Author David Brown

Author David Brown

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This episode centres on author David J. Brown, a 77-year-old former police officer and rescue paramedic who turned years of addiction and spiritual struggle into a fierce passion for storytelling. You’ll hear how Brown went from wanting "never to write" to producing sixteen books after a powerful experience on a mountain drive home from his mother’s funeral.

He describes finding himself on his knees in unexpected prayer and hearing a clear inner voice say, "Write the book," which led to his first longhand manuscript across 68 legal pads. Brown talks about his latest western, *Betrayed: High Country Law*, which draws on his memories of "dirty cops" and corrupt systems.

He explains how his characters "take over the storyline" and how he writes to "stir the human soul, not with a spoon, but with a canoe paddle," aiming to help readers recognise their own goodness. The conversation turns deeply personal when Brown shares his long battle with alcoholism and the moment that changed everything: "The day I got sober...

I had my duty weapon in my mouth." Faced with a stark choice, he put the gun down and decided never to drink again, a decision he says has held for more than four decades. Writing has become his therapy after a stroke left him with vertigo and lapses in memory, and he credits his partner Heather for quiet, practical support—from buying his first proper laptop to catching spelling errors as she walks past.

Brown also speaks about using audio formats to reach blind and disabled readers, seeing it as a way to give something back. For anyone interested in faith, recovery, and how storytelling can emerge from some of the darkest places, this conversation offers raw honesty and hard-earned hope—what might you take from Brown’s journey to apply to your own?