Very happy about the updated covers on my Bridge of Eternity series. They should be available from booksellers soon. In the meantime, I still have a stock of autographed copies with old cover art. I’m wondering if I should drop the price on them?

Playing with my (company’s) Insta360 camera.

I know I announced a new book in January, my science fiction adventure All Things Strange and Dangerous, so having me release yet another new novel in early 2024 makes it seem like I’m amazingly prolific. The truth is, I work on fiction projects in batches and then take a break before doing them again. This will no doubt be my last one for a while.

This magical realism novel features Iris, the Goddess of Rainbows.

She’s a messenger of the creator, the All-Father, the god of gods. She’s coming out of a centuries-long deep depression after having her heart broken by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind. The All-Father has given Iris her first assignment since Shakespeare was a new thing, sending her to an Earth that has changed beyond all recognition.

And then there’s Cody Shane, a lowly agent of an unnamed secret government organization tasked with national security against supernatural threats.

He’s been assigned to track down an enigmatic old woman who’d committed an act of terrorism in San Francisco before disappearing into thin air — literally vanishing, caught on camera — and avoiding capture.

Following up on reports of “unusual rainbow activity,” Cody thinks he’s on yet another wild goose chase until he has a run-in with Iris, and the two realize they’ve been sent out after the same person.

The terroristic incident in question happened in another of my books, Eleven Days on Earth, where an old woman throws running chainsaws off the top of a San Francisco skyscraper. Several characters from that book make cameo appearances in this one.

The stakes are high. It turns out there are multiple ways our world could end, all of them happening at the same time, and there’s only one way to stop them. Iris chooses Cody as her earthly champion, and they team up to do exactly that.

Save the world.

She Comes in Colors is my 11th book of fiction, and with this one, I’m branching out into new formats. Not only is it available as an ebook and in paperback, but you’ll be able to listen to it on Audible as well, and — soon, if not already — it’ll be in hardback too.

Here’s the Amazon link: She Comes in Colors by Jerry J. Davis

So what else is happening?

I’ve invested in a new type of camera, an Insta360 One RS, which takes 360º images and video. Primarily for use in my day job, I’ve found it not only mind-blowingly amazing in its capabilities but also incredibly fun to use.

Having built-in AI image processing, it erases itself from reflections, and also erases its own selfie-stick and tripod, so that the images appear to have been taken by some sort of floating anti-gravity drone.

You can take one single picture with this camera, and then get a nearly infinite amount of various still images out of it, from just about any angle or direction. If you use it for video (which a lot of Tiktok and YouTube creators are doing) it’s the same, you take that one video and grab multiple shots, and get video shots that are almost impossible from any other type of camera.

Lord help me, I may start vlogging again on YouTube just because this camera is so fun to use.

New Storefront Coming Soon

The GroovyMojo web domain is being pulled away from Substack and I’m building a new website with it for GroovyMojo Media. Besides featuring signed copies of my books — which have been removed from my main website — it will also have custom notebooks, and other fun things. I’ll post another message when that is ready, so you can check it out if you’re curious.

I’ll also feature a backstock of proofs and advanced reader’s copies of my books, which I’ll be practically giving away, as they’re full of typos. They’re all signed and some are marked up from when I was editing. I’m not sure if anyone will actually want these, but I find it hard for me to bring myself to throw them away. I’d rather hand them out to anyone who wants to pay for postage.

Thank You!

In wrapping up, it’s evident that there’s a whirlwind of activity in my world, from the release of another new book to my branching out into new creative endeavors. I’m excited to bring you along for the journey. Keep an eye on your inbox for the release of my new website, and perhaps a peek into my newfound vlogging adventures. Thank you for your unwavering support and curiosity—it fuels my ventures into the unknown and the magical. Here’s to uncovering the extraordinary in the everyday together.

I am excited to announce my new novel is out: All Things Strange and Dangerous

I wanted to write a story that feels like something out of the golden age of science fiction, full of danger, adventure, romance, and comedy — reminiscent of grandmasters Jack Vance and Clifford D. Simak.

Desmond, poet son of infamous space adventurer Rumlan Clews, inherits his late father’s starship and, fleeing an arranged marriage, takes off to explore the galaxy — not realizing what he is getting himself into. Galactic drug smugglers, sentient atomic bombs, lethal alien robots, and unexpectedly, the love of his life.

One thing I accomplished in 2023 was finishing the first drafts of two new novels and then extensive rewrites of one of them. That one may or may not be out before the end of the year.

This smart and somewhat dodgy lawyer reveals a path for Desmond to escape his predicament, albeit fraught with legal ambiguities and the daunting prospect of navigating the perilous, uncharted expanses of the galaxy.

Embracing this gamble, Desmond defies his family and takes off in his father’s starship, deciding to follow in his father’s infamous footsteps. However, this proves far less glamorous and way more complicated and dangerous than he’d ever imagined, as this odyssey leads to dealing with ruthless smugglers, android assassins, deadly alien creatures, and most unexpectedly, love.

So yeah, that should be out either by the end of December 2023, or at least in early 2024.

There is the possibility that there also may be another book in 2024, but we’ll see. I have a sequel to No Such Thing as Mermaids started, but I’m not sure if it will be done next year. I have all the research done, the settings noted, and the cast of characters set, but I have restarted the beginning three times now. Before I can continue, I have to find the one that feels like the story I want to tell.

Alright, that’s what’s new! Two books are on the way, maybe even a third. I can’t wait for you guys to read them. Thanks for riding along with me on this wild writing journey. And let me know if you’d like to see some new short stories … I’ve been thinking of writing some of those in 2024, too.

Some of you who may read my articles on Medium (or are friends with me on social media) probably know I just underwent major surgery to remove cancer. I’m still recovering, and on top of that, I came down with pneumonia, also from which I’m still recovering. The pneumonia was probably a complication of being under anesthesia.

I’m okay, though. Just have to heal and do my physical therapy. It hasn’t stopped me from writing. I have almost completed the first draft of a new science fiction novel and have a new magical realism novel planned after that.

For anyone who’s signed up for my newsletter, it’s … well. Broken. When I moved it to Substack, it was just supposed to be a newsletter service with a few extra features, but since then Substack has tried to become another entire … thing. And I’m not happy with it. To make matters worse, the domain name I use for the newsletter was migrated to another platform, which broke all the settings, so I can’t even get to it now.

Needless to say, even if I can fix that mess I’m going to end up going in a different direction. I mean, really, why is a “newsletter” better than subscribing to my website news feed and getting updates via email? I’ve been told that it’s better but I just don’t see why. To me it’s the same thing, but without having to depend on yet another service.

In a world that’s getting ever more complicated, I just want to simply. What better mantra for this chaotic day and age? Say it with me now:

Simplify.

Simplify.

Simplify.

I don’t know about you, but I feel better already.

We live in the future. AI programs paint pictures of my characters based on my descriptions.

Right to left, top to bottom: Lulu, Tom, and Franchesca from All You See is Light; Eva from No Such Thing as Mermaids; Yvonne Fong from Typewriter Repairman; the Lacerta Simio creatures from Seeds From Ancient Earth, and Katherina also from Seeds From Ancient Earth.