Pre-Order

My Father Was a Gangster: The Jim Vaus Story is now available for pre-order from your local bookstore or:

Amazon.com
Borders
Christian Book Distributor
Faith Works Online

Here is a brief description of the book from one of the online booksellers:

One of the most fascinating conversion stories of the 20th century, My Father Was a Gangster tells the dramatic life story of Jim Vaus, the former associate of crime syndicate boss Mickey Cohen. Rarely, if ever, has there been another story of a gangster who turned so radically from a life of organized crime to a life focused on leading others to Christ. In this book, son Will Vaus tells the inside story of his father’s nefarious life in the syndicate and describes how close his father came to being caught for devising a scheme that was later said to have been the inspiration for the movie, The Sting. Just before carrying out his plan, Jim Vaus was persuaded to drop into the famous Billy Graham tent meetings taking place in Los Angeles in 1949, and almost against his own will, found himself compelled to “walk the sawdust trail” to the front of the gathering and along with hundreds of others, give his life to Christ. The author then describes the dramatic transformation that took place in his father’s life as he makes amends for his many wrongs and sets his course on a new life that is honoring to God and that brings many others into the Kingdom. This story has been recounted in Time Magazine, Life Magazine and Reader’s Digest and was chronicled in a motion picture, The Wiretapper. Now it is told from a son’s perspective, a son who watched his father go on to live an exemplary life, dedicated to saving others from falling victim to the life of crime that had sought to destroy him.

Release date: November 10, 2007

Interestingly enough, the release date of November 10 was a very important date in my father's life. But you will have to wait for the book to learn more about that . . .

Believe Books

Those who don't work in the publishing field might be surprised to know how little publishers and authors see of each other face to face. So much work is accomplished through the Internet these days that in-person meetings are no longer required to see a book through from contract to publication.

That being said, I had the special privilege of meeting the president of Believe Books, Dianne Haskett, last week in Washington, D. C. We discussed many exciting aspects of promotion for my forthcoming book, most of which I cannot share here. But the big news I can divulge is that the target date for publication is November 2007! Significantly, this book will be published around the time of what would have been my parents' 60th wedding anniversary, and the publication will coincide with the 58th anniversary of my father's life-changing decision on November 6, 1949.

I think Dianne and I both felt God's hand on this project as we sat together overlooking Washington and the capitol dome and as we prayed for the Lord to use this book to touch many lives with the love of Christ.