From his upbringing in suburban Philadelphia to today, Dave’s life has been characterized by a love of letters. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis started him on his reading journey, which continued with writers ranging from Michael Moorcock to H.P. Lovecraft, Philip Jose Farmer to Hermann Hesse, Gary Jennings to Graham Masterton, and beyond. He earned a baccalaureate at Temple University by the skin of his teeth, and not long after graduating he headed for points west, fetching up at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
It was in Colorado that he found work at the legendary publishing company Paladin Press, described as “The most dangerous press in America.” There, he spent over a decade working closely with the world’s top knife fighting instructors, combat shooting teachers, survival experts, and martial artists. In 2010, he condensed the skills he had learned firsthand into his book The Ultimate Guide to Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. Lavishly illustrated and originally written under the pseudonym F. Kim O’Neill, it’s a masterclass in surviving not just a zombie apocalypse, but any doomsday scenario. Scott Kenemore, author of Zombie, Ohio and Zombie, Illinois said it was “One of the most capable and engaging how-to zombie survival books I’ve encountered.”
Inspired by The Exorcist and The Omen, Dave published his first novel, The Blessed Man and the Witch in 2014. The first in a trilogy about a Biblical apocalypse, it’s a tale of supernatural horror that goes old school, focusing on themes of Good vs. Evil, angelic phenomena, demonic possession, and western occultism. The sequel, The Nephilim and the False Prophet, continues the story of the world’s last days, where ordinary people scramble to keep Hell’s terrible plans from coming to fruition. The epic tale of angels, demons, Nephilim, ordinary people, and Armageddon concludes with The Holy Warrior and the Last Angel.
His short fiction includes a Lovecraftian novella for young adults titled Dreadedin Chronicles: The Nameless City. Written in cooperation with the Dunedin Public Library of Dunedin, Florida, it features local teen volunteers as supporting characters. The story involves cannibal zombies, a terrible sleeping sickness, and an ancient evil hundreds of millions of years old. Continuing the Lovecraft theme, Dave also published the Kindle Single Beneath the Ziggurat, which takes the reader on a disturbing journey through pre-Columbian Mexico, where dread lurks behind every step of rainforest and the old gods still hold terrible sway. He’s also the managing editor and a contributing author in the short story anthology Appalling Stories: 13 Tales of Social Injustice, a collection of stories that take on PC anti-culture, focusing on themes and characters you’re just not supposed to read about anymore. He contributed two stories for Appalling Stories 2: More Appalling Tales of Social Injustice, and co-wrote the satirical novella Appalling Stories 3: Escape from Trumplandia with Ray Zacek.
Dave, his wife, and their son live on the west coast of Florida, swatting alligators and wrestling mosquitoes. He is hard at work on the fourth volume in the Appalling Stories series, as well as a science fiction adventure series of novels.