Oh, And I Also Write

If you search for my name on Google, you will find that Dave McClure is a successful venture capitalist and business consultant of “Master of 500 Hats” fame. The thing is, that’s not me. Neither is the Dave McClure who is a senior technology guru for the Pentagon, though we both lived in Alexandria, VA, for a while.

Still, I do have some secret lives beyond my blogging and writing for accounting magazines. For one thing, I have spent the last 18 years as President and CEO of the US Internet Industry Association, a trade association that works extensively on Internet policy and law. I am also co-chair of the International Internet Industry Alliance, a global policy group. I travel the world (most recently to South Africa and Hawaii, soon to Colorado and Ohio) to talk to Internet Service Providers about broadband policy.

Most recently, I’ve worked with Sen. Ron Wyden and the folks battling the SOPA/PIPA and ACTA copyright bills, and getting involved (again!) in the issue of local taxes on Internet commerce. And the reform of the Universal Service Fund. In my spare time, I sit on the Boards of Directors of Fraud-Check, an e-commerce security company; the Universal Service Administrative Corporation, which administers the Universal Service Fund for the Federal Communications Commission; and on the advisory boards of Broadband For America and Net Literacy, both committed to the growth of Broadband in the US.

And though I am not an accountant, I do a lot of writing for the profession, including hardware and software reviews, white papers, blogs, strategic marketing plans and technology consulting.

In between times, I am caregiver to two boys on the autism scale. Ride a vintage Honda Goldwing Interstate bike. Scuba dive all over the world. Cook southern cuisine. Sample good red wines and smoky bourbons. And intertwine my life with that of my muse and partner, the incomparable Dena Jane.

So last year, Dena Jane opined that as I was approaching another one of those birthdays that ends in “zero,” it might be time to actually decide what I want to be when I grow up…other than a workaholic. And I said, seriously, that I really wanted to write novels. To which she responded, “So what’s stopping you?”

So it was that South River became my first novel, a thriller set here in Virginia and involving the Kennedy assassination. It has been available for several months now on Amazon.Com and Barnes&Noble.com as an ebook. To be followed shortly by my second novel, Cross Keys, a thriller with ties to a real and unfound stolen treasure from the Civil War (look for it in late February). And a third in development now, which I am not talking about until it is written.

So why am I boring you with the details of my life? For three reasons. First, because our intrepid blogger and my editor at the CPA Practice Advisor suggested it. Second, so that you will understand that all of us who blog and write for this publication are people with extensive areas of expertise. What we write about is based on knowledge, experience and research – not just opinions.

And third, because I appreciate your commitment to the magazine, and your readership for the past 20 years or so. And so I will offer up a copy of South River in PDF format to anyone who would like a copy (If you don’t do ebooks, or your reader does not do PDF, you can always buy the print version for $16.95 at Amazon or B&N). A free book. Fiction, a thriller, and a fun romp for your next visit to the beach or long airplane flight.

If you like it, post a review on Amazon.com. Or buy Cross Keys. If you don’t like it…well, there will be another Bleeding Edge column coming your way next month!