John Sparks
John Sparks is a part-time writer who spent
10 years researching and writing his history
of the “Old Time” Baptist Churches in
Southern Appalachia. A lab technician at Our
Lady of the Way Hospital in Martin, he finished the book The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: the Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns (University Press of Kentucky, 2001) while his union was on strike. Appalachian scholar Loyal Jones encouraged him to
send the manuscript to the University Press of Kentucky. It was published as part of its "Religion in the South" series.
In 2005, Sparks published a biography of “Raccoon John” Smith, the most famous and flamboyant preacher in Eastern Kentucky during the frontier era.
In April 2009, his novel/audio The Last Dance of Gus Finley was released. John Sparks' fictional account of events leading up to the hanging of Gus Finley. John narrates the event by being the voice of Finley and the eyes and ears of an Appalachian community. Frank Harman and John Addington, cousins of sorts, set out to attend the grand festival, the hanging of Gus Finley for the murder of Jim Hunt. For Frank and his friend, the event is traumatic and haunts Frank for the rest of his life.
John Sparks recently released a nonfiction biography Kentucky’s Most Hated Man. This book and his others will be available at the book signing on November 9th.
John Sparks lives at Hager Hill, Kentucky with his wife and family.
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