Jim Hard is a novelist, screenwriter, and short story author. Jim grew up during the lawless days of the late twentieth century where outlaw motorcycle gangs and the Texas mafia swept through the lone star state on waves of crime. The son of a rugged and honest Texas lawman, Jim was raised on the family property in the Bull Creek Valley near Austin, Texas. It is in that valley he became an accomplished cowboy and rancher. It is also where he came to believe "There ain't a man who can't be throwed and there ain't a horse that can't be rode." Jim has been thrown many times in life by wild-eyed horses as well as the fickle whimsies of fortune. He's always regained his balance and gotten back on the proverbial horse that threw him. With a grin he says, "I'll keep doing that until I can't."

 

Jim's writing is rooted not only in ranching and crime, but also in the sometimes-sketchy life of a United States Merchant Mariner, an on again off again wilderness river guide, grifter, and drifter. Somehow along the way, he ended up with two college degrees although he doesn't talk much about the things he did to get them. After his wild years pretty much ended in 1982, Jim was reined in by a very well-educated and sweet Texas girl named Laurie whom he later married. A shock to many of his friends, Jim settled down and survived a hard but successful career in technology.

 

Jim is an advocate for the physically challenged, the impoverished, and those who have survived violence. He writes with the hope that his readers will learn to face their challenges with both cunning and courage and to also be messengers of courage, mercy, and peace.

 

He lives near Lockhart, Texas with Laurie, his tabby named Tim, his mutt named Chewie, and the free-ranging billy goat named William.