Updated July 10, 2016
My dad was my hero, and my friend. He was brilliant and hilarious, imaginative and easygoing, adventurous and brave. He was a great travel buddy, hiking partner, reader of stories, builder of Lincoln Log houses, and griller of tri-tip steaks. Please know, first and foremost, that I am fully invested in preserving and promoting his legacy.
I first took an interest in Dad’s work when I was 16 years old and the Twin Towers fell. As I watched the news, surrounded by shocked and grieving classmates, all I could think was, “What a crock of bullshit; I can’t wait to get home and call Dad.” And that’s exactly what I did. After that, he was always my first call when something obviously fabricated popped up in the media. And later that same year, the first conversation I ever had with my first love was about the original “Wagging the Moondoggie.”
For the past couple of years, Dad and I had been talking about building a new website, preparing more of his work for publication, and generally sprucing up his image. Because it’s such a big undertaking, and we were both busy procrastinators, we never managed to get around to it while he was alive. When it became apparent that he was not going to win his battle with cancer, he transferred his intellectual property to me, trusting that I would safeguard and grow his legacy in accordance with his wishes.
One of the concerns we talked about was how cluttered, unattractive, and poorly designed the old “davesweb” was, to the point of distracting from his content. Thus, a streamlined, user-friendly website has been one of my top priorities. While “davesweb” made much of Dad’s writing available for personal use, he always wanted to maintain control over the manner in which it was presented and distributed. And as Weird Scenes was gaining more traction, he wanted people discovering his work for the first time to land somewhere clean and easy to navigate. So in addition to building this new website, I pulled down the old one and have been working on shutting down unauthorized sites and redirecting links to create a unified, credible web presence.
Dad also wanted his work to be taken seriously, and to reach the broadest audience possible. So I am working with Headpress (the publisher of Weird Scenes) to publish more of his work. Ultimately, my goals are to honor my father’s legacy by professionalizing his image, making his writing available in the most credible way possible, and growing his reach to engage and influence a wider audience. Please know that I wholeheartedly believe in my father’s work, and I am working toward the day when David McGowan’s entire body of work is available to the widest audience possible. If you would also like to see that goal achieved, please consider donating, purchasing one of his books, and/or spreading the word to others.
Please email me at alissa@centerforaninformedamerica.com if you have questions, concerns, private comments, or a lengthy message.