Financial planner, horseman, professional speaker, team roper, author. All of these words seem mutually exclusive on the surface, yet they all apply to one human being: Jim H. Ainsworth. A Distinguished Alumnus of East Texas State University (now A&M-Commerce), Ainsworth is a highly prolific writer with thirteen books to his credit as well as numerous newspaper, magazine, and blog articles. Ainsworth gives the term, “triple-threat” a whole new meaning with his latest efforts consisting of not one but three new books that were all officially launched with a book signing and reception last month on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce.

A large crowd of fans, readers, writers, and family gathered in the Alumni Center’s conference room to purchase Ainsworth’s books, get them signed, visit with the author and one another. Later in the evening, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer, and guitarist-extraordinaire, Brad Davis, stopped by to perform an original song about Ainsworth’s brother titled “Goodbye Dreams, Hello Regrets” with lyrics by Ainsworth and music by Davis.

Two of Ainsworth’s new releases are novels—Firstborn Son and Rails to a River: A Long Awakening. Ainsworth says that both books are different from anything he has written.

Firstborn Son is about a quirky urban family. Writing in an urban Texas setting was a challenging but welcome change for Ainsworth. The novel’s protagonist faces spiritual, philosophical, and moral values battles within his own family.

Armed with a strong intuitive moral fiber that comes from some inexplicable source, twelve-year-old Ben Tom discovers the uncle with whom he and his younger brothers have been sent to live following their parents’ divorce is a crude professional thief. Other family members turn out to be just as morally deficient as their Uncle Clark. As they grow into young men, Ben Tom struggles to keep his younger brothers from falling into the criminal behavior patterns of their role models. But his struggle comes at a cost. According to celebrated author and friend Caleb Pirtle III, “Colorful characters and plot twists are likened to those in a Coen Brothers movie.”

In Rails to a River, Tee Jessup suffers a coma after a harrowing train wreck. He awakens to find his life has totally changed. The train wreck haunts Tee and forces a move from the ranching life he loves to the city where he fails repeatedly. His marriage falls into chaos and mistrust and his wife leaves with their son.

Tee reasons she left him due to his failure to hold down a job but soon learns there is a deeper, darker reason. The rich characters in this novel will stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

Ainsworth’s third book is titled A River of Stories…It’s Been Quite a Ride. He says this book qualifies as neither a memoir nor an autobiography but terms it a collection of stories. Included is a touching and heartfelt eulogy to Ainsworth’s father; one he wishes he could have delivered at the funeral.

The book is a collection of deeply personal and poignant stories and essays, things he wants his children and grandchildren to know. The characters are real people who have salted Ainsworth’s life and peppered his perspective.

There are stories and essays about animal and human friends, as well as reading and writing and why stories matter in the tangled web of human experiences. There are family stories that parallel many of our own familial connections and experiences. There are sections on “Ranching, Cowboys, and the Saddles They Ride” and ticking off items on his “bucket list.” The final section is dedicated to his journey of faith and his deeply personal views about God, prayer, the Bible, and life after death. To read Ainsworth in this book is to know him. To know Ainsworth is to know yourself.

The book launch was sponsored by Silver Leos Writers Guild, a chapter of the A&M-Commerce Alumni Association. The guild’s latest anthology, Looking Back…Moving Forward, debuted alongside Ainsworth’s three new books. This latest collection contains eighty-four contributions provided by forty-four authors and includes short stories, memoirs, poems, and drama pieces.

Looking Back, as well as two other books published by Silver Leos, were compiled with the inspiration of the late Dr. Fred Tarpley. This latest project began only days prior to Tarpley’s demise. Many of the members of the writing guild are former students of Tarpley and were moved by his encouragement and affirmation to put their stories on paper and publish the results. Some of the authors represented in the 403-page anthology are experienced published writers, while others are seeing their work in print for the first time in this volume.

The cohesive bond between Silver Leos and Jim Ainsworth is most assuredly Dr. Tarpley. Tarpley provided the inspirational and oftentimes persistent encouragement to both Ainsworth and the guild members individually and as a whole. It was Tarpley who pushed Ainsworth to establishing his publishing house, Season of Harvest Publications. The name of the firm comes from a time-honored financial planning adage: “For the unprepared, old age can be the winter of life, but for the prepared, it is the season of harvest.”

Ainsworth left his lucrative financial planning business in 1997 after writing four business training manuals that became books published by John Wiley & Sons. That publishing experience taught him he could indeed write a book. As a financial planner, his objective was to help people achieve their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. But he soon realized he was not following his own advice. Following the mantra of Joseph Campbell, “follow your bliss,” he took a calculated risk and began checking off his own “bucket list.” A cross-Texas trek via horseback and covered-wagon spanning several weeks to recreate the journey his grandparents had taken 90 years earlier was on that list.

“That kind of trip,” stated Ainsworth, “changes you. You have to slow down and pay attention to your surroundings.”

The journey was made with two companions—a dear friend and a beloved cousin who passed away in November. The experiences of that covered-wagon and horseback journey became a memoir that inspired subsequent novels based on real events and people.

Information regarding the purchase of Jim Ainsworth’s books can be found at his website, www.jimainsworth.com or by calling 903-886-3293 or 903-453-5701.

Information about Silver Leos Writers Guild or purchasing any of its publications can be obtained by contacting Vivian Freeman at Vivian_Freeman@tamuc.edu or 903-886-8953; or Bobbie Purdy at bobbie@arlanpurdy.com or 903-886-6120.