About David White
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.
To learn more about David White, please visit his website at www.davewhitenovels.com and
read his blog at http://jacksondonne.blogspot.com.
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.
To learn more about David White, please visit his website at www.davewhitenovels.com and
read his blog at http://jacksondonne.blogspot.com.
David White -- August 9, 2008
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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)