Clark, Simon 1958-

PERSONAL:

Born April 20, 1958, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England; married; children: two. Education: Whitwood Mining and Technical College, Great Britain.

ADDRESSES:

Home—England. Agent—Robert Hale, Ltd., Clerkenwell House, 45-47 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0HT, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Previous work includes a government position, strawberry picking, supermarket shelf stacking, office work, and scripting video promos; full-time writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Bram Stoker First Novel nomination, 2001, for Nailed by the Heart; Best Novel, British Fantasy Society, 2002, for The Night of the Triffids.

WRITINGS:

FICTION

Blood and Grit (short stories), BBR (Sheffield, England), 1990.

Blood Crazy, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1995.

(With Stephen Laws) Annabelle Says, British Fantasy Society (Stockport, Manchester, England), 1995.

Nailed by the Heart, New English Library (London, England), 1995.

Darker, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1996.

King Blood, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1997.

Vampyrrhic, New English Library (London, England), 1998.

Salt Snake and Other Bloody Cuts (short stories), Silver Salamander, 1998.

The Judas Tree, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1999.

The Fall, New English Library (London, England), 1999.

The Night of the Triffids, New English Library (London, England), 2001.

Darkness Demands, Cemetery Dance (Forest Hill, MD), 2001.

Stranger, Robert Hale (London, England), 2002, Leisure Books/Dorchester (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Tim Lebbon) Exorcising Angels (short stories), Earthling Publications, 2003.

Vampyrrhic Rites, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 2004.

The Dalek Factor ("Dr. Who" series), Telos (Tolworth, Surrey, England), 2004.

In This Skin, Dorchester (New York, NY), 2004.

Hotel Midnight: A Collection of Short Stories, Robert Hale (London, England), 2005.

The Tower, Leisure Books (New York, NY), 2005.

London under Midnight, Severn House (Sutton, England), 2006.

Death's Dominion, Leisure Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of television and radio scripts. Contributor to anthologies and collections, including Fourbodings, 2005.

ADAPTATIONS:

Clark's books have been adapted for audio, including Night of the Triffids, Chivers North America, 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Simon Clark is a science fiction and horror writer who sold his first ghost story to a radio station when he was still a teenager. Since then he has produced numerous novels and short stories. In The Fall, Clark presents a story in which American television director Sam Baker and his crew find themselves incrementally jumping back in time after setting up to broadcast a rock concert in an ancient amphitheater. When Baker is accused of murder at one point during the time jumping, he and his crew are convinced that they must quickly find their way back to the present. Rick Kleffel, writing on the Agony Magazine Web site, noted that the author's "plotting is inventive, his characters are clearly defined, and his prose is clear and strong." Kleffel added: "Simon Clark is definitely ready for the big leagues."

With The Night of the Triffids, Clark presents a sequel to John Wyndham's classic sci-fi novel The Day of the Triffids. In Clark's sequel, the action takes place twenty-five years later as David Masen—son of the original protagonist from Wyndham's book—and fellow survivors of the Triffids' attack are living on the Isle of Wight and trying to build a new society. Although Masen and his fellow islanders have been safe for some time, the Triffids suddenly appear one morning and attack. Calling the novel a "crafty continuation," a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to note: "Less cautionary than the original, but more literary than many books of its ilk, this is a truly enjoyable voyage."

In Clark's novel Darkness Demands, writer John Newton moves with his family to a mansion in a village in England when he begins receiving anonymous notes demanding offerings of food and drink at a nearby gravesite. Some of his neighbors have also received similar notes, which terrify them. John is amused initially, but he grows concerned when he learns that anyone who fails to meet the demands ends up dead, leading John to discover that the town has long been terrorized by an entity known as "Baby Bones." "Clark sustains suspense … with a panoramic narrative that shows the tragic impact of the entity's demands on other lives," related a Publishers Weekly contributor. Kleffel called the novel "compelling and intense."

Stranger is a postapocalyptic tale that takes place in a country facing a mysterious plague that causes its sufferers to turn murderously violent. Those infected with the plague are called "hornets," while those who remain uninfected try to survive by destroying them. In Booklist, Regina Schroeder observed: "These 'heroes' are tough and … their fight is engrossing." A Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "highly readable," adding: "The story's jumpy plot has one benefit—it will keep readers on their toes."

Clark creates a world where the dead are brought back to life healthier and stronger than when they were alive in the novel Death's Dominion. Referred to as "monsters," those brought back are bound to not harm any humans or to let any humans be harmed because they fail to act. When humans decide to wipe out the monsters after all, the monsters band together, led by one of their kind who is extremely violent. The scenario leads to the question of who are the monsters, the humans or those they want to kill. In a review in Publishers Weekly, a contributor wrote that "all the monster-burning, skull-crushing, village-razing, castle-raiding fun … make for a satisfying son of Frankenstein."

In London under Midnight, Clark tells of Ben Ashton, a magazine writer who sets out to determine who is creating the strange graffiti appearing throughout London that reads "Vampire Sharkz: They're coming to get you." Eventually, Ashton discovers that the graffiti is not meaningless, but a cryptic message. David Pitt, writing in Booklist, called London under Midnight a "thrilling, terrifying, and deeply affecting story." Clark is also author of Darker, which features an entity called the Beast who inhabits a tourist named Michael in Istanbul and then comes back with him to England. When the two separate, the Beast sets out to destroy Michael, who eventually turns to a four-year-old for help because the young girl can inexplicably control the Beast.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1998.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2003, Regina Schroeder, review of Stranger, p. 307; August 1, 2006, David Pitt, review of London under Midnight, p. 38.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2006, review of London under Midnight, p. 976.

Library Journal, November 1, 2006, Patricia Altner, review of London under Midnight, p. 66.

Publishers Weekly, February 12, 2001, review of Darkness Demands, p. 188; November 18, 2002, review of The Night of the Triffids, p. 47; September 29, 2003, review of Stranger, p. 49; March 6, 2006, review of Darker, p. 50; September 18, 2006, review of Death's Dominion, p. 41.

ONLINE

Agony Magazine,http://trashotron.com/agony/ (December 21, 2006), Rick Kleffel, reviews of The Fall and Darkness Demands.

Eternal Night,http://www.eternalnight.co.uk/ (December 20, 2006), interview with Simon Clark.

SFSite,http://www.sfsite.com/ (December 20, 2006), Sandy Auden, "A Walk in the Dark: An Interview with Simon Clark."

Simon Clark Home Page,http://www.bbr-online.com/nailed (December 20, 2006).

Society of Authors Web site,http://www.societyofauthors.net/ (December 20, 2006), brief summary of Simon Clark's career.

Zone-sf.com,http://www.zone-sf.com/ (December 20, 2006), Tony Lee, "Night of the Triffids: British Author Simon Clark Talks about John Wyndham, Transatlantic Storytelling and the Lore of Triffids."*