PARKS, Richard 1955-

PERSONAL: Born 1955, in Newton, MS; married.

ADDRESSES: Home—Rigeland, MS. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Obscura Press, Wunzenzierohs Publishing, P.O. Box 1992, Ames, IA 50010-1992. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Readers Poll Short Story Award, Science Fiction Age, 1995.

WRITINGS:

The Ogre's Wife: Fairy Tales for Grownups, Obscura Press, 2002.

Contributor of short stories to periodicals, including Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's, and SF Age.

SIDELIGHTS: Mississippi-based fantasy author Richard Parks has been writing for as long as he can remember; in addition to penning fantasy, he has also been known to dabble in science fiction and horror. Fifteen of his stories are collected in his first book, 2002's The Ogre's Wife: Fairy Tales for Grownups. In an interview with K. Mark Hoover of StrangeHorizons, Parks discussed what exactly draws him to the fantasy genre in particular: "I've always believed the story chooses its own form, and I've learned to follow wherever that leads. That said, at heart I'm a fantasist. I enjoy the mythic, timeless mindset I'm in when I'm writing in that mode. At its best, fantasy reaches down deep into humanity's collective soul and shows us aspects of ourselves we all recognize."

The Ogre's Wife collects short stories that have been previously published in either magazines or anthologies, with one exception. "Doing Time in the Wild Hunt." While the majority of the stories are in fact fantasy, some enter science-fiction territory, including "Doppels." Three stories in the collection include Parks's classic character, Eli Mothersbaugh, a near-future ghosthunter in a world where the presence of ghosts is widely accepted and proven. Reviewing the collection for StrangeHorizons, Terry McGarry stated that "Discovering Richard Parks's fiction is like discovering a wise zen master pumping gas at a service station or a weathered swami slinging burgers at your favorite corner diner: transcendence in the midst of the ordinary, right where it ought to be. In Parks's work," McGarry continued, "profound truths are tucked between the quirky and the quotidian, folded with the complex simplicity of origami." On the surface, Parks's fiction appears simplistic, but critics have noted that it gains in sophistication upon review. He often intertwines techniques and mythic motifs from Celtic, Japanese, Grecian, and Chinese culture within his multilayered plots, teaching "profound lessons about those deepest mysteries of the human heart," according to Wes Unruh for the Green Man Review online.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Green Man Review Online,http://www.greenmanreview.com/ (December 1, 2003), Wes Unruh, review of The Ogre's Wife: Fairy Tales for Grownups.

StrangeHorizons,http://www.strangehorizons.com/ (April 1, 2002), K. Mark Hoover, interview with Parks; (December 16, 2002) Terry McGarry, review of The Ogre's Wife.*