James Hitt is a graduate of North Texas State University and holds a BA in English and history and a MA in history.In addition to his many articles related to the American West and film, he is the author of THE AMERICAN WEST, FROM FICTION INTO FILM (Macfarland, 1991), which reviewers cited as the definitive monograph on the subject; and WORDS AND SHADOWS (Citadel, 1993), which examines mainstream American Literature and its connection to film.

Mr. Hitt is also represented in THE LOUIS L'AMOUR COMPANION (Andrews and McMeel, 1992). In 2009, his short story 'The Boy With Too Much Hair' won the grand prize for best fantasy story from Once Written.Com. In 2010, Aberdeen Bay released CARNY, A NOVEL IN STORIES. which won the coveted Grand Prize for Fiction from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. In 2016, his novel THE COURAGE OF OTHERS was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2018, his latest novel BODIE (Black Horse Press, 2018) was touted by Roundup, the official magazine of the Western Writers of America, as "the kind of Western that every traditionalist novelist seeks to pen."

He had also been a guest speaker at the Gene Autry Museum.