16 | Friday, May 28, 2010 l WEEKLYNews
Local author pens new fantasy books
By Lory McKay
THE WEEKLY NEWS
The vampires are back.
Dartmouth author David Rhind has recently published the second and third novels in his
series that sees vampires living among us in HRM.
The 53-year-old fantasy/adventure writer said he thought the books would be something
people would get a kick out of because its based in Halifax.
“I’m having fun,” said Rhind.
The first book, Once A Samurai, begins with a death in the family, which brings the protagonist, Mike, back to Halifax, where vampires are secretly an integral part of local society.
In his second book, Always a Samurai, the CSIS sends Mike to Afghanistan to rescue a missing agent.
"The books required a lot of research,” said Rhind. "The last thing you want is for someone
in the “know” in the U.S. to say ‘the CIA would never do that.’ I’ve had to work out a lot of
details regarding CSIS.”
Rhind says he does much of his resarch via Google.
"It's amazing You can be on the ground level and pan 360 to see a certain area. They're not
doing much of that in Afghanistan though.”
Halifax is the backdrop of much of his books, but Chester and Mahone Bay have been
worked in as well.
“Overall,” Rhind says, “things are going well with the books.” He's writing full time, but manages to take some time off to go sailing.
His website is approaching 3200 hits, he's sold about 1,000 books, and the royalty cheques are coming in.
He also recently published a medieval fantasy series called Calebra through the U.S. self-publishing firm, VirtualBookWorm.
Currently he's working on the fourth book in the Samurai series, and expects there might be
a fifth as well.
Rhind will host a book reading at Perks Gallery (FerryBoat Landing) on June 1 at 7 p.m. and at Morrigan LeFay's in Dartmouth on June 2 at 6:30 pm. For more information on Rhind,
visit http://dcrhind.ca
10 | Friday, May 22, 2009 l WEEKLYNews
Traveller returns to face Vampires
By Lory McKay
THE WEEKLY NEWS
There are dangerous vampires living among us in HRM. Well, not really, but there are plenty of local vampires - both good and evil - in Dartmouth's David Rhind's new book, Once a Samurai.
The 52-year-old fantasy/adventure author has recently moved back to Dartmouth after years of traveling, and has settled down witl his new wife to write a series of vampire novels.
A Prince Andrew High School gladuate, Rhind spent time living in Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, working various careers as a biology teacher, a kung fu instructor, a musician, and a sailor, which can also be looked at as years of research for his book.
“There's a lot of my own experiences in the book,” says Rhind, noting the main character, like himself, lost his first wife to cancer.
Of course, the getting attacked by vampires part is fiction.
OnceA Samurai, published by the U.S. self-publishing firm VirtualBookworm, begins with a death in the family, bringing the protagonist, Mike, back home to Halifax, where he opens a martial arts studio. Vampires arc secretly an integral part of local society but are limited to working the night shift. Some are renegades, preying on humans.
At first, Mike is reluctant to get involved, but then it becomes personal. He's been marked as a target and a vampire is sent to kill him. He later finds out a long-time family friend is actually a vampire, and discovers why the martial arts always came so easily to him, and why he's so fast ...
Most of the book tales place in Dartmouth or Halifax, and Rhind uses local hangouts throughout, but changes the names.
“People will still recognize them,” he said.
Rhind gives much of his research credit to Google, saying if he needed to find a particular house, or building, he’d use Google Earth and find exactly what he needed, without leaving home.
“Any time I needed something technical, I Googled it. When it came to knowing different weapons, I just found them on Google."
Rhind said the recent spike in popularity of vampire books, brought on by Stephanie Meyers’ national best-selling series, Twilight, has not gone unnoticed.
“This book was something I had been thinking about writing for many years,” he said. “The timing is good. But, this isn’t Twilight. It’s action and mystery.”
Rhind says his target market is his teenage son and jokes that he strives to keep his novels PG14.
“I want my son to be able to read it and want to read it, but women seem to like it too,” he said.
Rhind says he gets his wife to read pages and sometimes she’ll offer suggestions, “Like, ‘You should add more romance.’ And I listen,” he said with a laugh.
The book’s sequel, Always A Samurai, is nearing completion and Rhind says there will be a third book, too.
The book is available to order online from Amazon.ca.
For more information on D.C. Rhind, visit http://dcrhind.ca
DAVID RHIND'S FAVOURITES:
INCLUDE:
Bram Stoker (Dracula)
P N. Elrod (The Vampire Files)
Ann Rice (author)
Cornelia Funke (author)
TRACY HARRISON RECOMMENDS:
L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries)
Kelly Armstrong (The Awakening,
The Summoning)
L.J. Smith (The Secret Circle)
Linda Lael Miller (author)
RHONDA HALEY-MCKINNON'S TOP
VAMPIRE MOVIES/SHOWS:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
True Blood (Season two.begins on
HBO June 14)
Underworld Series