BOOKS
Starchild: Appendix
(A companion site that hosts official artwork, a glossary, and other additions)
STARCHILD
âItâs a story for people who grew up with Star Wars but who wanted Star Wars to grow up too.â â Nathan Tucker, KWWTB
âFor readers who are sick of thoughtless, cheap thrills, STARCHILD is a novel that both ENTERTAINS and ENLIGHTENS.â â Nak S.Â
* * *
Flying an ancient alien spaceship, STARCHILD may have the key to saving the rebels. Only he wants no part of their war... until he meets HER.Â
Tyranny rules the galaxy.Â
TAIBEROS has crushed every hint of rebellion. Like the grip of his cybernetic hand, he maintains a relentless hold on the populace. The power he hates most is the psionic magic of THE SONGâa force so strong it flows out as light from the eyes. People with such powers are called RADIANCES, and Taiberosâs Witch Hunters kidnap any that surface.Â
As the radiances slowly vanish, so does the galaxyâs hope.Â
Till Kalhette Whitesun, one of the last radiances, gives a risky speech, denouncing Taiberos and the extermination of her kind. The message spreads across the galaxy like the light of a supernova. She becomes revered as the UNCROWNED QUEEN, the one with the power to finally unite the people.Â
And then doom fallsâ
In the form of the crushing hand of Taiberos. He captures Kalhette, sentencing her to the darkest dungeons and imminent death.Â
All hope is lost.Â
Until a lone pilot appears. A pilot who wants nothing to do with Kalhette or her rebellion yet who may in fact be the galaxyâs last hope. A pilot whose ship, THE SPIRIT, was created by an ancient alien race. A pilot who stole that ship from Taiberos himself...Â
A renegade pilot named STARCHILD.Â
* * *
STARCHILD is an artisan book.Â
One author painstakingly crafted everything from the cover illustration to the final period. For readers who are sick of stories with thoughtless, cheap thrills, STARCHILD is a novel that both ENTERTAINS and ENLIGHTENS. If you value flawed heroines, deep villains, mind-blowing plots, and spectacular worldbuilding, then this is the adventure youâve been waiting for.Â
The story dives deep into the minds of an UNFORGETTABLE CAST of lovable (and loathable) characters. The GALACTIC SETTING is exquisite, and itâs based on actual scientific discoveries, with worlds like youâve never imagined but which likely exist in our own galaxy. The marvels of the MAGIC SYSTEM will make you envious, and its basis in fact might have you personally testing whether itâs real. The story itself is a FAST-PACED RIDE that will leave you hungry for more adventure, and luckily, the sequel is already here.Â
Get ready for a reading addiction like you HAVENâT EXPERIENCED SINCE YOU WERE A KID.Â
The moment you open the book, youâll be transported away at lightspeed.
SO, ARE YOU READY to take an intergalactic leap?Â
SONG of LOCKE
âJust think LEGEND OF ZELDA meets GAME OF THRONES.â â Nathan Tucker, Numinous
âSONG OF LOCKE was literally one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. An I-hear-music-in-my-head-while-I-am-reading-it kind of book.â â B. J. Riley
Locke is an elfe who feels a deep longing for somethingâitâs a strange, magical feeling that he canât quite describe. His sylfe Picke (who is a creature something like a fairy) dares him to follow a band of bloodthirsty warriors into the woods, promising theyâll lead to the thing Locke has been longing for. In spite of his doubts, Locke takes the dare, and the two of them find themselves on a wild adventure. Soon Locke must face snarling wolves, wield a magic blade, and risk his life to rescue a goddessâa girl he hardly knows but who he canât stop thinking aboutâfrom the clutches of a fallen god.
* * *
In the spirit of Legend of Zelda and Peter Pan, SONG OF LOCKE portrays a detailed fantasy world, somewhat grittier than its forebears and drenched in human emotion. The tale has swordfights, witty banter, crushes, and even some subtle philosophy smuggled in. Itâs an epic for everyone who loves good storiesâfor anyone who has longed for something that seemed forever out of reach.
SONG OF LOCKE is also an artisan bookâwritten, illustrated, and typeset by the author, a masterpiece handcrafted from beginning to end. The first 50k-word draft was written for NaNoWriMo in 2013. In November 2014, a crowd of Kickstarter backers provided the initial funding for publication (see kickstarter.jwashburn.com).
ECKSDOT
âA very original world with an ingenious set of rules.â â KMK
âI was blown away with how Washburn nailed the mind of a sixth-grader. It was simply fantastic. Reading this book, you will be a kid again.â â Sherry Torgent, author of LIKE ICE
It all began with a nightmare I had one night. A nightmareâor a vision. It was almost too strange to not be real. A being from some other dimensionâI donât know what to call it exactly, a ghost robot, I guessâwell, it told me to knock on the door of a house down my streetâa green old house covered in trees and mystery. It took me awhile to get the courage (and I got a little help from my âslowâ friend Danny), but I knocked on that door. And the scariest part of what we found was the message: The old lady told me that if I would draw a certain Japanese tattoo on my arm, I could cross that barrier between reality and dreams and find out what the being wanted. So I had the choice: to back away and get out while I still could, or to go deeper, to take a chance on Japanese witchcraft, to dare my way into the unknown. I made my choice. Thatâs what this book is about. Maybe youâll think I chose wrong, I dunno. What would you have done?
* * *
In ECKSDOT, youâll join Nate and Danny as they search for clues leading to a mysterious world of ghost robots, while the wall between dreams and reality begins to melt around them. You will laugh and maybe even cry as the two unlikely companions learn what it takes to be a hero andâmore importantlyâwhat it takes to be a friend.Â
ECKSDOT is also an artisanâs storyâwritten, illustrated, and typeset by the authorâa masterpiece handcrafted from beginning to end.
Inklings
âIncredibly thought provoking.â â Stephanie R.
âAs with ECKSDOT, this book made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes. This author has a way of connecting with the reader and making everything so real.â â A. J.
Youâre about to read a collection of sporadic thoughts.
Because of the wide variations in mode, length, tone, and subject, youâll probably feel like youâre on a roller coaster, with the muscles in your neck locking up on one side, and then the other, as you go back and forth, up and down, never quite fully anticipating the next jolt.
Some are sad. Some are mysterious. Some are funny. And some are serious.
One is 8 words long, and one is 8,400 words long.
The topics range from stealing bikes and filling teeth, to losing girlfriends and losing lives.
Iâve aimed to be brutally honest. Hopefully that catches you off guard.
And the Venn diagram overlaps on just one pointâa writerâs mind.
It represents several yearsâ worth of writing, from the dark days of my undergrad to the completion of my masterâs degree, ending in 2013 when I published my fourth book. The genre ranges from nonfiction (the lionâs share), to poetry and pictures, then fiction, and even faction (just you wait).
I hope youâll be surprised by the wild turns.
And I hope, most of all, youâll be glad you read.
High Adventure
âHIGH ADVENTURE captivated me from start to finish⌠Do yourself a favour and read this. The passion is contagious!" â James Murtagh
âI liked this one a lot. More than I expected, actually. Itâs a neat view into the life of an author. And I loved the ending.â â Saralee
I started out with a craving. I'd tell people it was adventure I was after, even though I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. It took some searching before I really understood what my life was missing.Â
Three adventures ensued. Adventures of romance, inspiration, and illumination.
This essay takes you with me on my voyage. It's also a challengeâfrom me to youâto take a similar daring leap.Â
And see what happens.Â
[NOTE: This essay is a short work and is about 40 pages when printed in book form.]
Line Rider
âI felt like I was sitting alongside of Joseph Pearce listening to his wonderful tales around a campfire in the late 1890s. A wonderful book narrated by a very interesting man. For you western history buffs, don't miss it.â â Cbug
âA pithy recollection of a law man in the Arizona territory. Without embellishments, it is a frank chronicle of his life as he looks back on it.â â C. Perry
Line Rider is the true story of the life of Joseph Harrison Pearce (1873-1958), written by his own hand. During his lifetime, the âwild westâ from the storybooks still lived and breathed in one of the last places to be modernizedâArizona.
Joe, as he calls himself, took various roles throughout his adventurous life, including sheep herder, cowman, courter, tracker, line rider, and, most famously, that venerated breed of law man know as the Arizona Ranger. His story leads him to encounters with cattle rustlers, gamblers, saloons, stampedes, horse thieves, Indian trackers, outlaws, and nearly every other subject that later made its way into western legend.
But this story is absolutely real, told in his own voice in vivid detail.
[NOTE: This book was edited by, not written by, J Washburn.]
Coming Soon
Each book goes through several phases to reach production. I like to think of them like this. (NOTE: These covers are rough drafts.)
PHASE 1: Planning and outlining
PHASE 2: Writing first complete (rough) draft
PHASE 3: Revising first draft for alpha readers
PHASE 4: Revising second draft for beta readers
PHASE 5: Revising third draft for gamma readers
PHASE 6: Revising final draft for release
PHASE 7: Type setting and cover design
ECKSDOT Metamorphosis (book 2)
This book is in PHASE 1 of production.
If you want updates on this book, subscribe to my monthly letter, and I'll keep you posted.
Kings of Persia
This book is in PHASE 2 of production.
If you want updates on this book, subscribe to my monthly letter, and I'll keep you posted.
More Inklings
This book is in PHASE 2 of production.
If you want updates on this book, subscribe to my monthly letter, and I'll keep you posted.
Reign of Fire
This series is in PHASE 1 of production.
If you want updates on this book, subscribe to my monthly letter, and I'll keep you posted.
And, yes, I know thereâs a movie with this title. When my little brother and I were kids, we thought of this title ourselves, actually, about two years before the movie came out.
When I write this novel, I may have to rename it.
Itâs a heroic fantasy novel. More details to come. (Or ask my bro.)