Jim Cherry's Blog

I lived the first 23 years of my life in my imagination, but I bet with The Firefly Lantern Richard Holeman has me beat, he’s still living in his imagination and sending us back great notes. When I was in my teens I read about the adventure and magic of childhood from writers like Ray Bradbury and they were all set in the 20’s. I thought there was something about that time that made it a magical age to live in, because they seemed a simpler time to me. Richard Holeman brings the same adventure and magic of childhood and sets it in the 70’s, it turns out the simpler times of adventure and magic is our childhoods and not relegated to any one time period.

Benny Woodson is a twelve-year-old boy who lives in a small town called Preachers Hollow when he befriends Katy Shepard and they embark on a magical summer of adventures, quests and ghosts. The Firefly Lantern is a fairy tale that reads like an autobiography (maybe it is, the autobiography of Holeman’s imagination). Holeman’s writing is consistently strong and no matter what, the tension keeps you reading. Holeman can make buying a pack of cigarettes at the corner gas station an adventure.

The Firefly Lantern will fire off your imagination and Richard Holeman is one of the few writers who can keep me turning the pages long after I should have gone to sleep.

Richard Holeman seems to be building a canon of novels that explore small towns or even just sections of neighborhoods that are, in a sense, their own small self-contained towns. In the First Boy on the Moon, Holeman has given us a world that is reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn not only in tone but in driving the characters. I don’t know if Holeman was trying for Huckleberry Finn but there are some equivalents.

The first thing that caught me off guard is there are a few scenes that describe what would be considered even then (the novel is set in the 70’s) as child abuse. That’s when the Huck Finn analogy occurred to me, what set Huck off on his adventures was the abuse of his drunken father in what amounts to a custody dispute, until the boy escapes to the wilds of the Mississippi river. Same sorts of issues just a different century. The main character in the First Boy on the Moon Richie and his friends escape their all too real worlds to the wilderness near their apartment building, although, the wilderness now has a shopping mall around the corner from it. The First Boy on the Moon has a lot of experiences common to childhood, and readers minds will fire off memories from their own childhoods and similar equivalent events.

Richard Holeman has a way to make the even the most everyday experience seem extraordinary, shows us how to see what we consider mundane, as interesting if only we didn’t take it for granted, and the reader always wants to find out what will happen next. Even though the First Boy on the Moon has its darker moments (mostly when adults intrude into their world) there’s always a sense of hope and the magic of life and our childhood Edens.

Hello Everybody!
I hope everyone had a great summer as we're about to fall into fall!

I did an interview with Garage to Stadium podcast. It takes a look at a rock group from its humble beginnings to a major rock act. I, of course, talked about The Doors. It's just over an hour long, I hope you enjoy it! Garage to Stadium: The Story of The Doors

An update on the novel The Third Day, I've been working on. Glad to report I finished it and sent it to an editor at a small publishing house that wants to get bigger. The editor has had it since August 12 and of course we're still waiting to hear from her. If you know any prayers, incantations, spells, mantra's, rituals to help it along a positive route I'd much appreciate it!

Till next time!
Jim

Happy June Everyone! I always like to start a month off with a new review. This one was emailed to me last night by Roberta R. Here is her review (slightly edited, nothing major).

The Lion Communique is a fascinating collection of stories. Each one can stand by itself. Couldn't stop reading, though, until I had read all of the stories today. Each one was fascinating and thought provoking. I especially liked God-wired and The Third Day.

God-wired because it gives an alternative to aliens wanting to take over the world, use humans as experiments, or to share their advanced knowledge. That the Aliens were also looking for answers and had traveled a great distance and were going to travel more distance for that special spark they had detected.

The Third Day fascinated me because it reminded me of a short story by Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game. Liked the concept of moving from being a marksman to a sniper and how Janus was taken down by a a fellow marksman, The Most Dangerous Game...hunting the most intelligent and most dangerous game...MAN...the only one who can shoot back.

Look forward to reading the next book sometime in 2025 and will be locating the other books written by Jim Cherry, so I can enjoy reading them too!

Thank you, Roberta, for the kind words and taking the time to read and review The Lion Communique!

Update on Progress of the novel version of The Third Day
The writing on the novel version of The Third Day is coming along nicely and I think it's great! I'm just short of 80,000 words and scenes are ending up where they will be in the final version. Somebody could read it now and be able to get what I'm trying to do. But, there is one more polishing version to go through after this one where I read it out loud to see how it flows for a reader. I have a deadline of finishing by late July or early August to get it the interested editor.

More news on The Doors Examined!
As you may remember last month I mentioned the publisher of The Doors Examined, will release an audio version of the book. I haven't heard more yet except that it's in the queue to be produced. More to come on this front as it happens!

Have a great June!
Jim

Good Morning!
I tried to send this out Saturday but for some reason it wouldn't go out with the full post, so let's try it again!

I joined Voracious Readers Only a site that brings together readers and writers. The trial of sending out 20 free books is free, they're all electronic so you don't have to send physical copies you don't even have to register a credit card unless you decide to follow their monthly plan. You can check out the site: https://voraciousreadersonly.com/

I woke this morning to a very cool review on a blog. Jason Denses (who I was surprised to find a couple of you already there! Thank you Harry Whitewolf for sending him a link to The Captured Dead a while back) but you can read his review athttps://felcherman.wordpress.com/2024... now all I gotta do is learn how to draw a Gnome!

Finally, I think, there's a couple new reviews on Amazon:
Clever Alt-History and Serlingesque Sci-Fi
This collection of short fiction includes shades of alternative history, sci-fi, and fantasy. The prevalent themes of war and the natural rights of the animal kingdom are woven throughout. Among my favorites, a pair of stories Judgement Night and Judgement Night- Redemption follow a man's purgatorial bus ride as he relives his penance over and over again. Another standout was The Seas Have No Stars where alien crafts arrive over the world's oceans to speak to the most intelligent life on Earth. Spoiler alert: it isn't humankind! - Brandt Hardin (also posted on Goodreads)

The Best Book I've Read in a Very Long Time!
If Rod Serling and Ernest Hemmingway married and had a baby it would be Jim Cherry. Each story from the collection is a delight to read and think about afterward. Incorporating old fashioned value systems of good and evil with a modern twist and an unconventional take on historical experiences made each story unique. Each story could have been extended to its own book. The only thing I didn't like is that I finished it and there wasn't more. Absolutely looking forward to more from Jim Cherry. - Maria DiBari, from Voracious Readers Only

AND FINALLY! Half-Price Books in Naperville, IL is sponsoring a book signing for The Lion Communique on May the 4th! If you live near-by please stop by or if you know anybody in the area please turn them on to it!

I know this a lot and longer than my usual fare but things have been going on!

Oh, one more thing. I've been working on the novel of The Third Day, I'm 70,000 words in and an editor is interested in reading it when I'm done.

Have a great day and a great rest of your week!
Jim

Hello Everybody!
Ok, pretty cool! Things are going great! I was interviewed about The Lion Communique again yesterday, 3/28/24 and I think it went a lot better than the Sept interview!



You can go to the interview at Good Morning Aurora 3/18/24 I come in about the 30 min mark or so. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, I'll be having more good news coming soon, I hope! Just in the initial stages right now.

We'll talk soon!
Jim

Hello Everybody!

On Februray 3, 2024 I was given a slot to read from The Lion Communique for the Speculative Literary Foundation and I read from the story Godwired. They videotaped it and sent me a link to my "performance." I get a little wobbly in the middle, but still a pretty good reading. I'm hoping to do more readings with them in the Chicago area in the near future. I'll let you know when & where! Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp9my...

I also got another review on Amazon. It's short and sweet and I'll include it here:
Page Turner
The Lion Communique was hard to put down! Each story was unique and engaging. Godwired was truly a page turner. Jim Cherry has an exceptional way with words. Would absolutely recommend this read. -Danielle

Thank you Danielle!

If anyone has read The Lion Communique please feel free to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, any where!

May the force be with you!
Jim Cherry

Hello Everybody!
I hope you all survived the holidays and are looking at a great NEW YEAR!

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but an editor at a medium sized publishing house wants to read the full manuscript of The Third Day, and she knows it's only abt half finished. I glad to report I've added all the notes to it and have it in condition for another run through. I started this afternoon and made some good progress and intend to continue! I figure after this I have one more run through to make on it before it's any condition for an editor to see. I'm hoping to have that second run through done by June.

I'll be reading from The Lion Communique at Capricon 44 in Chicago on Feb 3rd at 10 am. If you know anyone into science fiction in the area please turn them on to it!

I have a new review of The Lion Communique that was published today! Here it is:
The Lion Communique Speaks to the Soul
Wow! These 13 wild yet well-wrought tales shimmy with the perfect amount of tension that captures readers without overwhelming them with anxiety. Instead, these works—many of them masterpieces—lead attentive readers through multiple layers of Existential realities.

Starting slowly through two stories—one, “The Games Children Play,” of a young boy who steps outside reality, and “As Good a Name as Any,” a short piece narrated by a World War I veteran, the collection truly becomes alive with “Dawn’s HWY,” where Dionysian Shaman Jim Morrison of The Doors is the protagonist. This is where the book started to “pop” for me. Echoing the mood of many stories in the Twilight Zone series, the Morrison character strolls between two realities—and until the end, the reader remains hesitant about which world is “real.” From the third story on, I struggled to put down the collection to capture a well-needed good night’s sleep. Seriously, this collection was that compelling a read.

Indeed, along with engaging the reader with precise imagery, these tales venture into other realities. Twilight Zone themes pop up in most of these pieces, including “Judgment Night,” “The Seas Have No Stars,” and in “Father’s Son,” which evokes the style and tenor of a Hemingway masterpiece, and “Judgment Night Redemption,” containing such marvelous imagery as “It was steeped in sepia and chiaroscuro, the color of memory.”

Based upon historic events, some stories, including “As Good a Name as Any,” “The Christmas Truce,” not only incorporate some surreal scenes, but include guest appearances by Adolf Hitler. And in the tale, “The Captured Dead, set in Comancheria 1874, General Sherman is the protagonist, who meets more than his spiritual foe in the unusual ending.

Again, this collection kept me entranced long past what should have been my “bed-time.” They enraptured me. Nevertheless, the Morrison tale was eclipsed by only one, “Godwired,” a piece that weds together faith and science in a miraculous way.
Along with touching upon concepts of “Jacob’s Ladder,” it emerges the reader into a reality that very well may be the absolute Truth.
—Lindsey Martin-Bowen, author
The BOOK of FRENZIES,
Where Water Meets the Rock,
CASHING CHECKS with Jim Morrison

Please feel free to pass along to anyone you think may be interested! Thank you!
May the Force be with You!
Jim

Here's a new review! The beginning of a month must bring about new reviews!

The Lion Communique Roars with Talent

In The Lion Communique, Jim Cherry has come up with some very interesting, entertaining, thought-provoking and image-rich stories that directly or indirectly relate to themes of the struggle between good and evil and the potential of redemption; many of which put the senselessness of war at their centre.

From the Twilight Zone-esque Judgement Night story (and its reprisal story) in which the protagonist finds himself travelling on a dark and eerie bus journey where something just ain’t right to the wonderful Comanche ghost story of The Captured Dead, the evocative short stories in this collection may stray across different eras and genres, but they all work incredibly well together.

The Lion Communique roars with talent, passion and emotion. So, don’t let this one slip you by. Your own redemption might just depend on it!

This review is by Harry Whitewolf a fine author and poet. Harry has quite a collection of books he's released including: Route 11: Argentina, Angels, and Alcohol, Matrix Visions, They're Making it Up as They Go Along. If you're looking for a gifted writer, poet and illustrator check out Harry on his Amazon writers profile.

Hello Everyone!
I spent this weekend at the In the Trenches Writers Conference this weekend in Chicago. Had a really good time! Met a lot of cool people and took part in some very interesting workshops.

One of the people I met was noted animator and cartoonist, or is illustrator a better word? He was cool enough to do a sketch of me.

Please note: all the proportions and physique are correct!



I also have an audio of my reading a small portion of my story Dawn's HWY from a workshop I took with (again) noted voice-over actor Carlos Ferro but I'll let you know about that when I can figure out how to post that!
Jim