Tom Jones

Tom retired in 2005 after 30

years with the State of California

where he worked as a legislative

director in the administrations of the

last five California governors.

He lives in Sacramento.

Working at the Ballpark is his first book. He currently is writing two new books that will be published in 2009 (est.): Risky Living and That First Year.

Risky Living is about people who have jobs where they can be in physical danger, including interviews with an astronaut, Blue Angels pilot, lion tamer, bomb squad detonator, bull rider, boxer, bridge painter, crop pilot, crab fisherman, FBI agent, SWAT officer, Special Forces soldier, war correspondent, immigrant smuggler, oil well firefighter, rescue diver, correctional officer, football player, hockey player, high-rise window washer, foundry worker, lumberjack, hostage negotiator, NASCAR driver, inner city taxi driver, stunt actor, child protection worker, debt collector, U.S. embassy employee, skydiving instructor, drag racer, coal miner, and 30 other interesting people who have fascinating and risky occupations.

That First Year provides candid and compelling face-to-face interviews with people whose lives changed drastically within the first year after a significant unexpected event. In this new book, readers will meet a high school star athlete who lost both legs after an ambush in Iraq; a couple who won the lottery; a man who received a life prison sentence for a crime he insists he did not commit; a first-year teacher; a woman who is treated differently than she expected after undergoing major cosmetic surgery; a mother whose child was kidnapped; a young family that lost everything in an arson-set fire; and, true stories from 40 other people who share their deeply personal stories about how they adjusted to major life changes, not always of their own making.