Welcome to LOOSE◇GRAVEL.com

Home of Amazon bestselling author John B. Marek | Creator of the Owen Sinclair Series—NC Stories from the Appalachians to the Atlantic | Rural Advocate & Guide | Join 400+ Subscribers at "Writing the Wild"

In these parts, the grip is loose, the path is rugged, and the journey is more exciting.

BIOGRAPHY

John B. Marek is an Amazon bestselling author, rural advocate, certified outdoor guide, and lapsed songwriter. A North Carolina resident for over three decades, he swapped the Lake Erie coast of his youth for the Blue Ridge Mountains, where his authentic writing explores the raw, absurd, and sometimes macabre intersections of nature and the human heart.

Marek is the creator of the North Carolina-set Owen Sinclair mystery series, which currently includes Craven Fork and Hellbender, and will continue with Dark & Deep in November 2026. His nonfiction work ranges from Breakfast at Midway, a bestselling meditation on quality of life, work, and place, to Ben and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance, a tribute to his "Greatest Generation" father.

A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Marek spent twenty years as a rural economic development director before turning to full-time writing in 2023. That career taught him to read a town—how legend, legacy, and ambition grind against one another—and those mechanics show up in every small community and backcountry holler he puts on the page.

Today, he balances a 5,000-word-a-week writing habit with the maintenance of an off-grid mountain camp and volunteer work at a faith-based community garden. He also produces Reveries, a weekly audio essay that examines modern life through a decidedly rural-retro lens. A self-described "lapsed" songwriter, he recently released Uncanny Valley, an AI-assisted concept album that resurrects lyrics he first scribbled into notebooks in the 1970s and '80s.

“I’ve spent half my life trying to build communities from the outside in,” says Marek, “but I’ve realized the real heart of a place is found in its hushed mysteries and its dark corners. My stories live in a world of gravel roads and quiet regrets. They find a home where the shadows are long, and secrets run deep, and the only thing that cuts through the darkness are those sudden, sharp flashes of courage.”

Marek lives in North Carolina with his wife, Janet, and their dogs, Laika and Millie, and can be found online at www.loose-gravel.com.

ABOUT LOOSE◇GRAVEL

I call my website Loose Gravel because the best stories aren't found on the interstate; they are tucked away at the end of unpaved roads where the dust kicks up and the traction gets thin. To me, loose gravel represents the transition from the artificial world to the authentic one. It is the sound of arriving at an off-grid camp or a hidden trailhead.

It also reflects a philosophy of writing and living: unpolished, tactile, and perhaps a bit dangerous. Whether I’m exploring the dark trails of a North Carolina forest or the nostalgia of a vintage soda campaign, I prefer the grit of the backroads over the smooth boredom of the highway. Here, the grip is loose, the path is rugged, and the journey is more interesting.

The sign that serves as the Loose Gravel logo is real. Tucked at the end of the paved Neck Road in Huntersville, it marks the transition to the unpaved road leading into Cowans Ford Nature Preserve. The first time I saw it, some 30 years ago, I thought it would make a great logo, and here we are.

JOIN REVERIES 🎙️

Every week, I step away from the noise of the paved world to record REVERIES, an audio essay series hosted on Substack. These are decidedly rural-retro takes on the things that matter—and a few things that probably don’t, but should.

Whether I’m dissecting why Hogan’s Heroes couldn’t be made in today’s sanitized landscape or exploring the difficult art of Letting Go as the years stack up, REVERIES is about finding the truth in the shadows. It’s a weekly dispatch for those who prefer the loose gravel of the backroads to the smooth boredom of the interstate.

🎙️ Check it out and sign up here. 

Check out my latest "music video" created with SUNO, based on lyrics I wrote in 1985-86. Freddy returns to the small town he once called home, only to find that neither the town nor he is what it used to be. Arriving at dawn after a long ride from College Park, he walks through the hollow remnants of a past life—a dead neon diner sign, a rusted mailbox, a carved heart painted over. The song captures the quiet devastation of homecoming, where familiarity breeds grief rather than comfort. Layered with imagery of decay and displacement, it's a meditation on how leaving a place means you can never truly return.

Craven Fork

(Owen Sinclair #1)

Hellbender

(Owen Sinclair #2)

The Two Dollar

(Owen Sinclair #2.5)

Dark & Deep

(Owen Sinclair #3)

JOIN JOHN'S WRITING THE WILD MAILING LIST (One Email per Month)

A monthly missive for those who write about, read about, and care about rural places and open spaces.

 

Think of Writing the Wild as a monthly check-in from my desk to yours, delivered on the first of the month (unless that falls on a Sunday, in which case I’ll wait until the second to avoid crowding your day of rest). It’s a candid dispatch where I share whatever truths I’ve managed to scrape together about the craft, the chaos of the natural world, and the unpredictable twists of the creative life. No spam, no polish—just an honest monthly attempt to keep you informed and share the view with you.

“My stories live in a world of gravel roads and quiet regrets. They find a home where the shadows are long and secrets run deep, and the only thing that cuts through the darkness are those sudden, sharp flashes of courage.”