Bluefish Books specializes in old diaries & letters, history, biographies, memoirs, novels, inspirational books, and other works edited or written by John Cowart.
Simply click on a book title to get an enlarged picture of the book cover, full content information, sample preview chapters, and an order form for that book.
John's Daily Rabid Fun Blog
My daily
blog where you can enjoy more of my writings.
John's Rabid Fundamentalist Website
Updated monthly, more or less
Visit John's Rabid Fundamentalist website which specializes in history and religious humor.
Note: John pokes fun at no one's faith but his own - so he has plenty of material to work with.
Books on Demand
The Modern Way
All books-on-demand are printed as you order them, thus saving on warehouse, remainders and stockpile expenses. These savings are passed on to you!
Printing and binding start the same day you order your book. In three to five business days, your fresh new book will be shipped to you direct, hot from the printer, Lulu Press.
Delivery time depends on which shipping method you choose: USPS Ground Delivery is the least expensive; Next Day Air is the most expensive but faster than the Post Office.
E-books, the least expensive books to buy, are downloaded immediately right to your computer screen for you to read there -- but you get no physical copy to read on the bus or in the bathtub.
Thank you for ordering from Bluefish Books. I hope you find your new book helpful and enjoyable.
-- John Cowart
I received this statue as a Christmas gift from my youngest daughter. I liked it so much I decided to use it as my logo.
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Notice to Poor Readers
I earn my living selling my books. I have no other source of income, so sales are important to me. No sales, no money.
However, I’ve spent much of my life in poverty. I’ve often lived in want myself. Many’s the time I saw books which I did not have money to buy. That hurt.
Therefore, if you honestly do not have money to buy one of my books, please e-mail me at bluefishbooks@gmail.com and tell me that you honestly can not afford a book, and I will e-mail a pdf, read only, copy for you to read on your computer. One per customer please.
I know you can’t served God and mammon, but I try.
—— John Cowart
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Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 In 1854 William Short said more between the lines of his diary than he did in its pages. He'd proposed marriage to Sarah. But when he traveled to Jackson, Missouri, he was smitten by Amanda. Then at a Methodist camp meeting he met Martha, "My Temptation". Suspense builds as the young minister decides which girl to marry while at the same time he feels a deep heart hunger for God. His mix of confusion about love and dedication to Christ still appeals to readers after 155 years.
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Print: $22.95 Download: $15.00 Readers laugh as writer John Cowart bogs down in tar when he paints his house. He also bogs down in muck repairing his pool. And he bogs down in words as he finishes writing a history of his local fire department—a project he’s tried, off and on, for 20 years. John says he’s just a befuddled ordinary Christian who looks for spiritual reality in everyday life—and you’ll laugh as he has fun doing that. You never know what the next page will bring. This book is the fourth in John’s Dirty Old Man Goes Bad series.
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Print: $29.95 Download: $20.00 John Cowart's HEROES ALL traces the history of Jacksonville, Florida, my hometown, from the viewpoint of how many times the place has burned down--or been saved from burning down by heroic firefighters. From 1850 when bucket brigade volunteers grabbed their rifles to shoot an arsonist off the roof of a hotel, right up to the fire department's rescue of a puppy and some other animals from locked cages last year when 200 dogs died in the Humane Society Shelter fire, this book focuses on the bravery and courageous deeds of firefighters who save lives and property daily.
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Print: $17.95 Download: $10.00 John Cowart’s collective biography, Strangers On The Earth, offers miniature portraits of about 20 people who were radically different from the rest of us, people I find to be among the most fascinating characters who ever lived. Some told about in these pages are well known. Others you may have never heard of before. Each one exhibits certain other-worldly characteristics and values which you may find attractive, funny or odd — even repelling. Each of them acted out of place in this world, as though they were strangers here…. Among those profiled here are Astronomer Johannes Kepler, Aristocrat Jeanne Guyon, Farmer Seth Hubbel, Physician Eleanor Chesnut, Explorer Christopher Columbus, Housewife Mary Rowlandson, Saint Patrick of Ireland, Missionary William Carey, and a host of others who lived indeed as strangers on this earth.
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Print: $29.95 Download: $20.00 B/W PAPERBACK by John Cowart: It all happened in Jacksonville, Florida: *Seminole Indians, dressed in the costumes of Shakespearian actors, attacked Mandarin.
*A letter from a prostitute lead Jacksonville’s most popular minister to be aboard the Titanic when she went down (the ship that is).
*Yellow Jack, a monstrous killer, decimated the city.
*Gentleman Jim Corbett, Boxing Champion of America, fought and fought and fought in Jacksonville.
*A pawnbroker buried eight chests of diamonds at Moncrief Springs; his treasure has never been recovered..
*In Riverside, a mule died in Mrs. E.C. Clark’s kitchen.
*A notorious pirate led a prayer meeting at Fort Caroline….
The Great Seaboard Earthquake, The Great Fire, The Great Freeze, The Great Telephone War, and many other events – they all happened in Jacksonville.
*** "Hope you enjoy reading about it." --JWC
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GlogGlog (book)
Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 John Cowart's Glog, a science fiction/humor fantasy, relates the adventures of a sentient dinosaur in the Chesapeake Bay area where he prays for divine guidance while being buffeted by adverse circumstances which confuse the creature to no end.
Glog eats muskrats, lots of muskrats, and hunger motivates him more than anything else. He also illuminates the initial uncials in a biblical manuscript.
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Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 In THE LAZARUS PROJECTS, by John Cowart, a team of modern scientists travels back through time to investigate the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by Roman authorities in the year 33.
Miami businessman Lazarus Wienstien, multi-millionaire owner of one of America's largest breweries, proposes this investigation. The bizarre death of his only grandson on the very day Mr. Wienstien discovers his own cancer motivates him to initiate five research projects, one of which, he hopes, will insure his personal survival after death. These projects include experiments in cyronics, geriatrics, hypnotic regression, resuscitation and resurrection.
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Print: $16.95 Download: $10.00 This is the first book in a series by award-winning columnist Barbara White, who describes herself as an insignificant person following a magnificent Savior; a weak person following a powerful God; a pilgrim following the road Home. She admits being a sinful person on the receiving end of incredible grace. She says, “I write about trying to live the Christian life and failing and trying again”. Her modest yet strong newspaper columns influenced thousands of readers as they followed her struggles and joys along the way; in her spiritual journey, they see their own. Readers from all walks of life and every religious persuasion identify with the transparent reality of her life and writing as they seek their own spiritual depth. Join her in her journey along the way; she’s headed toward someplace we all want to go.
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Print: $16.95 Download: $10.00 For over 15 years at the Florida Times-Union newspaper, award winning journalist Barbara White wrote a personal account of her spiritual journey. Thousands of readers followed her column, Along The Way.
"I write about trying to live the Christian life and failing and trying again," she said.
“God loves us just as we are — and too much to let us stay that way”.
Further Along The Way is the second book in a series of Barbara White’s Along The Way columns to be published by Bluefish Books.
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Print: $16.95 Download: $10.00 For 15 years award-winning journalist Barbara White wrote Along The Way, a weekly column for the Florida Times-Union newspaper, chronicling her personal spiritual journey — 15 Easters, 15 Mothers’ Days, 15 Thanksgivings, 15 Advents, 15 Lents, 15 Fourth of Julys, etc.
Each column was to be read as a stand-alone piece, therefore they retain a timeless quality.
This book collects samples of these outstanding columns related to various holiday seasons as well as a generous sample of columns related to the fun, faith and frustrations Mrs. White experienced in her daily adventures Along The Way. This is the third book in Barbara White’s Along The Way series. —jwc
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Print: $16.95 Download: $10.00 In this fourth book of Barbara White's popular Along The Way series, she experiences joy on her spiritual journey in spite of potholes along the way such as her own cancer, a broken wrist, and her daughter's brain tumor. Her discoveries of rejoicing mirror the spiritual riches available in every reader's own life.
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Print: $22.95 Download: $15.00 John Cowart edited this hitherto unpublished diary of a Confederate soldier. John Thomas Whatley’s diary has been hidden away for almost 150 years and is here presented for the first time. Whatley, of Coweta County, Georgia, wrote in a bound farmer’s ledger from March 2, 1862, till November 27, 1864. In neat Spencerian script Whatley’s diary opens with his accounts while preparing for the defense of Savannah, Georgia; most of the diary’s pages record events there. The diary portion of the text ends with his serving near Petersburg, Virginia. Apparently, much of this time he served with General William J. Hardee’s cavalry. The yankees killed Whatley at Bentonville, North Carolina, on April 14, 1865 — the same day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
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Print: $15.95 Download: $10.00 John Cowart,World's Foremost Authority on unanswered prayer, says, "I've prayed for more things and didn't get them than anyone else I know." But many other people also wonder why their prayers seem to get nowhere. So John's amusing book addresses such issues as: Is Anybody out there to answer prayers? If God is able to answer, then why doesn't he? Is God as mean as a snake? Is there something wrong with my faith, my sins, my breath? If God did speak to me during prayer, would I hear him? If I don't have a whole lot of faith, will God answer me anyhow? Am I praying, or just wishing? And as John worries such questions, he presents his famous Skunk Proof for the existence of a loving God. He dedicates the book to his wife with the words, "I prayed 35 years ago to get over loving you. I'm so glad that God did not answer my prayer"..... NOTE: This book was previously published as "Why Don't I Get What I Pray For?" (IVP, 1993)
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Print: $22.95 Download: $15.00 A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad, by John Cowart, records the humor and happiness of a frustrated writer. John’s daily blog, Rabid Fun, bears the caption, “A befuddled ordinary Christian looks for spiritual realities in day to day living.” Sounds like a downer. Yet, over 104,000 readers from 102 countries visited his website in 2005. A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad reveals John’s happy joys as well as his struggles with temptation over bitterness, resentment, pornography, Microsoft, depression, laziness, Google, Blogger, pettiness, sloth, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and anger. All in all, this is a real-time love story told day by day by a man who loves reality.
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Print: $22.95 Download: $15.00 Have great reading fun as you track joys and frustrations in this light-hearted writer’s diary. Laugh as this happy man wrestles with temptations and ponders the existence and nature of God. Smile at his antics over editing a Civil War diary and the autobiography of a 100-year-old man while at the same time caring for a duck attacked by a raccoon. Enjoy a year’s worth of fun with his wild and rambunctious family. Be amused at the false and mistaken report of his death; and relish his abiding joy in life. Follow John’s exploits as he plans to write THE WORLD’S GREATEST BOOK ON HUMILITY! as a future project.
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Print: $22.95 Download: $15.00 In this third book of John Cowart’s Dirty Old Man Diaries series the author shares his fun-filled adventures as he takes his wife off for a romantic get-away weekend to an Indian burial mound. But it’s not all fun as John wrestles with the problem of, “If God Loves Me, Then Why Won’t My Lawnmower Start?”. Readers share John’s frustration as he worries over two sneaky 16th Century Puritans with the same name and as he turns a shopping bag filled with newspaper clippings into a book. And readers laugh as John plays the part of the “Ugliest Virgin Ever” in a Christmas play when he tries to diaper a Teddy Bear amid clouds of baby powder. In the midst of these humorous adventures, John continually falls to temptations, yet keeps stumbling along seeking spiritual reality in everyday life.
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Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 Samuel Ward, a moderate Puritan, lived from 1577 to 1643. His life spanned from the reign of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, through that of King James. and into the days of Charles I.
Surviving pages of his diary run from May 11, 1595 to July 1, 1632.
He served the Second Cambridge Company Translation Committee, comprised of the finest biblical and linguistic scholars of his day, to produce the 1611 King James Bible, the world’s most popular book.
Ward walked a thin line between Puritan and Established Church factions. While perusing his academic career at Cambridge, he preached solid Puritan sermons yet rose to become the royal chaplain for King James, head of the Established Church.
Ward’s diary reveals that while he cared deeply about larger academic, political and church polity matters, his main concern was his own walk with Christ.
He wrote to remind himself of his daily sins and faults, and also to remind himself of God’s many blessings to him.
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Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 The diary of Richard Rogers, a Puritan minister in the time of the first Queen Elizabeth, resonates with features of my own life.
Rogers lived between 1550 and 1618; his extant diary covers from February 28, 1587 to August 26, 1590. This present text is based on materials transcribed by Dr. M.M. Knappen.
When I first encountered the Diary Of Richard Rogers, the man’s search for God moved me to seek the Lord myself with more intensity and less pretense.
The diary of this good and godly man inspired me in my own spiritual walk.
That’s what spiritual diaries are supposed to do.
—— John Cowart
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Print: $18.95 Download: $15.00 Edited by Wes Bassett, Joseph P. King's autobiography spotlights American life between 1846 and 1946. King tells of his boyhood in Wilmington, N.C., during the Civil War, his bout with Yellow Fever, and his love affair with his wife of 60 years. He also tells of his long service as a minister. Included is his defense when he was put on trial for heresy in 1880. This 2nd edition contains corrections, additions, and a section of newly uncovered and collected photographs.
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Print: $20.95 Download: $15.00 Editor John Cowart said, "I bought an old wooden file drawer a few years ago at a yard sale in the Riverside section of Jacksonville, Florida. As best I recall, I paid three dollars for the file drawer and its contents. Inside I found this collection of letters touching on Little Rock, Arkansas', and Jacksonville, Florida's, history and culture from a man interested in family, cooking, gardening, gunsmithing, computers, geology, wines, weather ... and gnomes."
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Print: $16.95 Download: $10.00 John Cowart’s collection, Gravedigger’s Christmas & Other Tales: Fact, Fiction, And The Normal Daily Grind, provides entertaining and amusing, yet enlightening, short stories, articles and essays related to daily life as well as to various holidays. Readings in the 230 page book range from “John Burns His Own Stupid Foot” for April Fool’s Day, to serious meditations such as “The Ugliest Picture In The World” for Easter. In these pages love stories abound, such as “The Girl In My Shower” and “The Fig Factor”. And the book also addresses deep philosophical and theological issues such as “Are There Reindeer In Heaven?” and “Was Jesus A Ghost?”. All these chapters combine to make for light happy reading no matter what the occasion — even if it’s just making it through your normal daily grind.
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eBook: $10.00 A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad, by John Cowart, records the humor and happiness of a frustrated writer. John’s daily blog, Rabid Fun, bears the caption, “A befuddled ordinary Christian looks for spiritual realities in day to day living.” Sounds like a downer. Yet, over 104,000 readers from 102 countries visited his website in 2005. A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad reveals John’s happy joys as well as his struggles with temptation over bitterness, resentment, pornography, Microsoft, depression, laziness, Google, Blogger, pettiness, sloth, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and anger. All in all, this is a real-time love story told day by day by a man who loves reality.
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eBook: $8.00 John Cowart’s collective biography, Strangers On The Earth, offers miniature portraits of about 20 people who were radically different from the rest of us, people I find to be among the most fascinating characters who ever lived. Some told about in these pages are well known. Others you may have never heard of before. Each one exhibits certain other-worldly characteristics and values which you may find attractive, funny or odd — even repelling. Each of them acted out of place in this world, as though they were strangers here…. Among those profiled here are Astronomer Johannes Kepler, Aristocrat Jeanne Guyon, Farmer Seth Hubbel, Physician Eleanor Chesnut, Explorer Christopher Columbus, Housewife Mary Rowlandson, Saint Patrick of Ireland, Missionary William Carey, and a host of others who lived indeed as strangers on this earth.
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eBook: $10.00 John Cowart edited this hitherto unpublished diary of a Confederate soldier. John Thomas Whatley’s diary has been hidden away for almost 150 years and is here presented for the first time. Whatley, of Coweta County, Georgia, wrote in a bound farmer’s ledger from March 2, 1862, till November 27, 1864. In neat Spencerian script Whatley’s diary opens with his accounts while preparing for the defense of Savannah, Georgia; most of the diary’s pages record events there. The diary portion of the text ends with his serving near Petersburg, Virginia. Apparently, much of this time he served with General William J. Hardee’s cavalry. The yankees killed Whatley at Bentonville, North Carolina, on April 14, 1865 — the same day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
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eBook: $15.00 John Cowart's history tells how it all happened in Jacksonville, Florida: *Seminole Indians, dressed in the costumes of Shakespearian actors, attacked Mandarin. *A letter from a prostitute lead Jacksonville’s most popular minister to be aboard the Titanic when she went down (the ship that is). *Yellow Jack, a monstrous killer, decimated the city. *Gentleman Jim Corbett, Boxing Champion of America, fought and fought and fought in Jacksonville. *A pawnbroker buried eight chests of diamonds at Moncrief Springs; his treasure has never been recovered.. *In Riverside, a mule died in Mrs. E.C. Clark’s kitchen. *A notorious pirate led a prayer meeting at Fort Caroline…. The Great Seaboard Earthquake, The Great Fire, The Great Freeze, The Great Telephone War, and many other events – they all happened in Jacksonville. *** "Hope you enjoy reading about it." --JWC
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eBook: $9.95 In THE LAZARUS PROJECTS, by John Cowart, a team of modern scientists travels back through time to investigate the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by Roman authorities in the year 33. Miami businessman Lazarus Wienstien, multi-millionaire owner of one of America's largest breweries, proposes this investigation. The bizarre death of his only grandson on the very day Mr. Wienstien discovers his own cancer motivates him to initiate five research projects, one of which, he hopes, will insure his personal survival after death. These projects include experiments in cyronics, geriatrics, hypnotic regression, resuscitation and resurrection.
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