NEW PESTWORLD PAGE
My new Pestworld page is Here and contains the obligatory map, expanded extracts from the Pestmeister 'bible' Pests and Pestilence, and links to the podcast episodes, scripts, original story and theme music. Jump in...you may never be the same again
THE ONLINE COLLECTION
Tall Tales on the Iron Horse
The Evangelist
A Touch of Earth
Clifford and the Bookmole
Babel 3000
The Thing from the Thing from Another World
Chicken
Pestworld Pt1
Pestworld Pt2
The Hay Devils
The Man Who Sank
Dust to Dust
Happy Halloween
Her Precipitous Pride, His Lamentable Ears
Interview
Be Unique - Don't Feel Rejected
THE PRINT COLLECTION
Nineteen tales of science fiction and fantasy (including three new, never-before published) in my first collection of short stories, published by Bewildering Press.
Available now from
THE STORIES - REVIEWS
Tall Tales on the Iron Horse
"Clever surrealism and a superb punch line"
Nick Gevers - Locus
"It's one of those
stories you can't quite make sense of until the end, and even then you
have to think about it. Well worth the ride."
David Soyka - SF Site
Dolls
"Multiple layers give 'Dolls' a weight that will beg you to re-read."
S R Turner - Tangent
The Defenders
"For
such a brief story, Davies encompasses a wide range. 'The Defenders'
brought to mind a comment by John Clute (in reference to both James
Tiptree Jr and the underrated Kris Neville) 'A capacity to develop the
sometimes routine initial material of a story so that its implications
expanded constantly...' Tiptree did this with breathtaking ease, and
Davies displays a similar ability here"
Chris Markwyn Tangent
" 'The Defenders' by Colin P Davies expertly dissects colonialism in quintessential science-fictional terms"
Nick Gevers - Locus
"Short, effective, and providing a solid emotional payoff, this is a great short story"
Jason B Sizemore - Apex Digest
The Girl with the Four-Dimensional Head
" 'The Girl with the Four-Dimensional Head' by Colin P Davies is
excellent. This is not another goofy, pulpy tale, but a gritty sci-fi
drama with fully drawn characters, outstanding dialog, and an
interesting take on the old standby setting of Mars"
Michael Gabriel Bailey - Tangent
Read extracts here See contents here More details here
Cover art by Crystalwizard
THE COLLECTION - REVIEWS
"Its so easy to say that there is literally something for everyone within the covers, but nothing could be more true. Colin won't beat you up with heavy science but neither will he taunt you with ghosts and ghoulies, but he will walk you damn close and absolutely entertain you. Tall Tales on the Iron Horse is a fast entertaining read, well worth the cost. You won't be disappointed"
Paul Cole, Beam Me Up, Radio Station WRFR, Rockland
Or listen at Beam Me Up Podcast
Anyone with the courage to board the iron horse of science fiction and fantasy written by Davies will be left with a bitter taste of deep and dark thoughts. Readers will find much to consider and will find much to keep them reading
Vivian Zabel, Vivian's Site
As Cory Doctorow wrote, “the easiest way to write futuristic science fiction is to predict, with rigor and absolute accuracy, the present day,” and Davies has succeeded admirably in this task. But don’t let that distract you from the ageless elements in these stories, which often confront darker aspects of the human heart in ways illuminating and surprising. These stories share other common elements: they are well-plotted, crisply told, and thoroughly engaging
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, The Fix
Mostly consisting of previously published science and speculative fiction short stories, Tall Tales is a smart collection that is provocative and complex. Many stories conceptualize the results of widespread genetic engineering, holographic technology, and a culture that needs constant entertainment and stimulation......It brought to mind the movies Blade Runner and 2001, A Space Odyssey and a world where the created servant becomes the disillusioned master.
Jaimie Bell, Front Street Reviews
The author’s imagination leads him to craft stories that take you into futuristic tales that are often deeply troubling, complex, spell binding and perplexing...The title seems innocuous; it lends itself to the image of stories with a warm, cozy fireside focus. Don’t be fooled.
Barbara L. Fielder, Armchair Interviews
Every so often, a book comes along that not only captures your attention, but holds you under its power long after you have turned the final page. Tall Tales on the Iron Horse, written by Colin P. Davies, is just that sort of book.
Joyce Anthony, Books and Authors
With an imagination sparked by that understated and deliberately dry British humor (well, humour, I suppose), Science Fiction writer Colin P Davies has crafted a wonderfully witty collection of fantastical stories titled, Tall Tales on the Iron Horse
Lyn Perry, Bloggin' Outloud
One of the best in the collection is the title piece, “Tall Tales on the Iron Horse.” It is ambiguous and multi-layered enough to make you muse after you’ve finished the last page. “The Hay Devils” is another in the Bradburyesque vein.
Danielle L Parker, Bewildering Stories
Actually, despite working within a more familiar genre paradigm, Davies is looking to do the same thing that the various authors of Datlow’s Del Rey anthology – question our assumptions about the boundaries of reality, holding them up to examination from angles that skewer conventional perception. In that sense, Davies’s tall tales share similar ground with Lanagan’s cruel fairy tales. And, in their own pulp-inspired way, provide highly entertaining “shock value.”
David Soyka, Black Gate
NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSETC....
LATEST NEWS....
* An Honorable Race is now available in the new anthology from CWP, Time in a Bottle.
* An audio version can also be heard on the podcast site Beam Me Up - a stylish production.
* My tongue in cheek story Paper Lies has been published in the comedy western anthology A Fistful of Hollers from Cyberaliens Press. Readers will discover the truth about the Wild West...and fans of the rock group Marillion will discover even more.
* A new longer story, Stippleback, will be appearing in Jupiter Magazine later this year.
More news from TV world: my son, Chris Davies, appeared on Celebrity Big Brother on 12th January 2010 to take on five of the housemates in a game of Countdown. Housemates included Vinnie Jones, Irvana Trump, Stephen Baldwin and Stephanie Beacham. Chris won in fine style in a game played just for fun.
My new five part audio serial The Monster on Mandrake Street is now available on my Pestworld page. The text version can be read at Bewildering Stories.
News from TV world: my son, Chris Davies, has won the current series of the mega-popular UK Channel 4 TV show, Countdown. This may not be available worldwide, but the final and highlights can be seen on Youtube. Chris also composed and played the theme music for my 5 part podcast story Pestworld.
Latest sale: Short story, An Honorable Race, to the anthology Time in a Bottle to be published by CWP.
Throughout August, my story Pestworld, from Bewildering Stories, is being serialised on the audio podcast site Beam Me Up. This has been adapted into five episodes and includes additional material. It will be followed closely by a new five part sequel, The Monster on Mandrake Street, which receives its premiere on Beam Me Up and will be published subsequently on Bewildering Stories.
New on Beam Me Up #164: Her Precipitous Pride, His Lamentable Ears from Bewildering Stories and The Mailbox from the latest edition of Abandoned Towers.
Don't like heights? Then you should enjoy Chicken on the podcast site Beam Me up - in two parts, episodes #158 and #159. I drew the illustration on the right of this page around the same time I wrote Chicken, showing a mono-rail nexus some distance away from the towers of the story. Is that a walker on the rail silhouetted by the moon?
The Certainty Principle has been bought for translation by the Russian sf magazine ESLI (IF in English).
Have you ever suspected that the Wild West might not have been exactly as in the legends? All is revealed in Paper Lies which will be appearing in the upcoming Silly Western Anthology from Cyberaliens Press.
Podcast sites are establishing themselves as an increasingly important source of online speculative fiction that offer the reader an immersive experience and the writer a shared interpretation of a story. In the last month I've sold two stories, The Man Who Sank and The Hay Devils, to Pseudopod.
Many of my stories that are currently available for free online are gathered at Free SF Online This is a great site which collects together links to thousands of freely available stories by well-known writers.
Recently I visited Cath Bore at Wirral's 7 Waves Community Radio to record three poems and The Thing From The Thing From Another World. Thanks to Riverside Writers for the arrangement.
Babel 3000 and Chicken are now available online at Abandoned Towers on the Science Fiction page.
A rewritten version of my early story Gwinny appeared in the new magazine Abandoned Towers #2 as It's a Superman's World. Not for the serious.
Terrified of rejection? I've posted a short piece over at Storycrafters which may help.
I'm in orbit... I recently discovered that the October/November 2004 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, which includes my story The Defenders, is in the library on board the International Space Station.
Who is this guy? Probing questions in an interview at Joyce Anthony's Blog, Books and Authors
The Certainty Principle, a 6000 word sf story that takes place on Mars and in Wales, appeared in the February 2009 Asimov's causing a little bit of a stir as the 'hero' has not exactly acted heroically, or perhaps ethically.
A rewritten version of my early story David Yeung Remains will be appearing soon in the anthology Things Are Not What They Seem. Not for the squeamish.
My story Babel 3000, which appeared in March Asimov's, is included in Dave Truesdale's Recommended Reading List for 2007 published on the Black Gate website, and is also now available, together with Dolls, The Defenders, and Tall Tales on the Iron Horse on the intriguing new website anthology builder
On April 1st the 'Silly Fantasy' anthology was published. This is a compendium of humorous prose, poems and artwork and ideal for those lonely minutes spent in the bathroom. I have five pieces appearing: One Paradox and a Funeral (flash), Dead Fred and A Hero's Guide to Saving a Planet (poems), and ET Phone Home and First Contact (cartoons)
Two new short stories are now online at Bewildering Stories - Happy Halloween in the (you guessed it!) Halloween issue #265, illustrated by Crystalwizard , and Her Precipitous Pride, His Lamentable Ears in issue #267
The short story Tall Tales on the Iron Horse is now available to read at Keith Brooke's excellent site Infinity Plus. After ten years, Keith is making this the last-ever update of the site. The special 'anniversary update' has fiction from Paul McAuley, Nicola Griffith, Kit Reed, James Patrick Kelly, Gareth L Powell, Jeff Vandermeer and Paul Di Filippo
Pestworld, a humorous look at the future possibilities of genetic engineering has been serialised at Bewildering Stories in issues #233 and #234
The Defenders Asimov's Science Fiction (Oct/Nov 2004) is included in The Year's Best Science Fiction #22 - Ed Gardner Dozois - from St Martin's Press (The Mammoth Book of Best New SF #18 from Robinson in the UK)
Clifford and the Bookmole is now complete and on the market. The novel is 57,000 words and for ages twelve to two hundred.
MOVE INTO EUROPE
In a surprise move (a surprise to me at least), I have made my first appearance in translation. The Defenders has been published in the acclaimed Hungarian SF magazine Galaktika (#197)
The story has received a good review in Estonian from Lauri Lukas. Thanks to Lauri for the translation.
