Danny Adams

Took me long enough, but I finally got serious about trying to sell my writing in 2004, and my first book (science fiction, co-written with veteran SF author Philip Jose Farmer) came out in September 2007. :) I graduated from Roanoke College in 1998, did a stint as a defense contractor in Northern Virginia from 2000 to 2002, married my favorite person in the world in May of '02, and since October of '02 I've been the evening librarian at Ferrum College. Along with the book I've also published about fifteen short stories and thirty poems (almost all SF and fantasy), plus several more essays and reviews.

Working on now: A multigenerational historical novel two-book series that starts in 1646 and ends in the present day. The first book (Shenandoah) I finished at the end of 2008; I'm about halfway through Book Two (The Great Valley) and hope to have it finished by fall. This series is one I've actually had in my head since I was a sophomore at Byrd!

Like an increasingly large part of the world, I also have a blog: madwriter.liverjournal.com . (Thanks to Mark Wheeler for giving me that nickname in Mrs. Yost's 8th grade typing class at Byrd Junior...that nickname is now more appropriate than ever.)

I'll tell you--I've been looking over everybody's pictures, and I think we're all even better looking than we were in 1988. ;)

Undoubtedly I would've gotten much better grades in high school if I hadn't spent most of my classes writing stories...or daydreaming about the stories I would write after I got home. Fortunately for me I learned to multitask!

German Club! Herr (aka Monsieur) Rodney Ferguson commanding. There were a few folks from '88 there like Ron Brooks, but most were '87: Elizabeth Bishop (who transferred to Lord Botetourt), John Boyer (did you guys hear about his "Plaid Avenger" textbook last year?), Ed Vaughn, Melissa Bobbitt, a foreign exchange student named Julia Thon, and so many others. They tried so hard to bring me out of my shell...

It occurs to me now that I never dated anyone native to Byrd (at least not seriously). How odd. I went out for awhile with a friend named Cheryll Beasley before she moved back back to Virginia Beach, but otherwise my only serious girlfriend was a Cave Spring '89er named Iva-Michele King. Now I feel like I wasted a lot of my time at Byrd. :)

I got bullied a lot growing up and into high school, but looking back I have to thank them--because starting my senior year I realized that most bullies really are cowards, and since then have challenged bullies of any stripe when I've come across them. School boards or politicians, fractions-of-men harassing or stalking female friends, doesn't matter. It's amazing how fast so many of them chicken out when you stand up to them. (And I never saw any of those bullies starting my senior year...I wonder why. :) )