Hi, I'm Jay.

In 2025, I resolved to take a serious run at my creative interests that I'd dabbled with or deferred.

My deferred interests had been stashed on the back burner for "later." I convinced myself that I would arrive at some happy future state in my family, career, and life. Once that happened, I would carve out time to pursue my passions. After decades of high-intensity adulting, I realized that Emerson was right. Life is, in fact, a journey and not a destination.

Dabbled interests were those things that I directed some time to, but time without discipline. My band is the most concrete example. For years, I met up with a group of friends to jam a couple Saturday mornings a month. We played a couple gigs. It was fun. It scratched an itch. My 2025 resolution led to a commitment to actually start a band — to practice every week, to build out our line up, to promote, to play out. It was a decision to do it, not half-ass it.

This luxurious interwebs experience, and most of what you'll find here, sprang from that decision.

Fictional

I write dark fantasy, dystopian sci-fi, and other unsettling stories that I make freely available here and Substack.

Musical

I play lead guitar in a 90s/00s alt-rock cover band and have plans for a fun D&D-inspired side project.

Technical

I recently launched my first iPhone app and I'm chipping away at a couple other concepts. I also do nerd stuff by day, but I don't talk about that here.

Personal

I live in Virginia, USA with my amazing wife, tiny humans, a ferocious Goldendoodle, an unexpected cat, and <adjective> fish. I mean, they're fish.

Content & Copyright
My fiction is original and © Copyright 2025-2026 Japheth Aaron Benfield. All rights reserved. Content Disclaimer

Photo Credit
The incredible photo featured on the homepage is by Miriam Espacio.

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