John Parrot was raised without television in a literal barn in the wilds of southern Missouri. His first loves were basketball, the Dallas Cowboys, and the ocean. The latter he first visited at the age of two.

His parents plunked him down on the sand of Galveston Island in Texas to see what he would do. After a solid half hour of listening to him say excitedly, “Here comes another one,” to each and every wave, they began to think they might have birthed an imbecile.

After high school, John Parrot's excellent GPA, athleticism, and world class good looks landed him an appointment to the US Naval Academy. Unfortunately, he quickly came to the conclusion that he didn't like people telling him what to do, which made the military a poor choice.

Eschewing a life of admiration and prestige, he embarked upon a series of low-paying, unremarkable jobs: bartender, fitness coach, truck driver, convenience store clerk, security guard, singer, limo driver, freelance writer, and paralegal.

In 1992, John discovered Key West, Carl Hiaasen, and Jimmy Buffett, and life would never be the same. He returned home to open the Blue Coconut Seafood Market five hundred miles from the ocean. During slow times he squirreled himself away in the back room and wrote fiction.

Though he takes his writing deadly seriously, some people laugh at the results.

Sign up for John Parrot’s email list at www.troplit.com.