The Boy: The Mastodons (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781545465783)

From a traveled elementary school education starting in Hawaii, then changing schools every two years, to attending a small liberal arts college, James Strauss graduated to a leadership position that turned out to be a 'hanging by the fingernails' survival posting in the Marines Corps, during the Vietnam War in 1968. During that deployment he was seriously wounded, resulting in a long hospitalization. When he was finally told that it was likely he would live (though still in a hospital bed), James looked up and asked God for one favor. He asked not to lead a normal, humdrum life. He now believes that God heard his prayer, and pointing one finger down, granted his request. Outrageous fortune has indeed been the nature of the life that smiled down upon James; a roller coaster ride of joy, success, ruin, more success, depression, physical pain, danger, international travel, adventure and a total lack of believability. For a time, James strove for credibility until he realized that his own credibility was "without meaning." James has published five books: The Boy; The Bering Sea; The Warrior; Down In the Valley (The first Arch Patton adventure); and now Thirty Days has September, The First Ten Days. He is currently readying another Arch Patton Saga: It Was 1993, and continuing the novelization of his Vietnam war experiences with a second book: 30 Days Has September, The Second Ten Days. In addition to writing his books, James also publishes a weekly Midwestern Newspaper, The Geneva Shore Report.