Plain spoken books for real life.
Stories and companions for ordinary people carrying hard seasons. Written from lived experience, not theory.
See the booksThe Books
West Hyrtle, Book One
Behind Closed Doors
"Saints, Scandals, and Honesty"
West Hyrtle has eleven thousand people and twenty-two thousand secrets. When Jion Homes runs for mayor, he publishes every sin he ever committed on his own campaign website, under a tab called MY DIRT.
You cannot blackmail a man who went first.
A Southern comedy told the whole way in the voice of a man telling you the story off his own porch. Funny on the surface, with a knife under the laugh. Illustrated throughout.
Included with Kindle Unlimited. Contains strong language and adult humour.
Let This Help You
A Companion for Grief and Remembrance
They warn you about the grief. Nobody warns you about the list.
One keepsake that holds both: a soft place to grieve, and a calm place for everything that has to get done. Written after loss came to my own family and I could not find a single book that held both halves.
Available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle.
About J. Ballen
I write plain spoken books for real life. My fiction and my nonfiction come from the same place: ordinary people carrying hard seasons, told without polish.
I started writing through a season of loss. I finished my first book before my mother passed and never got to put it in her hands. If I had never started writing, I do not think I would still be here. Those pages held me up on the days nothing else could.
Somewhere in the middle of it I found an idea from Carl Jung: that most of us wear a face for the world, and then turn right around and judge the next person for wearing one too. That walked me straight into Behind Closed Doors.
Everything I publish comes out under the Prosper Life 365 banner, with one promise behind every page. Real help, in plain words, from somebody who has been there.
Know when the next one lands
West Hyrtle is a series, and Book Two is coming. Leave your email and I will tell you when it is out. No noise, no spam, just the books.
Or follow J. Ballen on Amazon from either book page to get new release alerts.