James Dawson grew up in small-town Texas where football, dominoes and politics were blood sports. He wrote about things that actually happened during his 45-year newspaper career, revealed in his autobiographical book Life in the Toy Department.He lives in Rocklin, California with his wife, Barbara and their rat terrier, Repeaux. At 85 years of age, he conjured up short stories in Lagniappe: The Piddling Oaks Gang and Other Tales From the Microwave.Now he has written about a make-believe town called Mayhaw, where make-believe people in the 1930s encounter make-believe trouble, a few real people -- and things that could have been. "The characters in this book are all imagined, though there are kernels of fact sprinkled about. "I had fun writing it and at 90 years old, I'll take my pleasure any way I can get it."
