Carter, Dean Vincent 1976-

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Carter, Dean Vincent 1976-

PERSONAL:

Born July 9, 1976, in Bromsgrove, England. Education: Graduated from Thames Valley University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hounslow, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Transworld Publishers, London, England, temporary mail sorter, 1999, mail sorter, 2002—; also worked briefly for Hammicks Bookshop, Worcester, England.

WRITINGS:

The Hand of the Devil (young adult horror novel), Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2006.

The Hunting Season (young adult horror novel), Bodley Head (London, England), 2007.

Also author of the Bookseller Email, a newsletter circulated at Transworld Publishers, London, England, 2002—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer Dean Vincent Carter was born July 9, 1976, in Bromsgrove, England, and was raised primarily in Tenbury Wells, England, where much of his extended family lived. One summer afternoon in his adolescence, Carter was bored and began to read a book his aunt received unintentionally through her book club—Stephen King's Misery—and was mesmerized. The horror story gave him aspirations of his own and, at the age of thirteen, inspired him to attempt to write his own story. Though he admits poor results from his first attempt, the effort was only the first of many. He attempted a few more short works and eventually tried to write a novel, set at a carnival, that ended up as more of a novella. Starting in 1991, he began writing more earnestly, keeping regular hours and producing fiction all through his college years. Then in 1999, he had the good fortune to be placed in a temporary position at Transworld Publishers, a publishing house affiliated with Random House. Although he only spent six months working in the mail room there, he loved the company and the atmosphere and set his sights on a permanent position. Nothing had materialized by the time his contract ran out, so he returned to the Tenbury Wells area, where he worked in a bookstore and continued writing. He kept his writing spirits alive, though, and in 2002, returned to Transworld Publishers in a permanent position.

Carter's tenure at Transworld Publishers ultimately led him to his first real break as a writer. Part of his mailroom duties included sending out an e-mail to the company staff to let them know when the latest issue of the Bookseller, and industry trade journal, had arrived. Carter began embellishing the e-mail with stories and jokes, and eventually the missive resembled more of a newsletter than a simple note. At an office holiday party during the first year Carter was a fulltime employee, one of the editors, Charlie Sheppard, asked if he was the person responsible for the entertaining e-mail, and if he had written anything else. At the time, Carter was in the process of lengthening one of his earlier short works into a novel, which eventually became his first published horror novel geared toward young adult readers, titled The Hand of the Devil.

The Hand of the Devil follows the adventures of Ashley Reeves, a new college graduate who is writing for a cult science magazine called the Missing Link. When Ashley gets a tip on the whereabouts of the Ganges Red, a legendary mosquito said to have otherworldly powers, he sets out to get the story. His ambitions land him on an isolated island in the hands of a mad person. Debbie Carton, in a review for Booklist, remarked that "this tale provides solid, entertaining action in return for the reader's suspension of disbelief." Kliatt reviewer Olivia Durant stated that "the ending is somewhat contrived and the characterizations overdone, but Carter still tells an interesting tale."

In Carter's second book, The Hunting Season, Gerontius Moore's parents die in a mysterious car crash. Yet at the scene of the accident, their bodies are found mangled, as if attacked by a vicious animal. The mysterious beast returns eight years later, and Gerontius must try to escape its deadly path. A reviewer for Achukareviews called The Hunting Season "a heart-thumpingly gripping read with revelation and surprise at every turn."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2006, Debbie Carton, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 48.

Kliatt, September 1, 2006, Olivia Durant, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 32.

Library Media Connection, February 1, 2007, Carol Lefelt, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 75.

School Librarian, June 22, 2006, Andy Sawyer, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 97; June 22, 2007, Andy Sawyer, review of The Hunting Season, p. 100.

School Library Journal, January 1, 2007, Christi Voth, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 124.

Times Literary Supplement (London, England), May 16, 2008, Tabetha King, review of The Hunting Season, p. 34.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December 1, 2006, Mike Brown, review of The Hand of the Devil, p. 438.