Outside Interabang Books the rush hour traffic has died down. A few motorists weave their way through the well-lit Dallas shopping center parking lot hoping to find a space. Inside, visitors are greeted by the pleasant scent of fresh timber and books. A couple of dozen brand-new books are stacked right in front by the register to buy and get autographed.

The customers make their way to rows of folding chairs laid out just for this evening. In front of them are two chairs on a makeshift stage. One is for Brantley Hargrove. In the other is his fellow author Michael J. Mooney, microphone in hand, ready to kick off the launch of Brantley’s new book.

Hargrove’s expressive bright eyes behind his reading glasses betray no nervousness.
Instead, he beams a relaxed smile, clearly enjoying this moment celebrating the release of his book, two years in the making.

Mooney introduces his close friend and requests, “Give us a brief overview of who this person is.”

“He is one of the most prominent storm chasers in America for a few reasons, but probably is best known for getting data that research meteorologists thought was impossible,” Hargrove replies.
“What was he like as a kid? What makes somebody one of the great tornado chasers?”Mooney went on.
“He was always taking his mom’s appliances apart. I think he took her television apart at about age 12,” says Hargrove, explaining Samaras’ curiosity at an early age, which was to evolve into becoming a storm chaser.

 

As Hargrove goes on, the audience listens attentively, interjecting with laughter,
exclamations of awe and murmurs of appreciation throughout his talk. Then Hargrove shows a few video clips of storms he witnessed.

Violent and destructive whirlwinds, some with speeds of over 200 miles an hour and accompanied by funnel-shaped clouds, heavy rain and thunder fill the large television monitor. The sound of roaring wind comes out of the speaker and then,
in a few minutes, almost as quickly as it started, it was all over. The uncomfortably deafening noise of a tornado abruptly falls into silence.

After further describing Samaras’ contributions to the science of tornadoes, Hargrove opened the floor to questions from the audience. One customer wanted to know what wind brings buildings down while another was curious about what happened in El Reno in 2013.

As the hour-long launch was coming to an end, customers lined up on one side of the store with books, patiently yet eager to have Hargrove append his signature to their new purchases. Turning to the title page, he writes a personal message in each. Mine read,“Francis, thanks for coming out and good luck with the story.”

Several from the audience posed for photos with Hargrove after they collected his signature.
Hargrove is the first to admit that his object of labor is far from exhaustive on the topic of tornadoes and its science. But on this night, he was able to introduce his contribution to understanding a frightening and overpowering natural phenomenon still shrouded in mystery in the form of a compelling story about a self-taught man obsessed with pulling back the veil.

Interabang Books was all too happy to host a first book launch for a local author. According to the store, sales on this night were “brisk.”

It was a good night.

PS: Tornadoes on average kill about 64 people each year in the U.S., but in April 2011, over 300 people were killed. That’s just in one day. Read the complete story on the author in the 2018 Mayborn Magazine out tomorrow. Better still, why not buy his book and marvel at an autodidactic (Samaras) who did what top-notch scientists could not.