Welcome to the Adventure— and author-writer James Hood’s website. This e-creation residing in-on the Infinite Multiverses-net, has been a long time in the dreamed-of, considered and “wanting.”
(updated 3 June 2019)
This website’s reality was an unexpected, delightful birthday gift from daughter Victoria and son-in-law Michael, what a unique, special, great gift!
Where to start? How about here?
Waning years of the 20th and first decades of the 21st century are in this opinion, the best and worst times to be a writer. Best, because the incredible proliferation of personal computers with sophisticated word-processing software make “writing” so easy and editing, nothing like the chore it was during all of history. Worst, because the amount of “competition for attention” is beyond measurable by any metric.
But what the heck, the James Hood website (actually, “TheJamesHood”) because a former drummer from the band, The Pretenders, had the one desired. Anyway, the site is real and here, so let’s go.
Hello, Come on in, make yourself comfortable, maybe fetch a beverage and / or snack. What brings you here? Just e-bouncing around in the e-neighbourhood or was the site recommended by someone?
Whichever. You are reading the first entry in the blog of James Hood, creator and author of the Adventure— stories.
James Hood was a mere youth when Star Trek (now known as TOS, “the Original Series”) debuted (actually, the metaphor “exploded” is more appropriate) unforgettably across the airwaves in 1966. Who would ever have thought a TV series would sire several-plus derivative series and a gob of feature films over the following 50+ year period?
This writer is one of those many folks caught up those eons ago not only in Star Trek, but also C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series of books (also an inspiration for ST’ creator Gene Roddenberry).
For those of you not familiar with the immortal British author; Cecil Scott Forester wrote 13 books about a British sailor during the Napoleonic times, about 1793 to 1825. Great reads. Look him up.
Fast forward 7 years (from Star Trek, “The Original Series”’ debut) to February 1973. Young James tentatively took pen to paper (literally) and started a couple alternate-history World War II novellas. As it was, the plot premises did not work out. subject too big; would-be author, not mature enough. However, the desire to write, to tell stories, persisted. Thinking continued. Some ideas were awful. Others…had no room for “big” development.
A winter morning, home alone, the idea dropped into this mind, all but fully-formed. What might a Star Trek-ish-oid concept; action-adventure-exploration-fixed cast of strong characters, be like if it did not take place either in the future or in the vastness of outer space…
…but rather, here and now?
Years before, television’s The Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond and The Outer Limits scared this watcher witless and thoroughly creeped James and millions of other viewers out. A goodly number of those sci-fi-adventure-horror stories took place in a one-step-aside or parallel reality, in the present time frame.
Alternate dimensions of reality were already a sci-fi and fantasy staple, but no known ones called out to become anything resembling a desirable setting-basis for the story concept formulating in this wannabe writer’s head.
With an odd rapidity, as if this writer’s mind was being “fed” thoughts, ideas steadily “arrived” and were organized, shuffled, changed, accepted, discarded. A mental jigsaw puzzle solving itself, assisted by a willing writer’s mind. Certainly not a new concept, but for sure, a new setting.
Mental and creative seeds germinated. Decades later, those first sprouts had matured into a metaphorical forest. Two Adventure— novels published and…quite a few…are in the works.
Stay tuned and please come back often.
JAMES HOOD 