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Point Spread, young adult novel, now available on Amazon

Update: Point Spread has received 10 pre-publication reviews with an average of 4.4 stars. One reviewer called it ” . . . a masterful job . . ” Read all of the reviews here. (May 23, 2017)

Point Spread, the story of a teenage girl in 1967 who wants to be a journalist, is now available on Amazon. In the story, Maxine Wayman goes looking for a “good story” for her high school newspaper and finds something that will shake her school to its foundation and that presents her personal life with myriad challenges.

Point Spread by Jim Stovall

Here are some of the reviews that have already been posted on Point Spread:

Jim Stovall does a masterful job of portraying the ethical dilemmas and solid reporting needed to get an important story. This book makes the questions even more remarkable coming from a high school student who starts out trying to find a story to qualify her or a $2,500 scholarship for college and the start of her newspaper career. Mr. Stovall portrays a believable and likable character in Maxine Wayman, who keeps her eyes and ears open and discovers a “point spread” scandal within her school’s basketball team. What happens and what decisions she makes are compelling reading. The author along the way also does a fine job of setting the book within the historical context of the Vietnam War. I would recommend the book to anyone from teens through adult. (quoted material)

***

Jim Stovall pulled off making his teen female main character believable and likable. It was great fun, getting to know Maxine and I hope to find her in future books. She was both sleuth and writer as she looked for her big story. Max carries the reader along on an enjoyable but at times scary adventure. I loved the East Nashville setting and recognized many places, past and present. And, now I know what Point Spread means. (quoted material)

***

Book is based on a high school journalism/reporter who is years ahead of her chronological age as far as maturity and vision. She shows great fortitude in knowing what it takes to get her story in detail and accuracy. About half way through the book it was hard to put it down. Another fantastic book that begs to be read. This was my era growing up and it bought home all over again how times were very different in that era! Bravo (quoted material)

***

I loved this book. I didn’t want to put it down. (quoted material)

Visit the Point Spread page here on JPROF.com to find out more.

Dark Intent Giveaway

Kill the Quarterback is part of this great crime, thriller, suspense giveaway: https://darkintentgiveaway.convertri.com/ Don’t miss this chance to load up on some excellent books for your summer reading.

Madness in May – Great Book Giveaway: books still available

Kill the Quarterback has participated in the Madness in May – Great Book Giveaway, a collaboration of 20 authors to give away 21 different digital books in the middle of May.

Even though the promotion period is over, the books are still available here on JPROF.com.

We’re a multi-genre group, so chances are you’re going to find something you like to read. And they’re all FREE. Absolutely free for those who will sign up on the author’s mailing list. Click on this link or on the image above to stock up on your summer reading material. Take as many as you like. Try something in a genre you don’t normally read.

Then sit back and enjoy — in the knowledge that they didn’t cost you a thing.

Kill the Quarterback

Kill the Quarterback, a murder mystery set in Nashville, is now available on Amazon’s Kindle store. The price is $4.99. Check the sidebar to the right to order the book. Click on the Preview button to read the first chapter.

Kill the Quarterback is the first in the Mitch Sawyer mystery series.

Mitch Sawyer is a hard-boiled police reporter for the Nashville Daily Tribune. He likes nothing better than a good murder, one that will get him lots of stories on the front page and will take him into the netherworld of one of the world’s most famous cities.

But the death of Jimmy Chin Lee, a star quarterback for the Vanderbilt Commodores, is something different, something Mitch has never encountered before.

The police have no clues, and despite his growing fame, Jimmy Chin turns out to be a mysterious and unknowable character. Some people say he has a girlfriend, but no one seems to know anything about her. The police zero in on her as their chief suspect, but they can’t find her.

Mitch finds her. Rather, she finds him. She asks him to find Jimmy Chin’s killer because she is afraid she is the killer’s next target.

After that, nothing goes right for anyone.

More about KILL THE QUARTERBACK here.

One very kind Amazon reviewer has compared KILL THE QUARTERBACK to Damon Runyon.

From the blog

50 years ago, Harrison Salisbury did not win the Pulitzer Prize. He should have. Fifty years ago when the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, politics — not merit — kept Harrison Salisbury from winning the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.

Rules for using commas. Ever wish you had a single sheet with all the basic rules for using commas on it? You could hand that to your students and say something like, “Here, learn this. We’ll have a test next week. You won’t ever have an excuse for misusing a comma again.”

JPROF.com, the author site for Jim Stovall

Jim Stovall

Jim Stovall spent nearly 40 years teaching journalism, first at the University of Alabama (1978-2003), then at Emory and Henry College (2003-2006), and finally at the University of Tennessee (2006-2016). Stovall is the author of Writing for the Mass Media, a writing textbook that has been in print (and now in digital form) for more than 30 years. It was used in more than 500 colleges and universities around the world.

Now in retirement, Stovall lives on a small farm in East Tennessee and spends his time writing, woodworking, painting (watercolor) and drawing (pen and ink), gardening and a number of other activities.

Read more about Jim Stovall.

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My Amazon author page is where you can find more information about my books.

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