I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4 First allow me to say that I admire all writers that try to make a living in the publishing world, it is fickle place to try and make a buck if you are not the top .01% of authors. I also appreciate all of you dedicated and enthusiastic writers, readers, literary agents and editors out there and I have met more than few at writers' conferences and on-line. In my despondent hours, when the minute hand pauses on the face of time and shadows rise from the floor to surround me, a flicker of hope seems to come through and cast away the muddy darkness and allow me to persist. These are usually encouraging comments from readers or other writers. For these short but significant missives, I am forever grateful. I am a published poet and short story writer and please feel free to read my sample chapters of my novels in my blog and give some feedback. These novels contain adult content so you must get your parent's permission. Right. All works are protected and under the aegis of the intellectual property laws of the United States of America.
Ars longa Vita brevis!
The name I was fettered with is Joshua Lee Andrew Jones. I was born to a place between the worlds of the secular and the ecclesiastical. My most important influence was my Grandfather,a Federal Court Judge, and a fair man to the point of fiction. My early life was dominated by the Episcopal church as my father was a Rector. I lived at church, and this is literal and not figurative. This makes me one of those crazy PK's, Preacher's Kids. PK's either follow the path or set it ablaze. Guess what I did? Put it this way, the god hypothesis is primitive.
I went to college and obtained a degree in English literature, but like so many others, wanted to be a rockstar and pursued this life until it became abundantly clear that I was not meant for the road but even during this time I never stopped writing, instead harnessed my ear to write more developed poetry and prose but continue to play for my own meditative purposes. I also had to stop to take care of my mother when she needed a liver transplant and by the time the issue was resolved, years had passed and I was too old to pursue the gypsy life of a rockstar. It is not sad, it changed the direction of my life in many positive ways. I probably would have not survived the trails of the pavement and backstage indulgence. I am stubborn to the point of paradox, slightly skewed when it comes to values, and subtly sardonic as a writer. I read everything but cookbooks and I can cook.
"Veil" is a novel involving an anti-hero who goes through a metamorphosis and see through the veils of evil surrounding him. He goes on a crusade to reveal a possible supernatural evolutionary conspiracy and leaves a wake of destruction in his wake through a series of misadventures. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The novel "The Palace of Excess", is a link into the bipolar mind of Joaquin Chandler a kid trying to escape his difficult past. The narrative chronicles a tempestuous year wrought with peril, betrayal and self-discovery at a small Virginia college. A murder-suicide in the end is but one of the axial points as addiction, a bad acid trip, and anxiety play a role in the existential transformation. All the goodies are there as it is an expose of college life so there's binge drinking, sex, drugs and violence. It was influenced by Sartre and William Blake's. I got the title from his epigram "The Wisdom of Excess". The story was inspired by my stay at a small college where I too battled the plagues of alcohol and depression but I could not remain as my friend's suicide prompted my exit.
Gravity Of Divinity is a novel that deals with what it means to truly be human when the lines are blurred and mankind is able to detemine its own fate and evolution through volition and technology. It is set in a Not-So-Distant future and is populated with artifical intelligences in the form of sentient programs, androids, and collectives of nano-robots. Humans are gentically purified and have amazing little micro-machines(molecule and cell sized) called nannites that act as repair mechanisms for the body (not quite Wolverine but close), internal monitoring systems and virtual immortality is bestowed upon humans. The nannites give people enhanced cognitive abilities, the ability to link with computer systems that directly interact with the perceptual centers of the brain and they can be used against the people as well. In this future, it is dystopic for some and paradise for others but it might all be undone as time itself might be redirected.
I have a poetry compilation "Whispers of Hypnos" and short story collection with no title. I am a playwright with numerous surreal and profane plays that need to be staged(Psycho-Babel, Shrewd Indecision, Abbadon's Gambit, Specularis, Rachel's Task and many one-acts).
I play the bass and the guitar but sadly not enough. I have a hard time getting to sleep as the over-unity engine of my mind will not cease and then waking up is a violation of the few moments of sanctuary. I hate flying and driving but I continue to drive.
Freelance writing and creative consultations are my gig at the moment. I tend to re-read Ex-Pat Lit. and late 19th Century authors simultaneously while reading contemporary writers. I go to the theatre whenever possible.
I am from Fairfield, CT the odd nexus that gave the world Justin Long, James Blake, John Mayer, Mike McGlone and the golfer J.J Henry.
The season I find most comfort in is winter, for its storms, as the city and sylvan surroundings transition from Tableau Vivant to a transient Tableau Vacant. All awash in white, we bundle up and embrace the cold and the uncertainty. That is why I like it most as seasons are concerned. Pens on Fire published a poem titled "Dried" which you might be able to look up and The Bitter Oleander press is publishing a poem in their Spring Edition. You can buy the magazine on-line.
