James R. Elstad is an Author and a retired Army National Guard Sergeant living in Beaverton,OR. Originally he moved there to get help caring for his wife Bonnie Jean, who passed away on Memorial Day 2014. Jim recently married Heather Daniels and has been getting settled in.
He was born on Staten Island, NY, lived for a year in Ohio, moved to Southern California until
completing his sophomore year at California Lutheran College.
Enlisted in the Marine Corps during the height of the Vietnam War, volunteered and was never sent overseas.
After being discharged from the Marines he received a B.A. in U.S. History from California State University, Northridge, in May 1974.
In 1979 he enlisted in the California Army National Guard. After a job transfer interrupted his Guard career, He enlisted in the Washington Army National Guard in 1981. Another job transfer caused a move back to the California Guard in 1985.
In 1990 He accepted a full-time, Active Guard Reserve position in the California Guard. He retired from the California Army National Guard in August 2007 with 28 years of service.
He’s currently retired and spends his time marketing his first novel, "Comes the Southern Revolution."
It is an action/adventure novel about the resumption of The War Between The States. When a few Southerners read CSR they insist that he continue the story.
“Comes The Retribution” was released in December 2014. A continuation of CSR, CTR is a tale of both Federals and Rebels getting even. In November 2015 "Questions from the North; Answers from the South" was released. Q&A was inspired by questions and issues many Northerners brought up during Jim's book tours throughout the country. He took those questions and issues and sent them to Southerners (blacks and whites). Jim hopes the resulting book will encourage a dialogue between: whites/blacks, liberals/conservatives, and Northerners/Southerners. If we don't start listening without judging we are going to have a blood bath much worse than in the Civil War.
Currently he is working on: "Holding Back the Tide." The premise is: If Franklin Pierce had been convinced to run for President in 1860, against the Republican candidate (who will be Lincoln), and if during the course of the campaign was able to negotiate a phasing out of slavery, would there have been a Civil War?
The manuscript is about 50% complete. He is hoping to release HBT sometime in 2018.