A standing room only crowd came to hear Bruce native David Box talk about his newest book and life growing up in Mississippi.
David and his wife, the former Yvonne King, of Oxford, live in a small town in Wyoming now.
David said he wasn’t sure where his writing skills came from, but it wasn’t until later years he began writing.
“I hated school,” David told the group. “Hated it. I would have rather been off in the woods spending time with my dog, and that’s what I did after school.”
He described himself as a loner growing up, and in his time in the woods, driving a tractor and then driving a truck, he gathered a lot of ideas.
“You spend time by yourself and your mind works differently,” he said.
But it was probably his 18 years as a Lafayette County deputy that spurred his popular Daniel Barker series.
David has written five books– four of them in the Barker series.
The series is about a retired government operative who worked all over the world, comes back home and is always running up on a dead body.
The first book he wrote– Like Father, Like Son, was his last published.
“And nobody wanted it,” he said. “I probably sent it out 12 times, and each time it (the manuscript) would come back, a little more tattered each time.”
A Few Days Back in Mississippi is the first book that actually came out.
“It felt good, it was selling, most of it was to family, but y’all were buying it.
David talked about his large family, many in attendance.
“My daddy (Hoyt) was one of ten kids and my mother’s (Frances) mother was among ten.
David joked that he had to move out of Calhoun County to marry to find someone he wasn’t kin to.
Other books he has written are Barker books– The Pig Farmer’s Daughter, The Missing Crocketts and the historical Booth After Lincoln (historical fiction).
He said he really enjoyed the historical books, but it was the Barker books, that had started to get a following. “I’m really still in the hobby stage with my writing.”
He has more Daniel Barker books planned in the future, but hopes to do some stand alone books along the way.
Writing, however, isn’t David’s only hobby– he makes spurs, knives, Tomahawks and other leatherworks and has taught himself how to play the guitar.
He has also had several how-to articles published in BackWoodsMan Magazine over the years.
David’s books are available on Amazon and Kindle and signed copies can also be ordered. His email is boxrange@aol.com.