Who Am I?
I.M. Aiken, but my mother called me Christina, so do most of my friends. Ok, so I could not get the domain I M Aiken, so I bought “I am Aiken.” I live in Vermont and follow the teacher’s wisdom. I write about what I know. I know New England. I write about New England. I come from a long line of novelists with my grandfather publishing 20+ novels before the 1930s and my father doing the same before the 1990s. I kinda ran from that exposure and yet I wrote. I write. My debut novel was published in September of 2024. #2 arrives in September of 2025 with #3 being released in September of 2026.
Welcome to “I am Aiken” substack. I’ve got two grooves goin’ here. In the left channel of your speaker are the posted listed as “Free Thoughts of a Writer (writing freely)”. In the right channel are a series of short stories related to the novels. This channel is called “Trowbridge Dispatch.” These bits are lightly edited and come with audio recordings.
Writing Career
In my late 20s and early 30s, I worked on about four books for Que Corporation as a technical editor and contributing author. In my late 30s, I started writing a lot of technical articles published by my employer Cisco Systems and by the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force primarily on ubergeeky matters about cybersecurity and communications stuff. I got a few awards and nice recognition. After a year in Iraq, I got some nice work as a ghost writer. Paid well. So far, still pays better than being an fiction author.
2024 Catalyst Press published the novel The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County
2024 Started my Trowbridge Dispatch Short Story series on Substack and with audio distributed as a podcast
2025 Catalyst Press published my novel Stolen Mountain
2026 Winner Next Generation Short Story Inspirational category for Kahlil’s Wall.
2026 Catalyst Press releasing Captain Henry: 2½ Insurrections, 2 Wars, 1¼ Centuries, and a story of Love, a novel
Vermont
Yes, I live here, full time, year round. And after decades of waiting, we got fiber optic to the house. Plugged in, ready to go.
What do I write?
In the novels, I explore New England, our history and our challenges. The three novels were completed before I found a publisher. Yes, I ought to knuckle down and scribble the next novel. Sure. So what.
I very much enjoy short stories. Always have. I want character, emotion, and a surprise. And that is what I am writing: short pieces that explore emotion and relationships with a twist. I read my editor’s (Lora’s) comments with joy. Of course she fixed stuff. But then she write me this in a comment:
This sort of thing really builds emotion in this understated way that I don’t fully understand, but I know it works…
On a story called “Just Another”, she put this in a comment:
The story is flowing from this sense of Innocence and rising, to feeling that we are reading of an intense love, romance, and passion, to this pain, this description of a lover’s pain for her beloved, and a feeling of rage, pride in Sam but rage at the cost of Sam’s heroism to them both
Why subscribe?
Subscribing does one thing. It whispers to me that someone is reading.
Funny thing, I’ve learned over a lifetime of writing. I write whether I have readers or not. I write when there is money to spare for travel and I write when broke. Whether you give me money to write or not, I’ll be in my office writing.
Subscribe to get full access to writings and publication archives. Hey, I’d be pleased if you bought a novel or a short story.
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