Books

Going back to 1966 and 11th-grade chemistry, Jim has been intrigued by the periodic table. In the 2020s, he wrote a four-volume collection of short stories based on the first 100 elements. For this collection, he has turned his attention to poems, specifically the 5-7-5 syllable format of the haiku. With a scientist's eye for detail and a poet’s...

The haiku in this collection reflect Jim’s love of nature, life, and family. The book is divided into four chapters, each reflecting one of the seasons. Walk with him through a quiet autumnal forest and marvel at the myriads of yellow, golden, orange, and red leaves. Relax with him by a warm fireplace fire chatting with a loved one, or reading a...

Jagen and Ank have been sent to Earth from their home planet, Rykos, on a fact-finding mission. Emperor General Xenon is a megalomaniac who wants the two young explorers to tell him if the planet is suitable to invade, conquer, and add to his collection. This is their first mission, and Jagen and Ank are eager to prove themselves.
However, upon...

After the escape of another group of orphans, Supreme Commander Botta blows up and vows revenge. When an underground tunnel is discovered leading to the Sage Mountains and the Earth’s surface, he knows exactly what to do. He will use it to stage a surprise attack on the tracliodytes and humans. He can’t wait to rain down death and destruction on...

In the 27th century, ten-year-olds Sammy and Cal work digging tunnels beneath the streets of the underground city of Pierpoint. When two huge rats attack them, Sammy is wounded, but their boss refuses to give him any time off to heal. With a bleak future ahead of them and Sammy’s infected wounds getting worse, the boys decide to run away. Their...

Life for Lenny and Alex is not pleasant. It’s the 27th century, and they are living in an orphanage with thirty other boys like themselves. They are labeled Defectives. They don’t fit the accepted mold for the appearance-based society. Their faces are covered in purplish/red birthmarks, their vision is poor, and they are slight in stature. They...

What drives a person forward in this day and age? What makes them tick? There are no easy solutions, but in this eclectic collection, Jim explores possible answers. In this eclectic collection, you’ll be introduced to young Lindsey, whose love of wrestling helps compensate for the withdrawal of love by her mother. You will meet a present-day...

When he fails to help curb the worldwide pandemic in the 21st Century, time-traveling healer Torak loses confidence in himself. When his boss Master Healer Robbikan sends him back in time to help with a plague that is sweeping the land of Anon, Torak vows to do better with this second chance. In Anon, he meets good people like the innkeepers...

A love-struck modern-day whiskey runner. A man addicted to fruit. A young boy’s horrific experience running away from home. These stories look deep into human nature and how we cope with life’s many challenges.

A deathbed wish by an estranged father forces his son to confront his past. A man tells his friend an unexpected secret and hopes his...

In this collection of stories, Jim shares with the reader the lives of ordinary people who each have a unique story to tell. Mitch’s life is enhanced immeasurably when he meets fellow stargazer Loren and his daughter. Doug and Evie form an unlikely friendship while riding the bus to work. Dan and Tim meet Michael at a concert and learn the...

When Jena’s new boyfriend Herm announces that he is traveling the Northshore of Lake Superior to meet commander Donner, she is skeptical. After all, Herm is convinced that he is an alien from the planet Xylan who has been sent to Earth to search for rare minerals. As far as she is concerned, he is living in a dream world. However, Herm is also a...

Contemplating the moon on a frigid winter night. Birdwatching in the rolling hills outside of town. Planting a garden and watching it grow. The poems in this collection reflect Jim’s love of the natural world and his belief that Nature can help heal a wounded spirit. They are short, four or twelve lines in length. They are rhymed on the second...

The mysteries found in the night sky. The joy of welcoming Spring after a long cold winter. The simple pleasure of enjoying birds singing, swinging on swing with a grandchild, or walking the woods amid the oranges and reds of autumn colors.

The are gentle poems and this collection capture Jim’s love of nature and life in a short, six-line...

In this collection, Jim looks into what it means to be human in this day and age. How do we cope with the loss of a loved one? What brings us joy? How important is friendship? Can Nature heal?

These are heavy questions, and Jim tackles them head-on with stories that are both intriguing and entertaining. He is not afraid to delve deep into life’s...

Jasmine “Jazzy” Jaspers is a ten-year-old albino who lives with his mother, an obese telephone sex worker. When his mother dies, Jazzy is sent to live with his grandparents on their farm in southwestern Minnesota. At his mother’s funeral, he meets and befriends his first dead person and it changes his life forever. Together with his new friend...

Elements thirty-two through sixty-three on the periodic table are used in this unique collection, a follow-up companion to the first volume, “Periodic Stories”. Will Ken and his girlfriend’s son ever get along? Why is krypton so important to Duke and his brother and their friends? Will Mr. Jordan, a young high school teacher in his first job, be...

When Zylan and his band of poachers invade the realm and start hunting unicorns, gamekeeper Yonell and his twelve-year-old daughter Ayla are on the alert to protect them. However, in a skirmish with two of Zylan’s men, Yonell is captured along with Snowflake, the youngest unicorn in the family. The prisoners are strapped to horses and taken by...

Elements seventy-eight through one-hundred on the periodic table serve as inspiration for this fourth and final volume in Jim’s Periodic Stories series. In it, two materialistic millennials get hooked on their platinum credit card with disastrous results. Do they learn a lesson? A young girl discovers there’s more to life than winning a gold...

In this collection of 101 stories, Jim Bates touches on the simple moments of life, sometimes memorable, sometimes nearly forgotten, but always meaningful. Memories abound: building model airplanes, learning to bake oatmeal cookies, walking in the woods, summers spent at an aunt and uncle’s cabin, graduating from college, raising a family, and...

Walking in autumn with the aroma of burning leaves in the air. Admiring a dragonfly that has landed on his sleeve. Dangling one’s toes from a wooden dock in the midst of summer. Enjoying the quiet of a winter’s snowfall. Gazing with awe into the depths of the night sky. The poems in this collection speak to the beauty of nature and love of the...

The scent of mountain sage. Learning to bake cookies. Overcoming a fear of heights. Identifying a special bird. All moments in time, often inconsequential, yet over the years becoming lodged in the memory until they need to come out, finding expression in the 101 poems in this collection. We are all one of a kind. Yet we share so much,...

Sherry and Zeke are two at risk teenagers who meet in their high school chemistry class and develop a bond over their shared love of science. In this follow up to Periodic Stories and Periodic Stories Volume Two, Jim takes us on another entertaining ride. This time he uses elements sixty-four through seventy-seven of the periodic table as the...

Nature speaks to us in many ways. In this collection of haiku written over the course of one year, Jim Bates has chosen the 5-7-5 syllable format to share his feelings for the natural world. He hopes you enjoy them.

After the snowstorm

Winter's soft gentle beauty

Snow on evergreens.

“Award winning author Jim Bates writes entire stories inside the...

For fifty years Ebar, an alien from planet Rykos, has lived in human form on earth as Kyle Johnson. When Ebar gets into a fight at the sewage treatment plant where he works, he is put into jail. A jailer overhears Ebar trying to contact his home planet and tells the authorities. Ebar is sent to the psychiatric ward of the Buffalo County Hospital...

Overlapping memories, overlapping lives, wide open spaces and soft but sometimes heart-breaking reminiscences, with the mighty Mississippi running through it all — let Jim Bates take you on rich, human, intertwining journeys into a landscape of souls where you can glimpse beauty and peace, longing and contentment, the burden of past decisions...

Throughout the lives of Elizabeth and her two sons, Ben and Eric, not all holidays were enjoyable, but they were certainly memorable.

This is a short sharp collection of well-told stories by Jim Bates who once again brings us some evocative writing with a strong literary voice. We meet a plethora of characters, each with their own concerns and triumphs. They face life’s challenges and often have to turn situations around. Will they succeed? Will they make life good again?

In...

For Quinn and his young family, life in 2220 was a depressing dead-end existence. The mandatory enforced lifespan was forty years, and then you were unceremoniously put to death and turned to compost.But only if you lived that long. In the aftermath of global warming, Quinn makes a fateful decision with a disastrous effect. One that forces him,...

The first thirty-one elements of the periodic table are each used in the thirty-one stories in this unique collection. Will Warren always be lonely? Why does Lonny’s grandfather like balloons so much? How come Derek’s new fishing rod is so important to him? Why is Paul excited to learn how to test for chlorine in swimming pools. How did Eric’s...

A collection of stories about life, love, loss and emotions.

Remembrance Day is special for one grandfather. Which story of he and his brother at the lake will John remember today? Blake loves his garden but he’s not so sure about the rabbit. Tyler stands up to his dad while hunting crows. What really did happen in the room at the Inn on the...