| David White August 9, 2008 |
| About David White: is a writer and a teacher in New Jersey. He teaches 8th Grade English and writes crime fiction. David's stories appear in The Adventure Of The Missing Detective and 19 Of The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories and Damn Near Dead: An Anthology Of Geezer Noir, plus one forthcoming in Best New Noir. His first novel, When One Man Dies will be published by Three Rivers Press in 2007. |
Post Meeting Write-up
Dave was a lot of fun, as was the meeting. Of course,
Aubrey hogged the conversation when it was discovered
that Dave is a BIG comic book fan - lol! Aubrey is going to
have to fill in the comic book information because the two of
them were talking fast and furious, even Thom Purdy jumped
in. I can tell you one thing - do not get Dave started on the
awful travesty of the Spider Man storyline - he is not a fan of
what they've done, at all (we have a few of those in the
group, much commiseration).
Seriously, we all had a lot of fun with our guest. He was
refreshing and seemed to enjoy sharing his likes, thoughts
and views. He not only talked about his books, When One
Man Dies & The Evil That Men Do, but talked about his
comic book addiction, role as 8th grade teacher, influences,
moods while writing, settings while writing, baseball,
Sherlock Holmes and so much more. He talked about his
books being very Jersey - set in New Jersey, etc. If you're
from Jersey, you'll know the locations. He talked about his
mystery influences (like me, he is "not sure" about Robert
Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. He's "willing to give it a
shot, but".....(he said this with chagrin). I myself see Daniel
Day Lewis in that role - tall, lanky, kinda snooty looking
when necessary. Come on, people, doesn't anyone else see
this?!). People kept tossing out mystery authors, and Dave
told us who he had read and those he didn't think he'd like.
He likes "character" driven stories and is not a fan of
shows/stories like CSI.
I asked if he was going to stick with mystery. He said, "Yes,
for now." But, he did say he wanted to write a ghost story,
and a western. The group decided that he should combine
all three elements - a Western mystery ghost story. He told
us he'd give us the acknowledgment when the story comes
out. I placed a request for October....no pressure.
He had some very funny stories about his writing
experiences (the whole "ex" thing putting him the correct
frame of mind), getting embarrassed about sex scenes when
his students read his books, having to face the "did you
write about me" question when school starts, not wanting to
pay for Internet at B&N, and his storyline for Batman for DC
comics (he would like to write a comic book story line - did I
mention he was a fan?).
Thom asked about the curriculum he has to teach and how
he adds books to it or if he can add books. Dave said he
does have a curriculum, but that he tries to bring in others
works by making them relate to the topic. This way, the
students get the classics and/or required reading, but also
get more contemporary selections. He feels it's good as long
as kids are reading, within a reasonable limit. He talked
about his upcoming book, The Dark Knight and several other
fun topics, then wrapped up to sign books for us. He was a
great guest and a lot of fun. (Ann-Marie)
The Whispers From Beyond portion of the program opened
with your humble co-moderator (Steve Spinosa) reading an
excerpt from The Garden of Forked Paths, a detective/fantasy
story from the pen of South American author Jorge Luis
Borges (reflecting our theme this month: International
SF/Fantasy). We then had a relaxed chat for a while, and
then I read the prologue of our guest speaker's newest
book, The Evil that Men Do (Thom Purdy and I both recited
the quote from William Shakespeare AT THE SAME TIME!!!) I
asked if anybody had anything they wanted to read and
Thom read from the back of his Listerine breathe mints...lol!
We then continued chatting until 8:01,and then I started the
meeting and introduced the "totally awesome" Dave White.
Dave started by explaining that that reference (which I took
from his blog), came from the CBS comedy How I Met Your
Mother (which features Neal Patrick Harris, formerly Doogie
Howser and OUR Willow from Buffy, Alyson Hannigan), in
which the characters say the phrase "totally awesome" a
multitude of times (Dave added that his own friends refer to
him as "totally awesome”, which is why he took it down from
his blog recently).
He then continued to talk about his Jackson Donne short
stories & novels, which have a lot of Jersey references in
them (he revealed that the current Clifton school stadium
was formerly a dog-racing track in the thirties, which is
mentioned in the prologue of his current book). He also said
that he's working on a third novel, which has Jackson down
after breaking up with his girlfriend (Dave admitted that he
was inspired by his OWN ex-girlfriend, which puts him in the
kind of mood to write the story...BAD!). He explained that he
usually works either at home with either the ballgame on or
listening to Pearl Jam on his iPod, or at the Barnes & Noble
store in Clifton (where he's not distracted by the Internet).
He said that his biggest influences as a kid were reading
novels from the Sherlock Holmes, James Bond & Hardy Boys
series. He said that the children in his class want to read his
books, but he tells them to ask their parents first, because
he's a little nervous about his 8th graders reading a sexy or
overly violent scene (he also mentioned the fact that one of
characters in The Evil That Men Do is based on one of his
kids, and that when school starts next month, they’ll be
asking him,"Oh Mr.White, is it me, Mr. White?"...Paul D.
suggested he say "all of you and none of you").
We also talked about comics, The Dark Knight movie, what
reading he assigns in school and other sundry topics before
wrapping up. We cleaned up while he was signing some
copies of his books, then a number of us headed over to the
Stateline Diner for more conversation about the Dark Knight,
Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, Disney World versus
Disneyland, and other fun stuff.
(Steve)
Dave was a lot of fun, as was the meeting. Of course,
Aubrey hogged the conversation when it was discovered
that Dave is a BIG comic book fan - lol! Aubrey is going to
have to fill in the comic book information because the two of
them were talking fast and furious, even Thom Purdy jumped
in. I can tell you one thing - do not get Dave started on the
awful travesty of the Spider Man storyline - he is not a fan of
what they've done, at all (we have a few of those in the
group, much commiseration).
Seriously, we all had a lot of fun with our guest. He was
refreshing and seemed to enjoy sharing his likes, thoughts
and views. He not only talked about his books, When One
Man Dies & The Evil That Men Do, but talked about his
comic book addiction, role as 8th grade teacher, influences,
moods while writing, settings while writing, baseball,
Sherlock Holmes and so much more. He talked about his
books being very Jersey - set in New Jersey, etc. If you're
from Jersey, you'll know the locations. He talked about his
mystery influences (like me, he is "not sure" about Robert
Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. He's "willing to give it a
shot, but".....(he said this with chagrin). I myself see Daniel
Day Lewis in that role - tall, lanky, kinda snooty looking
when necessary. Come on, people, doesn't anyone else see
this?!). People kept tossing out mystery authors, and Dave
told us who he had read and those he didn't think he'd like.
He likes "character" driven stories and is not a fan of
shows/stories like CSI.
I asked if he was going to stick with mystery. He said, "Yes,
for now." But, he did say he wanted to write a ghost story,
and a western. The group decided that he should combine
all three elements - a Western mystery ghost story. He told
us he'd give us the acknowledgment when the story comes
out. I placed a request for October....no pressure.
He had some very funny stories about his writing
experiences (the whole "ex" thing putting him the correct
frame of mind), getting embarrassed about sex scenes when
his students read his books, having to face the "did you
write about me" question when school starts, not wanting to
pay for Internet at B&N, and his storyline for Batman for DC
comics (he would like to write a comic book story line - did I
mention he was a fan?).
Thom asked about the curriculum he has to teach and how
he adds books to it or if he can add books. Dave said he
does have a curriculum, but that he tries to bring in others
works by making them relate to the topic. This way, the
students get the classics and/or required reading, but also
get more contemporary selections. He feels it's good as long
as kids are reading, within a reasonable limit. He talked
about his upcoming book, The Dark Knight and several other
fun topics, then wrapped up to sign books for us. He was a
great guest and a lot of fun. (Ann-Marie)
The Whispers From Beyond portion of the program opened
with your humble co-moderator (Steve Spinosa) reading an
excerpt from The Garden of Forked Paths, a detective/fantasy
story from the pen of South American author Jorge Luis
Borges (reflecting our theme this month: International
SF/Fantasy). We then had a relaxed chat for a while, and
then I read the prologue of our guest speaker's newest
book, The Evil that Men Do (Thom Purdy and I both recited
the quote from William Shakespeare AT THE SAME TIME!!!) I
asked if anybody had anything they wanted to read and
Thom read from the back of his Listerine breathe mints...lol!
We then continued chatting until 8:01,and then I started the
meeting and introduced the "totally awesome" Dave White.
Dave started by explaining that that reference (which I took
from his blog), came from the CBS comedy How I Met Your
Mother (which features Neal Patrick Harris, formerly Doogie
Howser and OUR Willow from Buffy, Alyson Hannigan), in
which the characters say the phrase "totally awesome" a
multitude of times (Dave added that his own friends refer to
him as "totally awesome”, which is why he took it down from
his blog recently).
He then continued to talk about his Jackson Donne short
stories & novels, which have a lot of Jersey references in
them (he revealed that the current Clifton school stadium
was formerly a dog-racing track in the thirties, which is
mentioned in the prologue of his current book). He also said
that he's working on a third novel, which has Jackson down
after breaking up with his girlfriend (Dave admitted that he
was inspired by his OWN ex-girlfriend, which puts him in the
kind of mood to write the story...BAD!). He explained that he
usually works either at home with either the ballgame on or
listening to Pearl Jam on his iPod, or at the Barnes & Noble
store in Clifton (where he's not distracted by the Internet).
He said that his biggest influences as a kid were reading
novels from the Sherlock Holmes, James Bond & Hardy Boys
series. He said that the children in his class want to read his
books, but he tells them to ask their parents first, because
he's a little nervous about his 8th graders reading a sexy or
overly violent scene (he also mentioned the fact that one of
characters in The Evil That Men Do is based on one of his
kids, and that when school starts next month, they’ll be
asking him,"Oh Mr.White, is it me, Mr. White?"...Paul D.
suggested he say "all of you and none of you").
We also talked about comics, The Dark Knight movie, what
reading he assigns in school and other sundry topics before
wrapping up. We cleaned up while he was signing some
copies of his books, then a number of us headed over to the
Stateline Diner for more conversation about the Dark Knight,
Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, Disney World versus
Disneyland, and other fun stuff.
(Steve)
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