Books

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...