ABOUT DM
Dale McGlothlin lives, works, and writes from his home on the coast of North Carolina, USA. He was born in Richlands, VA, graduated from nearby Emory & Henry College, where he was an All-Conference football player, and lived and worked in South Carolina, Tennessee, California, Virginia, Washington, DC, and now North Carolina.
He enjoys spending time on his family farms in Virginia, reading, writing, traveling, cooking, camping, being with good friends and family, and playing all kinds of sports including “cabin ball”—a game created in the 1990s by friends with names like Duck Boots, Southern Icon, Osborne, Ice Cat, Coop, Big Daddy, Big Arms, Burlin the Wood Wizard, and Teddy the Yeti, and played exclusively at a certain cabin on certain weekends on a certain lake in Virginia.
His parents, Joseph Blair and Sylvia, live in the small town of Cedar Bluff, VA. His immediate family consists of two sisters, Dyana and Kathy, their respective spouses, Adam and Bradley, and three lovely nieces: Kirsten, Connor, and Kaycie. His constant companion of 17 years, a sweet, loving Springer Spaniel named Piper, died recently and is buried under a cherry tree on one of the family farms. He believes she is now snoring in front of a big, roaring fireplace somewhere in Necropolis.
About His Writing
DM says his recent writing is the end product of a lifetime of reading. “My grandmother babysat me by sitting me in front of their library. I would pick one (usually by the name and color of the spine), and she would hand it down to me, pat me on the head, and tell me if I needed any help with words I couldn’t pronounce, or didn't know their meaning, I should avail myself of the dictionary, or encyclopedia. That began my love of words.”
I sincerely hope this story appeals to readers, and offers a world of entertainment, adventure and knowledge.
DM says his parents gave him an unlikely gift for his tenth birthday that would help set his course. “It was a flashlight. Nothing fancy, just a common work flashlight. No idea why they chose that non‐traditional gift, but I loved it because I could tent myself away under the blanket and read after official bedtime. I stayed up way too late each evening reading The Hobbit, Dragonriders of Pern, Doc Savage, Ian Fleming, and books about Celtic mythology. They replaced the flashlight in 1982 with the Itty Bitty Booklight. I still buy those today.”
The third gift that shaped his writing, was given him by his neighbor, Armand Optiz. “I used to mow their lawn, and one day after cutting the grass Mr. Opitz invited me in and presented me his well-used set of Harvard Classics. I’d never seen so many interesting books in a series in my life outside a library. Fifty-one books! Virgil, Moliere, Burns, Confucius, Marcus Aurelius, Napoleon, Beowulf. It was a lifetime of knowledge, and it was all mine. What an amazing gift. I keep them with me today.”
“Reading made me a writer. To find oneself lost in the worlds of words is the greatest feeling. Computer animation can do that visually with film to some extent, but there is something about reading and forming the pictures in your own mind that changes you. Perhaps it unlocks the creativity hidden in the folds of the brain. I’ve found there is no uncanny valley when it comes to what you create in your own mind. There are no limitations.”
