David Quantick
Author of All My Colors
About the Author
David Quantick is an Emmy-winning television writer and the author of the best-selling writing manual How To Write Everything. He has written for television in the USA (Veep) and the UK (The Thick Of It, Brass Eye, Harry Hill's TV Burp), and is also a radio broadcaster (The Blagger's Guide, 52 show more First Impressions), author (The Mule, Sparks) and a journalist who's written for over 50 different publications, from the Daily Telegraph to The Dandy. show less
Works by David Quantick
15 Minute Musical, Series 4 1 copy
And Other Stories 1 copy
Associated Works
The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths (2020) — Contributor — 17 copies, 1 review
NME Presents The Return Of Apocryphal Now — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1961-05-04
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- David Quantick started out freelancing for City Limits, then went to the NME and later to Q. He is now writing for Word. Along the way he also wrote or writes for Smash Hits, Spin, Blender, some Fleet Street and of course The Oldie. He co-wrote Eddie Izzard's Dress To Kill with Eddie, and is responsible for some small rock books, most recently Revolution: The Making Of The Beatles' White Album. He also writes comedy on TV and radio, and appeared at Edinburgh and all over in Lloyd Cole Knew My Father with Andrew Collins and Stuart Maconie. [from rocksbackpages.com]
- Nationality
- England
UK - Birthplace
- Wortley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK (now in South Yorkshire)
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com. I received a copy of the book from Titan Books for review consideration.
‘All My Colors’ is a weird blend of horror and comedy that manages to work a lot better than books that mix those genres sometimes do. I often find that comedy horror veers too far one way or the other, being either funny but not scary or creepy but with jokes that fall flat. David Quantick’s book steers a path straight down the middle and is both laugh out loud show more funny and genuinely mysterious and unsettling. Given that Quantick is part of the team who wrote TV shows ‘The Thick Of It’ and ‘Veep’, I expected the jokes. What I didn’t count on was him having such a talent for horror.
The book is the tale of a failed writer in 1970s middle America who finds that no-one else can remember a famous novel which he knows word for word. Seizing the opportunity, he rewrites the book. Given that this is a horror novel, his actions set in motion a suitably horrific sequence of events that build up nicely as the book progresses.
The premise is pure Twilight Zone, and the 70s setting makes it read a little like a lost Stephen King novel, only much, much funnier. It never quite reaches King levels of terror, but it does have some memorably nasty imagery and a denouement that is lingeringly creepy. It also features the King trope of the alcoholic writer. To my mind, though, it’s a better book about writing than anything King has penned. It perfectly captures the mystery of the creative impulse and the way in which a work of art ceases to belong to its creator once it is finished.
Most of all, though, ‘All My Colors’ is a really fun read. It’s engaging, gripping and hilarious by turns. I couldn’t put it down and ploughed through it in a day. If you like your horror smart, inventive and witty I can’t recommend it highly enough. show less
‘All My Colors’ is a weird blend of horror and comedy that manages to work a lot better than books that mix those genres sometimes do. I often find that comedy horror veers too far one way or the other, being either funny but not scary or creepy but with jokes that fall flat. David Quantick’s book steers a path straight down the middle and is both laugh out loud show more funny and genuinely mysterious and unsettling. Given that Quantick is part of the team who wrote TV shows ‘The Thick Of It’ and ‘Veep’, I expected the jokes. What I didn’t count on was him having such a talent for horror.
The book is the tale of a failed writer in 1970s middle America who finds that no-one else can remember a famous novel which he knows word for word. Seizing the opportunity, he rewrites the book. Given that this is a horror novel, his actions set in motion a suitably horrific sequence of events that build up nicely as the book progresses.
The premise is pure Twilight Zone, and the 70s setting makes it read a little like a lost Stephen King novel, only much, much funnier. It never quite reaches King levels of terror, but it does have some memorably nasty imagery and a denouement that is lingeringly creepy. It also features the King trope of the alcoholic writer. To my mind, though, it’s a better book about writing than anything King has penned. It perfectly captures the mystery of the creative impulse and the way in which a work of art ceases to belong to its creator once it is finished.
Most of all, though, ‘All My Colors’ is a really fun read. It’s engaging, gripping and hilarious by turns. I couldn’t put it down and ploughed through it in a day. If you like your horror smart, inventive and witty I can’t recommend it highly enough. show less
David Quantick was one of the best things about the NME when I began buying it; in conjunction with the exuberant Steven Wells they were funny, provocative and unafraid to touch a nerve with artists or readership. He’s also been part of some of the best British TV comedy of the last couple of decades; The Day Today, Brass Eye and The Thick of It. I’ll always give a chance to a reliably funny writer, particularly when it’s cheaper than chips (apart from the fries in McDonalds).
It’s a show more well-worn premise; man (Sparks) loses girlfriend and looks for a way to get her back. Quantick’s SF twist is the Random Life Generator, which allows access to alternative universes with splendidly mundane premises (no Nazis won WW2 dullness here). It’s a good ramble which gives Quantick the excuse for some typically great one-liners but it often feels meandering and simply an excuse to fit in a few more jokes until the author works out how to end it all. Which, in fairness, he does rather well and not too abruptly, unlike this review. show less
It’s a show more well-worn premise; man (Sparks) loses girlfriend and looks for a way to get her back. Quantick’s SF twist is the Random Life Generator, which allows access to alternative universes with splendidly mundane premises (no Nazis won WW2 dullness here). It’s a good ramble which gives Quantick the excuse for some typically great one-liners but it often feels meandering and simply an excuse to fit in a few more jokes until the author works out how to end it all. Which, in fairness, he does rather well and not too abruptly, unlike this review. show less
Paul Sparks, commonly known even to his nearest and dearest as Sparks, is a waster. An overgrown man-child, he’s a lazy aficionado of videos, junk food and the pub closest to his ‘office’, where his job involves (infrequently) replicating 1970s t-shirts. It’s a sorry state of affairs, but it has always suited Sparks and it’s only when his girlfriend Alison dumps him in exasperation that Sparks realises he could have handled things a bit better. When he stumbles across a very show more esoteric website, which suggests the possibility of alternate universes, Sparks comes to a decision. He might have lost Alison in this world, but if there really are parallel worlds out there, he’s determined to search through them until he’s found the one, perfect world, in which he can win her back forever...
For the rest of the review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/01/18/sparks-david-quantick/ show less
For the rest of the review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/01/18/sparks-david-quantick/ show less
This book reminded me of Stephen King's earlier books when he wrote under the name of Richard Bachman. Some earlier parts of this book had me laughing so much before it started down its dark corridors! It's definitely a bizarre book but I certainly enjoyed it and read it straight through.
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Statistics
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- Rating
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