Grave Distractions Publications: 17 books

The State of West Virginia was born by cesarean section, its survival chances precarious, its legitimacy in question. The last slaveholding state admitted to the Union, it is the only state that owes its existence to America’s Civil War. In Virginia’s counties west of the Shenandoah Valley grievances...

“Historical human interest stories.”That’s how a reader described Gerald D. Swick’s column of West Virginia history, “Once, Long Ago,” which appeared each Sunday in the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram for over sixteen years. His unique combination of historical research, skillful narrative,...

Dr. Francis Martin, drew on his experiences as a mental health counselor, health care administrator, and a volunteer at Nashville's Alive Hospice in writing Hospice Mementos. The text offers firm and solid inspiration to those who serve hospice patients and their families. The message to them is,...

We are born. If we are lucky, or some would say, “Blessed,” we live until we reach seventy or maybe eighty years of age. And, we die. In between these events, most of us need more than we get from others. Interest. Understanding. Kindness. Loyalty. And much more. Most of the time, we accept the...

Tales in Verse from the Old West . . . The 50-plus poems in this book are, first and foremost, stories. They just happen to rhyme as they weave campfire tales of men riding across a frontier of prairies and mountains. They tell of those riders' encounters with other men, women, children, animals,...

Prior Knowledge*, what a great story, religion, sex, and murder all in one volume. Master story teller James Baker here follows the wild excursion of the aging Benedictine monk Father Columba as he is called out of retirement to reform a troubled priory and ends up becoming a sleuth. Upon arriving...

This changes everything we thought we knew about John Steinbeck. After languishing in the CIA’s archives for 60 years, a letter is uncovered in John Steinbeck’s own hand that shatters everything history tells us about the author’s life. Written in 1952, to CIA Director Walter Bedell Smith, Steinbeck...

Peter Peacock Passes proves the commonly held perception that for Preachers the pursuit of God and Sex are twin obsessions. Master story teller James Baker has captured with the most vivid prose the pitfalls and pratfalls of a young Texan who feels equally the desire to fulfill his Divine Vocation...

"The darkest hour is just before dawn." The age-old adage has been borne out through the experiences of countless lives as a true statement. In Faith for a Dark Saturday, the noted theologian and historian James Baker shows how nine men from the Bible prove the point. Each man tells, in...

The Old Testament story of Mephibosheth, the grandson of King Saul, is summoned to the palace of the new king, David. What does David want with him in Jerusalem? Perhaps he is being summoned to his death as a potential rival to the throne. And what part does King Saul's former servant play in...

Holidays with Sundae: Conversations with My Cat invites you to experience the delight of conversations with a cat. Pet owners understand that their furry companions have the power of communication, but Sundae actually speaks with her "owner". Through the conversations between Sundae and...

White Dogs is the story of a young woman and the six men who know her in six different ways. It is the story of how the way men see women affects both men and women. James Baker has created an astounding commentary on the human condition, discovering universal truths in a few grains of sand along...

In Dogs to Men, author James T. Baker recounts the escapades of a small-town football team that endures the hazards of growing up. He follows “the Demopolis Dogs" through pratfalls on the field, on the stage, and in their relationships, and on their twisting trail to becoming men. On its face,...

Having solved murder mysteries in Mississippi, Korea, Scotland, and Italy, everyone’s favorite monastic sleuth, Father Columba, finds himself on vacation in Music City, U.S.A., Nashville Tennessee. There he finds an all too familiar tragedy, one based in love. How he stumbles his way through conflicting...