john Paul garner


My name is John. I'm a retired high school football coach and military veteran. I joined the HDCWC Wordsmiths critique group in 2014, and through their support and guidance, especially that of Jenny Margotta, Richard Zone, and Mary Langer Thompson, I have self-published four books and a couple of short stories in the CWC’s Literary Review. I'm currently writing my next effort, Rebellion, and it's kicking my butt, but I love it. We all do. 



 

books

Magic - A Season Remembered

MAGIC – A SEASON REMEMBERED
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Magic - A Season Remembered is about how the right mix of desert rats, military brats, and one girl combined with the right system and the right coaches to create a magical season, unlike any other. This true story is not simply about defying and overcoming great odds, but about how peanut butter, family, and hard work can conjure up some magic when needed—which in life and football is often better than luck.  
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football for moms
the game made simple and fun to watch

​FOOTBALL FOR MOMS: THE GAME MADE SIMPLE AND FUN TO WATCH
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Football is not rocket science. It’s basically math. Geometry played on angles and low to the ground. Throw in some physics and you have a game. What Football for Moms does is reduce the game to its most common strategies and translates its unique and varied language into simple English and, for depth, it includes slices of football’s rich history. Because knowing what’s going on in a game can make watching it that much more fun.

That Comeback Season 
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THAT COMEBACK SEASON
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That Comeback Season is a love story about a football coach who overcomes a series of devastating losses, to include his wife leaving him for another man during the year his deadly cancer is supposed to return. It’s the true story about how, during a five month period in his life, the coach overcame his doubts and demons to make a dramatic comeback and teach his players to never give up. This uniquely-formatted memoir is about the love of coaching and of one woman who ignited the other "P" word in the coach: his passion. It is heart-felt, inspiring, and a real-life account of how, sometimes, even an ordinary man can emerge from defeat and do an extraordinary thing.​

What the Heart Wants

WHAT THE HEART WANTS: A Collection of Short Stories About Life, Love and Football
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When you think about it, a person’s life is like a series of short stories, linked together by time and geography to form their personal history. In this sense, then, everyone has a book of short stories in them that simply needs to be put to paper. The stories in this book are like that. They occurred over the author’s lifetime and are based on true events about how extraordinary life can be even for an ordinary person.

coming soon: rebellion

​COMING SOON: REBELLION
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The true story about how free speech and Facebook were used to oppose and expose the corrupt and self-serving Mayor of a small town.