David Calvin’s Old Salt Stories
Once in a while, an old sailor, like me, who served his country for many years has a chance to write tall tales. And that is exactly what I did— I’ve told some tall tales. However, before I began writing, I asked myself about the duty of a writer. “To inform you “to scare you”, and “to make you laugh” seem to be going with the trend. These are a few of the things that authors do to gain your attention. I can and do subscribe to these mantras of the ages. So, let us review a few of my books. First, comes my book The Bitter Vetch. A lovely little story about genocide. A mad doctor decides to make war on innocent men, women, children, whose only crime is being poor. Using his cousins and other hate mongers, the doctor decides to launch his plan when the country is in a full-scale pandemic of flu. The crisis grows until country’s close their borders. Creating worldwide chaos. My next book is an action-adventure novel. It is called The River of Lost Souls. I enjoyed writing this book mainly because the good guys in this novel are the underdogs. Realizing that the State Department and the DEA are incompetent in handling Operation Cadence. So fed up with the bureaucrats, three green berets decide to change the rules and go after the drug lords. What happens next will have you laughing and cheering for these men in green. The only comment I have is “God have mercy on their souls.”
After The River of Lost Souls, I decided to write a young adult book. Now this title was actually easy as the name came from street names. My wife went to Boise Idaho, rented a car, then drove to Sun Valley Idaho for a wedding. On Sunday, driving back to Boise, we went through a small town where one of the street signs read Mars. Then about 500 feet further the sign read Star Walker and my creation Mars Starwalker was born. I only had to give him form and function. Then I decided to make him an extraterrestrial with some neat powers and abilities. Anyway, Mars became a character that I absolutely fell in love with. My next book came to me when I could not sleep. I tried to sleep, but it would not come. Then this idea came to me. When I was visiting Barcelona, two men were in a serious disagreement on the Plaza de Colombo. And the one guy called the other a Vertalak. I asked a young man who claimed to be a bullfighter what the word meant. “Bloodsucker!” He responded. So, based on my drinking buddy’s response, I wrote The Love of a Vertalak. I found out later that he was indeed a bullfighter, and I’ll be damned if I can remember his name.
So, I thought about it and decided that when two different cultures collide, there is often chaos and destruction. This story is about those two cultures colliding and giving way to debauchery, deceit, and self destruction to gain immortality power and riches beyond anyone’s imagination. Here is a short preview on the book is all about: Tom and Nancy are deeply in love. However, the stress of Nancy’s job has taken its toll on her. Tom decides it’s time to leave the confines of Boston and move elsewhere away from the traffic jams, the noise, and crime. He finds a small town named, Somerset Massachusetts with three regional hospitals, where Nancy can apply her skills, as a doctor. Tom finds an old derelict mansion long since abandoned. He purchases the property and using his skill as a restorative architect begins to rehab the old mansion. While working in the basement one afternoon he discovers a tunnel. Thinking it dated back to the civil war he enters the tunnel. Then the life he and Nancy had known disappears forever, and their new life begins.
I remember one Sunday evening watching 60 Minutes and a story was being told about gun runners selling hi-tech weaponry to the highest bidder. I also learned that China, Russia, United States were all involved. Dismayed, I began to research the facts. My eyes were opened so why not write a novel about it. Seems fair to me. So, I wrote Killing for Love. What? You ask. How can a book about gun runners have love? Then I decided to create a love interest between two young people. Then we have love of country which needs no narrative. This story begins in Afghanistan, where an opportunistic satellite reveals a weapons cache neatly deposited on the desert floor being inspected by the Taliban. Major Brown decides to place the photos into a large manila envelope and gives it to his superior, Colonel Nigel Putnam, director of MI- 5. And so, starts an action-adventure story that will entertain and inform you.
My book The Golden Thread has recently been published. It’s a fantasy story that features a terrifying character transformation. Here’s the synopsis of the book to entice you with: In her mind’s eye, Kali could see the mist coming from within her body. The mist began swirling around her, enveloping her, as it rose above the bed. She was floating now, looking down at herself, admiring her nude body. Slowly, the gentle spirit of Kali began to evaporate and drift upwards through the ceiling, through the brick and mortar, and disappeared into the dark cold vacuum of the nether world, where Kali’s gentle spirit was transformed into a spirit of evil. A spirit so insidious and maniacal, that it could transform time and place, distorting truth and reality, and in doing so, could destroy any individual or civilization that it chooses.
