SETH W. JAMES

Seth W. James is the author of Ethos of Cain and The Cain Series of episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science-fiction novels, as well as numerous other novels across several genres.

Seth W. James is the author of Ethos of Cain and The Cain Series of episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science-fiction novels.  Growing up in New Jersey, Seth served in the United States Army Infantry, rising to the rank of sergeant before leaving to pursue his education, taking a degree in English and History from Rutgers College, Rutgers University; Seth has also worked in scientific publishing for more than twenty years.  Though now exclusively a cyberpunk novelist, Seth’s backlist includes novels in several other genres.  The full list of Seth W. James books can be found on SethWJames.com.  Seth lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Seth W. James is the author of Ethos of Cain and The Cain Series of episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science-fiction novels.  Though a long-time resident of New Jersey, Seth was born in West Virginia; having come to New Jersey before the age of two, however, it is the only state that he has ever called home.  Seth lived in several towns across north Jersey, spending most of his teenage years on the outskirts of Mendham, before joining the U.S. Army at the age of 18.

Seth enlisted in the United States Army in 1994, selecting Infantry as his specialty.  Before serving in the 25^th Light Infantry Division, Seth enjoyed the privilege of completing Airborne School, and would later complete Air Assault School, several other infantry-related courses, and the Primary Leadership Development Course, a requirement for promotion to sergeant.  Seth won the prestigious Expert Infantryman’s Badge, several boards, and citations for excellence before his promotion to sergeant in 1997.  Seth’s time in the army would not extend to the twenty years that he had originally envisioned, however: faced with the reality of incessantly receiving orders, Seth came to appreciate that his tolerance for the impositions of others was far lower than he had initially believed.  He knew that his native autonomy would eventually earn him a trip to Fort Leavenworth and so, on a training exercise during a monsoon, growing more and more furious as he watched a young lieutenant engage in hand-to-hand combat with a map case, Seth decided to leave the service at the end of his active-duty commitment.

After the army, and after a couple years working in the security field, Seth returned to his education, enrolling in Rutgers College, Rutgers University.  There, Seth would earn a Bachelors of Arts in English, with a minor in History.  Within a month of graduating, Seth had landed a job as an editor at a small advertising publisher—and was promptly fired two weeks later.  Autonomy again.  Fortunately, Seth called upon a friend from Rutgers, who had recently joined a scientific publisher and would recommend him for a position.  Seth then worked for the publisher for the next seventeen years, in their journals department, rising to the position of Managing Editor.  Despite his affection for his fellow MEs and the great pride he took in the team that he had built, Seth eventually left the publisher, entering the health science field as a director, helping authors to reach their publishing goals.

Earlier, in 1986, Seth’s young life would change forever with his discovery of cyberpunk.  The subgenre of science fiction had just received its name from Bruce Sterling’s Mirrorshades: A Cyberpunk Anthology and was, without a doubt, the coolest, most avant-garde, and believably futuristic science fiction around.  It was also seen as the most dangerous—and not just by Seth.  Intrigued and desperate for more, Seth had attempted to order a cyberpunk novel from either his local or school library (conflicting accounts suggest either): having only recently learned of this fantastic method for obtaining books not on the shelves, Seth was utterly surprised when, having been summoned by the librarian, he was thoroughly scolded and dressed down for requesting a book that, according to the librarian, glorified criminals and taught young people to engage in computer hacking.  The novel that Seth had requested was William Gibson’s Neuromancer.

Chagrined but undaunted, Seth pursued his new passion through secrecy and guile, obtaining a copy of Neuromancer by REDACTED and the course of his literary career was set.  Seth would continue to explore cyberpunk throughout the 1990s, going back to the seminal works that he had missed in childhood, including City Come A-Walkin’ by John Shirley, Streetleathal by Steven Barnes, Software by Rudy Rutger, Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan, and many many more.

Though Seth’s first novella was a pirate story written on an ancient word processor, at the age of 11—a sprawling, 70,000 words nearly devoid of punctuation—he had set himself the goal of one day writing cyberpunk novels.  After the army and while at Rutgers, Seth had sat down to pen his cyberpunk opus—and immediately found himself overwhelmed.  Cyberpunk is the most complex of all subgenres, drawing on elements from—and requiring the skills used in—many other genres and subgenres.  The thought of instantly acquiring sufficient proficiency in the writing of action, crime, technology, espionage, psychedelic/stream of consciousness, hard sci-fi, large character groups, and the many other elements that so often appeared in the cyberpunk cannon was too much to ask of anyone, particularly of a new writer, just starting out.  Instead, Seth embarked upon a literary odyssey, writing novels across many genres and subgenres, to create memorable stories, to be certain, but also to gain the skills and experience that he would need to fulfill his ambition and write the relevant, engaging, action-packed cyberpunk novels that he had first envisioned, skulking around bookstores and libraries at an early age.

Beginning in 2014, after fifteen years of developing the skills and experience necessary to write the cyberpunk novels that he had always envisioned, Seth took the leap and focused entirely upon cyberpunk, starting with an as-of-yet unpublished cyberpunk trilogy and followed immediately thereafter, in 2023, with the publication of Ethos of Cain, book 1 in The Cain Series.  The Cain Series of episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science-fiction novels are, first and foremost, excellent, kick’em-in-the-teeth, action-packed, cyberpunk adventures; they also, however, look deeply into the world to come, the unavoidable realities of the late 21^st century and beyond—as only cyberpunk can.

Today, Seth ardently believes that cyberpunk is the only subgenre capable of adequately portraying the end-games of climate change, inequality, and the global resurgence of fascism, the most critical challenges confronting humanity.  And so it is through cyberpunk novels that Seth explores what the world will become, when the seas have risen over cities, when populations must migrate to find food and water, and when conflicts erupt to protect the fortified worlds of the billionaires.

The full list of Seth’s cyberpunk novels, as well as his backlist of non-cyberpunk books, may be found on SethWJames.com.  Seth also maintains a blog, wherein he provides regular updates on The Cain Series and, occasionally, voices his displeasure at humanity’s inaction on climate change.  After the long wanderings of his youth, Seth returned to his homeland of New Jersey and now resides in Montclair.