Michael J. Moran

Michael J. Moran, Missouri-born and Arkansas-reared, was the recipient at 12 of a boxful of books, mostly about sports, and the reading lamp was lit for life. A Little Rock Catholic High School for Boys teacher at 25, he chose English as his subject and taught that, primarily, for the next 40 years.

Mike's first book was a memoir--Proudly We Speak Your Name, stories about that forty-year career. That and the subsequent Jesse Crosse, a novel about a high school basketball team and its unlikely savior, are available on Amazon.

Next comes Glory Hunters, available in paperback on Amazon or on Kindle, a novel of adventure that derives in part from the literature he taught for four decades. If you are familiar with the titles The Red Badge of Courage and Lost Horizon, as well as a sleuth called Holmes, you'll hear echoes of those names as a young man in New York agrees to participate in an extraordinary mission to far away parts of the globe.

Sophomores is also on Kindle or as an Amazon paperback, a story of a first-year teacher and his tenth-grade classes, four members of which especially stand out. The high school is an unusual one in this era: an all-boys' Catholic institution. The oddness goes far beyond that, however. In 9 short months death threats are made, a runaway is tracked down, an extraordinary football season unfolds, and that is only the beginning! Read Sophomores if you want to step into a world that few have experienced.

The novel Freshmen (also a Kindle or Amazon paperback offering), which logically should have preceded Sophomores actually came after it. Dan Stover is a ninth-grader with an unusual ability: A concussion he incurred in a football game left him able to detect when people are lying. Is it a blessing or a curse to be so endowed? What's certain is the Dan's life is dramatically changed.

Baseball, Mike's childhood favorite sport, is the environment in which the Kindle or Amazon paperback novel The Luck of Bud Flood (and the Houston Astros) takes place. Like Dan Stover in Freshmen, Bud has a rare talent; in Bud's case it shows itself whenever he goes to an Astros' game—they always win! Set in 2020, Bud's luck, which he himself finds incredible, powers the Astros to levels of winning not seen in Houston in many years. Not everyone, however, wants to see the 'Stros succeed, and that causes problems for Bud.

No Man Stands So Tall is both an Amazon paperback and Kindle novel that features an eight-year-old boy and an alcoholic man. The two share a common problem: homelessness. The unlikely team of James and Leo try to solve a dilemma that causes experts to wring their hands and some parts of society don't want to admit exists.

Clash Reunion is a Kindle novel about a class that finally succeeds in its attempts to convene, and experiences in two nights more unforgettable drama than one could have expected in three reunions.

He Knows Faith, like Proudly We Speak Your Name, is a memoir. It's either an Amazon paperback or Kindle story of Mike's years at St. John's Seminary in Little Rock. His tales, he avows, are true, though some of the characters and events may seem beyond what a reader might expect to find in such an environment. Intrigue, oddball characters, and admirable young men share the spotlight in these stories.