K.W. Davis Author

What the heart desires, the sword must defend.

After service in the US Army, earning an IUP teaching degree, and completing a Penn State master’s in historical research, Ken took a creative writing course at Nottingham Trent University. Ken learned the skills of researching everyday living conditions, tools, and the knowledge base of a historical period at Plimoth Patuxet, Old Sturbridge Village, Brown University, and Wittenberg University. 

History and education have been Ken’s life. To be an artisan, he learned rudimentary blacksmithing and demonstrated how to make wooden shingles and bowls/trenchers at Pennsylvania historic sites and museums. Over the course of thirty-five years, Ken and his family volunteered as re-enactors. Their personas included 18th-century French marines, grenadiers, and camp followers, as well as a Pennsylvania frontiersman, and a Cayuga Indian, at various historic sites throughout the eastern United States and Canada. A highlight for Ken was being asked to serve as a featured extra (as a British and French soldier) in The Last of the Mohicans. When he hesitated, he was told his wife and kids could come along to Morganton, North Carolina, and provided lodging for five weeks. His son even got to be in the movie as a drummer boy. Best summer vacation ever! Around the time the movie was released, Ken was delighted to receive signed letters from Michael Mann and Daniel Day Lewis thanking him for his work.

Ken was recognized for his ability to spark students’ interest when he received Distinguished Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year and National Endowment for the Humanities awards. Publication credits include short stories published in the US, UK, and Canada, as well as memberships in the Horror Writers Association and the Authors Guild.

Ken’s wife’s uncle and good friends helped him build his own house and barn. After their teaching careers, he and his wife converted two cottages on their 48-acre property in the Allegheny Mountains to short-term vacation rentals under the business name of Blueberry Meadows.

Ken and his wife were blessed with two children. Son, Nate, is a track and field coach at the University of Wisconsin and coached the decathlon for the United States at the last three Olympic Games. He and his wife, Ann, have three children, Kobi, Max, and Kaari.

Daughter Kirstyn is a surgeon and Lt. Colonel in the USAF, currently deployed overseas. She is married to husband Tim and has two daughters, Cyla and Bryn.

Ken’s first wife, Marcy, passed away in 2011. A few years later, he married Deb, a wonderful life partner and an enthusiastic supporter of his writing. They live in Oberlin, Ohio with their two rescue poodles, Annie and Bingley.

The inspiration for this story comes from years of teaching young adults eager to find trustworthy people in a dangerous, manipulative social media world and to build a loving relationship that lasts a lifetime. Ken firmly believes that our need to find someone special to trust and love has not changed from Roman times, and hope his book inspires belief that it is still possible today.