In Your Next Beach Read, we want to introduce you to a new author every day in June in the hopes that you’ll find the next book you want to take with you to the beach, the pool, or the comforts of air conditioning.

Today’s author is Dave K., author of The Bong-Ripping Brides of Count Drogado.

What’s your name and where are you from?

I’m Dave K, and I live in Baltimore.

How long have you been writing? How did you start?

I’ve been writing since I was little; I was an early reader and wanted to replicate the stuff I was reading, so lots of Tolkien and Robert Louis Stevenson and John Bellairs. It felt good to write, and the positive attention I got for it satisfied the goblin brain desire for compliments and recognition that most writers have (and deny).

Who are some of your influences?