David Boop

David Wayne Boop was born July 23, 1968 in Bridgeport, CT.

He was adopted adopted by Mahlon and Peggy Boop, non-denominational Christian ministers. He has no siblings that he knows of. Some of Dave’s earliest memories involve playing in the church they had attached to their house in Milford, CT. In 1980, his family moved to Kronenwetter, WI and He graduated from D.C. Everest High School in ’86. His fondest memories of that time were riding his three-wheeler all over God’s creation. He’s lived in five states (CT, WI, TN, CO, AZ,) thirteen cities and traveled to 47 out of 50 states not including DC. He’s only been to Canada and the Bahamas internationally.

His dad passed away in 1988. His mom remarried a few years later to Antoine DelMenico, a Swiss tennis player who came to the US in sixties. She started a battle against breast cancer in 2009. In 1998, Dave married and the following year was blessed with a son. He divorced in 2002.

Dave has had over 50 jobs in his working career. He attests that to being easily bored. Most other people would attest his inability to respect authority. The jobs have varied across a wide field, though many would fall under the entertainment umbrella.

Here are some other jobs he could remember:

Retail clerk – music and video store, camera dept, arcade, comic book store, etc.
Retail manager - video game, game, video, comic book and book stores.
Retail Merchandiser
Movie theater manager
Repertory Theater – stage manager, lighting, sound, special effects, makeup, actor
Children’s Performer – big head costumes, magician, clown, actor, scriptwriter
Beetlejuice Impersonator
Disc Jockey – radio, nightclub
Owner – Mobile DJ Service
Owner – anime distributor
Commercial Production
Audio-Visual tech
Electronics tech
Journalist – Online newspaper
Editor-in-Chief – Online newspaper
Film Critic
Screenwriter
Producer
Author
His list of interests and fields of study run the gamut of geeky:
Movies
Music
Anime
Comics
Television
Video Games
Games
Action Figures
Camping
Hiking
Swimming
Museums
Antiquing
Concerts
The Blues
Progressive Rock
Ancient Civilizations
The Mayans
Dave says he’s a binge writer, which means he writes until he pukes, but is getting into healthier habits. In 1995, he was diagnosed with ADD which gives him medical reasons to hate the revision process, but is working through it thanks to word processors. He started writing in high school, but couldn’t handle typewriters, so he switched to writing commercials because they were shorter. His first paid fiction writing was three one-act gun fights he sold to a costume company he worked for. As “Bad Breath Bart,” he delighted children at a steakhouse family night right before getting shot (twice on Sunday.)

He wrote a web comic before web comics were in fashion. He created a knock off of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote called “Stoney and Utah” about a Gastonia Burgi and Utah Raptor. He also co-created a comic called “Fu Rock – Whoop Ass for Hire” with Eric Rangle. Eric went on to direct Dave’s first screenplay “The Gaunt Man” based on his short story, “Gaunt.” Film critic Reggie McDaniel gave it a great review.

Dave’s fiction took off with a third place win in the Opus Imagico Writer’s Contest. Judged by NYT Bestselling Michael Stackpole (who would later blurb Dave’s first novel), Mike suggested Dave form a writer’s group with the other winners. He ran the group for three years, taking 2nd in another Opus contest. He would go on to be published in “Tales of the Talisman” magazine and “SF Trails,” amongst others. To date he has published over a dozen stories.

Hoping to move his writing further along, he went back to college. Dave has two degrees already; one in Broadcasting and Commercial Production from Madison Media Institute (formerly TransAmerican School of Broadcasting) and one in Electronics from Intellitec (formerly Technical Trades Institute). It’s apropos that a mystery writer would want to go in for the third degree, and so he has started. He spent three years part time at Arapahoe Community College studying English and plans to move on to another school this spring. His goal is an English Degree before age fifty.

Dave has a strong belief in God and Jesus Christ, however, has major problems with organized religion. He teaches his son, and those that care to listen, that faith is not a religion. He is always willing to share his thoughts, but will never force them on anyone.