About the Author

Hello, my name is Jim Bond (formally James E. Bond). I grew up in a large family (5 brothers and 2 sisters) and small town (Candia; ever hear of it?) in southern New Hampshire. There I enjoyed climbing trees and exploring the woods behind my house with my brothers, when we weren't too busy weeding the family vegetable gardens. I acquired an interest in astronomy around the age of 5, after I broke my right arm (for the third time) and was confined to a crib for a few months. My parents gave me a sticker book of astronomy to pass the time, and the pictures of the moon and planets helped me escape my confinement, and connect to a much larger world beyond the living room window.

I studied physics and astronomy as an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York from 1967 through 1971. It was here that I began to explore the world of science fiction. I moved on to graduate work in physics at Yale University, where I received a PhD in 1975. Because of the discouraging job market at the time, I soon changed career path, into medical physics. I have been employed as a medical physicist, primarily in therapeutic radiology, ever since.

I have been working erratically on the story The I of the Storm, under a variety of titles, for a good part of my adult life. Initially, I focused on developing what would become the philosophy of the octos, and only later wove this philosophy into a science fiction tale.

I met my wife Sue through mutual friends in 1985. We were married a year later, and our daughter Ellie was born in 1988. For several years, until the school closed in mid-2013, Sue was a teacher and then assistant director at a local nursery school. Ellie received a BA degree in clarinet performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2010, a Masters degree in clarinet performance from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2014, and is currently pursuing further graduate study at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington.