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.
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the tour HERE
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