The Early Years: We’ll All Float On

So there are some kids who you can just tell are going to grow up to become artists, because even when they’re little, they’re creating ridiculous good drawings and sketches. For instance, years ago, one of my wife’s 10-year-old students, upon learning that his teacher’s wife was a fellow Doctor Who fan, whipped up this little sketch of a Silent, a member of a group of alien religious fanatics who are one of the Eleventh Doctor’s main antagonists, whose primary ability is that nobody remembers a Silent after leaving his presence, but will still be compelled to act upon whatever instructions the Silent gave them:

You’ll forget you ever saw this as soon as you look away from it, but you’ll go and buy some of Jim’s books.
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The Early Years: Jim Has A Groovy Dresser And Nothing To Wear

“What about the red one? Should I wear the red one?”

The Early Years: Jim Is Class Spokesman

From the “Blatant Lies” department:

 

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Coded message translation: “My captors forced me to write this. Send help.”

 

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The Early Years: Who Wore It Better?

Me or my mom’s nurse teddy bear?

(It’s okay. I know the answer is the bear.)

 

The Early Years: (Almost) Easter & A Price Drop Announcement

Looking for an inexpensive novel to read while we’re all under orders to stay home as much as possible? I’ve reduced the price to 99 cents on the ebook editions of all the novels that are currently under my control (all of them except Night Watchman*, whose publisher abruptly closed up shop last year — a fact I only learned about when I noticed it had disappeared from the Kindle store).

My books in the Kindle store

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The Early Years: Jim Is Small But Very Precise With Measurements

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Sadly, my drawing skills never really improved all since then. Also, is it just me, or did I draw myself looking a tiny bit like the Joker in that picture?

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Hmm, okay, maybe not.

That 70s Dust Jacket Author Photo

Me in the 1970s, dressed to the 9s. Or the 8s, or however old I was when it was taken:

Cool Jim 3
Strike a pose

You would totally buy a book with this photo on the back of the dust jacket, right? No? Is the unbuttoned jacket a bit much? How about this, then?

Cool Jim 2
If you won’t buy a book, perhaps I can interest you in a used car?

Oh yeah. Everyone loves a dimple and a little dot on the chin.

The Early Years: Travel Writer

So this week I reached into the giant stack of old schoolwork and other papers that my parents sent me several years ago. This time I pulled out a contribution to that great American literary genre, the epistolary road trip memoir:

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The Early Years: Jim Has Stitches

So in last week’s post, “Safe/Scary“, I dredged up an ancient kind of creepy-looking sort-of Venn diagram from elementary school from the pile of old papers my folks sent me years ago. This assignment was to list things that were “safe” on one side and “scary” on the other. One of my “scary” items was “Going to get stitches”. This prompted an email from my folks with a photo of my first “Going to get stitches” episode, in which I tripped and fell on my face on the sidewalk at my grandparents’ house:

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The Early Years: Safe/Scary

It’s been a while since I reached into the giant stack of old schoolwork and other papers that my folks sent out to me a few years ago, so I thought it was time to do that again. And what did I fish out? This vaguely creepy little pseudo-Venn diagram:

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