Mike Maddock

I am the owner and publisher of The Columbia Star (www.thecolumbiastar.com), a weekly newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina and I've been threatening to write a book for about 30 years. With work, family (my wife, three children, and multiple dogs over the years), and life in general, that threat got delayed and delayed until finally I got it done with Sunnybrook.

Columbia is my birthplace, but I have lived in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Salt Lake City, UT; Greenville, SC; and several other stops along the way for college and some summers. Sunnybrook is based loosely on my time in Alabama.

I have been writing an award-winning, real life humor column for The Columbia Star since 1999, and my new book sticks to that formula. Write what you know, right?

I want my audience to have a blast reading my stories. There's something for everybody because we all share this little adventure called life. It's hysterical and sometimes horrible, but in the end we're all just getting through the best we can.

So my goal is for my readers to feel like they're visiting an old friend when they read my stories. If I've made my readers fondly reminisce, laugh out loud, occasionally shed a tear, and finish that last word with a big smile on their faces, then I've done my job.