Literary Nonfiction

Back in a Flash

A literary nonfiction book by Matthew Sparkles. Read the full ebook online or download the EPUB.

Read the complete book right here in-browser with a full ereader view.

Project Synopsis

Back in a Flash is a true story of loss, survival, and the long fight to stay standing after a house fire upends a life. It begins with a handcrafted memorial built out of water, light, and motion, and follows the author as he tries to rebuild while drifting between temporary shelters, piecing together a life from whatever still exists.

The story shifts to the RV that becomes his lifeline — and then his target. A bureaucratic error turns into a cascading conflict: warnings, notices, towing rules, and a stolen home on wheels. Along the way, an unlikely ally named Frank Chevy joins the effort to move and protect the RV, only for the situation to unravel into jurisdictional games, disappearances, and a retaliatory arrest.

As the system tries to erase the evidence through delay and confusion, the author builds a meticulous record: dates, contradictions, affidavits, and paper trails that reveal a pattern rather than isolated mistakes. The coda returns to the book’s deeper meaning — the way memory yanks us back to what mattered most, especially the loss of Flash — and the appendix catalogs the exhibits that ground the story in verifiable detail.

• Domains: backinaflash.sparkleserver.site and back-in-a-flash.sparkleserver.site (both route here).
• EPUB download: Back-in-a-Flash_FINAL_v3.epub.
• Amazon listing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GMGH5LLP.