Interview on Story Hack!

I was interviewed on Monday at my palatial estate - well my house in my office/library by new friend  Bryce Beatty. I'm the first author of a new writer podcast he is doing called Story Hack.
Check it out here

The Kidnap Plot: Book Review

The Kidnap Plot (the Extraordinary Journeys of Clockwork Charlie) by Dave Butler

If Pinocchio went steam-punk fantasy! It would be awesome right? It is!

This is a madcap steam-punk adventure. Set in Victorian London, we meet Charlie Pondicherry a young lad helping out his gifted father. His father, (his Bap) produces all kinds of wonderful inventions and for all kinds of clientele. We meet the denizens of this Victorian era and  it's a bit more interesting than you might expect.

The fey folk are regulars around these parts, including Trolls, Faires, Kobolds, Changelings, Dwarves and Brownies. Butler's inclusion is seamless and helped along with each chapter by a short section of the Almanac about these magical creatures that Charlie is reading.

While life is tough, Charlie can always count on his loving father -- until disaster strikes and a sinister man kidnaps his Bap and steals his inventions. The farther we travel on with Charlie the more dire the predicament becomes.

Without anywhere else to turn, Charlie ends up recruiting some of his fathers eclectic customers to help him rescue his father. From here on out its a roller coaster of a ride as they become entangled with their own troubles and side adventures. Charlie too, has to find and come to grips with who he is.

Butler uses familiar creatures/characters but gives them delightful personalities and relationships. He sets some typical expectations on their ear and we are the better for it. The villains are proper villains and the heroes and friends are true friends -- even if they don't know it yet.

This is a middle grade book but the world building is dense and fun. I anxiously await the next installment because this isn't over by a long shot.

In conclusion, while Dave Butler is a most benevolent and gifted friend of mine and I did receive a net galley copy, I also bought an amazon copy for my kids. I know they'll love it!

Grab yourself one here!

Summer Plans and News

I'm trying out a few things to boost SEO for the sake of marketing and just being more well known for the sake of books coming down the pike. Grabbing the url for KING David J. West was the best domain available.

Anyhow on the some actual news at hand. I have had a couple short story acceptances and hope to have release dates to share soon.

AND

I'm gunning to get an anthology of weird westerns out in time for my birthday = that's the end of this month - the beauty is they're already written I just have to format and such.
And of course I'm still plugging along on a few other works - my long awaited sequel BLOOD OF OUR FATHERS is in the homestretch of getting it to my publisher (this is has been a terrible long time coming) - I'm well into a WIP that I'm not gonna release the title of yet, and I'm also hip deep in a Sword and Sorcery project that I want to release for fun by the end of the summer - Sowing Dragon Teeth.

So hopefully my changing the url didn't make it so none of my regular readers/commentators could find this. Please give me a holler so I know you did see this.
Thanks and hopefully better news soon.

In the meantime I will share a couple of forthcoming covers!