Dan Helpingstine

I believe that I was destined to be a writer. When I was about seven, my parents were taking me to see my grandmother. Because of diabetes, my grandmother had aged. Her cheeks had begun to sag. On the way over, I noticed a weeping willow with some of its branches hanging down on the ground. I thought of my grandmother’s sagging cheeks and thought of the weeping willow, which was good imagery for a child of that age.

After playing sandlot baseball games, I would write a story of the game in my mind. I’d start when I began my walk home, and it was usually done by the time I arrived. The stories even had made-up quotes attributed to players of the game.

I worked as a stringer for The Times of Northwest Indiana in the early 1980s, covering business labor news. Then, for six years, I worked as a part-time reporter for a weekly newspaper covering high school football and basketball. I published my first short story in 1990.

I never thought I would be writing books on the Chicago White Sox, but in July 2025, McFarland Publishing released my sixth book on the team. It is entitled White Sox Redemption – The Road to the World Series Victory in 2005. The book tells the story of the Chicago White Sox finally winning their first World Series since 1917.

My second short story publication was called Angel Face. It was published in the 1994 anthology Murder Is My Business. As the title indicates, all the stores in the book have murder as part of the plot.

Presently, I am attempting to market two novels. One is a coming-of-age story called The Boy Next Door. In this work, a young man is attempting to cope with the death of his father while having a relationship with a woman seven years older.

The second work is called Partners and Ghosts. Protagonist Richard Sanders has a Partner. Only the person is not a girlfriend or a wife. Hannah is from another planet where they actually call themselves Partners. Hannah and Richard form their Partnership when they are both 12 years old. Richard is haunted by the fact his father abandoned him and his mother at his birth. Hannah provides comfort by being his Partner. Until Richard meets a woman named Michelle, no one knows about his relationship with Hannah. Michelle also has a Partner herself.

I have been writing for over 50 years, something I will always do. There will be a sequel to Partners and Ghosts. The story will be called Voices.