OK, huddle up! This is where you find out everything you need to know about this website.
RiffelBooks is the online home of author and journalist James R. Riffel, who likes to write books and report the day’s news to everyone. It’s a delicate balance, writing a bunch of short news articles during the day and going home to write longer-form fiction at night. It takes a drive through Southern California commuter traffic, dinner with the family and perhaps a walk with the dogs to get the head on straight.
The ability to switch back and forth might just come naturally. Riffel’s first novel, A COACH AT HEART, is about a fictional young man who embarks on a career as a football player and coach while piecing his personal life back together. The story of George Steele is set against a backdrop of some of the great moments in the sport in the 1960s and 70s. He changed gears for the second book, UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, about an organized crime group on the verge of collapse, and the family man and young woman caught in the middle. While this one is purer fiction, it’s true that a series of pressures have reduced the strength of the mob.
By day, Riffel reports on government, politics and courts — along with general assignment topics like health and medical, real estate and the economy, and the military. Yes, it can leave the head spinning by the end of the day. Engaging news readers is important, too, so you’ll see a bunch of those types of items on the Twitter feed.
When not writing, he loves attending sports events, hiking, traveling, reading about World War II history, and listening to the Beatles and the Pat Metheny Group (there’s that switching gears thing again!). He lives in Southern California with his wife and three children.
On this website, you’ll find information about each book, along with the humorous baseball short story, THE TRADING DEADLINE. The pages for each book contains links to sales pages on Amazon.com, Apple iTunes and the like, for your convenience. The blog will offer comment and information about the subjects of the books, like baseball, football and organized crime. Please make sure to click the “Follow Blog” button to receive updates on new blog posts.
Email: nubulousmedia@gmail.com
Photos: the author (above). The banner is the author on a hike above Lake Tahoe in California.
RiffelBooks 