Thanks for visiting the online home of Davie Henderson
About myself
I'm a 40-year-old journalist with a love of writing, travel and photography. I like to find out about the people and places of the world at first hand, living out some little dreams along the way. For many years I combined my interests in the form of travel articles, but long wished to write a story set in my native Scotland.
The result was Waterfall Glen, published by Medallion Press in April 2006. The idea began with two characters and a wildly beautiful place that changes their lives forever. The story wrote itself, driven by the fact that the people are at turning points in their lives, and the place is under threat from dangers old and new.
My next book, Tomorrow's World, looks to the future. I wanted to write about what's happening to the world, what we're in danger of losing, and how much we'll miss it when it's gone. Issues like global warming and genetic engineering form the backdrop for a murder mystery and the relationship between two very different people trying to solve it. Medallion Press have Tomorrow's World scheduled for a March 2008 release.
I've written a little more about both books below.
Please feel free to sign my guestbook or email me at davidinscotland@hotmail.com
TOMORROW'S WORLD
In tomorrow’s world there are no more butterflies, no coral reefs or rainbows. Appalled by what human nature has done to the planet, people let the cold logic of computers determine how they live their lives. As these powerful computers strive to unite mankind in common cause, a new divide emerges. An unfathomable gulf is growing between naturally born ‘Names’ and genetically engineered ‘Numbers,’ and it is far deeper than anything that has gone before.
‘Perfect Paula’ is a Number, Ben Travis is a Name. All they have in common is a detective’s badge and the desire to solve a disturbing case that highlights every difference between them. To Perfect Paula it is a suicide that proves the weakness of Names. Gut instinct and a trail of tantalising clues lead Detective Travis to a very different conclusion—one that reveals the meaning of life, the truth about God, and the fate of tomorrow's world.
Solving the case will give Ben and Paula the answer to age-old questions, but to avoid paying for the knowledge with their lives they must put aside their prejudices and discover things about themselves, the past, and the future which no computer could ever understand.
WATERFALL GLEN
When Kate Brodie inherits Waterfall Glen it seems like the start of an exciting new life. Full of romantic notions, she swaps her dull routine in San Francisco for life as a Highland lady.
However the glen’s beauty belies a troubled history and uncertain future, and Kate’s imposing new home, Greystane House, is full of disturbing revelations about her family’s past. Each portrait on the ancient walls tells an un-nerving story, while the empty rooms echo with rumours of a centuries-old curse. The old rumours take on chilling new significance when the glen comes under threat, for Kate seems powerless to stop history repeating itself, and the loss of all she holds dear.
The only person she can turn to for help is Cameron Fraser—a man seeking solace in lonely places after a shattering experience which has robbed him of all faith in human nature. Kate has every reason to doubt him yet no choice but to trust him, and soon they are more than simply friends. Only by finding a way to defend old values against the materialism of the modern world can they give their love a chance, lay their ghosts to rest and save Waterfall Glen.
Behind the story
The setting is much more than just a backdrop to the story; hopefully, it’s as engaging as a character—a place that readers can fall in love with, just as Kate Brodie and Cameron Fraser do.
As well as conveying the beauty of the land I wanted to say something about the nature of its history. There are parts of the world where past events were so dramatic that their echoes are still heard in the present, and Waterfall Glen is one of them. Anyone who visits it will hear the rolling volleys of musketry and booming cannon-fire that broke the charge of the clans at Culloden, and learn a little of the startling events which led to so many Highlanders starting a new life in America.
For Kate and Cameron the echoes are particularly loud, because the past holds both the threat of ruin and the chance of redemption. Alone the threat is overwhelming, but working together they have a chance of not only righting past wrongs but making a future for themselves and for Waterfall Glen.
There was a lot of work involved in writing the story, but at no point was it a grind. Quite the opposite, because the glen was a place I longed to go to in my mind, and the people I met there stopped me ever being lonely.
I’ve no need to go back to Waterfall Glen now that I’ve finished writing the story—but at some point every day, I do. The place seems as real to me as any of the ones listed on my travel page, and the people seem like friends.
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