Welcome J L!
J L is a native New Yorker, born and raised in the Bronx, James L Hill spent his adolescent years in Fort Apache, the South Bronx 41st precinct during the 60’s, during a time when you needed a gang to go to the store. Raised on blues, soul, and rock & roll gave him the heart of a flower child. Educated by the turmoil of Vietnam, Civil Rights, and the Sexual Revolution produced a gladiator. Realizing the precariousness of life gave him an adventurous outlook and willingness to try anything once, and if it did not kill him, maybe twice.
12 years of Catholic education and a couple more in college spread between wild drug-induced euphoric years, which did not kill him, gave James a unique moral compass that swings in any direction it wants. A scientific mind and a spirit that believes nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough guides his writings. He enjoys traveling to new places and seeing what life has to offer.
12 years of Catholic education and a couple more in college spread between wild drug-induced euphoric years, which did not kill him, gave James a unique moral compass that swings in any direction it wants. A scientific mind and a spirit that believes nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough guides his writings. He enjoys traveling to new places and seeing what life has to offer.
James began writing short stories and poetry back in his early years, and in his twenties, he moved on to novels. He worked in the financial industry and later earned a degree in computer programming, his other love. James has a successful career as a software engineer designing, developing and maintaining systems for the government and the private sector. He has been programming for nearly forty years in various languages.
After years in the computer world he returned to his first love, unleashing the characters in his head. Still a hopeless insomniac, he feels free to pound out plots. James L Hill is a prolific storyteller writing crime stories, fantasies, and sci-fi, with a slant on the dark side of life.
The next step on his journey naturally led to the business of publishing. He started RockHill Publishing LLC not only to publish his own work, but to give others access to the literary world. His computer background and experiences in word processing give him insight into what it takes to create good books.
The Emerald Lady is a pirate/mermaid adventure/love story set in the Golden Age of Pirates and the first novel in the fantasy Gemstone Series.
Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden, his science fiction deals with the emotional effects of technology, and answers the question, “How do I feel about nuclear war?”
SS: What got you into writing J L?
J L: I started writing at a young age. We used to buy comics, Marvels, and after reading them, I would write what I thought the next installment of the story should be. Then I started writing my own stories and tracing the characters from the comics. I guess I thank Stan Lee for sparking my writing interest.
SS: Would you be will to share a sample with us from you book?
CHAPTER ONE
The start of another twelve-hour work day was nothing to look forward to, Zack thought.
‘Welcome to the Twenty‑first Century’ the old sign on the work station greeted him, as usual, and the shuttle ride from the U.S.I Colony 5 was as quiet and boring as always.
As he passed by the U.S. Space Defense Station, he ruminated, “what a waste of time. An hour in flight, another half to suit‑up, and now they have me doing antennae work. Nearly ten hours of checking circuits… something a computer can easily do in one.”
But as far as the Company was concerned, his time was cheaper than computer time. After all, they did not pay him. At least he would see Zuri on this trip, as she was working a split; one of the beauties of being a free worker, none of the straight twelve-hour work days. Zack almost envied her position with the Company, because although her ties were nearly the same as his, the Company did not own her, as it did him for the next seven years.
“Welcome to the Twenty‑First Century, what a joke.”
All the hopes and dreams of Utopia people had had, evaded them still, some fifty years past its start. People had traded their freedom, religion, and self‑esteem for the promise of a bright and glorious future. But now, instead, that future was like looking at the sun through black glass. Not as bright as one would want, and if you stood looking long enough you would surely go blind. Zack had already gone blind to his situation. All that mattered now was marrying Zuri, and settling the colony.
‘And why not,’ he thought, ‘that means freedom, the end of my contract with United Space Industries.’
The Company was the biggest and the best, and if anyone could start a colony around another star, they could. Also, ten years of room and board was better than any other company was offering. He signed up, also knowing ten years would be impossible to endure, if not for Zuri. In retrospect, five years distance from Earth was not nearly far enough, but he settled for it anyway.
United Space Industries was the first to conquer space. They saw the endless void as a place to grow unchecked; and still unhampered by political constraints, they redefined the meaning of automation the way information had been redefined by the computer. That new definition was the Space Spider, and as their name implied, they spun webs in space.
The body consisted of a laser fusion reactor connected to appendages that secreted crystal steel frames, or poly-plastic streams that they wrapped the framework in, forming great cocoons. Additionally, space spiders could synthesize compounds in various states. One spider, for example, could lay a conduit and the wires that filled it. And they were fast, incredibly so, thanks to electromagnetic propulsion.
Mag-pulsars were volleyball-style spheres filled with liquid nitrogen and a super conductor core. The hexagons comprising the outer shell, were composed of electromagnetics that could be toggled on and off and their strength varied, dotting the spider’s body, some large, some small, to drive the spiders in any direction. Every spider had two gigantic mag-pulsars, one on top and one on the belly, but they didn’t drive the spider, their job was to create the enormous pressure inside the fusion chamber that produced temperatures as hot as the surface of the sun.
On Earth, maglev-made cars and trains travelled at bullet speeds, in space, the spiders were a hundred times faster. Speed was a necessity, as the materials they extruded solidified instantly in the cold darkness of space.
Always on the pioneering front, U.S.I. developed breeder spiders, which were sent to the asteroid belt. There, they used the plentiful materials to build other huge spiders; the kind they needed to manufacture metropolises. To U.S.I., bigger was best in the void. The Company topped the Fortune 500 with their Space Spider in 2023, before Zack was born. They had been growing unabated ever since.
Zack knew why. Business had a much simpler language than politics, religion, or even science. To a company like U.S.I., there were only debits and credits. U.S.I. took jobs that increased profits and eliminated unnecessary losses.
The United States struck the first deal. During debates over death sentence for terrorists, Congress tried to side‑step the issue by granting U.S.I. permission to build U.S. Penal Colony I. The colony was a giant cocoon type, designed to hold a hundred thousand Lifers.
It was run entirely by robots and monitored from Earth stations. It was a hot issue, which only got hotter. Originally, only terrorist, hijackers, or repeat serious felons were supposed to be imprisoned there, but as riots flared up in the early decades, the distinction faded. More and more people were banished to the colonies a hundred thousand miles out in space.
The prisoners were on their own once processed. The colony was totally self-sufficient; solar panels provided energy and farming decks provided food. Even if prisoners didn’t work the farms themselves, robots and automated systems kept them producing ample supplies of nourishment. The joke shared by the inmates was, “it’s a Garden of Eden in the middle of Hell.”
SS: When you are reading which do you prefer, ebooks or print?
J L: Print books are easier on the eyes. They are a bit more convenient if you need to put them down and pick them back up later too; all you need is a bookmarker or give the page a dog-ear fold. I know e-readers have bookmarking abilities but a lot of times you forget to click the feature. Also, I am never worried about my book at the beach or the pool, not just because of water damage, but theft too.
SS: Have you been given any helpful advice, J L?
J L: Oh yes, writers’ groups are very helpful. We share ideas about many things from story plots and themes to marketing and publishing tips. I go to book fairs and part of the reason I go is to meet my audience. The other reason is to network with authors and discuss what is going on in their world.
SS: I agree, I have joined a few writers' groups and they are great to bounce feedback off and get advice, share things that work and don't work. J L can you tell us what you are currently working on?
J L: I am working on book two in the Gemstone series called The Ruby Cradle. The Gemstone series is a trilogy of historical fantasy. I published The Emerald Lady in 2015 and it has received good reviews and is generating excitement as my first fantasy novel. The Ruby Cradle will be a sort of prequel to that book. The Emerald Lady is a pirate/mermaid adventure love story set in the golden age of pirates. The Ruby Cradle will take us back to the war between dragons, mermaids, and men during the middle ages; the age of castles.
SS: I love trilogies! I like a prolonged story and the way it develops, and yet its not so long I give up waiting to see if it will ever be finished. Can you tTell us a little bit about your main characters?
J L: PEGASUS: A Journey To New Eden has only a handful of characters. It is a dystopian future where the two main characters find themselves alone in a post-apocalyptic world. Unlike other Sci-Fi’s of this genre, Zack and Zuri are not struggling to survive. Pegasus, the starship they are on, provides everything they could ever need. Zack is a black man who traded his freedom for a chance to colonize another planet far from Earth. He would not be able to go through all of it if not for his fiancée, Zuri.
Zuri is a strong and capable woman, who has been on her own for most of her life. The daughter of an African diplomat from the United States of Africa, she had to live a nomadic life. She would like no more than to settle down with Zack and build a family, community, and peaceful world. But in the world they live in, peace is not something that is easily obtained.
Maybe the third most important character in this story is Pegasus. The ship has an A.I. that monitors and controls all life onboard. Zack and Zuri struggle to take control of the ship that was launched with only them on board. The ship’s Artificial Intelligence does interact with them like in so many other science fictions, but you get the feeling that it has its own agenda it needs to keep; it helps them and responds to their needs, as long as it does not conflict with its own.
SS: How did you decide on what to title each book?
J L: Of course, the title should reflect what the book is about, either the theme or its characters. PEGASUS was easy to name. Pegasus is the symbol of wisdom and inspiration. This book, although a dystopia, is meant to inspire people to search for a greater future through wisdom. We have the technology to create a Garden of Eden here on Earth, if only we are wise enough to put it to good use. The idea that we can fly away from our problems on a magical and mystical beast is what leads to despair and ruin.
SS: Is this a stand-alone novel or part of a series?
J L: All my series are made to be stand-alone novels. I believe you should wrap up a story within its own telling. The difference, at least for me, between a series and a stand-alone novel is that in a series the story flows directly from one book into the next. Such as in the Gemstone series or my Killer Series, the adult crime novels that takes place in New York City around the seventies and eighties.
PEGASUS is a stand-alone, but there will be other books based on this same timeline. I have plans to write Penal Colony One which is the first space colony built and mentioned in PEGASUS. And naturally, I think people will want to know what happens after Pegasus, so there is a follow up story to come.
SS: What is the easiest part of the writing process? What is the hardest?
J L: The easiest part is coming up with ideas for plots and storylines. PEGASUS was originally written back in the 80’s during the Reagan years. When the SALT treaties were going on, I was asked if I worried about nuclear war. My answer was Pegasus. No matter how bad life would get, we would not destroy the Earth intentionally, because we had no place else to go. I also saw a world where governments would become weaker, just as international businesses became stronger. Today, globalism has a firm grip on society.
The hardest part is developing characters. Imagining what people will do and how they will act is a real challenge. If you want your story to live, you have to populate it with actual people. People are complex. You can’t make them two dimensional, a bad guy who is totally evil or the hero who is without a single fault. And people need reasons behind their actions, and be consistent and true to their nature. Your story will fall flat if your villain, for no apparent reason, switches sides and saves the heroine. The same holds true if the hero, at the end, commits a deed that is totally wrong. As a writer, you have to build character.
SS: What was your writing process like?
J L: I spend a good amount of time plotting and thinking about the story and people involved. Sometimes it takes years to develop a story. I usually know how it will begin and how it will end, it is the in between stuff that eats up so much brain power. I must be able to see it in my head, like watching a movie, before I write a single word. I guess that is why people have said my books will make great movies.
I often start with just a title, it is the spark. Then I get to know who my characters are and how is this going to affect their lives. I’ll write a one or two-page synopsis, then a more detailed chapter by chapter break down, and after that a character outline with all the main people, including physical descriptions.
Once all that is done, I’m off to the races. I will keep all the different documents open as I write the story and update each as necessary. Sometimes, characters you didn’t plan on creep into the story or a minor player takes on a major role. I write a few chapters then go back over from the begin to make sure I am still on track. Or if the story has changed, they don’t contradict earlier parts.
Having said all that, The Emerald Lady was written in a completely different manner. I wrote that book as part of NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) a yearly competition to write a novel of 50,000 words or more during the month of November. Naturally, with only a month to write the first draft there was no going back and forth. I liked that process too, and started The Ruby Cradle during last year’s NANOWRIMO. However, November has become a very busy month for me with the Miami International Book Fair taking up a week in the middle.
SS: Wow, that is interesting, most writers I know come up with the title last or midway through. You are the first author I have interviewed that comes up with the title first. Since you wrote in this genre, do you think you will ever write in other genres?
J L: I am a multi-genre author. I enjoy writing science fiction, fantasy, and crime novels. Each one has a different tone and style. My crime novels are adult oriented so I write those as J L Hill. I don’t want someone who reads my science fictions or fantasies to be put off by the language and situations in my crime novels. I will one day like to tackle horror stories, I’ll probably have to do it as J L Hill.
SS: What advice would you give someone who is considering publishing? Should they consider traditional or self-publishing?
J L: Try all three. With Traditional publishers, it will take a long time for new writers to get published. But if you are willing to invest the time, do your homework. Make sure what you have written is what the publisher is putting out. Read their latest releases, you must fit the mold, they are not going to step outside their comfort zone no matter how good your book may be.
Second, there are Indie publishers, of which I am one. We are smaller houses that will take a bigger swing at new writers. With the publishing world going heavily into On Demand printing, we can take the chances the big boys won’t. Indie publishers put out a few titles a year, less than ten, but each gets personalized attention. Still, do your homework, make sure your work falls into their categories. One more advantage to indie publishers is that they may have a wider range of genres or are willing to step out on a limb with you if your book is good.
Lastly, there is self-publishing. Nothing wrong going down this avenue, especially if you want complete control of your work. It is quick, no one to convince your work deserves to be in print. I strongly advise finding a good editor, and listening to them. As the saying goes, “a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client,” so too, “a writer who does all his own editing misses many mistakes.”
I would also caution against companies that claim to be self-publishers, but are vanity publishers. If a company will publish anything you send them without any kind or minimal editing (just enough so they are not sued) for a fee, it is a vanity publisher. They do nothing for you that you cannot do for yourself, and for a lot less money.
Happy Reading!!
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