Tinker, Tailor, Writer, Space Pirate

Words by Terrell Manasco  | Images by Blakeney Cox Lewis Stockham doesn’t remember The G.I. Joe Incident, but his mom does.“There’s a funny story about me playing with my G.I. Joes, and my mom comes in and asks me what I’m doing,” Lewis explains. Wearing a loose blue denim shirt over a tan T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black boots, he removes his sunglasses, crosses a leg over one knee, and relaxes his lean frame in a red-patterned high-backed office chair. His face, sporting a trimmed goatee matching his brown hair, is highlighted by the soft Wednesday afternoon light from a nearby window.“I don’t remember this, I was probably four or five years old, but according to her, I gave a twenty minute plot synopsis and character description of everything that was going on, and she was like, ‘oh, okay, I think I’ve got a writer on my hands.’” A self-admitted extrovert, Lewis loves good conversation and revels in all kinds of trivia, especially Star Trek, which helps a lot in his line of work, or more accurately, his lines of work.Meet Lewis Stockham. Writer. Poet. Radio show host. Trivia jockey.A native of Pelham/Hoover, Lewis is a 1996 graduate of Pelham High School and a 2002 UAB graduate. He holds bachelors degrees in history and in philosophy. After living in Gulf Shores and Pensacola for a few years, he recently moved back to Birmingham. His parents met in high school in Sylacauga but divorced when he was five. “I’d go and see my dad on the weekends and he’s the one who got me into Star Trek,” Lewis says. “We watched the original series, and the first one I ever saw was Mirror, Mirror. My mom was a middle school librarian and in the summer I used to go with her to work and I’d read. The first book I remember reading was H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. I think those two things actually started my love of science fiction and my writing.”If Lewis has a favorite science fiction writer, it has to be Ray Bradbury. “Martian Chronicles is my favorite book he’s ever written, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best work of science fiction I’ve ever read,” he says. “I actually bought a copy of Martian Chronicles when I was fourteen in a bookstore in Oxford, England. We got on a plane to come home, and I think I read the book cover to cover about three or four times. I still have the book, actually. It’s tattered and worn but that’s the best kind of book.”Although a fan of science fiction, Lewis says his writing style tends to be more observational and humorous. “I don’t write a lot of science fiction. I write more about what I know, what I experience, in jobs and in life. The same with my poetry, although that tends to be a little darker,” he laughs. “A friend of mine described it as dark and/or observational.” Not surprisingly, he says Edgar Allan Poe is a major influence on his fiction writing, as well as Ernest Hemingway. His poetry is influenced by William Blake, Poe, and Jim Morrison. “Poe was also rather dark and observational as well.”Lewis admits that much of his writing inspiration comes from simple observation.“I’m the guy you might see in a bar or coffee shop, sitting there feverishly scribbling away in a notebook. I find it very inspiring, poetically, to be in public. Sometimes I just people-watch. I get a lot of ideas that way.”His novel Overdue is based on his experiences working in public libraries. He has also published two collections of short stories and poetry: Darkness and Enlightenment, (currently out of print) and Inspiration and the Darkness. He is currently working on a couple of new book ideas. “One thing I wrote is being shopped around for a possible TV show. It’s a six part Star Trek mirror universe TV show idea called Blood Brothers.”Lewis also hosts an online radio show on wrspradio.com called All Things Sci-Fi. “This ties in to my writing,” he says. “The book Overdue was published in 2013 by Rocket Science Productions, and I developed a friendship with the owner, Frank Monahan. About a year after I moved back to Birmingham from Pensacola, Frank emailed me and said, ‘Hey, I know you're huge into science fiction. We’re starting our own radio station. How would you like to have your own sci-fi radio show?’” Lewis’s eyebrows inch north and the sly grin forming on his face is visible from across the street. The pitch of his naturally deep voice rises a bit. “You know, there are a few times in life where somebody asks you to do something or you get an opportunity, and you don’t really have to think about it very long. It’s like, ‘would you like to do this?’ and I was like, ‘uh, yeah!’ I came up with the name All Things Sci-Fi because I wanted something that was all encompassing. Even though it’s sci-fi, I do enjoy some fantasy, like Lord of the Rings. It’s interesting to me that life seems to be a series of connections. One thing leads to another, which leads to another, and so on.”In addition to the radio show, Lewis also works for Challenge Entertainment, doing trivia three nights a week at three different locations in the Birmingham metro area. “We call ourselves ‘trivia jockeys,’ which I think is a perfect term. It was another one of those opportunities that presented itself,” he laughs. “I love it for the same reason I love the radio show; I get paid to talk, meet people and interact. It’s a perfect fit for me.”If he wasn’t already busy enough, earlier this year Lewis filmed an episode of the web series Starship:Tristan, one of several Star Trek fan series produced by Potemkin Pictures in Pelham. In the episode, Lewis plays a space pirate named Lanclos. “I met Randy Landers (owner of Potemkin) where he works when I was there getting some things printed, and he happened to be the one helping me. We found out we both were Star Trek fans, friended on Facebook, and later on he messaged me and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this part for a pirate,’ and I was like, ‘yeah, I could do that’.” The episode, titled “The Chronicles of Lanclos,” was recently released on Youtube.“I’d like to thank Rocket Science Productions and Challenge Entertainment for giving me the opportunity to do something that I’m great at,” Lewis says. 78To purchase copies of his books, contact him at lewisstockham@yahoo.com.For info about the specific places Lewis does trivia, friend him on FB at: Lewis Stockham/ Super Host.To find all the places Challenge Entertainment does trivia in the Birmingham Metro area go towww.challengeentertainment.com or their Facebook page: Challenge Entertainment Birmingham.All Things Sci-Fi airs the second and fourth Wednesday each month on wrspradio.com.