David R. Slayton

Today I’m happy to welcome David R. Slayton to the blog. He’s answering a few questions and telling us more about his books. Please help me welcome David!

Featured Author Q and A:

What are you looking forward to most at Coastal Magic Con 2025?

Seeing the people there! The Coastal Magic community is one of the most engaged and joyful groups I’ve encountered. I love spending time with them. I’m also looking forward to seeing some author friends like Gail Martin, C.S. Poe, Nancy Northcott, and Gregory Ashe.

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing: What genres do you write? Do you prefer to write one genre over another? 

I mostly write fantasy: urban and epic, though recently I’ve written a mystery, a romcom, and I’m dipping my toe into the horror waters. What can I say? I like to switch it up.

I always write books with gay main characters and like to draw on my lived experience whenever I can. I will admit that fantasy remains my favorite genre/playground. I love getting to bring fantastic elements to a story.

What is your newest/upcoming release? Tell us about the book and series.

My latest book is an urban fantasy, Rogue Community College, that was released mid-October from Blackstone Publishing. It’s a spin off from my Adam Binder series (White Trash Warlock, etc.) though you don’t have to read the Adam books to enjoy it.

It’s the story of Isaac Frost, an inexperienced assassin who infiltrates the elves’ new school for magical misfits to destroy it from the inside but as he works to complete his mission he starts to catch feelings for another student, Vran, and doubt his mission. Unfortunately, he’s also on a ticking clock and if he doesn’t complete the job soon, his employer will send someone much worse to finish the job. It’s a bit Doctor Who meets X-Men with a great found family vibe and a bittersweet love story.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

I would love to spend a few years in Greece. It’s my spiritual home in so many ways. I’ve spent about three months there total and done an immense amount of wandering and research. You can definitely see the influence in my epic fantasy, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea.

Ideally, I’d digital nomad my way around Europe for a while, with a year or two in Italy, a few in Germany, etc. I recently fell in love with Strausbourg, France and dream of spending a year there just writing and soaking in the culture.

Do you have any pets? Please tell us about them.

I have only grumpy old kitty cat named Whisper. When he was a kitten his vocal cords were scarred so he couldn’t meow. They healed a few years ago and now he only has two settings: silent and SCREAM (since he never learned to meow). He’s my whole heart even if he wakes me up a few times a night.

Do you use real or fictional locations in your stories? What kind of research do you do for the setting?

In my urban fantasy books I like to use real settings and try to work in bits of their hidden history. You see a lot of this in the Adam Binder books, where I might incorporate something obscure about Denver or Guthrie, Oklahoma (where Adam and I are both from). In my epic fantasies I like to let history serve as a loose inspiration and try to twist the settings or exaggerate elements to make them more compelling. For example, the city of Versinae in Dark Moon, Shallow Sea has a lot in common with Naples, Italy if you added all the towers from medieval Bolonga and increased their number.

THANKS so much for stopping by. Now let’s learn more about David’s book:

Rogue Community College by David R. Slayton

Isaac Frost is an assassin. Raised in the Graveyard of the cruel and mysterious Undertaker, he has mastered the deadly art of the knife and the skill of survival, together with scores of others just like him–young men taken from their families to become the most infamous killers throughout the realms of elves and humans. But Isaac is unique: a single drop of another’s blood can confer upon him the knowledge and power of friend and foe alike.

After crossing paths with the elf queen Argent, Isaac is sent to a strange magical school for wayward practitioners in the hopes that he can learn where he–and his unusual talent–fit in the world. Isaac is charmed by the school’s chaotic nature, and finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Vran, a Sea Elf haunted by secret knowledge.

But Vran isn’t the only one with secrets, and Isaac’s arrival is no accident. The Undertaker has charged him with infiltrating the school for the purpose of destroying it utterly, and his future rests on completing his mission–before the Undertaker takes matters into his own hands.

Series: Liberty House Book One
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: October 14, 2024

About the Author:

David R. Slayton (He/Him) grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding ones with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver with his partner Brian and writes the books he always wanted to read. His debut, White Trash Warlock, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. In 2015, David founded Trick or Read, an initiative to give out books along with candy to children on Halloween as well as uplift lesser-known authors or those from marginalized backgrounds. His epic fantasy, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea, won the 2024 Colorado Book Award. Find him online at www.DavidRSlayton.com.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Coastal Magic Convention Featured Author Spotlight post. David R. Slayton will be one of the amazing authors we’ll be hanging out with during the 13th annual reader weekend in Daytona Beach, FL, Feb 20-23, 2025.

For a full list of Featured Authors, info about the weekend, and link to register to attend, visit the Coastal Magic Website HERE. And be sure to watch for more Featured Author spotlights coming up here each month!