DAVID RAND · THE STORY BEHIND THE STORIES

I’ve always had
stories in my head.

In sixth grade, I watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and decided it needed a sequel. Naturally, I felt an eleven-year-old should write it.

Around that same time, a teacher asked us to write about a boy skipping a stone. In my version, the stone skipped back.

That’s still where most of my stories begin: something familiar does something impossible, and I want to know why.

Some stories became
a way through.

Years after serving in the Marines, I struggled with nightmares and the fear that something terrible might happen to my child. I started putting those fears into fictional characters. As the story grew, the nightmares began to fade.

That story became Dimensions.

Writing gave me somewhere to put the things I couldn’t easily explain. It also opened the door to everything else I wanted to explore: science, history, faith, fear, love, and the strange possibilities hiding inside ordinary life.

Others began with
the people I love.

Some of my stories reach across dimensions. Others began much closer to home.

The Little Astronaut grew from imagining adventures for my youngest son, Logan. The Neighborhood Squad began with Ethan in mind. My stepdaughter inspired a journey through a tablet into changing worlds. My wife inspired The Shape of Empathy and The Song Beneath the Heart Tree.

And visiting her family in Argentina inspired a story about a giant who breaks a house. The toilet and sink were real casualties.

Behind the impossible worlds, there’s usually something personal.

A home for
the worlds I imagine.

I’m David Rand, and I’m Doing My Best is where these stories are taking shape: graphic novels, short visual stories, children’s adventures, and whatever comes next.

For years, I could picture scenes I didn’t have the drawing or filmmaking skills to create. AI-assisted tools have helped me bring those images to life. The writing remains at the heart of it all: the characters, their choices, and the reasons their stories matter to me.

I’m still writing. Still learning. Still finding the best way to share what’s in my head.

I’m doing my best.

Explore the stories