For this
92-year-old Northfield man, age is more than a way to count passing years.
Ninety-two is the number of minutes he swims at the local senior center each
day. It is the approximate amount of time he spends writing most days. And if
you subtract the two from the nine, it is the number of books he has written
over the past seven years including his most recent novel, City Hall: A Casino or a Chapel.
City Hall is not the
recollections of a man who has lived through nine decades of history, nor
lessons from a former history and political science teacher at the University
of New Mexico – Los Alamos. A stray in genre from the majority of his books, this
fast-paced, modern-day novel is the story of two former All-American college
football stars making their way in the cutting edge corporate industry of
liquefied natural gas.
When Texas oil
baron T.J. Bascomb hires Matt Oraskovich and Alan Mostrom fresh out of college,
it is their keen skills of quick action and teachability honed on the football
field that catch his interest. Years later, when Bascomb Industries lands a construction
project in the unfamiliar world of liquified natural gas, the two men tackle
the job in the typical B.I. way – whatever it takes to avoid the rath of the
irascible T.J. Bascomb. Meanwhile, relationships are both built and destroyed
as personal lives are neatly folded into this intriguing story of high-stakes business,
daunting women and lasting friendship.
About Reiley
It is while
swimming at the local senior center that Reiley experiences some of his most
imaginative ideas, slowly traversing the pool using his signature stroke – floating
on his back with paddling hands and feet propelling him forward. It is a style
that Reiley picked up while teaching and staying, along with his wife Betty, at
one of many Elderhostels across the country after retirement.
Keeping his
adventurous spirit alive, after the death of his wife Reiley began traveling
onboard sea cargo ships destined for exotic locales around the world like Hong
Kong and Singapore.
Eventually he
gave up exotic travels for yet another adventure: becoming a novelist. Once
settled on the idea of penning a novel, imaginative stories easily came forth,
and he is now at work on his eighth novel, Petunias,
Peonies, Poppies.
Previous books include the fur trade
trilogy Soft Gold, Hard Gold and Fools Gold; a follow-up novella titled Panning; Dieter Stumpf, the story of a World War I German soldier; and Sea Boxes and Twist Locks, a mystery
onboard a container ship ocean voyage. His many books are available at
bookstores throughout the Upper Midwest as well as online at amazon.com and
barnesandnoble.com.
More information about Reiley is
available on Facebook or by emailing jimtpike@charter.net.
Reiley’s Books
Soft Gold: A Take of the Fur Trade
Reiley’s first book in the Trilogy in Gold traces the life of a lad
from the Scottish Highlands to Canada and to the inner workings of the mighty
North West Fur Company. After the company’s disintegration, Duncan Ross and his
family find a new home in Missouri where he and his wife begin a small private
school only to run afoul of the pro-slavery interests.
Hard Gold: Nuggets from the Mother Lode
The second novel in the Trilogy finds Duncan Ross along with
friends and family making a trip over the Santa Fe Trail where a misadventure
with natives costs the life of Billy Gallagher, the son of Duncan’s good
friend. The Gallagher family, along with Duncan and Naomi’s daughter, return to
Santa Fe where Duncan makes a business arrangement with the powerful Bent
family to manage their business operations in St. Louis. Naomi, however, makes
plans to go on to California.
Fool’s Gold: All That Glitters
The third book of the Trilogy finds an unhappy Duncan and
Naomi. Relations with the Bent/ St. Vrain Company are unrewarding, and
solutions do not satisfy nor resolve, but simply perpetuate the problem. Life
resumes for all in St. Louis – a town that is not just torn, but shattered by
the passions between slave vs. anti-slave parties. The story draws to a close
with Naomi returning from California while Duncan leaves for California.
Panning: Seeking the Last of the Gold
Panning wraps up the
story of Duncan Ross as he returns to St. Louis from his very unlovely
adventures in California. Though Duncan was good man throughout the saga, he
was also human. More than stubbing his toes from time to time, he stumbled and
fell. How he picks himself up to start anew is what gives readers a sense of
the real Duncan Ross.
Dieter Stumpf: A Man Imprisoned by War
An abrupt departure from the series of
period historical novels, Dieter is a
fast-paced review of the life of young man volunteering for service in the Kaiser’s
armies in World War I. Ordered by local authorities into an unhappy life as an
apprentice baker, Dieter resumes his life as an escaped prisoner of war in
Canada.
Sea Boxes and Twist Locks: Murder on the
High Seas
A modern-day story of the intricate art
of moving vast quantities of cargo in steel boxes readily transferrable and
easily traceable, a murder is committed. But why commit murder in such a
limited area and under constantly viewed circumstances? A most unusual
conclusion brings an end to this mystery.
Come and listen to Jim Reiley talk about his books and his writing on Thursday, May 3, 2012
at 7:00 p.m in the Meeting Room at the Northfield Public Library.
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