This site is devoted to the fiction of Jeffery Scott Sims, presented by me, the author, to further acquaint interested readers with my work. It is divided into the following categories: this introductory page; a series of pages listing my productions in chronological fashion, with appropriate annotations where necessary or illuminating; a page devoted to notable personalities and places that appear in my writings; and a special pictorial page dealing with some of the real world locations that have inspired many tales.
At this point, with a healthy number of short story sales under my belt, I can profitably look back and consider how it all happened. Early on I was a great reader and writer; scarcely was I past the Dick and Jane phase than I fastened on science fiction, which remained a staple until adulthood. During the third grade I read all of the classic novels of H.G. Wells-- which to this day strike me as the epitome of that form-- shortly began writing my own little tales for the amusement of friends. As an adolescent I read a story, not heeding the author then, which began the permanent shift in my tastes. A year or two later I read a collection of tales by H.P. Lovecraft, soon discovered that mesmerizing story to be "The Shadow Out of Time". I was hooked, and have ever been since a fan of the double-dyed weird. In my teens I read half a dozen times The Lord of the Rings, found another outlet for imagination in pure fantasy. I began writing stories regularly, for the first time seriously intending to publish commercially
For an aggravatingly long span intentions were all. Market factors; my own amateurishness of technique; less than professional salesmanship; where the explanation for those lean days? All I know is that suddenly, without clear warning, I started to sell, and not only my latest productions, either. There should be a lesson in that. I never gave up, which must count for something. I am currently building up a satisfying body of genre work.
My literary gods, those I acknowledge as the masters, are Lovecraft (still, and always), Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, M.R. James, and E.R. Eddison. Each provides me with the very best of what I crave from great stories of their kind. I measure others, and myself, against them.
Save for a few forays into SF, and the occasional light touch, most of my writings can be described as weird horror and dark fantasy. I write of beasties creeping in the night, or beyond the rim of the universe; I write of fabulous worlds and remote eras of my own invention. I have sought, my very best, to learn from the masters without imitating them. The story I pen is meant to be mine, not a copy of another's.
I prefer to read and write what I call clean stories, by which I mean those which present a plot, and the characters to drive it, and having done that get going and keep going unto the last word. Seldom do I clutter a work with back story-- endless chatter about personal irrelevancies or private "issues"-- unless the plot absolutely demands it, and even then I am wary of topical excess which may seem clever at the time, pitiful later on. I am first and foremost a story teller, and one who wants his stories to live beyond the fleeting present.
Many of my tales are one-off creations, written and done with, yet scarcely planning to do so I have fashioned characters who came to mean so much that they began to appear again and again. So I have written many a yarn of the obsessive researcher Professor Anton Vorchek, he of the keen mind and hazy credentials, constantly delving into morbid mysteries than no one else can fathom, often accompanied by his loyal but querulous young assistant Theresa Delaney. So too I have written of the cold-minded, somber sorcerer of yesteryear Jacob Bleek, a man of few words but eager desire for ultimate wisdom and power, the goal of a quest for which he wanders the world and beyond, never (mercifully) achieving, but always finding marvelous adventure. Those characters will appear again, along with the numerous others who pass briefly by to face unusual perils or suffer unimaginable fates.
It is a pleasure to imagine the unimaginable. I love such tales because they connote the broadest, most powerful, most scintillating exercise of the mind. I look forward to reading many more of them, and to writing more.
Go to the Essays Page to read my studies of some of the works of my favorite authors. At the moment I offer four essays devoted to Basil Copper, and one to Elizabeth Walter. In addition, I have composed several essays consisting of supplementary material to my own works.
My new essay, "Notes On The Journey of Jacob Bleek", provides a great deal of extra material pertaining to the book. I urge all to read it, that they may discover what the novel is all about, how it came to be written, and whence came all those weird and marvelous features that make it the kind of story it is.
1-13-12: The anthology Strange Valentines, the most recent offering from Jean Goldstrom and Whortleberry Press, presents an atypical tale from my daunting hero, "The Love of Jacob Bleek".
9-12-11: Chaos Theory: Tales Askew now presents the most amazing adventure yet of Professor Vorchek and Theresa Delaney, "The God In the Machine".
7-16-11: My curious tale of horrendous New Age revelation, "Sedona", has been published at The Wifiles.
7-15-11: Unspoken Water has published my ghostly tale, "The House On Anderson Mesa".
4-12-11: The anthology Malicious Deviance contains 25 wholly disreputable stories, including my supremely squalid tale, "The Nasty Club".
4-11-11: FlagShip magazine has published my Vorchek and Theresa tale, "The Mystery of the Inner Basin Lodge".
3-1-11: The anthology Strange Mysteries 3, the latest in the series from Whortleberry Press, contains my bizarre tale, "A Curious Incident At the Office".
2-19-11: Roar and Thunder Magazine of Australia has published the latest adventure of Jacob Bleek, "The Crags of the Schwartzenburg".
2-1-11: The anthology Gone With the Dirt, a collection of Civil War zombie stories, contains my tale, "The Report of Colonel Lantham".
For my own purposes, I have divided my works chronologically into volumes, some of which are grab bags, others designed around themes. The stories have not (to date, at least) been published in these formats. Click on the following links to read the titles within each volume, and the accompanying notes.
Read essays about some of my favorite authors here.
Seek my currently available stories here.
Brief discussions of notable characters and creations found in my tales may be read here.
Photographs of the genuine locations that form the settings for many of my stories may be viewed here.
Reach me by e-mail here.