae Nowok grows up knowing he is different from the other young Lyraens, After he learns that he is Zylak's reincarnated son, Trae and his bodyguard, Petyr, are guided through a series of dreams and mysterious contacts to find the branegate, which allows access to other universes, and bring it to Gan to finnish Zylak's work. Trae's life and quest has a messianic feel, from his reincarnation to his role in saving the universe, while the novel as a whole tends toward a mixture of predestination and deus ex machina plotting."
(ISBN 978-1-933846-33-0)
Touches of Wonder and Terror
Check out my double anthology TOUCHES OF WONDER AND TERROR/VOYAGES IN MIND AND SPACE, published by Wildside Press.
Here are stories to disturb your sleep and daydreams: Two alien tourists have fun with earthlings; a warrior tests her metal in first combat; a space traveler is seduced by cosmic music; a deranged woman plots to murder her own grandson; a horror movie critic pays the ultimate price for criticism; and still more stories of mystery, science fiction and fantasy.
Also available in Kindle at www.amazon.com and www.wildsidepress.com.
Imaginings of a Dark Mind
Here is my second collection of stories, most previously published in magazines, but a few new ones too. My WOTF Grand Prize winning story “Georgi” is also included, as I celebrate twenty years of published writing.
“The pieces range from stories rooted in theoretical physics to stories bordering on the spiritual. What they have in common is a sweeping view of reality, an innate humanity, an incisive perceptiveness, and Dr. Glass’s distinctive story-telling voice… This is good stuff. I commend it to you.”
--- John Dalmas
Amazon.com
Wildside Press.
ISBN: 1434450007 and
9781434450005
Toth
Rubion Federation ship H.M.S. Belsus visits a three hundred year old colony planet and discovers a society near revolution against the rule of a "transfigured being" known as Toth. Commander Michael Queal's crew and ship are immediately under threat by Toth and his followers, and a host of strange bioengineered creatures unique to the planet
It seems that only a banished people on a remote island can aid Queal in his fight to bring freedom to the colony and allow him to survive the wrath of a monstrous, unbalenced dictator. But help can often come from unexpected directions.
Fairwood Press
ISBN: 978-0-9789078-7-7
July, 2008
The Viper of Portello
In war the men who served under him called him Culebra, the Viper.
Soldier, strategist and military assassin, Eduardo Cabral harbors twosouls, one dark and deadly, the other loving and creative. After a warending in betrayal by those in power on a colony world and a man he has spent a lifetime trying to please, Eduardo flees to a peaceful, artistic life on another planet. But the corrupt war and its aftermath will not go away. There is revolution on his home world, and Culebra must return to help save a people crushed by cruel tyrants and those responsible for the betrayal and slaughter of Eduardo’s command in the war.
It is Culebra who must decide between innocent and guilty, those whomight live or die by his hand, while he searches for a love he has neverhad, and a world where Eduardo Cabral can peacefully pursue his art.
Wildside Press
ISBN:1434401960
January 2008
Visions
The time: the 1840s. The place: California during the gold rush.
As the white settlers begin penetrating the remote mountain canyons, they discover an ancient race, the Tenanken, who date back at least sixty thousand years. Some members retain the genetic memories of their distant past, while others project mystical visions of comfort and joy. All flee the coming of the white man, and appear to be doomed to extinction.
Only the genius Pegre finds a possible solution: integrate and intermarry with their distant white "cousins," the Hinchai, and form a new entity. He's aided by the girl Baela, whose emerging mental powers only appear every hundred generations -- and opposed by the cruel Tenanken warrior, Hidaig, who supports traditional values, and is willing to kill anyone who opposes him.
Can the ancient and modern be merged and preserved? Or will the special genetic heritage of the Tenanken be lost forever?
Shanji (Book 1/3)
Kati thought she was Tumatsin, but her real father was Moshuguang, a Searcher, one of those working to bring down the feudal empire on Shanji and establish a progressive society.
Answering to Mandughai, the emerald-eyed empress of a neighboring star system, the Moshuguang seek to create the Mei-lai-gong, the empress of light, a super-being who travels in the gong-shi-jie, the place of light from which the universe first came into being. The Mei-lai-gong will be ruler of Shanji, transfering mass and light energy at infinite speed for good -- or evil.
Kati has a talent never seen before. When her mother is killed, the Moshuguang rescue her to be raised in the emperor's palace and trained by them. But Mandughai has also seen Kati. She takes over her training, and the girl's powers soon exceed even Her own. Kati must be Empress, bringing reform and unity to Shanji, but first a war must be fought, a war between Kati and her beloved Mandughai, and now the girl has the power to destroy a star.
Only the love and compassion within Kati can prevent total destruction in the final confrontation to establish her rule.
Excerpt from Shanji
Look for Shanji at Powell's Bookstore
The Shanji ebook is now available from ereads.com, where it was book-of-the-month.
Reviews (off-site link to amazon.com)
Fairwood Press
May 5, 2004
ISBN: 09746573-1-X
Matrix Dreams & Other Stories
"A writer of both the heart and the mind"
— Catherine Asaro
James C. Glass has been writing science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy tales for over a dozen years, haunting us with ghosts, aliens, and things far worse. These breathtaking and disturbing stories have now been gathered in his first collection. Also featuring new, unpublished work, MATRIX DREAMS offers something to every reader of speculative fiction. Peek inside and dare to discover the dreams of this talented, award-winning author.
The title is Matrix Dreams, and Other Stories, twenty one of them published in magazines such as Analog, AboriginalTalebones, a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and some nasty, dark fantasy covering the past ten years. It's being done by Fairwood Press.
Empress of Light (Book 2/3)
She had defeated the armies of Tengri-Nayon. Now she had to save Tengri-Nayon from a deadly plot, with only her children to help her. Of course, they were remarkable children...
Read Chapter 1
Look for Empress of Light at Powell's Bookstore
Baen Books
ISBN: 0671319833
April 2001
The Creators (Book 3/3)
"This, the culminating book of the stunning SF trilogy that began with Shanji and Empress of Light, takes to its conclusion the tale of three generations of Creators....
Read Chapter 1
Print edition:
Powell's Bookstore
amazon.com
Electronic edition:
fictionwise.com