He also served as the assistant editor of The Hilltop Reporter, a weekly newspaper located in Texas Hill Country.
He graduated from high school at Carson Long Military Institute in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania.
Varhola has authored or co-authored the non-fiction books Everyday Life During the Civil War (1999), Fire and Ice: The Korean War, 1950-1953 (2000), D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944 (2001), Shipwrecks and Lost Treasure of the Great Lakes (2007), Ghosthunting Virginia (2008), Ghosthunting Maryland (2009), Life in Civil War America (2011), Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State (2011).
Varhola is the co-author of several gaming books, including Experts (2002), Warriors (2003), Tests of Skill (2004), Nuisances (2005), Experts v.3.5 (2005), Nation Builder (2005), Gary Gygax's Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds Volume 6: Nation Builder (2006), H.G.
Wells' Little Orc Wars (2007), Nuisances: Director's Cut (2007), and City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities (2011).