James Van Pelt
An interviewer asked the author if he wanted to be the next Stephen King: he said, "No, I want to be the first James Van Pelt."
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James Van Pelt fell in love with Zenna Henderson, Ray Bradbury, Ursula le Guin, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey and a host of others when he started reading. In elementary school, he told his mom he wanted to grow up to be a Ray Bradbury, like Bradbury was a job instead of a person. His work has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Clarkesworld and many other venues. Stories have been reprinted in Year's Best anthologies and gathered in five of his collections. He has been a finalist for the Nebula, the Sturgeon Award, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He recently retired from teaching high school English (37 years), to write full time.
Fiction · Posts · Books
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Fiction
The Infodict
Published Apr 5, 2019 · 3,375 words (13 minutes) · 1 like · 198 views
Science Fiction Romance data mining
They say that you can't know the mysteries of the heart, but that's only because you don't have enough data. If you had enough information, surely you could tell what someone else felt about you. If only you had access to all the information.
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Fiction
The Time Travel Device
Published Mar 30, 2019 · 820 words (3 minutes) · 1 like · 206 views
Classic Fantasy Horror Literary Fiction Science Fiction Historical poe plath hemingway time travel
Imagine the joy of an inventor who has learned to travel in time. But what if he can only go where his subconscious directs the machine? What will he learn about himself as he careens from time to time?
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Fiction
That He Might Yet Find the Unknown
Published Mar 22, 2019 · 8,867 words (33 minutes) · 248 views
Science Fiction marathon running athletics
Epic athletic achievements are the stuff of legend, starting with Pheidippides running from the Battle of Marathon to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. Since then, athletes have pushed harder and harder to break records and stand on top the awards podium. In the future, with technology's help, the records will become breathtaking, but the contest will still be within, and the athletes will still compete for themselves.
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Fiction
The Comeback
Published Mar 15, 2019 · 4,473 words (17 minutes) · 2 likes · 274 views
Humor Science Fiction Romance baseball
Baseball is a game of unlikely stories, of fortunes turned on a wild pitch or a bad hop or a miracle play. A lot has changed in the game from the early 1900s, but in 2051, its nature is still the same. As said in the movie, Bull Durham: "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."
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Fiction
Happy Ending
Published Mar 8, 2019 · 4,927 words (18 minutes) · 185 views
Fantasy Horror Literary Fiction metafiction
A creative writing teacher, a gifted but rebellious student, and an examination of which way the arrow of time points.
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Fiction
Nothing is Normal
Published Feb 28, 2019 · 5,737 words (21 minutes) · 209 views
Mystery Science Fiction Noir Future Noir
The Eisenhower tunnel cuts beneath the Continental Divide in Colorado, giving I-70 an easier route through the mountains. In the future, when cars are gone, it will be a long, climate-controlled city for low income workers in a world where emotions can be bought or sold, and where even a drug dealer searches for meaning.
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Fiction
The Diorama
Published Feb 15, 2019 · 6,932 words (26 minutes) · 2 likes · 276 views
Restrictive neighborhood covenants protect property values and maintain a sense of propriety in a subdivision, but they also allow the most controlling people power that they can't resist. Maybe not everyone wants to be like everyone else. Maybe that's a good thing.
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Fiction
Nor a Lender Be
Published Feb 9, 2019 · 7,436 words (28 minutes) · 2 likes · 240 views
Although school districts beg the voters for money to buy computers or to replace crumbling buildings or to implement new testing programs, everyone knows that nothing is better for kids than a good teacher. What if technology discovered a way to put a perfect teacher in every classroom? What is a perfect teacher?
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Fiction
On the Road with the American Dead
Published Feb 1, 2019 · 4,147 words (16 minutes) · 297 views
Fantasy Horror Literary Fiction Historical Strange
Some of the country's most beautiful roads crisscross the midwest, long, lonely stretches where a solo driver has plenty of time to think and let the thoughts run idle. And, occasionally, if his mind is right and circumstances line up, he gets to hear a story.
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Fiction
Once They Were Monarchs
Published Jan 25, 2019 · 4,013 words (15 minutes) · 2 likes · 215 views
Swimming pools in the summer are about sun and water and lying on towels and watchful guards on the towers. And sometimes there's a troll. I was a lifeguard for many summers, in case you ever wonder where writers get ideas. JVP
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