Douglas Smith (3) (1952–)
Author of Chimerascope
For other authors named Douglas Smith, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Douglas Smith is a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
Image credit: Douglas Smith
Series
Works by Douglas Smith
The Last Ride 1 copy
Associated Works
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Presents Flush Fiction: 88 Short-Short Stories You Can Read in a Single Sitting (2012) — Contributor — 35 copies, 2 reviews
The SFWA Handbook: The Business Side of Writing, By Writers, For Writers (2010) — Contributor — 23 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1952-06-02
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- writer
- Awards and honors
- Doug is a 3-time winner of Canada's Aurora Award and has been a finalist for the Astounding Award, CBC's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane.
- Short biography
- Douglas Smith is a multi-award-winning author described by Library Journal as "one of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction."
His latest work is the YA urban fantasy trilogy, The Dream Rider Saga (The Hollow Boys, The Crystal Key, and The Lost Expedition). His other books include the urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World; the collections, Chimerascope and Impossibilia; and the writer's guide Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction.
Published in 27 languages, Doug is a 3-time winner of Canada's Aurora Award and has been a finalist for the Astounding Award, CBC's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane.
His website is https://smithwriter.com.
"The man is Sturgeon good. Zelazny good. I don't give those up easy." —Spider Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner
"A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice." —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner
"His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think." —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Awards winner
"Stories you can't forget, even years later." —Julie Czerneda, multi-award-winning author and editor - Nationality
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Map Location
- Canada
Members
Reviews
This short story is absorbing and a terrible human mirror. The disparate ways of being and ideas are shocking, but the elegant writing style eases the shock.
A fun quick paced story that reads like a comic book or movie. Even when the scenarios are comic-book-logic fantastical, the emotions feel real, so I found myself really enjoying it.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Originally published at ideomancer.com ( http://www.ideomancer.com/?p=426 ):
Chimerascope, Douglas Smith. ChiZine Publications, Toronto, March 2010, paperback, $16.95, ISBN 978-0981297859.
Reviewed by Alyssa Smith.
There are few misses in Chimerascope, a superb collection of Douglas Smith’s previously published speculative fiction, stuffed with Aurora nominees (and one winner) and Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror honorable mentions. Spanning a wide spectrum of classic sci-fi, stories inspired show more by mythology, and post-apocalyptic fiction, this is an collection you’ll want to own and re-read.
Smith’s greatest talent lies in creating and then exploring worlds fashioned by posing a deceptively simple question. If a man awoke each morning and died each night, each time waking in someone else’s body, as in “A Taste Sweet and Salty,” would he be able to escape? What if, as in the book’s opening story, “Scream Angel,” an alien species secreted a chemical substance that warped humans’ emotional responses—changing extreme lows into torrid, wonderful highs?
His aliens are fully-fleshed, complicated beings with tangible challenges. They are occasionally horrific (as in the dark “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down,” populated by an entity that absorbs the life force of humans by drawing their portrait on paper). But more often, like his humans, they must make terrible decisions without the promise of a happy resolution. “Memories of a Dead Man,” for example, presents the titular character at a crossroads where he could choose to abandon his quest for vengeance, or wallow in it.
Few of Smith’s stories end on a feel-good note. In his introduction, he writes, “[M]y preferred ending is bittersweet, because that’s how I see life.” And nowhere is that more true than in “Going Harvey in the Big House,” narrated by a man who is—and eventually chooses to be—no more than a cog in the world’s wheel. Given the opportunity to cast down the machine, Big G walks down the easier road with no regrets. Flawed characters are the hardest to write because they are the most realistic: like us, they are plagued by doubts, insecurities, and are woefully void of foresight. Smith manages to capture the sympathy inherent in Big G’s decision; he is, after all, only human.
Another standout is the masterful “State of Disorder,” which contemplates the flexibility and fluidity of time. A number of events occur during a single, three-course dinner: the fortunes of two men are swapped, retrospectively, in time; a child’s life is erased permanently from the timeline; and finally, all three participants finish the meal with the knowledge of what has occurred, and how—one is triumphant, another despairing, and the third seeks revenge. In the hands of a less skillful writer, it would have been chaos.
An introduction to the book by editor and sci-fi novelist Julie Czerneda adds little, as this collection stands handily on its own legs. However, the author’s notes Smith provides before (and sometimes after, to avoid spoilers) the stories are tremendously interesting; each augments the tales with how the story came to be, and why it was written. Smith refers twice to Roger Zelazny, and once each to Poe, Jack London, and Bogey, all as sources of inspiration. It’s a complex mix: one of the many reasons this collection succeeds so powerfully. show less
Chimerascope, Douglas Smith. ChiZine Publications, Toronto, March 2010, paperback, $16.95, ISBN 978-0981297859.
Reviewed by Alyssa Smith.
There are few misses in Chimerascope, a superb collection of Douglas Smith’s previously published speculative fiction, stuffed with Aurora nominees (and one winner) and Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror honorable mentions. Spanning a wide spectrum of classic sci-fi, stories inspired show more by mythology, and post-apocalyptic fiction, this is an collection you’ll want to own and re-read.
Smith’s greatest talent lies in creating and then exploring worlds fashioned by posing a deceptively simple question. If a man awoke each morning and died each night, each time waking in someone else’s body, as in “A Taste Sweet and Salty,” would he be able to escape? What if, as in the book’s opening story, “Scream Angel,” an alien species secreted a chemical substance that warped humans’ emotional responses—changing extreme lows into torrid, wonderful highs?
His aliens are fully-fleshed, complicated beings with tangible challenges. They are occasionally horrific (as in the dark “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down,” populated by an entity that absorbs the life force of humans by drawing their portrait on paper). But more often, like his humans, they must make terrible decisions without the promise of a happy resolution. “Memories of a Dead Man,” for example, presents the titular character at a crossroads where he could choose to abandon his quest for vengeance, or wallow in it.
Few of Smith’s stories end on a feel-good note. In his introduction, he writes, “[M]y preferred ending is bittersweet, because that’s how I see life.” And nowhere is that more true than in “Going Harvey in the Big House,” narrated by a man who is—and eventually chooses to be—no more than a cog in the world’s wheel. Given the opportunity to cast down the machine, Big G walks down the easier road with no regrets. Flawed characters are the hardest to write because they are the most realistic: like us, they are plagued by doubts, insecurities, and are woefully void of foresight. Smith manages to capture the sympathy inherent in Big G’s decision; he is, after all, only human.
Another standout is the masterful “State of Disorder,” which contemplates the flexibility and fluidity of time. A number of events occur during a single, three-course dinner: the fortunes of two men are swapped, retrospectively, in time; a child’s life is erased permanently from the timeline; and finally, all three participants finish the meal with the knowledge of what has occurred, and how—one is triumphant, another despairing, and the third seeks revenge. In the hands of a less skillful writer, it would have been chaos.
An introduction to the book by editor and sci-fi novelist Julie Czerneda adds little, as this collection stands handily on its own legs. However, the author’s notes Smith provides before (and sometimes after, to avoid spoilers) the stories are tremendously interesting; each augments the tales with how the story came to be, and why it was written. Smith refers twice to Roger Zelazny, and once each to Poe, Jack London, and Bogey, all as sources of inspiration. It’s a complex mix: one of the many reasons this collection succeeds so powerfully. show less
This short story has strangeness perfectly harnessed. I quickly adapted and accepted the initial strangeness, so I started anticipating what would happen, only to have my possible scenarios displaced by a new strangeness, and so on for the whole story. Marvellous reading!
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 34
- Also by
- 17
- Members
- 347
- Popularity
- #68,852
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 33
- ISBNs
- 139
- Languages
- 8
