David J. West

David J. West is the bestselling author of Heroes of the Fallen, Weird Tales of Horror, and The Mad Song. He has an affinity for history, action-adventure, fantasy, westerns and pulp fiction horror blended with a sharp knife and served in a dirty glass—he writes what he knows.
He received first place when he was seven for writing a short story about a pack of wolves that outsmarted and devoured a hunter and his dog. Some children and parents may have been traumatized. He has never looked back.
His writing has since been praised in Meridian Magazine, Timpanogos Times, Hell Notes, and Amazing Stories Magazine which said his writing was “a solid collection of weird fiction.” David’s short stories have been published in the Lovecraft eZine, UGEEK, Sword & Sorcery Magazine, Iron Bound, Monsters & Mormons, Artifacts & Relics, Space Eldritch 1 and 2, and many more.
Before becoming an award-winning poet, novelist, and songwriter he was vagabonding all over North America sampling native fauna for brunch. When he isn’t writing he enjoys traveling and visiting ancient ruins with intent on finding their lost secrets or at the very least getting snake bit. He collects swords, fine art and has a library of some seven thousand books. He currently lives in Utah with his wife and children.

Twitter: @David_JWest
Blog: http://david-j-west.blogspot.com/

adventure    adventure action fantasy    barbarian    conan the cimmerian    dragon    epic fantasy    fantasy    fantasy action    fantasy battle    fantasy dark    grimdark    gunfighters    hero    history 1870s    magic    porter rockwell    pulp    pulp action    pulp fantasy    pulp heroes    pulp western    quest    sword and sorcery    weird tales    westerns    westerns ebook   

• The Chronicles of Gan: The Thorn on Sep. 16, 2010
  
  I was able to read The Thorn last year but have had to wait until now to review it. Oh the pains of being an author with friends in high far-off places. Daron’s high and far-off place is the world of Gan. Now Gan and The Thorn are Speculative writing at its best-why-because you can’t pigeonhole it as anything else and what he has in the book is so compelling. Faith and a belief in Jesus Christ are paramount to characters motivations but this isn’t a Biblical tale, none of this takes place on Earth. Gan is aware of Earth, this is an important point, but the conflicts affecting the people of Gan are truly their own. When I first heard about the story I thought it was the genre I call “Sword & Planet”. Gan is a planet with three moons and two blue sun’s, it has a very unusual sword, that is made of a bioluminescent crystal. There are epic struggles between the differing tribes of people jockeying for either power or freedom, but none of this quite makes it Sword & Planet. There are no monsters or magic or far-out gadgetry, and everything is run at roughly a Dark Ages level of technology. The Thorn itself is the literal symbol of the right to rule and something I really liked about the novel were the roots and influences with classic material. The multiple viewpoints express how different people react to the same situation, in some ways it is a tragedy but there is hope. When things seem their grimmest, the light and guidance of the Other Side can come shining forth. The timeframe of The Thorn was a surprise and yet only gave the novel weight. If you can imagine a cross between Braveheart and the Chronicles of Narnia you may be on the right track, just don‘t expect any talking beavers. Now this may seem a strange combination, but Daron makes it all work by peopling Gan with great characters, surprising twists and standout examples of courage and faith. No one has written anything quite like this before and that’s why Daron needs to keep doing it