THE OTHER SIDE OF BAD is Released On Amazon

One may wonder what it would be like to be on the dark side. How does one get there and once there, how does one return? R.O. Barton does just that in The Other Side Of Bad, available on Amazon.com today. Barton doesn't believe that anyone starts out on the dark side, but knows the symptoms. In The Other Side Of Bad, the first of the Tucker Series, he tells the story of Tucker's transformation from his secret and violent past into a twenty-first century protector and problem-solving gunfighter. He struggles to reconcile the healing love of his childhood-sweetheart with mind-wrecking survival guilt from her bloody death. Thus, the Tucker Series is the semi-autobiographical story of Tucker's re-genesis and the philosophy he adopts to embrace fate.

Barton casts his characters with disarming frankness-characters large and eccentric-with arcane talents and a taste for brinkmanship. The Other Side Of Bad is visual, visceral, and a trip to the other side.

Cheers From The Bull & Finch Pub author, Steven Prati:
"The Other Side Of Bad, by R.O. Barton, like its title, is a gotcha; gotcha and won't let you go until you've been through an assassination attempt in Nashville, a face-off in a Louisiana biker bar, the mother of all drug-deals-gone-bad in the wilds of Mexico, and more between the scenes action than a Rambo night out."

Carter Andrews in his review of The Other Side Of Bad says, "This is a great, fun ride in the spirit of Lee Child and Steven Hunter but with the more advanced atmospherics of James Lee Burke. The hero Tucker has terrific swagger and a great way with the damsels. With a blazing plot line, this first time author instantly takes his place alongside the masters of the genre. Get this book. I guarantee you will enjoy every second. Count me in for the next installment!"

Leah S. Marcus, Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University says in her review of The Other Side of Bad, "Barton has a sure ear for dialogue...He is a natural -born story teller with a semi-philosophical bent....I was raised a Quaker with strongly pacifist parents and an abhorrence for guns, but I still found Barton's gun-toting hero utterly fascinating. I would like to read more Tucker books, and I suspect there are many people like me out there."

Barton was born to a fighter pilot and an Elizabeth Taylor look-a-like in the Philippines where he resided until the age of 3. He spent another three years in Japan before moving back to his parents' homeland, landing in a very volatile Louisiana. Little did he know that these formative years would instigate his journey to the Tucker Novels. Having been shot twice and stabbed once as a young man, a trait to heal others was aroused and later fulfilled. In the interim, he was a natural jack of all trades, taking jobs from driving forklifts to being a bodyguard, where he became familiar with firearms, to riding bulls and calf roping. He even owned a business in Jamaica from 1984-87, setting the stage for one of the Tucker Series novels.

Barton moved to Nashville where he did an apprenticeship with master luthier RAndy Wood who owned the Old Time Pickin' Parlor. After several years of repairing stringed instruments and building guitars, he started his own company with the support of his lovely wife focusing on building guitars for mainstream musicians and celebrities. Not only did he learn a great deal about the music industry, but he witnessed the dark sides which he brings to light in The Other Side Of Bad. After his wife's horrifying death, the pain of continuing the business they created together was too great and he put aside his woodworking tools for good. It was then that he opened a physical therapy practice, where he continues his mission to heal others. At the same time, he began construction on a home in the woods of Tennessee, building the perfect place to find the self and a voice for writing. After years of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and repeated night terrors, Barton commenced to write as a catharsis.

Barton says, "As soon as I got right with the death of my wife and began to write, the night terrors went away. It was a new beginning, a metamorphosis and R.O. Barton had to come out."

Now that The Other Side Of Bad is out, Barton is counting his blessings and already close to completing the second of the Tucker Series, Valley Of Redemption. Barton says, "I will continue to write as long as I have the stories in me and look forward to seeing these novels in film one day."

"Writing a book is a hard process, the hardest thing I've ever done," continues Barton. "You just have to sit down and do it. It takes discipline. You can get stuck in a chair for 8 to 10 hours and you think it's two. An English Lit professor, when asked for advice, would say 'Just write what you know, go out and live a life, experience pain, experience love, etc., but you have to live life.' that's all I did."

Barton is incorporating all of his past into this new path. He and good friend, Johnny Rivers Bicknell wrote a series of songs to go with the novel. One may feel a movie coming on.

The Other Side of Bad can be found at Amazon.com, the Kindle ebooks.

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