Monday, February 4, 2019

*Book Tour & Giveaway* Scenes of Mild Peril by David Court-GUEST POST


Scenes of Mild Peril
by David Court
Genre: Horror / Sci-fi / Satire , Short Stories

Across thirty disquieting stories, we'll encounter such tales as, "Sovereign's Last Hurrah", featuring a team of retired super-powered villains embarking on one last caper with their legendary super-hero rival.


"A Comedian Walks into a Bar", in which a hungry and ambitious amateur learns that the fabled secret of comedy may come at too high a cost. "83", where the interview for a dream job becomes a nightmare, and "In Vino Veritas, In Vino Mors", where a dying wine collector takes part in a very special tasting session, courtesy of a very special visitor.

You'll encounter possessed little fingers, magic swords, sanity-defying factories, stranded astronauts, lovecraftian librarians, virulent plagues, and pork scratchings ... all with a twist in the tale, courtesy of the equally twisted mind of David Court.





Check out the podcasts here!





David Court is a short story author and novelist, whose works have appeared in over a dozen venues including Tales to Terrify, Strangely Funny, Fears Accomplice and The Voices Within. Whilst primarily a horror writer, he also writes science fiction, poetry and satire. 


His writing style has been described as "Darkly cynical" and "Quirky and highly readable" and David can't bring himself to disagree with either of those statements.

Growing up in the UK in the eighties, David's earliest influences were the books of Stephen King and Clive Barker, and the films of John Carpenter and George Romero. The first wave of Video Nasties may also have had a profound effect on his psyche.

As well as being a proud VIP writer for Stitched Smile Publications, David works as a Software Developer and lives in Coventry with his wife, three cats and an ever-growing beard. David's wife once asked him if he'd write about how great she was. David replied that he would, because he specialized in short fiction. Despite that, they are still married.




GUEST POST
What is something unique/quirky about you?

I used to be a keen cosplayer, and got into it through my life of the UK Comic Character Judge Dredd. I’ve spent many a convention patrolling up and down the halls, and on the basis of that got involved in the Leicester Square Premiere of Dredd (2012) in London and got to meet Karl Urban and the writer Alex Garland in an exclusive preview of the movie in a hotel in Soho, London. I haven’t done it much for a couple of years – I tell others that it’s because I’m concentrating on my writing, but in reality I’ve put on a bit of weight and a leather one-piece outfit is not very forgiving. Not such a big fan of the Stallone Dredd film from the mid-nineties – we don’t talk about that movie in these parts.

Tell us something really interesting that's happened to you!

If we peer way back through the mists of time, back to around 2004/2005, I hadn’t really gotten involved with writing at that stage, but I was clearly frustrated on the creative front. I used to be a regular poster on an internet message board known at b3ta, and one bored night decided to make a little animated version of the entirety of Star Wars: A New Hope to fit into a tiny animated gif less than 250k in size. Like you do. That went down well, so I did The Empire Strikes Back as well. Following that, Return of the Jedi. Each of these took me weeks to make – and were all painstakingly done frame by frame – but went viral and earned me a little notoriety on the internet.

One day, out of the blue, Lucasfilm got in touch to tell me that they were a big fan of my work – They sent me a goodie bag filled with loads of unusual and rare Star Wars stuff, and I got on their Christmas Card List. That’s quite interesting, isn’t it? I sometimes get asked if I’ll do any more, but I actually have a life now. And I can barely bring myself to watch Star Wars Episodes 1 to 3, so I’d really struggle to animate them. That said, I have done the same with Alien, Aliens, the first three Indiana Jones movies and Jaws – they’re all lurking on the internet for those that care to look.

What are some of your pet peeves?

This is where I should be really profound and say “War”, “man’s inhumanity to man” or “bigotry”, but I’m way too petty for that. In reality, it’s people who refuse to move their bags from seats in busy trains, people who spend way too long trying to figure out how to use cash points and people who like chocolate limes.

Where were you born/grew up at?

I’m a born and bred Coventry lad. Coventry is pretty much in the dead-centre of the UK, and occupies a status of a certain limbo. Northerners insist that we’re Southerners, and Southerners insist that we’re Northerners. It doesn’t help that we have such a neutral accent that only Coventrians can spot other Coventrians I had a brief detour to the neighboring city of Leicester in my University days, but ended up gravitating back to Coventry again.

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

Is it awful that my gut answer was “Desperately trying to get hold of Kathleen Kennedy or JJ Abrams so they could tell me what happens in Star Wars Episode 9?” Of course I’d spend the time with my wife and cats and we’d eat some excellent food and drink some overly expensive wine. I might finally be allowed to watch my choice of movie without argument, but my ultimate aim would be to be blind-drunk and semi-comatose when the Grim Reaper appeared.

Who is your hero and why?

Now sadly no longer with us, but the great comedian (and I’d argue prophet) Bill Hicks. His stuff was as thought-provoking as it was hilarious, and he elevated stand-up comedy into somewhat of an art form. I’d love to hear what his take on the current state of the world was, as I also would with the now sadly deceased writer Douglas Adams (who is my bona-fide writing hero).

What kind of world ruler would you be?

Benevolent, but short tempered prone to pettiness. Truth be told, I’d probably be bored of it within the first few hours. Is there an ermine cape and sceptre involved? If there is, count me in. I’ll employ a Grima Wormtongue style-lackey to do all the heavy lifting, though.

What are you passionate about these days?

Despite my better wishes, I’m getting more and more passionate – certainly angrier, anyway – about the current state of politics. I’ve always felt very strongly about the books, movies and music I like, but politics feels so important right now. I’m by no means any form of activist, but I find myself getting increasingly annoyed at the way the world is progressing – or rather, regressing.

It’s becoming increasingly more difficult as a horror writer to come up with situations scarier than the ones we’re already living in. And Sci-fi writers trying to come up scary dystopian futures? We’re there, now. Through Star Trek Gene Roddenberry hinted at a peaceful future of enlightenment and compassion, but we’re going in precisely the opposite direction of superstition and distrust.


Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!










No comments:

Post a Comment