RBA Publishing is pleased to announce the first installment of Nicholas Da Silva’s graphic novel series: Dread and Alive, featuring Drew McIntosh, Jamaican Super Hero. One episode will appear each week in the Reggae e-Guide, the weekly electronic newsletter published by Reggae Festival Guide magazine, the world’s oldest and largest reggae magazine.

The Reggae e-Guide is sent out each Friday morning and enjoyed by 25,000 reggae fans around the world. The episodes are accompanied by amazing original artwork that can be viewed at http://www.dreadandalive.com

The first episode appeared in the e-Guide on November 20 and caught the attention of Jamaican Gleaner reggae aficionado, Howard Campbell as well as various reggae journalists and DJ’s around the globe.

THE STORY

Andrew “Drew” McIntosh is an anthropologist and adventurer. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in the Cockpit Country, he is a descendant of the Jamaican Maroons. Drew possesses a sacred amulet with untold power. Given to him by Cudjoe, the wise and benevolent village chief of the Maroons. Drew has sworn an oath to guard and protect the amulet from his nemesis, the nefarious ShadowCatcher, a powerful Obeahman mastered in the dark arts of Obeah who just happens to be Cudjoe’s brother.

Drew and his girlfriend, Zoologist, Brandy Savage, traverse the planet working to protect the rights of all living things – humans, animals, and the Earth, from the evils of the world.

THE AUTHOR

Author Nicholas Da Silva was born in 1966 to Philip & Aparecida Taylor. Spending his early years in Brasil with his first language being Portuguese, Nicholas attributes his ambition and drive in writing a multicultural story to his own multicultural upbringing. His father, who was African-American with mixed Indian and Dutch heritage, introduced him to the world and travel through his job with the Corps of Engineers; his mother, a native of Sao Paulo, Brasil.

In his early teens, Nicholas was an avid reader of science fiction books. He soon became disappointed in the lack of positive multicultural superheroes and fictional characters in American literature. Coming from a diverse background, he made a promise to change all that by mixing cultural fact with fiction. The result was the publication of DREAD & ALIVE®: In the Beginning in 1997. This original short-story series featured an immigrant hero from Jamaica and effectively utilized folklore and folk symbols while promoting pride in Jamaican culture.

Overwhelmed by the positive response, he followed up the successful pilot edition with the sequel, a full-length novel entitled DREAD & ALIVE®: Night of the Animals.

Today, Nicholas operates ZOOLOOK, his design studio/new media agency where he develops entertainment properties that promote a multicultural experience. Nicholas Da Silva also volunteers his time by visitings schools to speak with kids. He feels that by sharing his knowledge and experiences, he can inspire the next generation of adults to have a positive outlook on life. When he’s not in the studio, you can find Nicholas Da Silva, an avid snowboarder, traveling around the world, looking for the perfect snow. He also enjoys sampling cuisine from around the world and traveling abroad.