Note from Darrel

​     I never studied much, school wasn’t a big interest for me. In retrospect, I wish I had.  But, what I did was read. Didn’t have much of a childhood, so I read to escape I suppose.  Four to five books a week—from middle school into adulthood.  You name it—I read it.  
     Changing schools over twenty times from kindergarten to twelfth grade gave me insight into people and circumstances—and the value of standing your ground.  I loved science fiction, but when the genre morphed to dragons and zombies, I dropped out.  
     Being raised in rural America bent me toward adventure novels and westerns, and I’ve been writing since I was young.  Reading an adventure novel and wanting to get on to the next one gave me the style in my writing of picking a week or so in the protagonist’s life and riding hell-bent from problem to solution.  My heroes are prone to suddenness of action and intent.
​     Writing can exorcise your demons, give you the pleasure of a story well told, and drive you to distraction.  But it is always a ride worth taking.
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Darrel Sparkman is a published author of eight novels, two novellas, over a dozen short stories and has been a feature writer for Saddlebag Dispatches. Ideas come from a diverse past of serving as a combat search and rescue helicopter crewman in Vietnam and a volunteer Emergency Medical Tech. He has worked as a professional photographer, computer repair tech and was part-owner of a commercial greenhouse operation and flower shop. Darrel is enjoying semi-retirement and finally has that job that wakes you up every day with a smile.