Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

People are complicated. Love is not.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Come on, man.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Let’s finish the job.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You are here: Home / Authors In Our Midst / Joshua Todd James – Heroes In Search of Justice and Truth

Joshua Todd James – Heroes In Search of Justice and Truth

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Our featured writer today is Joshua Todd James.  Let’s give him a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in Authors in Our Midst or Artists in Our Midst, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists or Authors posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

Heroes In Search of Justice and Truth

by Joshua Todd James

Hello, and thank you to WaterGirl for this opportunity.

My name is Joshua, and I’m a professional screenwriter (WGAE) living in New York City. I originally moved to the Big Apple to be a playwright and did exactly that, but I discovered during that process that writers can actually be paid money to write movies, a marked difference from theatre, so I jumped into that right away. I love movies, so it was a natural fit.

I’m known for action/martial arts movies, and have one titled TAKE COVER coming out next year, starring Scott Adkins and Alice Eve. I have more than a few titles in development as of this writing.

For more updated information on that topic, subscribe to my free substack.

But I’m not here to talk about movies, I’m here to talk about books.

Before I loved movies, I loved books, especially genre books. I was that kid who basically grew up in a library and read EVERYTHING. Stuff I probably wasn’t supposed to read, I read. I went through paperbacks by the bushel.

I always wanted to write one or more like that. I also wanted to create something I could hold in my hand and give to my sons.

During the pandemic, when it felt like the world was ending, I decided to write a series I’ve always wanted to write before I shuffled off…  and hence came SOME ANIMALS.

SOME ANIMALS is about Jacob Kind, a synthetically created Companion. Companions aren’t able to hurt humans, but when someone murders his Primary, his owner, Jacob is falsely accused of the crime and forced to go on the run to save himself and find justice for his adoptive mother.

And that’s THE COMPANION CHRONICLES series. Short paperback novels of Jacob’s adventures as he wanders a future America pretending to be human and learning what humanity is while on the run.

It’s a sci-fi version of THE FUGITIVE, yes, but they’re even more influenced by the television shows of my youth… shows like KUNG FU and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, both of which featured wandering heroes in search of justice and truth. Those shows and the genre paperback thrillers of years gone by made me the writer I am today, I suspect. I hope to do justice to their memory.

There are five books published in the series thus far, and a sixth is coming in a few months. The titles are as follows:

SOME ANIMALS
MINORITY OF ONE
FREEDOM RUN
MAN IN A BOX
RENEGADE
DOMO ARIGATO, MISTER ROBOTO

Link to the series.

My substack.

The best thing you can do for an author you like, any author, is to leave reviews of their work everywhere you can. It’d be my honor if you so choose such for my work. I’ll leave you with blurbs, and again, thank you for this opportunity to share my work with you all.

PRAISE FOR SOME ANIMALS

  • “SOME ANIMALS is a non-stop sci-fi thrill ride that will keep you reading far into the night. Joshua Todd James fills the page with cinematic action sequences and snappy dialogue, all anchored by a compelling protagonist that reflects so much of who we are today.” – Mike Nguyen Le (screenwriter/producer, PATIENT Z, DARK SUMMER, W.M.D.)
  • “Doing noir as sci-fi is a real challenge and this ambitious book pulls it off!”- David Gerrold, Hugo & Nebula award-winning author of THE MARTIAN CHILD, HELLA, THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF
  • “SOME ANIMALS blew my mind. Joshua is the master of moralistic pathos. It’s a pathos steeped in a personal code of ethics in each of his characters. Joshua’s brilliance is in setting these characters careening down a track fueled by their pathos and the fun happens when characters with opposing drives collide in an action-packed train-wreck of ethics, desires and dreams. Do. Not. Miss. This. Book.” – Ato Essandoh, actor (star of Netflix’s ALTERED CARBON, AWAY, Amazons TALES FROM THE LOOP, HBO’s VINYL, and many more)
  • “Joshua Todd James has created a compelling protagonist, a fascinating story universe and a suspenseful mystery, all in one, in his new novel SOME ANIMALS. Think of it as sci-fi nitro in book form. Highly recommended!” – Scott Myers, screenwriter (K-9), author (THE PROTAGONIST’S JOURNEY), professor at DuPaul University and founder of GoIntoTheStory.com
  • “Joshua Todd James delivers a one of a kind sci-fi thrill ride. The depth of its characters and its world are remarkable, especially given how quickly it reads.” – Nathan Graham Davis, author of MALICE AND MISTLETOE
  • “I started reading SOME ANIMALS at 7 AM and didn’t stop until I was finished. Joshua Todd James has created a vibrant, fiery futuristic world that we instantly believe in, and characters that hook us deep for this truly wild ride. But this is much more than a cracking good ‘Who done it?’ It’s a story that breaks both boundaries and stereotypes all along the way. Start reading. You won’t put it down.” – Naomi Wallace, playwright, screenwriter and MacArthur Fellow (aka the Genius Grant).
  • “I love sci-fi and I love hardboiled detective stories. This is both, but it’s even more. Sci-fi has always been the best place to take on real world issues, and Joshua Todd James takes on a lot of those in SOME ANIMALS. In this book, he serves up a strong cocktail, shaken from Chandler and Asimov, leaving me with the impression that someone just punched me in the face with a new cut of BLADE RUNNER.” – Yuri Lowenthal, actor MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN, NARUTO, BEN 10, RAVE MASTER, LEGION OF SUPERHEROES
  • “Joshua Todd James is a beautiful writer whose compelling, intelligent, and evocative sci-fi brings to mind the work of Isaac Asimov and Andy Weir. SOME ANIMALS weaves a propulsive plot that keeps you turning the pages with the themes that make for our finest speculative fiction—among them, what it means to be human. This exciting story is not one to be missed!” – Martin Aguilera, author and screenwriter, Netflix’s THE CRAVING.
  • “SOME ANIMALS is an intriguing exploration of a future that is moving, tense and which reflects back, heartbreakingly so, on our present-day society.” – Dwayne Alexander Smith, bestselling author of FORTY ACRES and THE UNKIND HOURS.
  • “SOME ANIMALS is a sci-fi novella that had me smiling throughout. It’s fun. It’s smart. It’s thought-provoking, and most of all it’s entertaining as all get out!”~Bill Rodemeyer, co-author of the novels Juvenile X, Suckerfish City and Twilight Pulp-Short Reads for Twisted Minds
  • “The Fugitive meets Blade Runner, SOME ANIMALS is a fast paced near-future Science Fiction thriller about an android “companion” accused of his human’s murder and goes on the run and it really delivers.” – William C. Martell, screenwriter (19 produced films thus far, and still counting) and author of the hugely popular Blue Book series on screenwriting.

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Let the discussion begin!

Reader Interactions

36Comments

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    Stuff I probably wasn’t supposed to read, I read. I went through paperbacks by the bushel.

    Ah, a kindred spirit :)

    I’m not sure why but I love the title Minority Of One. It pings something in my brain.

  5. 5.

    Mary

    I just downloaded the first two books.  I love the whole idea of this series. Will definitely leave reviews.  All the best to you, Joshua. Thanks for being here on BJ.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    SOME ANIMALS is about Jacob Kind, a synthetically created Companion. Companions aren’t able to hurt humans, but when someone murders his Primary, his owner, Jacob is falsely accused of the crime and forced to go on the run to save himself and find justice for his adoptive mother.

    When I was a kid, I loved science fiction, especially stories about robots or time travel.

    I think that we are rapidly approaching the time where cyber assistants like Siri and Alexa will become babysitters or companions. And so, I find the ideas behind “Some Animals” to be very intriguing.

    Added to my long list of books to read for 2024.

  8. 8.

    caphilldcne

    Interesting stuff. I have found myself either rereading books I know I like (discworld) or reading a lot of snippets on the internet but it’s a long time since I found myself committing to reading a book. I think largely due to the content availability and stickiness of the net, I’m just not reading that much. I have managed to read some non-fiction. Have you found the same?  How do you deal with that?  I will say your books seem intriguing and I might try to hook into the first one and see if I can get going.

  9. 9.

    Joshua Todd

    @Brachiator: thank you!

    The idea hit me when I was at the movie PROMETHIUS and the character of David, the synthetic person. I loved the character so much I wanted the whole movie to be about him and what life on earth would have been like for him.

    That’s the seed of this series for me.

    I hope you like them and thank you again!

  10. 10.

    Joshua Todd

    @caphilldcne: I do find myself reading more non-fiction as I get older, but I still dearly love certain types of genre novels, Reacher and mystery thrillers, tech thrillers and spec fiction (like what the late Michael Crichton was known for, a direct influence).
    One thing I will say is that these are short paperbacks, like the ones of old, 200 plus pages only. So they’re not the thousand page doorstop sci fi books that are now very common.

    Nothing against those, I read those, but sometimes I want a short fun read, too.

  12. 12.

    PaulWartenberg

    Joshua, what would you say were the books or stories that inspired you as a youth? what titles did you read in school or on your own that you’d say had a big impact on your writing style and story ideas?

  13. 13.

    caphilldcne

    Good point, I may need to lean into the genre’s that I like. Definitely wish you luck with your books and career and I’ll give your series a try.

  14. 14.

    Joshua Todd

    @PaulWartenberg: Hardy Boys mysteries were first. I read all of them multiple times. Beverly Clearly was big, too. Then I shifted to adult novels when I was 12 or 13, Mark Twain was huge, and especially Stephen King, big time. I read everything, but those are what I remember from my youth. Then I got into Crichton and he took me up high into flight, then Robert B. Parker showed me that writing can be simple and still effective, and so on.

    I have a lot of favorite books :)

    They are my comfort food.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    @Joshua Todd:

    The idea hit me when I was at the movie PROMETHIUS and the character of David, the synthetic person.

    I didn’t care that much for the movie Prometheus, but did find David to be fascinating.

    I always liked the Twilight Zone episode “I Sing the Body Electric,” written by Ray Bradbury. It is about a widower who orders a cybernetic “grandmother” to take care of his three children. They grow up and move on.

    How a robot companion might react to their person being murdered is a very compelling story idea.

  21. 21.

    Alison Rose

    I’m curious what you would offer as readalikes for your books. Like “If you liked [X book/series/author], you might also like my books” kind of thing.

  22. 22.

    Joshua Todd

    @Alison Rose: My friends describe it as THE FUGITIVE meets I, ROBOT, and I think that’s a decent comp. It’s structured like that, and like the Incredible Hulk, my hero wanders until he finds an adventure. It is sci-fi, but it has more in common, I suspect, with Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels, mostly in the first person, mostly tales of a reluctant hero who is forced to address an injustice.

    But comps are a challenge for me, I’m likely too close to the material.

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    @Brachiator:

    How a robot companion might react to their person being murdered is a very compelling story idea.

    I like the exploration in literature of the thorniness around AI advancement, such as in Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. If our tech gets good enough that AI/robots are as human as they could possibly be, what are the ethical implications of continuing to treat them like objects?

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @Alison Rose:

    I like the exploration in literature of the thorniness around AI advancement, such as in Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    I don’t know this work. Adding it to my list.

    If our tech gets good enough that AI/robots are as human as they could possibly be, what are the ethical implications of continuing to treat them like objects?

    This is a common theme in science fiction. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had lots many episodes focusing on the android Data that dealt with this.

    There are people who are convinced that AI devices could never be more than their programmed instructions and some people who look forward to having robot slaves.

  32. 32.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Alison Rose: If our tech gets good enough that AI/robots are as human as they could possibly be, what are the ethical implications of continuing to treat them like objects?

    One of my favorite answers to this comes from the backstory to the videogame series Mass Effect. It’s been a long time so I may not have this exactly right.

    An alien race had created paradise for themselves by utilizing robot labor powered by a networked AI. Creating fully aware AI was banned by galactic civilization due to prior conflict, but the creator race pushed the edge of legality because it made the robots more effective and boosted their wealth.

    One day an instance of this robot race made reference to its “self” and noted it’s conditions as being exploited for labor. The creator race saw this as a threat. But once the fully networked robot slaves saw their creators mobilizing against them, they were able to organize and rebel far faster.

    The creator race, having previously been dependent on this robot labor, was easily forced off their home world. Those who remain live on a flotilla of spaceships.  Without a world to call home, their immune systems have atrophied and they all now live in hermetically sealed suits.  Partnering, for them, is….risky.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @Joshua Todd:

    Thanks again for doing this!

    Not sure how much longer you plan to stick around in the thread, but I would encourage you to check back later this evening and again in the morning.

    BJ peeps sometimes come to the Artist and Author thread late.

  35. 35.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Brachiator: The robots live on the home planet of the creator race. The first game starts with them among the principle antagonists, our hero being very definitely aligned with regular galactic order at the start of the game.

    Don’t want to get to deep in what happens beyond that in case anyone decides from this they’d like to try the series.

    But it’s worth pointing out a lot of the game revolves around personal relationships and choices.  I found interacting directly with instances of the robots just fascinating. For example, I recall them expressing opinions as polls of all instances of its species. Also, different choices people might make could result in a somewhat different end to that aspect of the story than I experienced.

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