J.J. Goodman: Writings, Musings and More

Just in time for Christmas, Phaedrus: Turmoil on the Frontier , the exciting sequel to The Diligent: Conflict on the Deep Space Horizon , is now available for Kindle!!! You can purchase the new book by clicking on the link to the right. (Over there ------>) Thanks again for all of your support and encouragement!!!

Christmas... with a twist. _______________________ Christopher sighed and hung up the phone. There was no time during the year that he loathed more than December. He had requested that his telephone number be unlisted, but an error on the phone company’s part cause it to not only be listed, but listed in bold. Not that an unlisted number would have stopped the calls from coming, anyway. He was still listed for company purposes, so the calls would have just gone to the office regardless. They still did. Such was the curse his parents placed on him by naming him Christopher Cringle. Glancing at the clock, he learned that it was only 10:54. He had tried to go to be early, as if he would sleep. It was two weeks before Christmas and he needed to ride it out. He would be taking a much need vacation to Florida the day after, and like a child he had been marking the days off of his calendar. It was that thought that finally allowed him to drift off to sleep. It was the loud thud that ...

The blowing November breeze was chilling, but not so much so that it deterred him. He needed a little serenity, figuratively and literally. Serenity Point was his happy place. Nestled snuggly in a small harbor on the south shore of Lake Ontario , Serenity Point was where he would go to collect his thoughts, or not think at all. Though public, the pier was seldom populated. This day was no different. The pier itself was concrete, lined on both sides by large boulders designed to repel the rough waters when the Canadian wind sought fit to batter the coastline with its fury. About three-quarters of the way out to the small lighthouse at the pier’s end there was a large, flat rock that jutted out just a little bit farther than the others. That was his spot. Climbing over the sagging and aged railing, he dropped himself down onto his place of contemplation and reclined back on the cold rocks. The sunset would be coming soon. At this time of year the golden solar hues would disapp...

As we creep nearer and nearer to publication, I thought I'd reveal the final teaser synopsis for Phaedrus: Turmoil on the Frontier , book two in the three-part series The Deep Space Chronicles . Keep watch here for announcements! ____________________________ Phaedrus: Turmoil on the Frontier A Deep Space Chronicles novel by J.J. Goodman             All Commander Jason James wanted was some rest, and peace. None would come, however, as James and the rest of the Diligent ’s crew face a new menace in the wake of the battle at the Outer Banks. Armed with new intelligence, the crew of the USS Diligent embarks on its most important and dangerous mission yet: Travel to the crystal planet of Phaedrus, find the alien orb, and either capture or destroy it. Joined by its sister ship, the USS Frontier , led its young and ambitious captain Keith Barron, the Diligent arrives at Phaedrus too late, only to find the gears of the alien wa...

Ah, the holiday season brings out the best in us…. Well, it brings out the best in some of us. For most people though, the holiday season becomes a time to showcase their innate stupidity. By and large, I’ve found that holiday lunacy falls into one of three general categories. (I’ll give you a hint: the categories comprise the title of this blog entry. Up there.) (No, not that high… a little lower… yeah, there.) Those categories, in increasing order of decreasing awareness and courtesy, are: I.           Nitwittery. Nitwittery is exhibited by the clueless, inept and otherwise unaware. The perpetrators of this offense usually take the form of the beleaguered dad/husband/boyfriend, carrying a multitudinous array of shopping bags and wandering aimlessly through the mall, trudging after his wife/girlfriend, and exhibiting the decreased mental capacity of a zombie on Zoloft. Completely unaware of his surroundings, his nitwittery will includ...

Late work night  + Ambien + fascination with a certain post-apocalyptic television show = healthy dose of WTF this morning. Yes, this came out of my head. Yes, I know I need help. But let's be honest - how interesting would I be if I wasn't as messed up as I am?  So, enjoy... Into Oblivion _________________________________________________ The roar of the crowd was deafening. Frankly he was surprised that the ruling faction was able to gather so many people for the event. Of course, they likely didn’t have a choice. It was difficult to make examples of the resistance fighters if there was no one to watch. He guessed that most of them had been forced from their homes and herded to the stadium. Standing there with the others, shackled together, he stood defiantly until the horns blew and the crowed quieted. The Reaper was about to speak. “Ladies and gentlemen, hello!” he said, his voice booming through the stadium’s sound systems. “We have here another band of dissiden...

Ok, so I just read this again, and determined that I have a seriously messed up imagination. Sometimes you just gotta roll with what God gives ya...  ____________________________ Mother Nature was fickle, indeed. The day before had been an unseasonably warm November day. Today, however, the New England wind brought with it more familiar temperatures. The combination of geothermal warmth of the prior day and the morning’s cold winter air left the valley enshrouded in a thick, barely penetrable fog. He stepped out onto the balcony and breathed deeply, watching his breath as it dissipated and blended with the surrounding mist. He could barely see through the haze, unable to make out the tips of the mountains that loomed in the distance.   He really had no idea how long he had stood there, just staring into nothing. His body was chilled, though he paid it no attention. Breathing deeply again, he let the coolness penetrate his lungs. It soothed him.   “Why are you up...

Whoever said “there are no stupid questions” has clearly never been asked a stupid question. Either that, or such person doesn’t have the World Widened Interweb and never saw Jessica Simpson inquire as to whether “Chicken of the Sea” was really chicken, or tuna. In either event, the simple truth is that yes, yes there are stupid questions, and lots of them. Stupid questions date back the age of dinosaurs. Really, they do. It was a brontosaur, I believe, that excitedly asked “Who wants to go watch the comet?” Maybe it was a stegosaurus. In any event, they gathered their dinosaur friends, some blankets and picnic baskets, and went down to the valley where they were promptly, cosmically cremated. And don’t get me started on Cro-Magnon Men, whose exchange went something like this: Grol: “Slurg, argh grah groh dor grr hawrg tuskie wuskie?” (“Slurg, which end of spear I put in Mastodon?”) Slurg: *THUMP* (Sound of Slurg hitting Grol over the head with a club.) Yes, Virginia, ...

Whether you're a "red" or a "blue," there are a few things we should all agree on: 1) That George Takei is one funny son-of-a-biscuit; II) "Falling back" for Daylight Savings Time is stupid; and iii) taking the time to read and/or write something that is non-work related is healthy and, quite often, rewarding.  To that end... here, read this. Go on. It's ok. Don't be afraid. The words won't bite you, and it will only take a couple minutes. Let me know what you think. Give me ideas. Use your brains (those of you that have them, at least). Speaking of which, here's a joke for you - Q: What did the brain-eating zombies do at the political convention? A: Starve! HAHAHAHAHA... Hahahaha.... hahaha... ha... ahem. Sorry. Here's your story. ________________________________ He hadn’t intended on stopping for coffee. The meetings had run longer than expected, though, and the inanity of the last four hours had sucked from him what litt...

Um... yeah I don't know where this came from. It just... did. As always, I am interested in your thoughts, ideas, critiques, etc.  Enjoy! ___________________             He vaguely remembered the sensation of her soft lips pressing against his own, and her whispering “I love you, Jonathan,” before she left for work. That was three weeks ago. He sighed as he stared at the picture of the two of them together, a picture her sister had taken of the two of them while hiking on vacation just two weeks before she disappeared. Jonathan forced a smile. If he didn’t, he would have wept. Again.             Rachel was one of those naturally beautiful women that just had a radiance about her. Her chestnut hair and chocolate brown eyes contrasted against her pale complexion. Barely standing 5’3”, her petite figure had the perfect balance of muscle and curve. A button nose and di...

Ok, I know I generally don’t weigh in on things political, BUT… I will make an exception here: Binder full of women??? And before you get all over my case for not focusing on the hard hitting issues that we as Americans face, yadda, yadda, blah, blah blah, remember this: This is a literary blog full of cynicism, sarcasm and satire. If you want poignant political commentary, go to Fox News or watch the Rachel Madow show. (BWAAAAA HAAAA HAAAA!!! I know. I couldn’t write that with a straight face any more than you could read it with one.) So let’s get to the heart of the issue. A binder full of women. What, exactly, are we talking about here? Three-ring? Trapper Keeper? Or one of those folders with the annoying black plastic binding thingy with the flimsy, little clips that always come out of the little rectangular holes in the paper? Or are we talking more in the literal sense? A binder of women, like, say, a certain political candidate we’ll call “Glove” running around with a c...

*And by Star Wars I mean, with the exception of one small reference to Attack of the Clones , the original trilogy. Because the prequel trilogy was, by and large, crap. It was. Don’t deny it. Here are some simple life lessons I have gleaned from one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time. Learn them. Love them. Embrace them. (And NO, The Matrix trilogy does not even come close to earning a place on the list of all-time greatest trilogies, for the simple reason that it stars Keanu "can't act his way out of a paper bag" Reeves.) It’s always better to have furry friends.   Sometimes they’re not that bright; sometimes they get in the way; they’re dirty on occasion; and often it takes them a while to warm up to you. But once they do, you have a loyal companion for life. They will comfort you, stand by your side no matter what, lay down their lives for you, and even fly a spaceship to a desert planet to rescue you from a giant space slug. Of course, at first th...