By day, Englewood resident David Pate McQuinn, a manufacturer's rep, travels about the world of blueprints, die castings and custom made machine tools. But at night, he hangs up the business suit, closes the brief case and enters a fantastic world of his own creation. It is a world elves, an evil spider, "earth squeeze," and a magic bracelet. These are some of the ingredients in his first novel, "Point of Passage."
McQuinn, 57, wrote the book in the evening after work and on Saturdays. Working in this way, it took him several years to complete the work. He wrote it in the 80's after reading many works of fantastic fiction by authors such as J.R.R. Tolkein, and C.S. Lewis. McQuinn said Tolkein was particularly inspirational. His books, "fired my imagination..." he said.
In "Point of Passage," a young man named Jonathon, must go on a quest into the unseen world" to fight for the forces of good against the forces of evil. He has the potential to possess magical powers, but he must obtain certain objects in order for him to work his magic. The forces of evil try to prevent Jonathon from ever obtaining all of these objects.
After these unsuccessful attempts he shelved the manuscript and let it lay for a number of years.
Then just a few months ago, McQuinn came across the web site of a small publisher in Cloverdale, Ind. It was the brainchild of an author, who like McQuinn had the desire to see his work in print.
"That's what you write for, for people to read what you wrote," McQuinn said.
So McQuinn downloaded the web site information from Step by Step Publishing. He contacted the publisher and they reached an agreement on publishing 50 copies of the book.
McQuinn said he visited Kinko's and scanned all 491 pages, which included illustrations, and entered them on two three-and-a-half-inch computer disks. From these disks Step by Step produced the bound volumes, which have 404 pages. Expenses for his first run of books ran less than $400.
McQuinn says there's plenty of action in the book, "but not a dirty word in it." "Point of Passage" says McQuinn, contains his penchant for "good moralistic values" and reflects his own beliefs in Christianity. A Sunday school teacher at Salem Church of God, McQuinn says the book is "not religious per se."
After writing "Point of Passage," he attempted to have it published at various publishers. He sent the 491 page typewritten manuscript to Double-day, Simon and Schuster, Harper and Row but all returned it with a letter explaining they do not consider unsolicited manuscripts.
To debut his first novel, "Point of Passage", McQuinn appeared (though not magically) on Saturday August 30 at Newton's Book Store, 320 W. National Road in Englewood.