David Booker

A famous quote from motivational author Napoleon Hill once hung in the football locker room at Purdue University that read “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” I don’t know if that quote helped us win any football games, but it inspired me to live my dreams. Since I was a young American teen growing up in Mexico City, I got lost in the books I read and daydreamed of the stories I’d write. It was through the loving support of my hardworking wife of nearly thirty years that I realized my dream of becoming a writer.

School can teach us the basics of life. Sports can teach us loyalty, camaraderie, and hard work, but only experience can teach us the harsh realities, humor, and amiable personalities that make up a good story. My stories involve believable characters battling desperate odds in nonstop action to achieve personal goals. These characters struggle against their inner demons and faults as they learn to grow, to love, and to sacrifice for the good of all. Oh, and let’s not forget the dogs. They’re characters, too, and any good story has to involve man’s best friend.

My goal is that my stories will help a weary reader relax, forget their troubles, and escape to a vivid, exotic world of adventure that’s never without its humor. My hope is that readers will love and cheer for the good guys, boo and hiss at the bad ones, and maybe come away with something for themselves when it’s over.

So please join me and meet characters like Jack Bucher, a teen struggling to grow up in a foreign land with the help of a spirit mentor. Meet Global Inspector Burt Campbell as he battles a corrupt military and science gone bad to save the futuristic world from destruction. Fight alongside Rex Bana as he combats serial killers and organized crime while confronting his own issues with morality.

“Children dream at any age.” Join in these dreams and become a believer.

Second Chance

YA/Paranormal

What would you do if you were awakened in a hospital bed by a spirit talking in your head that no one else could hear? What if you were only eleven years old and that spirit promised to guide you through life’s hardships and lead you to greatness? Would you think you were going insane, or would you still be innocent enough to listen to that voice?

That’s the dilemma facing sixth-grader Jack Bucher after a nearly fatal auto accident. The year is 1970. Jack decides to listen to Zeph, his spirit mentor. Then he discovers he has a bigger problem. His family is transferred from the tiny town of Salem, Michigan, to Mexico City.

Second Chance is the initial saga of Jack’s trials and adventures while growing up in a foreign country filled with corruption and the hatred of Americans—where the kidnapping and murdering of foreigners is a recreational sport. It’s the tale of a young man learning to cope in a new school, make new friends, while being bullied by other students, teachers, and his own father. It’s also the story of a crumbling family struggling to survive as a unit in the harshness of an alien environment.

Yet Zeph is always there guiding Jack through his battles and teenage frustrations. He teaches Jack how to conquer his fears and strive for his goals. He opens Jack’s eyes through “visitations” to previous lives and possible futures. Zeph helps Jack not waste his second chance at life.

Second Chance II

YA/Paranormal

In Second Chance II, twelve-year-old Jack “Butcher” Bucher struggles with many of the frustrations of a teen growing up in the early 1970s. He faces many firsts in his life like smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy. He’s terrified about meeting girls, calling them on the phone, and going to his first party. His parents are social alcoholics, his father an abusive egomaniac. His problems are only intensified by being a blond-haired American living in the overpopulated filth of Mexico City where corruption and hatred of Americans prevails. Yet Jack has a secret weapon. Zeph, his spirit mentor, continues to guide Jack through life’s difficulties. Zeph teaches Jack how to control his emotions, not worry about things he can’t control, and concentrate his energy towards his goals.

Zeph’s task is a difficult one as Jack deals with a deteriorating family life, an earthquake, and a Mexican terrorist attack. He helps Jack handle the depression and humiliation of being dumped by a girl and discovering that his father has a hankering for male coworkers. Despite Zeph’s advice, Jack forges his father’s signature and signs up for middle-school football. He finally gets his revenge on the bullies that torment him, and he rebels against his parents. Then Jack meets the girlfriend of his “dream” and falls in love. He battles against injuries and an abusive coach while playing freshman football. It’s on the football field, with the camaraderie of friends striving for a common goal, that Jack finds his true home.

Second Chance III

YA/Paranormal

Thirteen-year-old Jack “Butcher” Bucher is bruised and beaten following the Tepeyac football game, yet he celebrates his achievements and the banishment of “Lunatic Luna.” He also struggles with his immature emotions and his inability to voice his love for Ada, the girl of his “dream.” Again, Zeph comes to Jack’s rescue and assists him in overcoming the anguish and terror of boy/girl relationships.

A new puppy comes into Jack’s life, and in an attempt to buy Jack’s love, William offers to take him on a luxurious Hawaiian vacation. Jack is wary of his father’s motivations. In the family battles that result, it becomes apparent Beth is lost in her fantasy world, and her own son sees realities more clearly. On the brighter side, Ada and Jack’s budding love begins to blossom, even though they’re facing a long summer apart.

Jack graduates from middle school with some painful goodbyes to his friends and Ada for the summer. July Fourth arrives with Jack passing more rites into manhood like learning to drive a car. Then he meets Fiasco, Mary’s new horse. The monstrous brute is meaner than the rattler that tried to mate with the gardening hose.

The inevitable happens after Jack plays a real game of cops and robbers. He suffers a tragic loss. His mental torment becomes so great that Zeph intervenes and takes Jack back to experience three of his previous lives. It’s an experience that changes Jack’s life and way of thinking forever.

Soul Cage

Science Fiction - Murder/Mystery

What happens to the human soul when a person is disintegrated, killed, by a transporter in one location, and then duplicated in another location using a reservoir of particles? That’s the moral question Global Inspector Burt Campbell is asking himself while he investigates the savage murder of Dr. Jiro Yamamoto, the inventor of the first organic teleportation device.

Almost straightaway things go awry for Campbell during his investigation. Spirits appear to be controlling deadly objects to viciously attack him. General Stenwood, Yamamoto’s military liaison, tries to bribe him. Lilith, the teleporter computer, claims to be obeying orders from Yamamoto’s ghost. Yet Campbell’s greatest mystery seems to be Yamamoto’s beautiful assistant, Penelope Preston. She’s the only one to have successfully gone through the teleporter experiment, and he thinks he’s falling in love with her.

As the murdering rampage continues, Campbell discovers Penelope has special, unbelievable abilities. If the corrupt military should learn of Penelope’s potential, they could use her to create an army of superhuman soldiers that could dominate the world. With his greatest nemesis in pursuit, Campbell seeks to hide this incredible woman who has become such an intimate part of his life.

Soul Cage II: The Master

Science Fiction - Murder/Mystery

Burt Campbell and Penelope Preston are celebrating their first anniversary together while hiding on the Island of Hawaii. Their worst fears suddenly come true. They’ve been found. Goro Sen and his family have been kidnapped. The kidnappers demand Campbell’s return to Denver.

Upon returning alone, Campbell is taken prisoner by General Benjamin Arnold, the moon-base commander, and one of Campbell’s archenemies. Arnold reveals he’s created an army of horrible creatures using the moon-base teleporter. He wants Campbell to lead that army to conquer the world. Campbell begins his mind-altering “conditioning” as Penelope and retired security agent Koko Sinopa plan his rescue.

Then Campbell meets his ultimate horror when he interfaces with the Master, an omni-powerful existence that believes It’s the Antichrist. Penelope is captured, and becomes the Master’s pet. Campbell endures devastating hardship and torture, but he finally succumbs to Arnold’s will. He leads Arnold’s army in a climactic battle on Earth, but then becomes lost in an apocalyptic surprise no one foresaw. With death surrounding him, Campbell struggles to find and save his true love, Penelope.

Soul Cage III: The Survivor

Science Fiction - Murder/Mystery

Global Inspector Burt Campbell and Dr. Ai Eto are making a frantic escape back to Earth aboard a crippled clipper after destroying the moon base. The Master has fled to whereabouts unknown and taken Penelope with It. The Earth is in the midst of an apocalyptic destruction, and the dogs are trapped on the island of Hawaii. When Campbell arrives to save them, Hawaii’s volcanoes are already erupting and the dogs are missing.

Campbell and the injured Eto become trapped on the erupting island. In a desperate search to escape before the island destroys itself, they encounter Lady Baldwin, a pirate who has vowed to kill Campbell. The threesome elude immediate death aboard an antiquated and flightless clipper which leaves them vulnerable to tsunamis and attack from other pirates.

After battling their way to New Atlantis, the secret underwater city containing a portion of Earth’s survivors, President Cathcart takes Campbell into her confidence. Her primary concern is saving mankind before the Master can dominate the planet. Yet Campbell is only worried about finding Penelope and avoiding Dr. Dupree, a scientist desperate to learn Penelope’s secrets at any cost. Campbell also discovers a potentially great evil growing in the perceived tranquility of New Atlantis. It’s an evil that could destroy mankind.

Abruptly, Penelope arrives at New Atlantis. She’s under orders from the Master to return to Mexico City with Campbell or It will destroy New Atlantis. In a final confrontation with the Master, Campbell meets his ultimate destiny.

King Slayer

Murder/Mystery

Rex Bana is not a content man satisfied with his life’s endeavors. After witnessing his sister’s murder, and killing his first man at the age of twelve, he’s devoted himself to the vigilante-style hunting of serial killers. Yet he’s constantly asking himself if the killing of killers is all there is to his life.

After a particularly deadly battle with a Kalamazoo killer, Rex gets a call from his longtime friend, Joseph Tonono, a detective of the Maui County Sheriff’s Department. Joe believes there’s a serial killer loose on Maui, and requests his friend’s assistance.

On his flight to the Hawaiian paradise, Rex encounters a Hispanic runaway named Ester Gomez who could pass for his dead sister’s twin. He vows to protect Ester and help her establish a new life. Hopefully, this time he can save his “sister.”

What Rex discovers on Maui is totally out of his league. That includes Dr. Jessica Achew, the beautiful medical examiner that put together the murder case. Rex struggles with his inexperienced emotions toward Jesse as they piece together a crime ring that appears to reach even the Sheriff’s Office. Their only option to stop the murder spree is a sting operation using Jesse as bait. Again, Rex is endangering someone he loves. Will he always be a destroyer of life?

The sting operation ends in a climactic underwater battle that’s only partially successful. Ester has been kidnapped. As Rex confronts possibly the worst killer he’s ever faced, his life is changed forever.

Yakuza's Revenge

Murder/Mystery

After only four months of marriage, Rex and Jesse Bana find themselves in mortal danger again when the Yakuza return to Maui. Only this time the Yakuza’s plan is far more sinister than simple revenge against Rex and company. They’ve returned with a sophisticated whaling fleet to secretly slaughter the humpback whales that gather around Maui to calve and mate. Such illegal whaling would decimate the already endangered Pacific humpback whale population. As Rex defends himself against samurai assassins and Yakuza mercenaries, he finds allies in unusual places. Not all those aboard the whaling factory are willing participants. These conspirators seek not only to end this insanity by attempting to kill the evil cannibal Captain Shu, they warn Rex of his dangers and plead for his assistance. Now Rex has more lives depending on him for salvation. Despite promises to Sheriff Joe Tonono never to kill again, Rex must return to his hunting ways to protect his pregnant wife and save the whales. Yet without the evidence of the Yakuza’s intentions, Rex is unable to enlist the help of government agencies. He and his odd mix of fellow defenders are forced to mount their own rescue mission. The Yakuza aren’t the only ones with traitors in their midst. As Rex and company attack the whaling factory, Rex faces his worst fears. He may not survive to raise the family he so desperately wants.

Nanaue: A Rex Bana Novel

Murder/Mystery

Rex Bana is heroically struggling against the parental battles of raising their misbehaving two-year-old boy triplets, but Jesse has her own problems down at the medical examiner’s office of Maui County. She’s discovered an unusual string of recent accidental deaths, most of them drowning and shark-attack victims. Rex’s ever-suspicious mind conjures horrors of another serial killer, but he’s grown complacent, his hunting abilities dulled and rusty with disuse. He even fails to capture a mischievous and laughing thief at Sara’s Garden. More victims are found, and a hotel construction site is blown up by terrorists. Something is obviously amiss on Maui. With his resources tied up catching a terrorist, Sheriff Joe Tonono enlists Rex’s help in catching the murderer.

At the same time, Rex is getting an education about his new Hawaiian home, its legends, and its proud heritage from the Jesse’s native assistant, Dr. Ori Alika. He’s particularly interested in the legend of an evil shark god named Nanaue. He also discovers the barely veiled hatred some native Hawaiians hold for the rich and arrogant tourists that are destroying their islands and the seas around them. The tourists ask ignorant questions like “Do they speak English on Maui?” or “Do they take American money?”

Just as Rex and Jesse are closing in on the killer, Jesse suddenly disappears. Rex and Joe must return to the neighboring island of Moloka’i in a desperate search for Jesse. It’s a dangerous chase that ends in death on the sheer cliffs above the historic leprosy colony on the Kalaupapa peninsula.