Reunion

About the Book

Reunion begins and ends with the 45th reunion of the 1960 class of Princeton, West Virginia. Set in a small town on the southern edge of the state, it deals with usual themes of coming-of-age and high school, as well as the once-in-a-lifetime experience of desegregation and its impact on a group of friends. In addition, the debut novel, written in the first person in an engaging style, probes the relationship, or lack of it, between an emotionally-distant father and his son, who much later in life begins to understand what it means to grow up as the adult child of an alcoholic.

The characters are rich and varied, with the very essence of Americana: high school, football, and social interactions on multiple levels; the music of the 50’s; the thrill of short-wave ham radio; a unique peer group, including an emerging high school rock band; and of course the family of origin, a complex mix of stately Virginians and more informal Kentuckians.

About the Author

Jim George grew up in the tri-state area (KY,VA,and WV) of the southern Appalachians. At Virginia Tech, and later in graduate school at Arizona State, he studied Electrical Engineering, and spent nearly forty years in the semiconductor industry, rising to a corporate officer in several companies including Motorola, with worldwide responsibility for a number of areas including Memory ICs, Digital Processors, and Embedded Solutions for Printers. His final responsibilities included world-wide Strategy and Sales for the wireless market. He also served as primary executive customer liaison for semiconductors for HP's printer business and for Motorola's cell phone business, culminating with the extremely successful Razr phone in 2002. He and his wife, Diana, his high school sweetheart and a retired social worker, have lived in the Hill Country just outside Austin, TX, since 1984. He is a lifelong enthusiast for amateur radio, with the call sign, N3BB, preferring high speed Morse code to a microphone. George is an active jogger and casual race participant in Austin's active running scene. He and Diana began hiking the Appalachian Trail in Georgia in the early 2000's, and hope to continue segment hikes. In addition, he likes vintage Porsche sports cars, and his "baby," a robin-egg blue 1959 356A cabriolet, is being restored in early 2012. Jim is a life-long Virginia Tech sports fan, and has served the university in numerous capacities, including as Chairman of the Advisory Boards for both the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, as well as the College of Engineering. He is a member of the Academy of Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech. He is an avid reader--reading 40 books a years on average--enjoying both fiction as well as non-fiction, and is a member of a men's book club in Austin. The Georges have three grown children and five grandchildren. Reunion is his debut novel, and he is preparing to begin a second book.