Long Evolution

Available now on Amazon.com

It’s been a long time coming for me. Plenty of suspense, intrigue, love, murder, mayhem – a novel that will entertain!

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Shadow-Hope-Andrew-Spradling-ebook/dp/B01EVP2A7U?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1

All is well at Lookout Mountain State University. Its football program is breaking into the Top 10 for the first time in school history, and the trimmings that surround that honor add up to high times for everybody involved. That is, until Compliance Director Dwayne Price discovers that multi-millionaire booster Chap Roberts is paying cash to academic non-qualifiers – mostly blue chippers turned away by major universities – to live on campus while earning their eligibility. Price, as he begins to date enticing colleague Amber Duffy, digs deeper and finds more going on than he would have ever imagined, including extortion. When Roberts, who is Coach Sam Rosemont’s best friend, and his henchman Jim Wheatley learn of Price’s investigation, things come unraveled at LMSU. What follows is a riveting story you won’t want to put down.

Oasis

The landscape was planned with meticulous care,

For the pretty young woman and her rugged ol’ bear.

From the pool in the ground to the Tiki for drinks,

To the hot tub for warmth and occasional winks.

A space built purely with pleasure in mind,

From the pit for the fire, to the wide screen up high.

Plants placed just so, and statues as well,

Music, and torches, and plenty of ale.

A grill that would handle the crowds that would come,

The host fun-loving, the hostess quite numb.

A hammock for lounging and plenty of chairs,

For the silicone sun queen, who loved to get stares.

The wheels fell off as they so often do,

The lady too often shared more than her food.

Lapses in judgement piled up like cds,

The evidence there, of “do-as-you-please.”

There was pleading and hope and bending by one,

For the sake of the children and the future of fun.

But the garden grew over, and their love like the fence,

Fell in disrepair, too broken to fix.

Unable to hide the unthinkable truths,

Read the gospel of cheating, as written by Ruth.

Search the dusty barren for that which you must,

But look inward, cherish love, more than you lust.

© 2016

Dig Deep

 

There’s no such place, there’s no such way,

Time duly invested, means nothing they say.

 

A meadow, a brook, a tree with a view,

A life spent in limbo, a box just won’t do.

 

If ever a song could reach out to a crowd.

If ever a storm sent the sun tumbling down.

 

The garden will grow and so will the thoughts.

But the weeds must be cleared for the seeds to make crops.

 

There’s beauty in growth, be it peppers or boys,

Or tiny girl toddlers with dolls as their toys.

 

To see they grow right is backbreaking toil,

But for the sake of the world, put the trowel in the soil.

 

© 2016