James B. WellsJAMES B. WELLS is a retired criminology and criminal justice professor in the School of Justice Studies in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University, and is the recipient of the 2025 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences John Howard Award, an award given intermittently, upon significant demand, to recognize an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the practice of corrections. A former carpenter, soldier, and correctional officer in a super-maximum-security prison and later as a researcher/planner assisting architects in prison design, he has multiple degrees, including an M.S. in Criminal Justice, a Ph.D. in Research, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He’s authored or co-authored over sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays, as well as over a hundred and fifty research reports for various local, state, and federal agencies. Recent essays from his research and memoir work appear or are forthcoming in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, Proud to be: Writing by American Warriors, Trajectory Journal, and From Pen to Page III: More Writings from the Bluegrass Writers Coalition.
His investigative memoir about his father's still CIA-classified death in Vietnam in 1965, titled Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, will be launched on Father's Day weekend, 2025. Links to publications, presentations, trailers, social media, blog, and other information can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. James enjoys spending much of his leisure time with his spouse on their Lexington, Kentucky farm located on the palisades of the Kentucky River, where he is an organic gardener and beekeeper.
I am super excited about this author event with SpindleKindles Book Club at Spindletop Hall on September 4th. Interest has grown so much that the Alumni Club Member Services Director has had to switch to a buffet-style dinner to serve everyone more efficiently. Given that this event is the first one of our fall tour […]
As a result of my investigative memoir, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, being released, these amazing women from the Odyssey Charter School in Georgia decided to form their book club, which they named “Suspicious Minds & Snacktime.” I was so taken with their themed menu […]
What an incredible author event Highland Books hosted for my investigative memoir, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, at the Mary C. Jenkins Center in Brevard, NC! Over one hundred people attended, making this event almost as popular as my memoir’s initial launch. What made it […]
We had a full house at Snail on the Wall Bookstore in Huntsville, AL last night, where I engaged in conversation with my sister Kathleen. We discussed my investigative memoir, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew. Kathleen, a former English literature teacher, prompted me to read […]
Our parents exposed my siblings and me to books throughout our childhoods. We read and reread the complete set of The Book of Knowledge, an early form of Google. Our parents took us to military post libraries, and our homes were always filled with books and at least a dozen magazine subscriptions, including National Geographic, […]
After leaving Georgia, Brenda and I spent yesterday afternoon in Pensacola, Florida, where I was invited by Barnes & Noble to do a signing event. What I love about these smaller signing events is the opportunity to engage in lengthy conversations with people who are possibly interested in my book. Imagine my surprise when one […]
Last night, Brenda and I hosted another author event that I never wanted to end. Relatives, friends, former high school classmates, Vietnam War veterans, and readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), who had read Book Critic Suzanne Van Atten’s feature story in the Father’s Day edition, spent over two hours discussing my investigative memoir, Because: […]
A second signing event was held at St. John’s for interested parties who are not members of the congregation. Former elementary and high school classmates of Brenda and I (including a character from my book), and even my older siblings, former neighbors, including those we grew up with and from when we were married adults, […]
Imagine our surprise when Brenda and I walked in the church I was raised in, that buried my father, and Brenda and I were wed in, to discover a candle burning at the base of the stained-glass window of “Christ Healing the Sick” purchased with proceeds from my father’s memorial fund. The entire congregation had […]
James B. Wells