Mangham said he was impressed by a Grisham interview on television just after "The Firm" was released as a movie. "Grisham was really sad that his book had been turned into an R-rated movie," said Mangham. "He said he had written all his books so he would not be ashamed to have his children read them."
This interview made Mangham realize that action-packed novels could be written without the use of strong language. He knew he had achieved his goal when a proofreader remarked about the contemporary action, and another asked if she could let her children read it while she corrected it.
Mangham, who said he'll be a kid all his life - "just an old kid" - volunteered each day during the rebuilding of Sylva's Poteet Park.
"I signed up for three hours that first morning and I woke up and thought, 'Now why did I do that?' But after that first day, I was hooked. I came every single day; I never had so much fun in my life," he told The Herald during a visit Friday. "In fact, that was a turning point in my life. I like the community involvement and have since worked on a Habitat for Humanity house."
Writing in long hand on a legal pad, Mangham said he likes to write on overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway, on the porches of houses with beautiful views where the owners have gone back to Florida for the winter, in pastures off deserted mountain roads, and on the campus benches of Western Carolina University.
For 14 years he taught creative writing at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., along with Western civilization, psychology, sociology and English literature.
To be believable, the best writers write about something they know. Manghum's main character is a community college professor who teaches Western civilization, commuting from his home in Carrabelle to Panama City.
The route along the professor's Carrabelle River commute turns out to be a perfect route for ferrying drugs. What overworked, underpaid college professor with a pregnant wife isn't interested in making extra cash just for transporting an attaché cash - "no questions asked" - on each trip?
But as the professor learns, "It's deeper than I thought it would be. Bigger than I thought it would be."
Suddenly the professor is also working for the FBI, and each time the reader thinks he's pegged a character's next action, Mangham whips out a surprise at every corner.
Mangham said he felt "very alive while writing this book. About a third of the way through, the characters take over; they just took me places I'd never dreamed of going. I hated it when the story ended."
But as one curtain closes on the powerful ending, another curtain rises, begging for a sequel.
"The Accidental Agent" is available at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.
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