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Posts Tagged ‘Writers’

The T-4200, Take Two

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I have mentioned a story called “The T-4200” on this site in posts before. Originally published at Andromeda Spaceways Magazine in 2017 (yay), it was not available online (so sad!).

Until now.

That’s right, the good folks at Escape Pod looked at this goofy sci-fi adventure featuring a beleaguered civil servant just trying to do the right thing, dimension-hopping animals, and murderous ice cream carts and said, “Yes, please.” 

(Fine, I may have added the “please.”)

The thing about Escape Pod is that they are an audio magazine. Because they also publish the transcript, this story (all 9,000 or so words of it), is now available in both audio and text formats.

Which means that you, fair reader (or listener!) are now able to sample the delights of this story for yourself.

Enjoy the audio performance or read the transcript at Escape Pod. 

Escape Pod 923: The T-4200 (Part 1 of 2)

Escape Pod 924: The T-4200 (Part 2 of 2)

  • Author (that’s me!): J.R. Johnson 
  • Narrator: J. S. Arquin 
  • Host: Valerie Valdes 
  • Audio Producer: Adam Pracht

I had a great time with this story. Hope you do too!

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Photo by Jeet Dhanoa on Unsplash

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Endless Possibilities

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Today, I’m happy to share a lovely short story from friend and fellow Writers of the Future alum Elaine Midcoh. 

Papa’s (Not) Gone – MetaStellar

Later, people wondered why I didn’t cry.

It cheered me up. I hope it does you, too.

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Photo by Sven Read on Unsplash

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Start Today

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Note to self:

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” 

— Karen Lamb, author

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Photo by Sergio R. Ortiz on Unsplash

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A Wonderful Thing

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I recently had an article featured in the Winter 2024 edition of Review Tales. (I’d share the essay but unfortunately it’s not freely available.) If you click through the magazine links, you’ll see my article highlighted in the bottom right-hand corner of the cover. I’m writing about something with which I am all too familiar! “When the Muse Takes a Holiday.”

* Find Review Tales at Amazon and B&N.

I will say that the promotional elements of creative work can be a little challenging. I’ve never been that comfortable talking about myself. 

It’s not about me, I want to say. Art is about us, and the world we create together. 

“It can seem like it’s about, Look at me! Like me! Approve of me!’, but I think it’s really about finding your people. It’s about connections, especially when you grow up feeling different and like you don’t have a community. Through art, you’re able to find that community, which is a wonderful thing.”

— Maya Erskine, on why she’s drawn to acting despite “a childhood in which she desperately wanted to blend in”

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Photo by Barry Weatherall on Unsplash

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Please Yourself

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.”

— Herbert Swope, American editor and journalist

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Photo by Nikola Bačanek on Unsplash

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Forest and Chill

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

After a number of technical issues, overlapping assignments, and a mashup of meetings, I’ve finished a big day-job project. I’ve got to say, it feels good.

Not “go out and party” good, more like “take a deep breath and shake off all that accumulated stress” good. Forest bathing good.

What’s that, you may ask? 

Essentially, forest bathing (or shinrin-yoku in Japanese) is a walk in the woods designed to reconnect you with nature in ways that are beneficial for your health.

Healing in the forest: a guide to forest bathing

Spending time in nature and experiencing reduced stress levels allows you to think more clearly and creatively. It can also increase your mood, focus, and energy.

Sounds good, right? Except that there’s a coating of ice on everything thanks to last night’s storm and I still have work to do and (let’s be honest) it’s freezing out there!

So instead, I will find another way to spend a few moments in the forest.

How, you may ask? Meet Tree.fm: Tune Into Forests From Around The World.

Want a map of global forest sounds? Check out Sounds of the Forest.

Want even more chill? Do you have ten minutes or eight hours?

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Photo by David Bruyndonckx on Unsplash

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New Interview Out Today

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

My interview with the lovely Kim Lengling of the Let Fear Bounce podcast is live today! 

We had a great time discussing writing, creativity, my experience with Writers of the Future and many other topics, and I hope you enjoy it too. 

Check out the interview on YouTube or Spotify, and enjoy!

Pen to Paper: Navigating a Writer’s Reality – Author J.R. Johnson

Let Fear Bounce – Tossing out nuggets of hope | Podcast on Spotify

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Photo by Georgia Mashford on Unsplash

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What We Can Become

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Released today, Grist’s Imagine 2200 contest brings new, more hopeful, visions of the future.

Imagine 2200: The 2024 climate fiction contest collection | Grist

Grist’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest celebrates stories that offer vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of climate progress. From 1,000 submissions, our reviewers and judges selected the three winners and nine finalists you will discover in this collection. These stories are not afraid to explore the challenges ahead, but offer hope that we can work together to build a more sustainable and just world. Through rich characters, lovingly sketched settings, and gripping plots, they welcome you into futures that celebrate who we are and what we can become — and, we hope, inspire you to work toward them.

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Photo by Jonas Verstuyft on Unsplash

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Something Old Is Something New

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

When I’m reading and see a word that’s unfamiliar, I like to look it up. This weekend, that word was “tonitruous.” I ran across it while reading book three in The Salvagers series by Alex White: The Worst of All Possible Worlds.

Never heard of it? Neither had I. Neither had my Kobo’s dictionary, which is unusual. It was time to dig deeper.

Tonitruous Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster

tonitruous from Latin tonitruum thunder

English use of the word was first documented in “The Challenge of the Knights Errant” by William Drummond in 1606.

And now I’m delighted to say that I’ve learned something new.

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Photo by Shashank Sahay on Unsplash

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Cherish the Oddities

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , on January 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. To “Why am I here?” To uselessness. It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.

— Enid Bagnold (1889–1981), British novelist, playwright

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Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash

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