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Gary Porter or Monongahela recently published his debut book, Sparrow, through Resource Publications, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, based in Eugene, OR.  Porter was born and raised in Scenery Hill, PA and now lives in Monongahela with his wife and son.  He works at a homeless shelter.  He has been writing ever since he was a little boy, but this is his first published book.

“I started writing stories when I was very young,” Porter said.  “I was probably like seven or eight years old.  Back then, I wrote adventure stories about people running through the woods and jumping off a cliff into a river and then going over a waterfall.  That was the basic plot of every story.  It was never clear why they were doing any of it.  It was always just an adventure for the sake of adventure.”   

Sparrow, a 66-page novella, is a gritty and realistic story about a family ripped apart by addiction – a far cry from the escapism of his childhood adventure stories.  

“I work at a homeless shelter,” Porter said, explaining the inspiration for the book.  “Through that experience, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many people in recovery, people who struggle against addiction every single day.  But every day, they wake up and they fight for a better life for themselves and their families.  As far as I’m concerned, they’re heroes, and we can all learn a lot from them.”

“But I’ve also heard stories,” he continued, “about how addiction destroys lives – not just the lives of addicts but also the lives of everyone around them.”

Sparrow follows the fictional story of Pastor Judah Greeves and his wife, Esther.  Their marriage is deteriorating and their lives falling apart.  Their only daughter, Sparrow, ran away from home six years earlier when she was only 15.  They have not heard from her since, and they don’t know if she is alive or dead.  One day, they get a call from a stranger who tells them that their daughter has overdosed and died.  The next morning, they pack up their truck and travel 1,000 miles to identify her body and bring her back home.  What happens next shatters their lives into a 1,000 pieces.  

“I tried to quit writing many times,” Porter said. He had been struggling to publish his fiction for many years.  “But it just kept reeling me back in.  For me, writing was never really about getting published and making money or anything.  It was just about living my best life, I guess.”  

“Having a family is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he added, “but as I got older and got more responsibilities, it got harder and harder to make time for writing.  But I really want to model for my son the importance of chasing after your dreams and pursuing your passions, so I stuck with it.  And now I have my own book.  And it’s an awesome feeling!  So I would tell anyone to keep following their passions.  The world might try to beat you down with barrier after barrier or rejection after rejection, but you just gotta keep getting back up and keep fighting every day, because every day is worth it.”

You can purchase Porter’s book, Sparrow, online at amazon.com, wipfandstock.com, and barnesandnoble.com. 

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