About
In brief: I'm a science fiction writer, Futurama junkie, and Schiller-addict (the band, not the philosopher...I'm sure Johann was a provocative guy in his own right, but I've just never crossed paths with any of his works). Bookstores and computer shops are my homes away from home. If a gaseous, omnipotent entity offered me a single wish, it would be for Tangerine Dream to tour in the States.
They say every author should have a Web presence, so I've put together this site as a repository for all the little things writers tend to collect: thoughts, words, and observations.
Here's a dirty little secret of mine: I write fiction. Science fiction, fantasy, speculative—yeah, that stuff. My first published story was "Yet Another Reality," which appeared in the March 1999 issue of Aphelion. I've since written dozens of short stories, novelettes, and novellas; a good many have been published in a variety of online and small press venues, such as: Anotherealm, Aphelion, Bewildering Stories, Deep Magic, Demensions (indeed, with an "e"), ShadowKeep, and Sword's Edge. My novels include Time Chaser, The Knack, Stories from the Steel Garden, and Heroes' Day (due out in 2008 from Vertigo Alley Books).
Two unlikely candidates inspired my passion for writing: Star Trek (shudder) and Piers Anthony. The former I became obsessed with as a child—to the point of writing my own episodes on a scrappy 8.5x11 PenTab tablet; the latter I discovered when I was fourteen and had to do a book report for English class. Anthony's Phthor had somehow made it onto the list of acceptable books, and I was thrilled with the dark, somber scenery of Chthon. It was around this time that I decided to seriously pursue writing as a part-time career (as opposed to just a hobby).
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. How can I contact you?
You can send me an e-mail message by using the appropriate address(es) listed on the "Contact" page:
http://www.jessture.com/contact/index.php
2. Where can I read the stories and / or books listed in the Bibliography section?
You should be able to find my books and anthologies at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Powell's, Borders, etc. Rule of thumb: If it's not on the store shelf, ask at the help desk. Some of my e-zine work can be found online for free, though the URLs often change. A good start would be to do a Google search.
3. What pen names have you written under?
Most of my early work had the "A.J. Thompson" name attached to it, though several of my stories (particularly mainstream and romantic fiction pieces) were published under my own name. I also post stories and blog entries around the Web under the screen names "jointstereotype" and, less often, "cyberscribe."
4. Is there any special meaning to the "jointstereotype" screen name / handle?
The name is derived from an age-old discussion on MP3 technology and the common stereotype against joint stereo encoding. Before LAME, many MP3 encoding programs did JS poorly, resulting in bad-sounding MP3s; LAME has long since done joint stereo encoding right—and has long since had to deal with the stereotype that any joint stereo-encoded MP3 file is of inferior quality (when, done right, joint stereo encoding actually enhances the sound of a compressed audio file).
My online adventures began in 1998 in the form of a simple home page for a small group of friends—and it showed. My first host was the infamous (and free) GeoCities, and between the omnipotent pop-up advertisements I posted a variety of photographs and home videos for my own entertainment.
Shortly thereafter, when I became interested in using the site to more seriously promote my own writing, as well as some of the amateur video work I was doing with the Colossal Theatre gang, I moved the site to Crosswinds. Taking advantage of the unlimited disk space policy, I expanded the site, added a lot more videos, and generally wreaked havoc on the layout about every other week (hey, I was learning!).
The downside to Crosswinds was that they didn't offer any sort of CGI or PHP capabilities (at the time); to further expand the site, I needed something bigger and better—so, in 2002, I finally sprung for my own server, and launched the reasonably popular Vertigo Alley site.
Currently, jessture.com is an attempt at capitalizing on my own writing. Updates are posted sporadically, and the overall attitude between myself and those who have FTP access is, "whatever."
It's worked, thus far.
- Screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher
- Trebuchet MS, Bitstream Vera Sans, and / or Verdana font(s) installed
- Compatible browsers: Firefox, Opera, SeaMonkey (formerly "Mozilla Suite"), Flock, Netscape, Konqueror, Safari
- Untested: Internet Explorer
Please note that this web site is largely standards-based, and as such is rendered incorrectly by current and previous versions of Internet Explorer. It is strongly recommended that you use one of the standards-based browsers listed above. The reason for this bias is simple: As a Linux user, I don't have access to Internet Explorer (which is a Windows-only program) for testing, and probably never will. And no, dual-booting / VMware are not options...unless you're buying. 
- Authors:
- Piers Anthony
- Orson Scott Card
- Thomas M. Disch
- Graham Joyce
- Ray Bradbury
- Books:
- Phthor (Piers Anthony)
- Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
- 334 (Thomas M. Disch)
- The Tooth Fairy (Graham Joyce)
- Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)
- Movies:
- North by Northwest
- The Towering Inferno
- The Girl Next Door
- The Ladies Man
- 1408
- Music:
- Phoenix (Asia)
- Spock's Beard (Spock's Beard)
- Contagion (Arena)
- 10,000 Days (Saga)
- Snakes & Arrows (Rush)
