David Hair
David’s books (5)
Hair, David (1965 - ) is an award-winning epic fantasy author. For over two decades he worked in financial services, but became a full-time writer in his early 40s. As well as writing, Hair enjoys football, history, travel and obscure music. He currently lives in Bangkok with his wife, Kerry, and their two children.
A global traveller, Hair has lived and worked in multiple countries. He grew up in Te Puke and Napier, spent the majority of his working life in Wellington, and has since lived in the United Kingdom, Delhi and Auckland. He has travelled throughout South East Asia, Europe and America.
Hair likes to ground his writing in mythology and history, both of which are passions he studied at university. A disciplined and prolific writer, he launched his writing career with the publication of the The Bone Tiki in 2009 (HarperCollins). The Bone Tiki received critical praise, with the New Zealand Herald calling it an ‘ambitious fantasy debut’ and the New Zealand Listener ‘a first rate fantasy adventure.’ The Bone Tiki won Best First Book at the 2010 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and was a finalist for the Best Young Adult Novel award in the same year.
The Bone Tiki was the first in what would become a series of six books for young adults. Called ‘The Aotearoa Series,’ the saga continued with the publication of The Taniwha’s Tear (2010), The Lost Tohunga (2011), Justice and Utu (2012), Ghosts of Parihaka (2013) and Magic and Makutu (2014). The series is built around the concept of two parallel New Zealands – one, a modern world; the other, a magical world with historical legends, people and ghosts of ordinary New Zealanders – and follows the same protagonists. Both The Bone Tiki and The Taniwha’s Tear were awarded Storylines Notable Books awards.
Hair and his family moved to Delhi in 2007. Inspired by the history and culture of the country he lived in, Hair set his next series, The Return of Ravana, in India. Published by Penguin India and released one year later by Penguin New Zealand, ‘The Return of Ravana’ is a quartet comprised of Pyre of Queens (2010), Swayamvara (2011; ‘The Ghost Bride’ in New Zealand), Souls in Exile (2011) and King of Lanka (2012). The same series is being re-released with revised text and format by Jo Fletcher Books, but with different names: The Pyre (2015), The Adversaries (2016), The Exile (2017) and The King (2018). The Return of Ravana tells the story of four teenagers whose lives are all linked to one tragic past life, and the terrible consequences which befall them when they come to realise that they are the reincarnations of people caught up in the machinations of an evil sorcerer-king in India’s distant past. The whole series is united by the echoes of the Indian epic, The Ramayana. One awed reviewer stated of the series, ‘When it comes to Young Adult fiction, David Hair hasn’t just broken the mould. He’s completely shattered it.’ Pyre of Queens won Best Young Adult Novel at the LIANZA Awards in 2012.
Also published by Penguin India is Hair’s 2011 short story ‘Bloodied Hands,’ about a young man in Delhi who finds himself the victim of a body-jumping evil spirit. It was published in the paranormal short story compilation The Killer App and other paranormal stories.
The Moontide Quartet is an epic fantasy series published by Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus UK), and Hair’s third series. An epic adventure of East meets West, The Moontide Quartet is set on the magical world of Urte. The first book Mage’s Blood was published in 2012, Scarlet Tides in 2013, Unholy War in 2014 and Ascendant’s Rite in 2015. Unlike Hair’s previous series, The Moontide Quartet is written for a mass market, both adult and young adult, audience. Mage’s Blood was included on Amazon’s Best SFF for 2013.
In 2016 Hair published Kiwis at War – 1916: Dig for Victory. The book is shortlisted for the 2017 Best Young Adult Novel in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
Hair’s latest series The Sunsurge Quartet begins with Empress of the Fall, followed by Prince of the Spear (2017). The third novel Hearts of Ice was published in 2018, with a final publication to be published in 2019.
Hair has worked with co-author Catherine Mayo to write the Olympus series, a unique take on the nature of the Greek gods and their relationship with their worshippers. The first of a trilogy, Athena’s Champion, retells the Judgement of Paris and Helen’s first abduction by Theseus. A sequel, Oracle's War, was published in 2019. Oracle's War is set in Ancient Greece, with Odysseus as the hero.
