Jason Hodges died October 11th, 2001 in a tragic auto accident. He was traveling home late with his friend Jerry Hinger, who was also killed in the accident. Their car was packed with self-inflating balloons. From police reports, Jerry, who was a little person, had moved from the front seat to the back seat, and in doing so, had somehow triggered some of the balloons to inflate. Jerry, having an aversion to red balloons, became disoriented and lodged under the steering wheel. Jason lost control of the car, was unable to recover, and struck an Oak tree outside of Lesley Chappell’s Extra Retirement Community Center in Lowtust, AL.

If you believe that, I was also the youngest longshoreman in Alabama back in the 1920’s. I started on the Cod Fishing ship The Lady Orient as a deck hand. In no time, I was cutting bait but hated chum – it was really the “junk” fish that we used that made me sick. So I ended up a longshoreman working in the Port of DeLoose in South Alabama mainly tending to cargo ships from Europe and Asia.

Okay. So I'm not dead, and I wasn’t a longshoreman in the Port of DeLoose. There is no Port of DeLoose or Lowtust, AL that I know of. But I do live in Alabama. I was born here and continue to live in a small town in Central Alabama. And while here, I’ve done a few things. And I do love it here in the South. I love the people, and I even enjoy the weather. Plus, I’m surrounded by what I consider one great movie set.

I went to college here, went to Bevill State Community College and received a degree in Computer Science. Oooh! Computer Science! While there, I gave a speech on how to dispose of a body. That’s what I remember most about college.

Like most writers, there were stories being told in the early years. Most of those stories will stay in the early years. You can take a look at my Bibliography page for an overview of my publications. The one that I’m most proud of is my book of short stories, From a Hole in the Sky. You can read more about it here. As well as short stories and novels, I’ve also had articles and essays published in print and online. I write mainly dark fiction. That includes horror and odd fantasy. It is not uncommon these days for me to try satire and comedy. And I don’t think it’s a secret that the South influences my work. I wouldn’t say I’m a purist or traditional Southern writer, but the South is part of me and part of my writings. There are samples of my work on the Online Writings page. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the pdf files.

There are a few names that come to mind when I think influences: J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Poppy Z. Brite. The very first book I ever read was The Hobbit by Tolkien. I remember it was fall of the year, and I was going through a dresser in my grandmother’s hallway, basically rummaging and looking for something to get into. I found a tattered book that on the inside said property of some high school I’d never heard of. I thought something about if it was the property of a high school, then why was it in my grandmother’s dresser? I remember the photo on the back was an older man with a pipe, and he had hairy eyebrows. I opened the book and read the first sentence. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Well, I had no idea what the hell was a hobbit, but I soon learned over the next few days and weeks. It wasn’t long after reading my first book that I joined the Science Fiction Book Club. Often, I’d just order the main selection just because. I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy over the next few years. Of course I read more Tolkien. I actually read The Silmarrillion before reading The Lord of the Rings. How many can say that? I also read the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Gregory Benford, Frank Herbert, Terry Pratchett (including Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman well before The Sandman) and even Robert A. Heinlein (I was too young to pick up on Heinlein’s… “political beliefs”).

Then one day, I went to a dime store up the road called Big B. Big B is long gone now, but back then they had a paperback section, and I bought my first Stephen King novel, Pet Sematary. That was my first horror novel that I read. I loved it. The next week, I went back to Big B and bought another King novel, probably Salem’s Lot. All I read was King for a long time. And by “all I read” I mean that was the only thing I would read. I’d finish one and get another. My favorite book is The Hobbit and my second favorite is King’s IT. I’ve read IT just about every year. The same goes for The Stand.

My friend Jon got me into Clive Barker. It helped that I was obsessed with the movie Hellraiser at the time. I love Barker’s Books of Blood. Somewhere around that time, I was introduced to Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Actually, it was the Death character that drew me into the comic books series. I miss The Sandman comics. I wish Neil would do another ten year run of the books. Growing up, I was a huge X-Men fan. When comic book shops (also part AD&D shops) sprung up, I discovered comics other than Marvel. DC’s Vertigo line was amazing. I still have my Sandman comics and re-read them every now and then.

The next big name of big influences is Poppy Z. Brite. I found her during a time of literary experimentation. I would buy books at random just to have something new to read. I picked up her book of short stories, Wormwood (aka Swamp Foetus). My favorite by Brite is Exquisite Corpse, a wonderfully written book about two serial killers who find love. Brite showed me that you can write using beautiful language being vivid and honest no matter what your subject matter is.

Also during the time of experimentation, I picked up Charles Bukowski’s Run with the Hunted. Everybody needs to read Chuck especially since there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll end up hating Chuck. It’s probably 70/30 that you’ll end up hating Chuck.

I have to also mention a few more writers: Dan Simmons, Tanith Lee, Edgar Allen Poe, Peter Straub, and Ramsey Campbell. There are so many more that filled my childhood, adolescent, and now adulthood.

I’ve also moved into script writing. I’m tweaking a comedy/satire/tragic-true script – which started as a short story – called W. T. for Short. I hope to turn it into a movie myself. In fact, I hope to make my own movies very soon. I guess you could call them independent films. I’m interested in making realistic horror movies. Yeah, I know it’s been done. But it hasn’t been done by me.

Horror isn’t the only film passion I have. I love documentaries. So I have hopes of making documentaries as well. There are a ton of subjects and subject matter around me. I just have to document them.

I am also half of jh2media. The other half is my friend Jon Holley. We’ve been partner in more than a handful of endeavors. Just ask him about Soggy Cereal and see what happens. jh2media is a web design company. You can see our portfolio here. We do a lot of things.

Feel free to e-mail me and ask any questions about anything. You can even ask, “Where do you get my ideas from?” You can ask, but I’m not going to tell you because I was sworn to secrecy… by Them!