Jim Price the Author

Jim Price (right), Mark South, retired U.S. Forest Service (center), Zack Taylor, retired U.S. Border Patrol (left), on lobbying junket to Washington D.C.

Jim Price (center) at Pohakuloa Base Camp, Hawaii with military police, 1959.



 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title

 OF PEOPLE, POPPIES AND GOD

 A 'mestizo's' novel about a half-breed proving that how we react to circumstance is an exercise in God-given free will – the cause and effect of life, whether calculated or knee-jerk.
Author Jim Price – Half-Mexican, Catholic grandson of a Rabbi writing about life from his perspective.
Grade or Focus Late teens to late in life; all who seek knowledge, meaning, and entertainment.
Type - Length 96,895 Words
Keywords  Love, life and it’s meaning; informative, seductive, geographically descriptive, culturally alluring, unpredictable, revealing, amusing, spicy, engaging, cagey, thought provoking, riveting; ethnic pride; family, illegal immigration, illicit drugs, Muslim terror, law enforcement; cause & effect; politics, capitalism, socialism, networking, anger, greed, sex and philosophy. Set in the past but as current as today.
Synopsis Half-Mexican/half-Anglo Jimmy Waters becomes the ward of his wealthy but childless aunt and uncle who guide him through the difficulties of being an orphaned cup of vanilla in a sea of chocolate. Upon completing college, he learns that his fiancée is pregnant and his uncle is also lord or lords in illicit Mexican drugs. Reviled, he joins the Army where he befriends an illegal immigrant, a rich kid from Beverly Hills, and a couple of other characters who ultimately play a huge role in his matriculation through Army Intelligence and later, as the drama takes him full circle, back to what originally drove him from home. Along the way, he learns to kill, is forced to kill, and finally kills with purpose. He learns to not judge until he knows the entire truth. As he and his friends wrap up two bloody years, a stunning surprise brings new hope and opens the way to the future.
Foreword

My good amigo Jim “el Gringo” Price  weaves a tale of intrigue, danger and adventure that one is told is a fictional account set in a real environment, during historical times.  Like a strong tequila, it is potent with truth and personal experience crafted to provide the reader with a real sense of la frontera—the border.  As I turned the pages of the draft of this book entitled, “Of People, Poppies and God,” I immediately realized that this is a story about a man who has lived it, tasted it, felt it, smelled it, and above all surpassed the heady allure of the dark side of the border environment. Read More...
Author Bio Army brat, journalism major, reporter/feature writer/editor, tech writer/editor, international businessman, involved community activist, youth coach and sampler of life’s many genre.
Reviews
"The most intriguing novel written by one who had first hand knowledge of what has been & still taking place on our southwest border between the U.S. & Mexico.

It is a must read novel & recommended it to all!"
 
SFC Earl K. Newcomb (U.S. Army, Retired)
5th Special Forces
173rd Airborne Brigade

 
"I think your Nogales-Borderland background is the best I have read. I am thinking of this background compared with its portrayal in A Beautiful Cruel Country by Wilbur Cruz and The World in Pancho's Eye by J.P.S. Brown.
 
To me it seems that what you have here is nothing less than an epic. Life on the Border and what happens to people, including good people, is shown here truthfully and with a ring of authenticity in these times of drug trade corruption and violence. Good luck to you in the marketing. I hope you have a good agent with contacts with good editors because this story should be told.
 
Thank you for letting me read it."
 
Edith Lowell
Border Rancher


"I love your pages! You really have a wonderful way of writing. You have so many wonderful details in here, plus it is such a history lesson for Nogales in the 50's. I remember some of the things you've written about - La Caverna, Canal Street, etc.

You did a super job with the twist of El Chalecon....I never saw that one coming. You also have a great title.

Cheers,

Zeke"

Sinclair Browning, author of The Last Song Dogs (1999), The Sporting Club (2000), Rode Hard, Put Away Dead (2001), Crack Shot (2002), Traggedy Ann (2003).

 

"The novel is well paced but does not become a page-turner until Jimmy finishes Military training and enters the world of Military Intelligence where his life and the lives of his old and new friends intertwine with interesting and potentially devastating effects, chronicling the fateful intertwining of these culturally-crossed souls, expertly crafting an unusual love story with an intriguing, atmospheric peek into the world of narcotics.
     
This stand-alone novel from the author of many articles and stories.....succeeds brilliantly on several levels - as an inside look at life in a small border town, as an exploration of the infallibility of memory and as an absorbing mystery. The author is in total command of his material, weaving strands about race, family myths and self-esteem into a mystery so taut, the reader is anxious to keep going.
    
The story that follows is both interesting and auspicious, and evolves into a plot which excites the senses and which finds itself punctuating the author's points in colorful, compelling and colloquial ways. In the end Jimmy links the past with the present and reaches the point of vindication, reunion and redemption."
 
Thomas Aranda, Jr.,
White House - Special Assistant to the President for Hispanic Affairs (Ford Administration)
Ambassador to Uruguay
Air Force Command Pilot
Juris Doctor
Other Information Businessman, soldier, undercover operations, skilled networker and consultant.
 
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