Born and raised in Newark, N.J., The Cunning Linguist grew up as an avid reader. Encyclopedia Brown, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew were just some of the characters that expanded his childhood imagination. As a teenager, T.C.L. began to write poetry and read more mature material by authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz. At the age of 17, T.C.L. wrote his first short story entitled "Death Of A Drug Dealer".

As a young adult T.C.L. began to read authors Eric Jerome Dickey and James Patterson, both of whom are among his favorite authors today. He also became a rapper, using his poetic prowess to pen lyrics that cradled a beat. After roughly 12 years, T.C.L. retired from the rap game citing "old age" and at 34 years old returned to his poetic roots.

In November of 2009 T.C.L. went to a function with some of his nearest and dearest friends. While at this function a picture of the friends was taken. This picture (shown on the right) was the inspiration for what would turn into "The Jersey Wars" novel. His friends (as well as himself) became the main characters and after working on a concept and outline for the story T.C.L. put it away, not returning to it for another five years.

In 2013 while bored at work one day, T.C.L. began "30 Stories To Tell". The concept of the story came to him while looking out of his boss's office window and down to the street below. T.C.L. completed "30 Stories" in 45 days and returned to writing "The Jersey Wars", finishing it in November 2014.

T.C.L. also writes a genre that he's aptly entitled Short Story Poetry. It is exactly what it sounds like, stories that rhyme. He's written roughly 35-60 short story poems and continues to pull concepts and ideas for these poems out of thin air.

The Cunning Linguist is the father of two, a die hard NY Giants and LA Lakers fan, and is currently hard at work on some more short story poems and a few novels simultaneously.
  • Newark, NJ
  • JoinedJuly 14, 2016


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Stories by James W. Lewis
Halfway Across The Sky by JLTheCunningLinguist
Halfway Across The Sky
A young woman anticipates the arrival of an old classmate.
Drowning In The Darkness Of My Mind by JLTheCunningLinguist
Drowning In The Darkness Of My Mind
All of his life, Aaron Kelly has dreamt of killing random women; random women who are actually turning up dea...
The Hands Of Time by JLTheCunningLinguist
The Hands Of Time
Casper is a serial killer that's been claiming victims in Newark for years, unfortunately for Jace Harris his...