I began writing late in life. Thirty-eight felt late for me but I think I reached a point where I would try anything. It was very hard to get up in the morning and do what I was doing back then. I had a small production company, I made a movie and now I was shooting corporate spots for clients like Hewlett Packard and Nokia. I had been shooting stills or film for advertising clients for fifteen years. I was spent.I began reading quite a bit then, trying to spark some creativity into my work again. This is when I began journaling. Next I started writing little stories, mostly about growing up. And then one morning JohnnyT appeared on my page.
At first JT was just a bunch of little ideas inspired by an incident that happened in my youth. I'd always been a science nut, I have a degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, so I began attaching little tidbits of science to some of the ideas. My wife Marisa encouraged me to keep going and ten months later I finished the first draft.
A lot about The Softwire comes from my own experiences growing up. No, I never travelled on a seed-ship to Orbis but I did feel like I was a slave working in my parents ceramic factory as a teenager. In the summer I would slug 50lbs+ molds around while standing in a room with kilns firing at 1400 degrees. It wasn't fun and
at the time I really resented my parents for it. I felt used and not in control of what I wanted. Probably like a lot of other kids my age then but hey, what did I know, I was fourteen.
Bibliography
Softwire 1: Virus on Orbis 1
The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 - Paperback
A human boy with an uncanny link to computers finds danger and discovery on the rings of Orbis in this riveting sci-fi adventure.
Paperback with new cover for books one.
ISBN-13: 9780763636388/ $ 6.99, Age Range: 10 and up "Exotic aliens, dangerous situations and faced past adventurer... sf fans will happily hang in with JT.." Booklist
Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1
The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 - Original Hardcover
Thirteen-year-old Johnny Turnbull has always known there was something different about him, even before he and two hundred other kids landed on the first ring of Orbis. But once their spaceship lands, he is identified as the first-ever "softwire" -- a human with the ability to enter and communicate with computers through his mind -- and becomes the focus of intergalactic intrigue. Johnny and the rest of the refugee orphans are put to work in alien factories, and very quickly things go very wrong. When the all-knowing, all-controlling, and technologically "perfect" central computer starts malfunctioning, suspicious eyes turn to Johnny. Is he the one responsible? This action-packed, fast-paced sci-fi novel will keep kids on the edge of their seats.
ISBN-13: 9780763627096/ $15.99, Age Range: 10 and up "Skillfully crafted." School Library Journal
Softwire 2: Betrayal on Orbis 2
The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 - Hardcover & Paperback
On Orbis 2, Johnny Turnbull has a new home and a new job, one that pushes his softwire abilities to painful limits. JT is the only one who can communicate with the Samirans, large aquatic aliens who have cooled the crystals on Orbis for nearly two thousand rotations. But as the Samirans’ work rule ostensibly comes to a close, they have grown dangerously agitated, and JT must find out why. What he learns is that the prosperity of Orbis is built on a brutal system of enforced labor -- and that everyone seems to have something to hide. Can JT appease the Samirans before their threat is realized? And if he doesn’t, will his friends survive? In this second episode of THE SOFTWIRE, PJ Haarsma takes readers on another lightning-paced, cyber-fueled ride through the amazing universe he introduced in THE SOFTWIRE: VIRUS ON ORBIS 1.
Sci-fi fans will tear through this new adventure as Johnny Turnbull -- first human softwire -- finds more danger and intrigue on the next ring of Orbis.
ISBN-13: 9780763627102/ $16.99, Ages 10 and up. | Paperback: ISBN 13: 978-0763642693 "...a strong science-fiction read for the younger teen set.." Booklist
Softwire 3: Wormhole Pirates o Orbis 3
The Softwire: Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3 - Hardcover & Paperback
After two rotations working as knudniks on the Rings of Orbis, Johnny Turnbull and his friends are anxious about what awaits them on Orbis 3. But before their shuttle even lands, they are attacked by a ruthless band of wormhole pirates. When one of them delivers a cryptic message to JT—Tell him we put on a good show all right, Softwire—JT can only wonder: who does the pirate mean?
On Orbis 3, the kids learn that they don’t have to work this rotation, but they will have to go to school—along with a bunch of bullying and resentful Citizens who would like nothing more than to see JT and his friends suffer. But JT senses something even more sinister in the air. Could that alien he keeps spotting, the one with the skull and crossbones on his arm, be a wormhole pirate? And why does someone seem to be luring JT into a deadly and competitive game where the stakes are higher than JT can even imagine?
ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-2711-9/ $16.99 Ages 10 and up | Paperback: ISBN-13: 978-0763647773/$8.99
Softwire 4: Awakening On Orbis 4
The Softwire: Awakening on Orbis 4 - Hardcover
All Johnny Turnbull ever wanted was a normal life on the Rings of Orbis with his sister Ketheria and his friends Max and Theodore. But the three rotations JT has spent on the Rings have been anything but normal.
Now, as the fourth and final rotation of their work rule begins, JT knows that his sister is the Scion—a long-awaited being who will bring understanding and healing to the universe—and that JT himself is expected to be the Scion’s protector and guardian, for which he is supposed to start training to become a Space Jumper, a mercenary soldier who can jump through time and space. But JT isn’t sure he wants to take on the role that the Keepers and the Trading Council have created for him. After three rotations playing by their rules, shouldn’t he have a say in his own destiny?
But as the pieces of the puzzle of his origins begin to come together, JT realizes his defiance may cost him everything. And as war on the Rings of Orbis becomes inevitable, even his Space Jumper skills might not be enough to help him protect his sister and his friends.
ISBN-13: 978-0763627126/ $16.99 Ages 10 and up
I began writing late in life. Thirty-eight felt late for me but I think I reached a point where I would try anything. It was very hard to get up in the morning and do what I was doing back then. I had a small production company, I made a movie and now I was shooting corporate spots for clients like Hewlett Packard and Nokia. I had been shooting stills or film for advertising clients for fifteen years. I was spent.I began reading quite a bit then, trying to spark some creativity into my work again. This is when I began journaling. Next I started writing little stories, mostly about growing up. And then one morning JohnnyT appeared on my page.
At first JT was just a bunch of little ideas inspired by an incident that happened in my youth. I'd always been a science nut, I have a degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, so I began attaching little tidbits of science to some of the ideas. My wife Marisa encouraged me to keep going and ten months later I finished the first draft.
A lot about The Softwire comes from my own experiences growing up. No, I never travelled on a seed-ship to Orbis but I did feel like I was a slave working in my parents ceramic factory as a teenager. In the summer I would slug 50lbs+ molds around while standing in a room with kilns firing at 1400 degrees. It wasn't fun and
at the time I really resented my parents for it. I felt used and not in control of what I wanted. Probably like a lot of other kids my age then but hey, what did I know, I was fourteen.
Bibliography
The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 - Paperback
A human boy with an uncanny link to computers finds danger and discovery on the rings of Orbis in this riveting sci-fi adventure.Paperback with new cover for books one.
ISBN-13: 9780763636388/ $ 6.99, Age Range: 10 and up
"Exotic aliens, dangerous situations and faced past adventurer... sf fans will happily hang in with JT.." Booklist
The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 - Original Hardcover
Thirteen-year-old Johnny Turnbull has always known there was something different about him, even before he and two hundred other kids landed on the first ring of Orbis. But once their spaceship lands, he is identified as the first-ever "softwire" -- a human with the ability to enter and communicate with computers through his mind -- and becomes the focus of intergalactic intrigue. Johnny and the rest of the refugee orphans are put to work in alien factories, and very quickly things go very wrong. When the all-knowing, all-controlling, and technologically "perfect" central computer starts malfunctioning, suspicious eyes turn to Johnny. Is he the one responsible? This action-packed, fast-paced sci-fi novel will keep kids on the edge of their seats.ISBN-13: 9780763627096/ $15.99, Age Range: 10 and up
"Skillfully crafted." School Library Journal
The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 - Hardcover & Paperback
On Orbis 2, Johnny Turnbull has a new home and a new job, one that pushes his softwire abilities to painful limits. JT is the only one who can communicate with the Samirans, large aquatic aliens who have cooled the crystals on Orbis for nearly two thousand rotations. But as the Samirans’ work rule ostensibly comes to a close, they have grown dangerously agitated, and JT must find out why. What he learns is that the prosperity of Orbis is built on a brutal system of enforced labor -- and that everyone seems to have something to hide. Can JT appease the Samirans before their threat is realized? And if he doesn’t, will his friends survive? In this second episode of THE SOFTWIRE, PJ Haarsma takes readers on another lightning-paced, cyber-fueled ride through the amazing universe he introduced in THE SOFTWIRE: VIRUS ON ORBIS 1.Sci-fi fans will tear through this new adventure as Johnny Turnbull -- first human softwire -- finds more danger and intrigue on the next ring of Orbis.
ISBN-13: 9780763627102/ $16.99, Ages 10 and up. | Paperback: ISBN 13: 978-0763642693
"...a strong science-fiction read for the younger teen set.." Booklist
The Softwire: Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3 - Hardcover & Paperback
After two rotations working as knudniks on the Rings of Orbis, Johnny Turnbull and his friends are anxious about what awaits them on Orbis 3. But before their shuttle even lands, they are attacked by a ruthless band of wormhole pirates. When one of them delivers a cryptic message to JT—Tell him we put on a good show all right, Softwire—JT can only wonder: who does the pirate mean?On Orbis 3, the kids learn that they don’t have to work this rotation, but they will have to go to school—along with a bunch of bullying and resentful Citizens who would like nothing more than to see JT and his friends suffer. But JT senses something even more sinister in the air. Could that alien he keeps spotting, the one with the skull and crossbones on his arm, be a wormhole pirate? And why does someone seem to be luring JT into a deadly and competitive game where the stakes are higher than JT can even imagine?
ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-2711-9/ $16.99 Ages 10 and up | Paperback: ISBN-13: 978-0763647773/$8.99
The Softwire: Awakening on Orbis 4 - Hardcover
All Johnny Turnbull ever wanted was a normal life on the Rings of Orbis with his sister Ketheria and his friends Max and Theodore. But the three rotations JT has spent on the Rings have been anything but normal.Now, as the fourth and final rotation of their work rule begins, JT knows that his sister is the Scion—a long-awaited being who will bring understanding and healing to the universe—and that JT himself is expected to be the Scion’s protector and guardian, for which he is supposed to start training to become a Space Jumper, a mercenary soldier who can jump through time and space. But JT isn’t sure he wants to take on the role that the Keepers and the Trading Council have created for him. After three rotations playing by their rules, shouldn’t he have a say in his own destiny?
But as the pieces of the puzzle of his origins begin to come together, JT realizes his defiance may cost him everything. And as war on the Rings of Orbis becomes inevitable, even his Space Jumper skills might not be enough to help him protect his sister and his friends.
ISBN-13: 978-0763627126/ $16.99 Ages 10 and up
Source: PJ Haarsma's Website
Interview with PJ Haarsma
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