Jim Stark Blog

Uncle Henry & Uncle James

  My great, great, great grandfather, Ebenezer Fletcher Stark, was the subject of my historical novel, Great Lakes Skipper. Eben died a hero when saving sailors following a shipwreck. He had three sons, Henry, Lewis, and James. The middle son, Lewis remained in Cleveland his entire life, managing the extensive property left to him by […]

Wild Goose Chase

In 1990, I discovered a 1907 newspaper obituary of my great, great, grandfather, Henry Stark, that my grandmother had tucked into a photo album. As interesting as that was, it was the mention of Henry’s father, Captain Ebenezer Fletcher Stark, that really got me excited. The clipping said Captain Stark was a steamboat captain on […]

Lights! Camera! Action!

When Devi Snively, writer/directrix of Deviant Productions, said she wanted to make a movie of my short story, “Return to Sender,” I about wet my pants. Is this how Hollywood discoveries happen?! We shot the film in The Villages, Florida. During the planning process, I told Devi (pronounced Day-vi) I thought I knew where I […]

The Truth about Historic Fiction

One of the frequent questions I get regarding my book, “Great Lakes Skipper” is what is true and what is fiction. The book was originally written in the genre of creative non-fiction. That is a narrative based on fact but allows liberties in dialogue and scene descriptions. “The Right Stuff,” the story about the first astronauts […]