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He couldn't be happier with the Japanese comic style transition of the series, turning "Spy Goddess: The Chase for the Chalice" into a graphic novel.

"When the publisher was looking at the market place, they see that manga is extraordinarily popular, especially with teenage girls," said Spradlin, 47. "That's the number one readers of manga. They thought maybe trying a manga version of the story would expand the readership."

The third book, which continues the story of Beverly Hills heiress Rachel Buchanan and her friends trying to stop the evil Simon Blankenship from recovering artifacts to revive an ancient mystical power upon the world, released Feb. 26. It is available on www.amazon.com. The first two books are titled "Spy Goddess: Live and Let Shop" and "Spy Goddess: To Hawaii, With Love."

"I'm very pleased how the art turned out," Spradlin said. "The artist is a young woman from China. It's been really neat to see when somebody takes words and turns them into 2D beings. It's kind of cool to see how other people interpret (the story)."

Spradlin has been writing for around 10 years, and his first published book was "The Legend of Blue Jacket," the story of Shawnee warrior Marmaduke Van Swearingen. His other picture books include "Texas Rangers: Legendary Lawmen," and "Daniel Boone's Great Escape," which is set to be released in the summer.

He is currently working on "The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail," the first book of a planned trilogy. The book follows a young orphan boy named Tristan whose mission is to return the Holy Grail back to England for safekeeping. It is set to be released in the fall.

Also on tap is a picture book celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express.

Spradlin's writing influences include John Steinbeck, with "Cannery Row" being one of his favorite Steinbeck novels. He also enjoys "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry, and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"'The Great Gatsby' is one of my favorite novels," Spradlin said. "I reread it a couple of times a year for inspiration."

Despite all the distractions from video games, television, and the Internet, Spradlin sees more kids reading these days, thanks to the likes of authors like J.K. Rowling, who wrote the ever popular Harry Potter series. He and his wife, Kelly, and their children Michael, 22, and Rachel, 16, are avid readers.

"We read just about anything," Kelly said. "We're really into entertainment reading. We don't limit our children to specific types of reading. Anytime of reading is good reading."

"Every parent should be focused on how important reading is," Spradlin added. "Reading is the key to a lot of success in life. Not just reading for school but reading for pleasure. It's a very difficult task these days."

Spradlin can be seen on the Web at www.michaelspradlin.com.

Jeff Hoard can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8127 or jeff.hoard@lapeergroup.com