About the Author

Mark Kiester is the youngest of three sons.  His mother, Jane Kiester, is an acclaimed teacher of both French and English. She has authored nine books that offer a new, laugh-filled approach to an old, often boring discipline. Her books include the well-known and widely-used “Grammar with a Giggle” series.

Mark’s father, Charles Kiester, championed efforts as a planner to curb urban sprawl throughout North Central Florida. Chuck was instrumental in saving the Suwannee River from development and he has left behind a legacy that is still alive today.

Mark studied Finance, and later Accounting, at the University of Florida.  His experience includes both public and private organizations, and he is currently an auditor for the Alachua County Tax Collector.  Mark  lives and works in Gainesville, Florida with his Boxer, “Rocky.”  He formerly raced for the Championship University of Florida Cycling Team and he enjoys exploring the back roads and trails of the rural South.  Glitter in the Dark is his first novel, followed by A Book for Every Body, from which the first chapter, Earl Thomas, is his first short story.

He has also authored several poems, one self-published:

Forever More

A blind man wanders aimlessly, sightless for fifty years

He observes everything, but sees nothing at all

Lurking dark city streets, your sight is his smell

Fresh pastries, stale coffee, he tastes each delight tentatively

A revelation with each try

Continual conversations pass by mostly unnoticed, unconcerned

But welcomed by one

Footsteps and shuffles provide rhythm

Orchestrating timelines, stories of life

He adds color and light, dancing images unfathomed by all

Red, green, purple and gold

Vivid perceptions, twisted illusions, ones we cannot translate

Unimaginable, much like his misfortune as told

Truth be known, forever more

He is a happy man, nothing less, nothing more

 

Generations of poets, songwriters, journalists, historians, tale-tellers, teachers, speakers and childhood dreamers have fostered numerous genera, person, tense, style and other qualities that have not been – and will never be – categorized, qualified, judged or remembered.  This collection of madness passes down from one generation to the next in a variation of character, of rhyme or rhythm, of reasoning or doubt, of happiness or despair – each in colors never thought possible.