Mr. Cosby wore a flannel shirt, baggy work jeans, work boots, a ball cap, and had lots of facial hair, so when he began to speak, I knew that I was in for some entertaining and colorful stories.
Mr. Cosby delightfully told stories about how his writing career developed. Although he grew up poor, his mother, aunt and grandmother were constantly reading mysteries, romance and thriller novels that they picked up by the stacks at yard sales. They would pass the books on to young Shawn, although sometimes the covers were missing because they were too racy for a young boy.
At Mathews High School, a teacher noticed that Mr. Cosby had a flair for storytelling and the teacher encouraged him to pursue his writing. Although he dropped out of Christopher Newport University after two years, he continued to craft his writing. He said that he wanted to write thriller novels about the African American experience in the South, a genre with few contributors, and that he was into cars and drag racing as ...