Email: dbeco@comcast.net
The artist was born in New York City, 1949. He grew up in New York, Texas, Louisiana, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. He attended both public and private schools. His grandfather was president of the Borden Company, his father an executive vice president. His mother read Russian literature and raised Golden Retrievers.
Comfort came west in 1967 to attend Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He graduated with a BA in English Literature. In the next years he completed invisible Great American novels while living in Oregon, California, Washington, and Alaska.
During the 80s, Comfort concentrated on short fiction. One of his stories won the New England Living magazine contest (judge: McCall’s fiction editor, Kathy Sagan). He was among the eleven finalists (from a field of 3400) for the Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award (judges: Mona Simpson, Scott Turow). He was a finalist for the Faulkner Awards, the Heekin/Graywolf Fellowship and the Helicon Nine Award in Short Fiction. His stories have appeared in Pig Iron, Eclectic Literary Forum, Pacific Review, Coe Review, Evergreen Review, Courtland Review. His Honorable Mention short story in the Belletrist Review was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His coming-of-age novel, about a boys’ prep school, was a finalist for America’s Best Award.
After abandoning fiction for allegorical interspecies humor, Comfort’s FOR DOGS ONLY, How to Live with Human Beings, was published by Pocket/Simon & Schuster in 1989. The Chicago Tribune, San Diego Herald, Tampa Herald, and other newspapers carried features on the title. The author undertook a promotional campaign that included more than forty national radio interviews, three television appearances (Seattle Today Show, Sun Up San Diego Show, People are Talking [San Francisco]), and book signings.
THE FIRST PET HISTORY OF THE WORLD was released by Fireside/Simon & Schuster in July, 1994, and was featured in counter displays in national chains. The light reference title — endorsed by actress Betty White, conceptual artist William Wegman, and ASPCA president Roger Caras — was also the subject of national publicity.
In 1996 Fireside/Simon & Schuster released the author’s satire, JUST SAY NOEL, A History of Christmas from the Nativity to the Nineties. Again David conducted a publicity campaign and was interviewed by many syndicated radio stations. The holiday satire was excerpted by the National Enquirer.
In 2009 Citadel/ Kensington released his The Rock And Roll Book Of The Dead, The Fatal Journeys of Rock’s Seven Immortals — a study of the tempestuous lives and tragic ends of Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and Kurt Cobain. The author’s pop culture blogs appeared in The Wrap, Culture Catch, and BlogCritics.
Comfort’s publishing industry exposé, An Insider’s Guide to Book Publishing, was released by Writers Digest Books in December, 2013. Excerpts from the title appear in Pleiades, The Montreal Review, Stanford Arts Review, The Satirist, InDigest, Writing Disorder, Eyeshot, Glasschord, Line Zero, and Johns Hopkins’ Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review.
Comfort began his art career as a wood sculptor and custom contemporary furniture maker and designer. His sculpture evolved from figurative to expressionist, and from wood to bone, stone, acrylic, and enameled mixed media. His painting developed concurrently vis a vis vision, technique, and materials. His work has been represented by numerous fine West Coast galleries and has won honors in various national competitions.
The author's literary work is represented by Don Fehr, Vice President, Trident Media.