In some ways, this one feels a bit easier than the README.TXT that we’re all including as part of the manifest for this project / time capsule. Trying to figure out what someone in the future might want to know about me, and about my books, especially after the year we’ve had as a country and a species, was enough to make my head explode right now.

But you probably aren’t from the future. You just want to know about books.

Books are much, much easier.

For me, the decision on what to include, the first thing to include anyway, honestly wasn’t hard.

The BRIDGE & SWORD series, of which I included the entire ten-book main series of books, plus five books that are supplementary and/or prequels, are pretty much the definition of “books of the heart” for me. 

Since I was a teenager, I couldn’t get these characters out of my head, and felt pretty much compelled to tell this story, whether it sold or not, whether anyone ever read it or not. I wrote it to the end, completed the last scene I envisioned when I started writing the very first book, and it was like giving birth in a way. 

I have no idea how these books will hold up in the future, or if they will at all. I hope some part of me resonates with the humanity of whoever finds them, or at least that they provide an interesting insight into our time and place. That world and its conflicts became a kind of “home away from home” for me, and in a very real sense those characters are family to me… perhaps family as some part of me envisions that entity, both in the good and bad ways.

The other books I included were actually spinoffs from the first, although they definitely became their own thing.

The first set of these is my most popular series, sales-wise, which is the QUENTIN BLACK MYSTERY series. Unfortunately, at the time of the capsule, that series isn’t complete, but I included the first seven main books, so I figure there’s some chance I’ll give whoever finds this a good number of hours of entertainment, at least.

Both series live in the same overall “universe” of seers and humans (and eventually vampires), and are meant to work for readers on multiple levels––as entertainment, as social commentary, even as philosophical, ethical, moral, and dare I say, spiritual quandaries.

I also included some pictures of my family, which I thought might be of interest. My parents (when they were youngish), my nieces and nephews, my brother and sister.

In the README.TXT file I included a description of the books coupled with a kind of wave from the past, where I recounted the crazy few years we’ve had as a species, and some of my experience of that whole thing… including a final wave from a “(currently) slightly dented Earth,” and a wish that things are much more harmonious and hopeful for the society that is birthed from all of this chaos and painful growth.

And, well… that’s pretty much it.

Like most writers, I suppose, my books are pretty much the best explanation of who I am, way more accurate and interesting than anything I could say about myself in the nonfiction sense. 

And like all writers, I suspect, the greatest gift to me would be if at least one of those future-people read what I left behind, and resonated with my characters and stories in some meaningful way… or at least enjoyed them for a few hours and were entertained by my words.

Best wishes, and love to all,

JC Andrijeski

Photos (in order posted):

1. My brother, Stephen Andrijeski, his daughter, Samantha, and his son, Alex – December 2020
2. Me, at Disneyland of all places, on Tom Sawyer Island, right before I got Covid (in fact, I’m pretty sure I got it there) – February 2020
3. All of my nieces and nephews back when they were little people (from left to right): Naomi Uemura, Derek Uemura, Alex Andrijeski, Samantha Andrijeski, Maya Uemura
4. My parents, Carol and Vincent Andrijeski
5. My sister, Kathryn Uemura, her husband, Junji Uemura, and her kids: Maya, Derek and Naomi – Christmas 2020
6. The main books in the BRIDGE & SWORD series