The Blue Door

David Selby's second novel. Published in 2010.

There is a legend in the Southern Appalachian Mountains that the color "haint blue" is a very special shade of blue that wards off evil spirits and curses. Sally Hanks, a committed environmentalist, provides that protection for her mountaintop against the forces of King Coal and the ruthlessness and greed of the coal company owners and politicians who fight her and her supporters in their quest to blast the top third of the mountains off as a way to mine coal. Based on actual people and events, the book considers the motives of those wishing to dismantle the Clean Water Act and the political figures who enable those attempts. It also delves into the lives and loves of the men and women who continue to fight to save the integrity of the remaining mountains, the courage of the judges who fight the money of King Coal, and the reality of life in the middle of an Armageddon reality.

The Blue Door was reviewed in the November 7 edition of Charleston's Sunday Gazette-Mail. The novel was also recently reviewed by Norman Julian of Morgantown's Dominion Post.

The Blue Door is also available in a Kindle edition.

My Shadowed Past

Peace, protests and Dark Shadows.

In My Shadowed Past, actor-writer David Selby reflects on a pivotal time in his life and career— a turbulent and vital period in the 1960s when America was experiencing profound social and political changes.

It was an era in which civil rights marches and anti-war rallies were rampant as the youth movement organized in the streets and on campuses across the nation, demonstrating for peace and equality.

In the midst of the turmoil and tension was a daily afternoon escape—an opportunity to become drawn into a Gothic world of fantasy, suspense and romance on the ABC-TV serial Dark Shadows.

Selby joined the cast in 1968 as the mysterious Quentin Collins, and now, four decades later, documents the ongoing devotion to Dark Shadows and its special historical context.

My Shadowed Past features previously unpublished photographs.

"It is the freshest and most intelligent behind-the-scenes dissection of that show's background I've ever come across."

          —James Hoover

Lincoln's Better Angel

The Author

David Selby is best known as a television, stage and film actor, but he is also a writer. Raised and educated in West Virginia and Illinois, and residing in California, his writing touches the heart of the matter for many cultures, and always with a measure of humor and perceptive insight.

The Story

Lincoln’s Better Angel was inspired by an event the author read about in the Washington Post. The story he creates reflects on the personal impact of war and historical perspective.

A walk with President Abraham Lincoln and Vietnam Veteran Charles Huggins through Washington D.C., on a hot Fourth of July night, becomes a walk through history. Layering time, grief, humor and fantasy, Selby presents a story that is both moving and engaging.

What the Reviewers Write

“David Selby has presented a charming novel....Selby has Lincoln speaking in a mix of noble sentiments and very common wisdom—a perfect combination for the Great Emancipator. Lincoln is clearly a person we wish we knew better, and in Selby’s work we come to know him as never before.”

          —Michael P. Riccards, author, Ferocious Engine of Democracy, a two-volume history of the presidency

“Lincoln’s Better Angel gives us a history lesson, and Lincoln’s words and actions demonstrate how he changed our way of thinking and made it possible for all of us to be the best that we can be.”

          —Rafer Johnson, Olympic Decathlon Gold Medal Winner, author, and humanitarian

“From its opening paragraph, Lincoln’s Better Angel is touching, and at times astonishing. David Selby has created a living, breathing Lincoln, true to historical roots, yet alive and relevant in today’s world. Any student of American history will be dazzled by Selby’s interpretation of Lincoln and his plausible reactions to contemporary events. With every page, you tumble further into this amazing world, and meet a charming, wise and surprising ghost of Lincoln.”

          —Bob Rogers, BRC Imagination Arts, Executive Producer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

“David L. Selby has brought the ghost of Lincoln back to Washington D.C. where he appears to a Vietnam veteran assigned to the Lincoln Memorial. They discuss the past and the present in a very imaginative and philosophical dialogue. A most entertaining read.”

          —Wayne C. Temple, historian and author of Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet and other works, and Chief Deputy Director, Illinois State Archive

David was recently interviewed by West Virginia Public radio about Lincoln's Better Angel. Click here to access the transcript and the audio.

Lincoln's Better Angel is also available in a Kindle edition.

David Selby's poetry focuses on the hopes and dreams of life and the adventures and misadventures that lead each of us down the path of happenstance. "The course of life is a road of happenstance . . . It sends people and events our way . . . A structure of love and support holds our world together."

My Mother's Autumn (book)

David Selby's first poetry volume, a tribute to his mother. An acknowledgement of the powerful ties, often unspoken, that bind family members together. "I've felt so intimate with Mom in her death. Something I missed in her life . . . It wasn't the love we missed. It was the time."

"The first time I read these poems, I was deeply touched by their quiet truths. Reading them again now, after the deaths of my own parents, I feel my heart splitting asunder with recognition and shared grief."

          —Elizabeth Forysthe Hailey, Author of A Woman of Independent Means

"David Selby is an admirable husband, a devoted father, a caring son, and an actor of note. He is also a gifted poet. Overwhelmed by the death of his mother, David's profound grief found eloquent expression in poetry. In dealing with his own great loss, David has provided each of us with courage and insight and strength that can help us in dealing with our own time of grief. My Mother's Autumn is a work of radiance which deals with death and at the same time celebrates life."

          —Earl Hamner, Creator of The Waltons and Falcon Crest

My Mother's Autumn (compact disc)

The full book, read with heartfelt emotion by David Selby, accompanied by original music.

A softcover book with nearly 300 rare photographs of David Selby throughout his career and an extensive section devoted to his days as Quentin Collins on Dark Shadows. Features poems by David.