Also Available as an Time Warner AudioBook

After an injury-plagued stint in the minor leagues in his twenties, Jim Morris hung up his cleats and his dreams to start a new life as a father, high school physics teacher, and baseball coach. Jim's athletes knew that his dream was still alive — he threw the ball so hard they could barely hit it - and made a bet with him: if they won the league championship, he would have to try out for a major league ball club. They did — and he did, and during that tryout threw the ball faster than he ever had, faster than anyone there, nearly faster than anyone playing in the Bigs. He was immediately drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and three months later made his major league debut, striking out All-Star Royce Clayton.

* Explains how the author became a student of Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and how he traveled the world, as well as the astral realms, undergoing a deep spiritual journey of change * Details how the author discovered LSD after the Vietnam War and even tripped while skydiving * Recounts his time as a civil rights advocate and war correspondent, and how Toltec shamanism helped prepare him to ease his wife's long end-of-life journey During his third tour of duty in Vietnam where he served as a Green Beret, Jim Morris was wounded badly enough to be retired from the army. He came home bitter, angry that his career had been ended. After reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, he realized that many members of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters had also been combat officers. Following this spiritual "hint," he spent the next couple of years as an acid head, even skydiving on LSD. Awakened by his LSD experiences, Morris immersed himself in the books of Carlos Castaneda as well as in Kriya yoga, Charismatic Christianity, and A Course in Miracles. From these experiences he was led to Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and began a deep spiritual journey of change. Sharing his journey from PTSD to spiritual awakening, Morris recounts his time as a civil rights advocate for the Montagnard people in Vietnam and his years as a war correspondent at the same time he was following Castaneda's Warrior's Way. He describes his momentous meeting with don Miguel Ruiz as well as his travels around the world and in the astral realms. Sharing how his wife developed dementia and later became paralyzed, Morris explains how it required all his Toltec training, all his military training, everything he had to share her final years in a meaningful and fulfilling way. Written from a deep understanding of Toltec techniques this book shows in a heartfelt and resonant way what a spiritual path can give you.

The Day the King Died concerns the shooting dead of two police officers and shows how the police convinced themselves that they had the right man. This new book contains a close analysis of the effect of the activities of lawyers and police on the jury in a capital case and reinforces the forceful claims of campaign groups connected to the case. There was a quaint British convention under which executions were stopped and sentence commuted to life imprisonment if scheduled to take place on the day the sovereign died. Alfred Moore was doubly unfortunate: he was on the scaffold an hour before the death of King George VI was announced. He protested his innocence all along but never could clear his name as he had vowed to do from the moment of his arrest. In this new book, the author re-assesses this case of the double murder of two police officers and shows why the trial at Leeds Assizes was a travesty of justice - packed with mistakes, inaccuracies, dubious recollections, supposition and conjecture.Set against the social backdrop of 1950s West Yorkshire, the book analyses the interactions of the lawyers, police and jury and demonstrates the need for caution where accounts may be driven by preconceptions or 'fit' too tidily with those of others. The result is a masterly explanation of the plight of a condemned man caught up in the questionable practices of the era: which adds to the voices of those calling for justice in a case in which police and prosecutors almost certainly put the wrong man on trial. 'My Lord, I protest my innocence. I am not guilty': Alfred Moore on being sentenced to death.

Above and Beyond is a novel about Special Forces reconnaissance in the Vietnam War. It is also about the relations of three generations of military professionals, and their love-hate relationship with the U.S. Army. ABOVE AND BEYOND is an adventure novel of the highest order, full of truths about love, war, and the profession of arms. - W.E.B. Griffin, best-selling author of THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR, THE CORPS, HONOR BOUND, and BADGE OF HONOR series A great read. I literally couldn't put it down. -Joseph L. Galloway We Were Soldiers Once...And Young The action is heart-pumping, heart-wrenching, and the story will absolutely hold you in its grip from the first page to the last. It is being there without the bullets. -Don Bendell Snake Eater The B-52 Overture Above and Beyond is Jim Morris's masterpiece, an epic tragedy of a man who dared all, and either won or lost all, depending on your point of view. Me, I think he won. -Col. Robert K. Brown Soldier of Fortune "It is great news that Jim Morris, the most accomplished and admired of the many fine writers to emerge from the elite ranks of the US Army Special Forces, is back with a new novel. All of us who have admired Morris' previous journalism, fiction, and his classic memoir, War Story, are sure to enjoy Above and Beyond. And readers who have never had the pleasure of reading his work before are in for a special treat. This is military literature at its finest " --Kenn Miller Tiger the Lurp Dog Six Silent Men "Above and Beyond" is a book one cannot read in one night because there is so much to ponder. Still, you can't put it down. So be prepared for a long night, then. --Mark Berent Rolling Thunder Steel Tiger Jim's first book, War Story was one of the great early accounts of the Vietnam War. This novel builds on that legacy, confirming why he's one of our era's great combat writers. --John Plaster SOG Secret Commandos Ultimate Sniper Jim Morris is one of the most original and authentic voices in the whole body of Vietnam literature. He is the real deal. --John Milius, screenwriter Apocalypse NOW Dirty Harry Jeremiah Johnson Red Dawn

Now a major motion picture from Disney. THE ROOKIE, by Jim Morris, starring Dennis Quaid.

The incredible true story of the thirty-five-year-old physics teacher who broke into the major leagues

HE PLAYED A BOY'S GAME.
HE LIVED A MAN'S LIFE.
AND HE NEVER GAVE UP A DREAM...

As a lonely child, Jim Morris took one thing with him wherever his family moved—his ability to hit and throw a baseball. For Jim, the dream of becoming a major-league ballplayer was his anchor and inspiration, and he had the talent to make it come true...until injuries and life got in the way.

A decade after Jim walked away from the minors and began a life of fatherhood and mortgage payments, he made a promise to the hardscrabble high-school team he coached: If they could win their local championship, he would try out again for the big leagues.

They did—and he did. Now, in this wondrous, heart-tugging book, Jim Morris tells the story of his remarkable life and his amazing journey to the Big Show at the age of thirty-five. This inspirational story is the saga of a dream that wouldn't die, and how a shy, lonely boy finally became...

THE ROOKIE