"Another heart-rending tale of love, loss, and redemption from a master of moral fiction." — Booklist
Dear Mr. Pratt: Wow!!! I have read both The Last Valentine and Paradise Bay in one day each. I cried, I laughed, and I prayed… I have recommended them to many people for encouragement. Thank you for your wonderful books! — Linda Peraldo
COMEBACK 2024!
“It wasn’t a setback that created the pause in publishing of my novels, it was a purpose-driven step back, and the comeback feels so victorious…” ~Jim
IT’S TIME
for…
THE COMEBACK!
“Love is the answer to everything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it.”—Ray Bradbury
Like a “step back” in time to that High School typing class in my senior year, one thing that never gets old to me is using an original typewriter font. And it seems so appropriate for announcing my “COMEBACK” to full-time publishing.
I hope you may take the time to read the ABOUT page and listen to my voice in the Backstory with Audio as I share in an unscripted way, my personal journey through the years to this day in 2023.
I admit to life and death-defying medical issues during those 30 years; decades when I simply put my head down, took the painkillers, and finally took a “time-out” for two long-overdue back and neck fusion surgeries. And there was more…
Healthy and loving where I’m at; with the fact that I finally own ALL of my classic BESTSELLERS - after they sat for 20 years at a New York publishing house - I am able to come back with the best interests of the readers in mind.
NOW… EACH BOOK IS NEW AGAIN!
Revised... New Chapters... Bonus Material deleted by publishers in 1st editions, and MORE!
Watch for my NEW NOVELS coming to this page, the SHOP page where you'll find exclusive autographed copies of originals, and join my personal BOOKCLUB for specials only members get. I promise you will not be disappointed.
~James Michael Pratt - 2023
PS: Thanks Gary, for talking me into that typing class at Simi Valley High in 1971. You were right about the pretty girls and that someday we might need to know how to use a typewriter!
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"Just wanted you to know that I gave an oral review of The Last Valentine just the other day and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room by the time I finished. You sure do have a way of telling a love story. Thanks for just writing as you do. Don’t change a thing!" —Georgina Tacconi
THE LAST VALENTINE (original title) became a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller in 1998. Hallmark Hall of Fame and CBS Movies of the Week premiered Pratt's story to 14.5 million on its world debut in 2011. Now viewed by millions more, this beloved tale -- with flashbacks to World War Two -- was renamed for the film title: THE LOST VALENTINE. Called a "Return ticket to Bridges of Madison County" by Publisher's Weekly, the author's mother inspired the story.
AMAZON: "25th Anniversary Edition" Paperback
EPUB/eBook: Special Website 50% OFF Download
Original 1998 HARDCOVERS PURCHASE HERE
"Dear Mr. Pratt -- I first wrote to you when I was a 12-year-old in middle school to tell you how much THE LAST VALENTINE had affected my way of thinking about love and life. I'm now at Boston College and graduating next year. I see that The Last Valentine will finally be made into a movie. I just wanted to write and congratulate you. I cannot wait for the movie to air!" — Grace Huang
A USA TODAY and National Bestseller, The Lighthouse Keeper was first released in 2,000 in hardcover, then paperback and audiobook. Still being read today, it tells the story of two Irish American lighthouse keepers as they experience loss and love over a 90-year history. Now in the present day, the surviving daughter learns secrets of reclaiming hope after devastating losses; showing us values found in purpose and love become a light that saves in the end. Coming Soon: Updated & Revised eBook
NOW AVAILABLE: Limited number of Autographed 1998 ORIGINAL HARDCOVERS PURCHASE HERE
"As a big Nicholas Sparks fan, I posted a message on a board asking for author suggestions of similar stories. Your name was the response I received. I just finished The Lighthouse Keeper a few moments ago! I am still tearing up at what a great story that was. Thank you for the hours of enjoyment added to my life. I look forward to reading your other three books." — Jennifer Goldstein
A National Bestseller with an attached screenplay, Ticket Home, is a sweeping 80-year journey through a worldwide depression, a world at war, to peace, then final redemption and forgiveness as twin brothers Norman and Lucian Parker – in love with the same girl Mary Jane – fight to survive and keep a family legacy alive. Now in the present day, one final promise must be kept by the war's surviving brother to the other at his gravesite. But which brother is it?
Coming Soon: Updated & Revised eBook
NOW AVAILABLE: Very limited number of original autographed 1998 HARDCOVERS PURCHASE NOW
"I have read a few hundred books over the years, including the Pulitzer Prize Winning 'Lonesome Dove.' In my mind, TICKET HOME should win a Pulitzer as well. Now it's time to pass this book along to others that I know will love it as well. Thanks Again! "— Michael Riley
Bestselling Paradise Bay (2003) became one of Pratt’s favorite stories to tell. Originally titled "The Piano Man," it includes anecdotal elements in time and geography to places known in his youth. A story of immense tragedy and reconciliation with Vietnam era losses, a severely wounded Marine awakens from a 30-year coma to find a son, redemption, and a better way to live through transformative music; and yes--a love thought lost finds a way to strike twice.
Coming Soon: Updated & Revised eBook
NOW AVAILABLE: Very limited number of original autographed 1998 HARDCOVERS PURCHASE HERE
“Hi Mr. Pratt! I just wanted to tell you, I just finished reading both Ticket Home and Paradise Bay with tears in my eyes. It was wonderful! Can’t wait for your next novel. God bless you!" —Joey Bravo
DAD, The Man Who Lied to Save the Planet (2003) became a regional hardcover bestseller. 12 timeless lessons based on the author’s memories of growing up in Southern California during simpler times and the common-sense truths taught by an ordinary Dad who raised 9 children during the post-World War Two decades. Father really does know best in Pratt's book of enduring values meant for our day. Author's revised, updated with new content eBook Edition coming 2024. Audio Book Read By Author
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"For anyone who admits to having forgotten the important things of life, DAD, The Man Who Lied to Save the Planet is here to remind you."— Kenneth J. Atchity, Film Producer & Author
MOM, The Woman Who Made Oatmeal Stick to My Ribs offers 12 humorous and poignant lessons learned by the author from his Mom from the 1950s through her passing in 2008. If faith, good behavior, treating others like you’d like to be treated, and caring with common-sense traditions mean anything today, the values always started with a bowl of oatmeal, but never really end. Revised & Updated with new material eBook 2024! Audio Book in progress.
"If you enjoyed TUESDAYS with MORRIE you're going to love MOM, the Woman Who Made Oatmeal Stick to My Ribs!" Inspiring wisdom for everyone!" — Bestselling Authors, Joy & Gary Lundberg
For BOOK to FILM Production
"What an awesome story! My attention was riveted to THE CHRIST REPORT so much that I couldn't put it down! I've already started to feel the changes that come from reading something so inspirational! Thank you for writing this and sharing it with me!"— Lance Andrewsen
Based on The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, the author began story development in 2003. Never before promoted in stores or libraries, an epub and print promotional copy ("ARC') was listed for reviewers to read back in 2008 on Amazon but never marketed.
This thoroughly revised and rewritten story with new chapters, beginning, and end, is a Christmas and Easter tale created for perennial holiday reading.
The actual beginnings of the tale have roots in the author's experiences in private searching early in his life. Fascinated by Luke's unique tale of the FIRST men to see the risen Christ, and how they learned to discern his reality, James Michael Pratt offers this fictional approach to what "might have been" at Christ's birth, before his Crucifixion, and after his first appearance to two disciples on the Road to Emmaus after the women had told of seeing Christ risen from the tomb.
Synopsis:
In a story of intrigue, danger, suspense, love, and healing, the events of the Holy Birth and Crucifixion of Christ are woven into one seamless tale, as we are introduced to three men who must return to the most fateful day in all of human history and make a pact with each other affecting our day in time. This agreement may cost them everything they hold dear, including one, his life.
Sam Robertson from the present day is a cynical television and radio personality near death in a New York City hospital. Another is the most reviled innkeeper ever born; the first mortal to reject the Messiah when Mary and Joseph knocked on his Bethlehem door so long ago. The third protagonist is a Roman Centurion who, as a secret messenger for the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, knows more than he can allow; until now.
A magical tale told from the perspectives of all three men, but especially Sam Robertson of Sam Robertson Live, takes readers back in time on a journey of the soul to the year 33 AD. Secrets, kept since the time of Christ, will be revealed when the three men unite to bring them to the attention of a fallen, impatient, distracted, and sin-filled world in final end times.
World-famous Sam, filled with self-importance and hubris, will soon find that only a life-saving miracle can bring him the hope of living longer to love his new wife, Joy. The Innkeeper Cleopas, battered by regrets as ancient as the biblical story in which has become immortalized in countless pageants and dramas as a greedy villain, seeks to offer his story of great faith and redeem his name; a story the world has never heard until now.
It will become the innkeeper's charge to convey a vital message and secret to the world, that the people of today are in desperate need of. The guardian of the message and the last Roman to see both the man Jesus of Nazareth before his crucifixion is Simon Cornelius, the Centurion, who has been waiting for two millennia to finish a mission he began then.
Now, not only will Sam land the interview of a lifetime, but he'll win another chance at life and love for his new bride Joy. Cleopas, the Innkeeper, will gain a second opportunity to redeem his soul and clear his name as the most vilified innkeeper of all time, as Simon Cornelius shows us the path of true faith, brotherhood, and courage. The secret the three men share, but hidden for too long from Christian sermons, is found in what Sam Robertson will deliver in a televised message to the world: The Christ Report -- The Greatest Story Never Told!
Available at AMAZON in eBook & Paperback
NEW WORKS for 2024-2032
IN a PLACE CALLED LOVE, a Christmas Story– Audiences will want to revisit the Love, Wyoming ranch year after year. In the working title: "In a Wonderland Called Love," a present-day supernatural Christmas takes three lonely people with a longing for love and “peace on earth” to a Yuletide miracle. A broken-hearted soldier, a single woman with a sprawling ranch to manage, and an aged cowhand on his deathbed are offered hope, healing, and second chances they long for. "Sneak Peek" chapters coming, SPRING 2024.
"Except for Og Mandino, I haven't read fiction authors in many years; and so I was surprised when I picked up, As a Man Thinketh In His Heart (Advanced Reader Copy) and couldn't put it down. I read for two straight hours. This is Og Mandino at his best and life-changing! I will be recommending your book to everyone I know."— Carlos Packard
As a Man Thinketh…In His Heart is a personal growth and motivational category novel. Featuring the author as the main character and his discoveries in the ghost-like seaside village of Ilfracombe, England – where real author, James Allen (1904) wrote his mega-bestseller “As a Man Thinketh.” Never before promoted in stores or libraries, this ethereal tale of a visit to another time and place is Pratt's tribute to a man and book that helped change his life at age 19. ..AND, you'll also get James Allen's original book FREE! eBook & Limited Edition coming Fall & Winter 2024.
"Rarely do we see this generation take time to ponder upon the gentle arts, the beauty of God's creations, the magnificence of a human life as a being of infinite worth and intelligence."
"With thoughts like these, As a Man Thinketh...In His Heart is a great reminder for us to step back and look at all we have to be grateful for. The description of Ilfracombe, England made me feel like I was there! Thanks for a beautiful and thought-provoking read. My flight to Singapore went by fast while reading this book...and that is not easy to do!"— Sondra MacArthur
In this 15-year writing journey for the author, we find WHEN THE LAST LEAF FALLS becomes the magic we all long for. When broken-hearted father and son from the Shenandoah Valley—both veterans and widowers—travel to the WWII battlefields of France, secrets are finally revealed while healing, romance, and second chances step in to complete their lives and those of two French women; mother and daughter. eBook and Special Collector’s Hardcover Edition release for 2024.
The Face of Christ – Conceptualized for novel and film, this work in progress tells the tale of a Union soldier and war artist, his dramatic Civil War story, and the search for a face that came to rescue him on a battlefield of 1862. It ends in mystery art found in the present day. If art imitates real life, in the end we become who we imitate. Based in part on a true story from the Battle of Fredricksburg, VA. and the "Angel of St. Marye's Heights." Scheduled for a 2026 release.
20 years ago, the author's brother Rex Pratt pitched an idea about an artist who lost his way, set in New York City and Italy. The Well at Santa Felicita is a heartwarming, sometimes humorous novel of losing one’s life in order to find it. Near Florence, Italy there is a village and a wishing well, with a 500-year-old secret; a place where dreams can begin. A young artist from America finds love in this modern romance in an inspiring delivery. In progress, scheduled for 2027.
More Works in Progress 2024 – 2032
THE GOLDEN RULES
Inspirational Non-Fiction
The Golden Rules series of books begin with Podcast delivery in the Fall of 2023.
When you awaken to the law of the "Golden Rule" you will never be safer and always seek to stay truly awake. You may experience unwanted behaviors, but will always be called back to a new world of empowerment by this universal law of love. Your journey transforms from a self-focused to a selfless path; and as you give you also receive. Real power, satisfaction with personal joy, all begin with: "The Golden Rule."
A 3 book per year "Devotional" eBook series filled with inspiration, hope, and the tried and true wisdom of the ages.
AS A MAN THINKETH
Original Non-Fiction
Anticipated for Podcast-to-Book development from 2023 through 2024.
Commentaries on the timeless mega-million 1904 bestseller which changed the course of author Pratt's life at 19 years old. It comes with the entire public domain original book by James Allen included!
LIKE SNOW FALLING IN JUNE
A Novel
"It's like snow falling in June when the cottonwoods along the river bank shed their white fluffy protections for seeds holding the promise of a future tree. That summer of '72 was when I first laid eyes on the prettiest girl I had ever seen. It was a magical moment as she danced along the river chasing the cotton flying in the breeze. Her name was Vivian."
In progress, the book may begin delivery by chapter in Winter 2024 with an undetermined future publishing date for the completed novel.
THE EDITOR
A Novel
Are lives scripted? Or can events be modified? Who will edit your life and mine? And can love last, as this world's ballads all claim? A journey beyond time to find out. Planned for one chapter at a time release beginning in 2026.