Joe Rooms

Rose Thorns and Coffee Grounds Joe Rooms

This is a revised version of "Prince of the Wild Frontier" Rose Thorns and Coffee Grounds is a sweeping saga of an ordinary family with an extraordinary history; just like the rest of us. 1957, 15 year old Jimmy Samples, lives in a neighborhood in the Nation's Capital. Euphemistically referred to as "Greater Southeast" or "East of the River." His Mother, Lilly Belle nee Mozingo, is the glue holding the fragile family together, against all odds. Max Samples, Lilly Belle's common law husband, begrudges Jimmy's very existence. He torments her by threatening to expose a former indiscretion of hers to the children. Max boozes and Gambles his family into poverty. Pamela is Jimmy's totally self absorbed sister. Utterly clueless until called upon to be her family's rock. His kid brother, Theodius, has an imagination to rival Wa3/ 7lter Mitty's. Their "Nanny Mo" nicknames him "prince of the wild frontier" because of his idolatry for Davy Crockett. Family to "Theo" includes his loyal dog, his uppity cat, and his best bud, Dean Bo "Sharky" Holly. The Mozingo/Samples story actually begins in 1876 on a tiny, desolate spit of land, between the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. A Cherokee baby girl, She Who Dances First is born. Her mother, Born On Thursday, dies giving birth. The father, He Who Is Speaking, never forgives his daughter. The dye is cast for Jimmy Samples' legacy when the man who kills Jimmy's maternal great-grandfather, rescues his grandmother from the primitive island, and into White society. Jimmy's life story is affected by those near and dear to him, by those who would do him harm, and by people and events unknown to him. Each one an entire story on its own. This novel depicts acts of violence, cruelty, and even inhumanity. but in final analysis, as we hope it does beyond my make believe tale, Love, Kindness, Humanity conquers