Students, if you are quoting any of the information below for a book report, make sure you cite properly. The latest version of the MLA style guide no longer requires citations to specify the full web address of website sources, however, your teacher may still want you to do this.

Here is how I would cite a quote from this page:

Cardona, James. "Bio." www.jamescardona.com.

 

Also be sure to check out my MY STORY page, my HOW I WRITE page and my INTERVIEWS page for more information about me and the stories behind some of my books. And, as always, feel free to contact me with any questions you have. I love to connect with the readers of my books!

 

James Cardona is an award winning author who has written multiple science fiction and fantasy books along with a spate of nonfiction works to boot. He has won the gold medal in the Teenager Category of the Wishing Shelf Book awards, taken Honorable Mention in the Teenager Category at Reader Views Literary Awards and was an Indie BRAG winner, all for Community 17. His children's book, Santa Claus vs. The Aliens, was a finalist of the Wishing Shelf Book awards in addition to being an Indie BRAG winner. His fantasy book, Under The Shadow Of Darkness, was also a finalist of the Wishing Shelf Book awards.

His mind constantly abuzz and drifting, he lets all sorts of things influence his writings. In his books you might find out James believes Santa Claus just may well be an alien and true magic lies in every one of us. He thinks progress is moving way too fast and way too slow all at the same time. He loves the connectivity of his cellphone, yet wants to get back to nature with it clutched in his manicured hand. He believes criminals can be reformed but politicians are probably a lost cause. He believes we need to stop looking for our salvation in the stars, at the bottom of oceans, in technology and in the hollow graves of long dead kings and start taking a long hard look at who we are as a people and embrace the spark within each of us.

James believes quantum entanglement is the key to instantaneous communication across the galaxy and uncrackable data encryption. He thinks robots will never rule the world--well, that is not unless they are populated by human ghosts. He can't understand why it took Schrodeger to prove a cat can be living and dead at the same time when there are so many people walking the face of the earth in such a condition.

James was born in Lorain, Ohio, the birthplace of famed writer Toni Morrison, and received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Delaware with a minor in Religious Studies. He also studied briefly at Penn State University.

He spent six years in the U.S. Navy and served during the first Gulf War. He has haunting memories of the sun being blotted out for weeks by burning oil platforms billowing black smoke, Arabs in long flowing robes driving quarter-million dollar Italian sports cars down narrow dirt lanes while peasants dove out of the way, the most delectable seafood in the world and the most oppressive heat.

One of his favorite memories in the military was helping evacuate stranded survivors from Mount Pinatubo's devastating eruption in 1991 in the Philippines. The ash was so thick it collapsed buildings due to its weight. He remembers aiding bands of pregnant women covered in ash slurry through a penetrating rain, women that had not eaten in many days.

He has worked in factories and food service, as an electrician, a teacher, supervisor and engineer. But like many creatives, his heart beats most strongly when it is full of the magic of building something new. Besides writing, he can be found drawing, painting, writing computer code, tinkering with electronics and building robots. Prior to his knees turning creaky he was an avid runner, completing about fifty or so races at the half marathon distance or greater.

His debut novel was Gabriella and Dr. Duggan's Dimensional Transport Machine, the first book in the NuGen series, a young adult, science fiction adventure story involving the perils of genetic engineering. It was something of an experiment. Although the response to the work was mixed, he received enough positive feedback that he felt through hard-work and study of the craft he might be able to produce something really great.

In 2013, he wrote the children's science fiction-holiday book Santa Claus vs. The Aliens. It has been called heart-warming, clever, creative, touching, funny, imaginative, enjoyable and genuine. The book was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book awards for 2014 in the Children's category and also won an Independent Book Reader's Association Group Medallion.

In 2014, he published the first in The Apprentice fantasy series, Under the Shadow of Darkness. The book was also a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book awards for 2014 in the Teenager Category. The story follows a group of apprentice wizards who have just graduated University and are training one-on-one with their masters. In the fantasy world of the Apprentice series, becoming a wizard is akin to joining a royal priesthood and all magicians must be celibate, which for Bel and Shireen is a monumental trade. If they are to complete the training they must sacrifice their love and relationship, vowing to never marry. Knowledge for love, is it a worthwhile trade? The first book in the series follows Bel as a horde of dead escape the underworld, terrorizing the populace.

In 2015, he penned three new books. Gabriella and the Curse of the Black Spot, the second in the NuGen series and The Dragon's Castle the second book in the Apprentice series. In The Dragon's Castle, Bel and Shireen are thrust back together for an epic adventure.

Finally, in 2015 he wrote something completely different, Community 17, a whirlwind, dystopian science-fiction adventure. Community 17 was another book winner, winning the gold medal in the Teenager Category of the Wishing Shelf Book awards, Honorable Mention in the Teenager Category at Reader Views Literary Awards and winning an Indie BRAG medallion.

In 2016, James released Dragon Hunters, a science fiction-fantasy mashup of a story, and The Night Wolf, a prelude tale set in the world of the apprentice series.

He is currently working on The Worthy Apprentice and Into Darkness, which are parts three and four of the Apprentice series respectively. He is also writing something fresh and new, a science fiction book tentatively titled Rebirth.