Bøger af John Sparks

Before the end of the 19th century, the hanging of Gus Finley had a profound effect on a mountain community in Kentucky.

John Sparks is a writer, historian, former preacher, and healthcare worker living at Hagerhill, Kentucky. Family Wreath is a collection of short stories on Appalachian life, told from the perspective of a medical worker, a fictional character named Tom Harmon. The "Family Wreath" is the eastern Kentucky equivalent of the pedigree or family tree, the bloodlines of a community settled for so long by two or three families that everybody is related to everybody else, often half a dozen different ways. Everyone in a Family Wreath is involved, justified or not, in everyone else's business, but conversely, the folds of the Wreath are great places to hide things that nobody wants to talk about.

This is the third series in the adventures of Ken Puckett, whom wanted nothing more then to become an Olympic boxing champion. His military experience had him going in the right direction to seeing his dream come true. But he soon found out that dreams sometimes become side tracked, and life's circumstances sometimes change. Follow Ken in his final bout with his emotions, his ring battles, and his maturation into adulthood.

In the spring of 2016, when things were getting just about their craziest in American politics, I was approached by the editor of the then-extant "Around Town" family of newspapers in the Big Sandy Valley of eastern Kentucky, to write a weekly column that would appear in all three papers: Around Paintsville, Around Prestonsburg, and Around Louisa. At first I wondered if I could write on demand in the fashion the papers required, with any degree of brevity or wit either one; but as I warmed to the task, I even began to like it. Unfortunately, Around Town's publisher left the newspaper business the following year, and of course that also spoke the end for all its features, including my column. Yet in reading over these variegated little essays now, the summer of 2018, their continuing validity surprises me: the historical ones certainly, the religious/philosophical ones perhaps, and what appears to me to be a strikingly large number of the political ones. And so the old Common Tater offers up his wit--or as a friend and correspondent once put it, half-wit--once again in this collection in the hope that others might enjoy rereading them and recalling the very, very strange time in which they were written.

"O Come Unto Christmas" is a Christmas Eve devotional for family home use. The devotional includes selected scripture readings telling the story of Jesus' birth, traditional Christmas carols, prayers (including one by Robert Louis Stevenson), and original poems by the author. The complete gospel accounts of the birth of Christ, from both Mathew and Luke, are included in the back of the book for reference.

365 Ideas To Go From Good To Great On TWITTER! contains 365 Brilliant and Insightful Ideas To Increase Your Visibility and Grow Your Followers on Twitter. In this book, author and social media power influencer, John Sparks shares his secrets on how he grew his Twitter Account from less than 800 followers to almost 200,000 followers in just two years.

John Sparks is a writer, historian, former preacher, and healthcare worker living at Hagerhill, Kentucky. Waiting for God, O.T. is a collection of short stories on Appalachian life, told from the perspective of a medical worker, a fictional character named Tom Harmon. The tales, be they tall or short, are a mixed bag. John Sparks says about Tom, "In our junior year, the last spring semester before Tom and I went into our clinicals, the Drama Department put on the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot and Tom read for and got the part of Lucky. He very nearly broke the audience up, those he didn't insult, with his rendition of Lucky thinking out loud. Tom sang and chanted the script while holding onto his ear and shaking hands with the other characters like an old-time mountain Baptist preacher. After the poison-pen letters started appearing in the town newspaper, one of the Deans threatened to expel us for that little prank. After we started our careers, Tom would pass an occasional recollection about the play to me and say that instead of waiting for Godot he was now waiting for God, O.T., using the common hospital abbreviation for overtime hours worked."

TOP SECRET EMERGENCY TELEGRAPH - To: Authorized Personnel Only; Location: National Aeronautics Research Consortium (N.A.R.C.) Labs. From: Doctor Robert J. Guttenberg, N.A.R.C. Director. Attention, all personnel: Your help is desperately needed in relaying this message to anyone who will listen. One week ago, N.A.R.C. labs received an unearthly signal, emanating from the far side of the moon. The renowned Harvard graduate Dr. Sing Ann Howell can barely hold our computer together. Effective immediately, by Presidential order, a 24-hour work rotation is in effect. Project Blue Star, America's nuclear rocket, is being pulled from its ashes. Pilot training will be provided by Captain Tom Dangerfield in an effort to beat the Soviet response. Time is of the essence. We cannot allow ourselves to lose the race for this unearthly mystery ... Addendum: Over eleven hours ago, Tom Dangerfield and I encountered a woman of distinction who claims to be Anna Urisa, captain of the Guild scout ship from the planet Arseina, broadcasting the distress signal that we are now receiving. The validity of her story is unknown ... our traditional beliefs and ideas may be the defining elements, limiting our ability to see the truth. I encourage everyone to see past our earthly limitations, as they may be our undoing ...

In "365 Ideas To Go From Good To Great At NETWORKING!" John Sparks (@IAmJohnSparks) shows you how the use of six social networking websites can translate into big money and success for both you and your business. He also shares his offline strategies used to build his most powerful and influential relationships.