Born in Guam, raised in Texas, James is proudly Chamaole. Chamaole is a combination of two words: Chamorro and haole. Chamorros are the native people of Guam. James’s mother, Rosalia, is Guamanian (Chamorro) and grew up in a village called Barrigada. Haole is a word used by many island-folk to describe non-island folks, such as James’s dad (also James) who hails from Pontiac, Michigan. James’s parents loved each other all the way from Guam to New Orleans, back to Guam, finally settling in Corpus Christi, Texas, where James’s father decided to retire after a long, salty career in the Navy.
In Corpus Christi, James became intimately acquainted with Christianity—the foundation of his entire worldview. James recalls his third-grade year when an enthusiastic, middle-aged Church of Christ pastor named Lindsay Garmon had come to his house and had started flipping through a binder. The pages started off with an illustration of two land masses separated by a chasm. On one side was a little stick figure that Lindsay said was James; on the other was God and the chasm was named “SIN”. Lindsay said that all that sin was James’s (and his folks’) and was what separated him from God. The next page’s only difference was that there was a cross situated on James’s side of the chasm. The pastor excitedly explained Who that was—the Son sent by God to make things right: Jesus Christ.
But it was the next page that changed James’s life fundamentally—to the core and permanently. The cross, which had been erect, was now fallen right over that chasm that separated James and his folks from God. The cross became a bridge between the two land masses. This led to the next page—where James and his folks were all situated on God’s side of the chasm. James was saved—so it was on the page and so, too, in his heart. While Christian, James doesn’t consider himself mainstream, although most of his beliefs are.
James grew up and became a firefighter when he felt it was time to “do what a man’s gotta do” at the ripe age of 27. It wasn’t until he was 36, however, that he felt the call to write and has been at it ever since, moonlighting as a medic in his public disguise consisting of Nomex® and Kevlar® trappings, finished with boots, gloves, and brimmed helm. As of the writing of this short biography, James has no prestigious accolades, educations degrees, or published novels (third draft in edit). But he certainly hopes to change all that in time.
James is a devoted husband to Jamie and proud father to seven kids.