Dave Smeds

A Karate Scrapbook, Part 2

Dave Smeds

01 Oct 202330 Sep 2023

Old Dogs Do Learn New Tricks I am sixty-eight years old. That means I’m at the point where age alone is enough to affect my karate performance. It doesn’t bother me as much as you might assume it does. My local club […]

Books

In Search of the Great Antagonist

Dave Smeds

17 Sep 202305 Sep 2023

Even as the final episode of Game of Thrones wound down to its closing moments, the howls of outrage reverberated around the globe. “How could they kill Daenerys?!” “How could they kill Daenerys like that!” “Why didn’t they have Jon Snow become […]

Creative

You Really Have No Idea

Dave Smeds

20 Aug 202324 Jul 2023

Any writer in the creative arts can share a version of this story. It is invariably something that has directly happened to them: They’re at a party, making small talk, meeting people. They are asked, “What do you do?” “I’m a writer.” […]

Recipes

Finnish Coffee Bread (Pulla)

Dave Smeds

06 Aug 202320 Jul 2023

by Dave Smeds This is the recipe of Mary Rautiainen Smeds (1893-2001). This treat was often known among her family and friends simply as Grandma’s coffee bread. Her sister Annie, who also baked it, tended to call it kaffeleipää — a literal […]

Book Cover Art

Building a Book Cover: The Ariadne Connection by Sara Stamey

Dave Smeds

23 Jul 202325 Dec 2023

It was 2014, and Sara Stamey needed a cover for her novel The Ariadne Connection. It wasn’t the plan that I be the person to actually do the cover. Instead, I was Sara’s production advisor, helping shepherd the title through the publication […]

Eulogy

In Memoriam: Janet Berliner (1939-2012)

Dave Smeds

12 Jul 202312 Jul 2023

Originally posted on the blog page of Book View Café on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Word came this morning from Bob Fleck, Janet’s companion of the past twenty years, that she was dead. I had been expecting to lose her. Not just […]

Book Cover Art

Building a Book Cover: Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith

Dave Smeds

23 Jun 202323 Jun 2023

When Kristine Smith asked me to come up with new covers for her “Jani Kilian” series of science fiction novels, she had a particular item on her wishlist. She wanted covers that featured a woman who actually looked like Jani. Kris’s original […]

Blog

A Karate Scrapbook, Part 1

Dave Smeds

19 Jun 202322 Aug 2023

HANGING OUT BY THE DOJO, SAN FRANCISCO, 1981 The headquarters dojo of Goju-Kai Karate-Do USA was for many years located at Eighteenth and Collingwood in San Francisco. It occupied the loft level of a two-story commercial building that had seen better days. […]

Book Cover Art

Building a Book Cover: Realms of Darkover

Dave Smeds

12 Jun 202319 Jun 2023

The first image you see here is the end result of my 2015 assignment to generate a cover for Realms of Darkover, edited by Deborah J. Ross, published by the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Trust. I was the cover guy for the […]

Uncategorized

Hello Out There

Dave Smeds

11 Jun 202311 Jun 2023

I’m Dave Smeds. Author, bookcover designer, father, karate practitioner, genealogist, and more. It is mid-June, 2023 and I’m just getting started setting up this site. Each day there should be new stuff here. If you happen to visit during this construction phase, […]

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