Verlin Darrow is currently a psychotherapist who lives with his psychotherapist wife in La Selva Beach, Ca. They diagnose each other as necessary. He can be reached at verlindarrow@gmail.com, and his website is verlindarrow.com.Verlin is a former professional volleyball player (in Italy), country-western singer/songwriter, import store owner, NCAA coach, sheetmetal worker, newspaper columnist, taxi driver, and night janitor. (The first half of his life was continuity-challenged).Verlin was patted on the head by Einstein, travelled around the world on a spiritual pilgrimage, and has published three previous novels under other names (but he hides the extant copies of these under his bed.) He served as the assistant guru (kind of like a vice-president but more clueless) in a small, benign spiritual organization. Eventually, he graduated himself and everyone else out of it. Verlin missed being blown up by Mt. St. Helens by ten minutes, survived the 1985 Mexico City earthquake (8.0), and (so far) has successfully weathered numerous internal disasters. Here is a collection of Verlin's other unlikely life events:​-Rescued a dog who fell through the ice-Vowed not to cry anymore at age 5 and only did once until 18. (This is NOT a good idea).-Wrote radio jingles-Had amnesia-Grandfather was last of 23 children-Great-grandfather worked seven days a week for 70 years-Taught at universities-Can heal with hands-NCAA coach -Call-in radio therapist-As a young man, he could dunk emphatically, jump onto the roof of a VW bug from a standing start, and otherwise show off amazing aerial feats to girls who never seemed to be impressed.​                        Verlin Speaks:​I began writing books in a campground outside Naples, Italy when I was nineteen. The first novel was hideously amateurish. The quality of my writing progressed all the way up to just plain bad by the time I’d written a few more. That era of my life was characterized by an inability to learn much, since that would’ve entailed acknowledging that I didn’t already know everything.I let go of writing while I focused on avoiding work and trying to convince the world that it was fine if my unrealized potential remained unrealized. A few years later, as my garbage-eating hound farted for the millionth time on a given evening, my wife at the time suggested that I write a book entitled THE DOG THAT FARTED HIS WAY TO MARS. Inspired by her down home wisdom, I wrote a children’s book entitled THE DOG THAT BURPED HIS WAY TO JUPITER. It wasn’t horrible. I found an agent and we almost sold it, which was enough motivation for me to keep writing. After NIGHTMARES ARE CAUSED BY BAD DUST BUNNIES and several other unsuccessful Pinkwateresque titles, I returned to adult novels and honed my craft by refusing to take any creative writing classes or accept any editorial suggestions from real writers.Once again, drawn by other interests (and the carryover of avoiding work), I let go of serious writing for a time. This era embodied a service orientation--helping troubled people as a psychotherapist and mentor.In the last few years, I've felt drawn to the keyboard again, and I have four traditionally published novels to show for it: BLOOD and WISDOM (a mystery), COATTAIL KARMA (a fantasy thriller), PRODIGY QUEST (a genius kid searching for a book of wisdom), and MURDER FOR LIAR (a psychological thriller.)You know, for a work avoidant guy, I’ve certainly written a lot of manuscripts. Maybe I need to update my sense of self. On the other hand, looking across the room at the dishes in the sink, maybe not. -Verlin                             There you go. A lot more than you needed to know.​​​Read more about this authorRead less about this author