James W. Hawk was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania, and grew up in East Cleveland, Ohio. He is of German, Irish, Scottish, and Native American (Seneca) descent. Hawk is a descendent of Degory Priest, who came to America on the Mayflower. Hawk attended Ohio University in Architecture and completed his higher education at Cleveland State University, where he switched to Mechanical Engineering. He pursued a career in industrial sales and marketing with a Fortune 500 company, which resulted in relocations to Rochester, New York, South Bend, Indiana, and New Haven, Connecticut.

Hawk’s writing started after college, as studying for an engineering degree did not allow time for such things. After graduating, he went to work for a Fortune 500 company as a sales engineer. He wrote articles for their sales bulletin about customer relationships and the technical aspects of the company’s products. He also wrote a script for an energy-efficient products company video, which the company produced.

Shortly after that, he and his wife started their family, and he was drawn into life’s whirlwind. Most of us are familiar with that; it is that time when you count your lucky stars just to be able to catch your breath. So writing had to be put aside in light of other priorities or, as John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” Finally, that long, chaotic train ride ended at a terminal named “retirement,” it was an excellent terminal. Suddenly, many things changed, including the world slowing down.

Before Hawk became actively engaged in writing and publishing his stories, he was an award-winning filmmaker. As a filmmaker, he wrote many more scripts than he had the time or money to turn into films. So, he thought he would convert them into print versions. Much of his background was filmmaking-related, so let’s start there. He has made more than 50 films and has written the scripts for all but one.

A script is almost the beginning of a film project, and that script is the mold that shapes and forms that film. The two most significant differences between a script and a book are the structure and the relative lack of details in a script. A script is essentially the words and movement of the film. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” fills in for the requisite detail of a script. In other words, Hawk had to learn a new way of writing for books. He had to form images with words instead of images to give the reader a sense of the story’s environment.

Hawk's first narrative script was Alpha to Omega: Part 4. It was for a Steven Spielberg TV contest called “On the Lot.” Sadly, he was not selected to participate in the contest. However, since then, he has expanded that script into a novelette called “FAILURE.” Moreover, he is working on a further expansion to a novel called Gene Rieter.

What he likes most about writing is the unlimited creativity it allows. He creates entirely new worlds with unique people in extraordinary environments, getting into fascinating situations. He writes mostly drama and science fiction. He is working on a romantic drama, which is a new experience. He can’t imagine that he will ever write a comedy. He does not think he has a single funny bone in his body.

He started his pursuit of authorship in November 2016 when he published his first short story of his A.T.H.O.I.A. Anthology (in 2022, "A.T.H.O.I.A." was changed to "Malaki"), TO beta-VANVERDEN AND BACK, on Amazon Kindle. It is about two astronauts who take an intra-galactic journey to restore their civilization to its former glory and encounter an amazing situation. Clyde Phillips, a writer and producer for the award-winning television series DEXTER, gave VANVERDEN a 5-star rating. It was number 20 on Amazon’s Best Sellers U.S. Science Fiction Anthologies.

His subsequent work was a 2017 novelette titled W.I.L.L.A.R.D.’S FUNDAMENTAL FORCE, a story about a has-been astrophysicist who makes a mind-boggling, profound, world-changing discovery. It was number three on Amazon’s Best Sellers U.S. Science Fiction Anthologies.

His next subsequent work was another 2017 novelette, FAILURE, which garnered numerous great reviews. It is the story of the last man on Earth who aspires to become the father of civilization if he can find a woman of childbearing age. It was number two on Amazon’s top 100 best-selling U.S. short story list.

Hawk published his first novella, CONFLUENCE, in 2020. It is the story of Lilith, a high-strung young woman who still lives at home and struggles to find her life’s direction. She is so tightly wound that if she explodes, it would be of nuclear proportions. Jacob has just left the army and has returned home to establish his civilian life. He has major issues that give him a hair-trigger. If these two people find each other, it will be a match made in hell. CONFLUENCE has received rave reviews.

Hawk recently published his autobiography, "James W. Hawk - Windows on the Universe - an autobiography - a life unscripted, a film yet to be produced." It is available in hardcover and paperback.

His most recent publication is HAWKMEDIA STUDIOS THEATRICAL MOVIE POSTER ALBUM. It is a compilation of theatrical movie posters for realized and unrealized HawkMedia Studio projects. It is available in hardcover and paperback editions.

Hawk is working on several new print projects for the Aleph to Taw Chronicles and a compilation of short stories called Malaki's 1st Anthology.

Honors:

- a literature colleague of the U.S.V.A.A. (United States Veteran’s Artist Alliance.)

- accepted into the Connecticut Center for the Book.

- serves on the advisory committee of MICA and is an artist inductee.

- serves on the board of M.O.C.C.A.I.

- an award-winning director/filmmaker

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