Local author pens new fantasy books

The vampires are back.

Dartmouth author David Rhind has recently published the second and third novels in his series that sees vampires living among us in HRM.

The 53-year-old fantasy/adventure writer said he thought the books would be something people would get a kick out of because it's based in Halifax.

"I'm having fun," said Rhind.

The first book, Once A Samurai, begins with a death in the family which brings the protagonist, Mike, back to Halifax, where vampires are secretly an integral part of local society.

In his second book Always a Samurai, the CSIS sends Mike to go to Afghanistan to rescue a missing agent.

"The books required a lot of research," said Rhind. "The last thing you want is for someone in the 'know' in the U.S. to say 'the CIA would never do that.' I've had to work out a lot of details regarding CSIS."

Rhind says he does much of his research via Google.

"It's amazing. You can be on the ground level and pan 360 to see a certain area. They're not doing much of that in Afghanistan though."

Halifax is the backdrop of much of his books, but Chester and Mahone Bay have been worked in as well.

Overall, Rhind says things are going well with the books. He's writing full time, but manages to take some time off to go sailing.

His website is approaching 3,200 hits, he's sold about 1,000 books, and the royalty cheques are coming in.

He also recently published a medieval fantasy series called Calebra through the U.S. self-publishing firm VirtualBookWorm.

Currently he's working on the fourth book in the Samurai series, and expects there might be a fifth as well.

Rhind will host a book reading at Perks Gallery (FerryBoat Landing) on June 1 at 7 p.m. and at Morrigan LeFay's in Dartmouth on June 2 at 6:30 p.m. For more information on Rhind, visit http://dcrhind.ca

lmckay@hfxnews.ca