Megacon 2019 Pics

'Super 8 Images: A Time Travel Story', is part of the epic collection 'Fantastic Stories'

Now available as a stand-alone on Amazon Kindle and as part of the new anthology book, "Fantastic Stories".

Jenna lives in the year 2080. It is a dystopian nightmare; a world ravished by climate change and non-stop wars, an Earth on the verge of becoming a lifeless, barren rock with toxic air and acidic oceans. But there is hope as she finds a way to travel back into the past to 2019. Now she must try to change the course of history, create a new timeline, and save the planet.

“Super 8 Images” is a clever, thrilling, touching tale of time travel from James J. Caterino, the author of “Fireflies”, “Watch the Skies”, and the “The Last Neanderthal.”

Spring sketchbook: Captain Marvel, Bumblebee, architecture, femme fatales, and much more

Brie Larson is Captain Marvel.

Supermodel extraordinaire Elizabeth Turner.

Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie with Bumblebee.

Indy and company.

Cover art sketch for the short story, "The Dream Factory".

Femme fatale goddess. 


For more artwork check out my published sketchbook.

'Fantastic Stories', epic collection of action-packed, page-turning, suspenseful short stories

A girl from the year 2080 travels back in time to the present to save us from ourselves in the mind-blowing epic “Super 8 Images: A Time Travel Story”.

An illustrator at an ad agency creates a drawing of a woman taking a selfie for a smart phone ad campaign. Then he comes across a real-life, living version of the exact same woman in “The Selfie”, a romantic science fiction thriller.

Sixteen year-old babysitter Gina Zeneski takes the kids for a day at the amusement park and gets more than she bargained for in “Rollercoaster”, a pulse-pounding story of harrowing action.

A weekend road trip turns into a chamber of horrors for four college students in “The Rally”, a relentless tale of terror and suspense.

Carlos is the film critic for the Miami Herald. His life is all about the movies. But now, he is about to experience a cinematic plot twist that will change everything.

Read these page-turning tales of imagination and more in “Fantastic Stories”, a collection of science fiction, action-adventure, and suspense stories, in the tradition of anthology shows such as “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, “Amazing Stories”, and “Black Mirror”.

'Fantastic Stories', bold, imaginative, addictive

I have a new book out, “Fantastic Stories”.

This is the anthology I have been dreaming about all my life; eight rip-roaring tales of epic imagination that pack a physical punch and an emotional wallop. If you like stuff like “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, “Amazing Stories” and “Black Mirror”, then you will love “Fantastic Stories”.

Now available on Amazon Kindle and in Paperback.

From the back cover:

A girl from the year 2080 travels back in time to the present to save us from ourselves in the mind-blowing epic “Super 8 Images: A Time Travel Story”.

An illustrator at an ad agency creates a drawing of a woman taking a selfie for a smart phone ad campaign. Then he comes across a real-life, living version of the exact same woman in “The Selfie”, a romantic science fiction thriller.

Sixteen year-old babysitter Gina Zeneski takes the kids for a day at the amusement park and gets more than she bargained for in “Rollercoaster”, a pulse-pounding story of harrowing action.

A weekend road trip turns into a chamber of horrors for four college students in “The Rally”, a relentless tale of terror and suspense.

Carlos is the film critic for the Miami Herald. His life is all about the movies. But now, he is about to experience a cinematic plot twist that will change everything.

Read these page-turning tales of imagination and more in “Fantastic Stories”, a collection of science fiction, action-adventure, and suspense stories, in the tradition of anthology shows such as “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, “Amazing Stories”, and “Black Mirror”.

Caterino on Caterino

All writers of fiction have a split personality. After all, they spent most of the time absorbed in worlds of their own creation populated with made-up people who are as real to them as flesh and blood. So it makes perfect sense that the best way to gain insight into the deep psyche (and psychosis) of a creative writer is the self-interview.

Caterino on Caterino

So tell me, why do you write?

I write stories I want to read, but nobody else had written them. So I have to write them.

When did you start writing fiction?

I believe the first completely finished, edited, and typed up short story I wrote was at the age of 12 for a project at school. It was this really hilarious over the top space opera inspired by "Star Trek", "Space 1999", etc. It was called “Among theStars” and I turned it into a published screenplay a few years back.

Did you stick with the writing after that initial story at 12?

In one form or another. Always filling out notebooks with story outlines, characters, and key scenes I would use later on. Wrote about a dozen or so short stories in college. Then it was on to screenplays.

Were any of them good?

Mostly no. Well-crafted maybe—structure always came natural to me—but vapid. I simply had not lived enough life. A couple of the short stories were well-received by the class. It was one of those classes where you had to sit silent for an hour while everyone discussed and reviewed your work out loud. One of the screenplays was good. It actually came close to being optioned. I went out to LA and pitched it around back in 2003. By that time I had developed a true sense of who I was as an artist with my own viewpoint, personal set of thematic obsessions, and demons. It was an S&M supernatural horror story about re-incarnation called “Steel Phantom”. Much of the material ended up being used in “She” and “All About Amy”.

The most praised aspect of your writing are the action sequences, especially those in the “Caitlin Star” series? Tell me about Caitlin.

I wrote a novel back in early 2000s about a charismatic anti-hero vigilante named Gunner Star. Think Vin Diesel, circa 2000 – 2004, ala “Pitch Black”, the original “Fast and Furious”, and “The Chronicles of Riddick”. He discovers this philosophy based on an extinct species of hominids called the Bull Mongoni, and teaches this to a series of protégés, including a young, orphaned girl named Caitlin. She is clearly special from the start and becomes his prize pupil and a great leader in her own right. “CaitlinStar the Trilogy” follows her growth and the historic role she plays in a series of great civil wars and in the post-apocalyptic world that follows.

Even though the “Caitlin Star books” have a hard edge to them, there is a great sense of wonder about them. Something you really seemed to explore in your next three books, “The Last Neanderthal”, “Watch the Skies”, and “Fireflies”.

I call those books my “Amblin Entertainment Trilogy”, because all three stories are inspired by Spielberg films and productions, combined with my own adolescence and personal sensibilities.

Those three novels all have a lot of heart and were quite emotional at times.

I certainly felt those emotions while writing them. I really wanted to hone in on creating humanistic, character-driven stories with those books.

Lately you seem to have been really focused on short stories and I understand you have a new book coming out that will be a collection of some of those.

Yes. It’s called “Fantastic Stories” and will collect eight stories I have written over the past two years and will include the original cover art for each story. I am very excited about this because I grew up reading “Galaxy”, “The Twilight Zone Magazine”, and many others from the tail end of the pulp era. I love short stories and feel like it has become a lost art form. Although by the old technical definition most of my stories would be considered novelettes since they are between 7500 and 20,000 words, although that term really isn’t used anymore.

What can readers expect from “Fantastic Stories”? What kind of stories will be in there?

Science fiction, action adventure, romance, and suspense that borders on horror. Let me put it to you this way; if you like “The Twilight Zone”, or “The Outer Limits, or “Amazing Stories”, or “Black Mirror”, then I promise you will love “Fantastic Stories”.

You are speaking my language for sure. I can’t wait to pick that up. Jim, thank you so much for taking out the time to speak with us.

My pleasure.

'The Dream Factory'

I have a new short story available on Amazon Kindle, "The Dream Factory". 

If you like "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "Amazing Stories", and "Black Mirror" type stories, then you will love "The Dream Factory".

Carlos is the film critic for the Miami Herald. His life is all about the movies. But now, he is about to experience a cinematic plot twist that will change everything.

“The Dream Factory” is a spell-binding science fiction short story by James J. Caterino, the author of “Fireflies”, “Watch the Skies”, and “Super 8 Images”.