Five on Friday - David Taylor

It's back! After too long of a hiatus, I have rejuvenated the Five on Friday feature. We have a number of fun new faces that will be showing up in the coming weeks, so I hope you'll check in for their mini-interviews.

A look at a couple of things around the web first.

Alafair Burke has a fun contest connected to her debut at Yankees Stadium. If you guess correctly, you could win all of her Ellie Hatcher novels. And don't tap me for the answer on this one because she has me stumped. I had a couple of theories, but after checking into them, they were all wrong. Good luck!

I really enjoy Grant Snider's comic work, but this Reader's Manifesto is probably my favorite.

There's a lot of book love going on in NYC this week during BEA, but you can also find some book love (a.k.a. contests) at:

Criminal Element where they have the "Don't Blow It" Sweepstakes AND they also have a chance for you to win a load of Brad Meltzer's great thrillers.

And Friday Reads has Steve Barry's new novel, The Patriot Threat on audio! All my audio friends, don't miss out on that opportunity.

So let me quit yappin' and tell you about David Taylor. I recently discovered his debut novel Night Life because I'm reviewing the audio for AudioFile Magazine. This will be one of my favorite debuts of the year. It is fabulous: atmospheric, suspenseful, stunning writing. You'll hear more about the book in my review shortly, but I was delighted to hear from David and even happier when he consented to take the Five on Friday seat.

David spent a couple decades among the Hollywood folks, writing for TV and movies. He also wrote an off-Broadway play. He's dabbled in short stories and magazine articles. So in short, Night Life may be his debut novel, but he's an old pro at writing. It is my great pleasure to welcome him to the blog!

1. If I could have a secret superpower, it would be: Invisibility. What better power for a writer than to go anywhere unseen and listen to the talk, and watch the interactions?

2. The strangest dream I can recall having was: don’t exactly remember the dream, but it took place in a hotel under construction on the Pacific Island of Saipan. I was awakened by the slamming of my bedroom door and found myself standing naked in the hall as two Japanese honeymooning couples came up the stairs. They found me riotously amusing. My problem was how to get back to my room. Going downstairs to the desk did not seem a wise idea. I ended up climbing back off the balconies under construction to my balcony where I had, fortunately, left the door open.

3. My faith in humanity is renewed when I: When I see people rise up against the abuses of those in power.

4. My very first job was “Transportation Agent” at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley after freshman year at college. The restaurants in the hotel were staffed by college age people, so the parties did not start until after ten at night. I had to be at work at eight in the morning and survived on about five hours of sleep. It was a wonderful summer, but I was so inept at the job that at the end of the summer I booked myself out of a train station that had been closed for two years.

5. The #1 item on my bucket list right now is: To hike California’s Lost Coast trail with my wife and two daughters.

O.k. was this not a stellar way to restart the Five on Friday? I giggled and cheered and loved this contribution. I hope you did too. More to come, my friends. Thanks for stopping by today. I'll have a review of Night Life next week. The audio version will be a little later in AudioFile, but you don't have to wait on me, go grab your copy now!

Have a wonderful weekend and happy reading!