Dave is a former journalist, disc jockey, and cabdriver. Most of all, he’s a lifelong writer whose current specialty is short stories. His contemporary Southern fiction has appeared in the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature and the Birmingham Arts Journal. He’s also published noir fiction and pandemic stories in Close To The Bone, the Red Fez, and elsewhere.
Dave’s upcoming novel “Back Beach Blues” is a classic Florida tale of beaches, action, humor, and romance. When he’s not writing fiction, Dave blogs about issues like Covid and the perils of old age. He works as a freelance editor, helps wrangle social media for the Atlanta Writers Club, and keeps busy with his own platform (whatever “platform” means).
Important note! Please bookmark this page so you don’t Google “David Swan fiction” and end up with this Nathaniel Hawthorne story, which was written long before Dave was born. He’s trying to find out whether Mr. Hawthorne knew any of his ancestors.
Dave’s Short Fiction on Amazon
A New Grateful Nation
Back from Afghanistan, she’s fighting a different war at home.
The Fourteenth Pelican
An environmental private eye tangles with sick seabirds.
Covid, crime, and noir stories
- Actual Events – When your rideshare passenger has a terrifying “taxicab confession.” Published by Close To The Bone.
- The Man With the Six-Foot Soul – Illusion and reality shift amid the pandemic. The Red Fez
- Country Dark – A desperate wife tries to escape an abusive relationship. Flora Fiction
- Flag Day – Confederate flags don’t hurt anybody, right? Birmingham Arts Journal
- The Milk of Human Innocence – The truth behind the urban legend of the milkman. Red Fez
- Independence – Forget Covid. Let’s party! Medium
The South, life, and other mysteries
- New! From The Moon To The Earth – The moon man lives in the woods and comes out at night. Sledgehammer Lit
- My Late Friend Laura Ann Randall – She was a good person. Wasn’t she? Red Fez
- Bobby Dean Goes Viral – Football as religion, including the Golden Rule. The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
- High Tide – Anniversaries, beaches, and most of all, love. Dead Mule
- Reefer and Jesus – It’s amazing what you can find on the south side of Birmingham. Birmingham Arts Journal
Writing about writing
- Better Writing Through Bots – What it’s like to have your book analyzed by AI. From eQuill, the Atlanta Writers Club newsletter.
- The Worst They Can Do – The big R (rejection). eQuill.
- Writing Our Way Through the Storm – Adapting to the pandemic. eQuill.
- Watch that slanguage! Grammar tips from Uncle Grumpy.
Photos by Janet Stevenson and Dave Swan. Header photo by Pexels.com.
Dave Swan, Author 