Douglas Thompson's Volwys & Other Stories was published by Dog Horn Publishing in September 2014.
Information about Douglas Thompson:
Douglas Thompson's short stories have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, most recently Albedo One, Ambit, Postscripts, and New Writing Scotland. He won the Grolsch/Herald Question of Style Award in 1989 and second prize in the Neil Gunn Writing Competition in 2007. His first book, Ultrameta, was published by Eibonvale Press in August 2009, nominated for the Edge Hill Prize, and shortlisted for the BFS Best Newcomer Award, and since then he has published these books: Sylvow (Eibonvale, 2010), Apoidea (The Exaggerated Press, 2011), Mechagnosis (Dog Horn, 2012), Entanglement (Elsewhen Press, 2012), The Rhymer (Elsewhen Press, 2014), The Brahan Seer (Acair Publishing, 2014) and Volwys & Other Stories (Dog Horn Publishing, 2014).
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Information about Volwys & Other Stories:
Two Centuries from now mankind's unchecked environmental pollution will have provoked a new ice age. Amid the ruins of the city of Volwys, a bio-dome is under construction to protect a privileged elite while the peasants outside live in mediaeval squalor, facing gradual extinction as the planet cools. Only one man alive remembers our world, having been kept alive by genetic manipulation by the mysterious Cherubs, frequent visitors at the court of his ruler: the Wolf King who is guarded by bird-headed soldiers. Rrio is plagued by nightmares and visions as he attempts to uphold his odious regime by interrogation and torture. As his consciousness disintegrates he comes to realise that the rebel leader each of his victims speak of holds a fascination that may unlock the enigma of his own soul.
This edition book also includes nine Science Fiction short stories published over the last ten years in magazines and anthologies:
Twenty Twenty: a down-and-out rises to unexpected prominence in an Edinburgh struck by power blackout.
Theonae: a female messiah mesmerises Britain in a near-future rocked by civil war.
Dogbot™: an iconic Jihadi terrorist is stalked by an American robotic dog in the foothills of Afghanistan.
Narcissi: a vain Parisian curio-dealer abuses a pet alien purchased in a golden cage from NASA, until the tables are turned on him.
Postcards From The Future: ten 1000-word messages are received at the world's first time travelling facility.
Multiplicity: the crew of a spaceship encountering the edge of a black hole are duplicated and altered in ways that throw surprising light on the human condition.
Black Sun: a man is wracked by remorse for a lost lover on a planet literally falling apart under the gravitational influence of a black hole.
Quasar Rise: an epileptic woman confronts her own frailty on a planet passing into the disruptive influence of a quasar.
Gravity Wave: an experiment at CERN goes massively wrong, irrevocably altering Europe through a series of bizarre effects which reveal hidden aspects of human nature and give rise to a new evolutionary ascendancy.
A REVIEW OF DOUGLAS THOMPSON'S VOLWYS & OTHER STORIES
Douglas Thompson has fascinated readers for a few years now by writing original speculative fiction that differs greatly from mainstream speculative fiction in terms of originality, quality and prose. Readers and critics have praised his stories, because they have plenty of originality, good characterization, well written prose and intellectually stimulating surrealism in them. Douglas Thompson has been said to be an author to watch and I agree with all who say so, because he is one of the finest and most gifted authors of speculative fiction.
I enjoy reading all kinds of speculative fiction and I appreciate the entertainment values that light entertainment can offer to readers, but short story collections like Volwys & Other Stories are what I really love and want to read, because there's nothing better than reading a collection that contains incredibly well written and beautifully crafted speculative fiction stories that offer food for thoughts and entertainment to the reader. It was a pleasure to read this collection, because all of the stories were good and worth reading (I had previously read a couple of them, but most of them were new to me).
I think it's great that many of Douglas Thompson's science fiction stories have been gathered into Volwys & Other Stories, because it's a bit difficult to find them. This collection is - without any kind of doubt - the most impressive science fiction short story collection of the year (and also one of the best collections published during the last decade). I strongly urge all readers to take a look at it, because it's an exceptionally good collection that will fascinate many speculative fiction readers.
This collection contains the following science fiction stories:
- Twenty Twenty
- Dogbot™
- Theonae
- Narcissi
- Postcards from the Future
- Black Sun
- Multiplicity
- Quasar Rise
- Gravity Wave
- Volwys (novella)
Douglas Thompson explores many themes and issues in these stories. He doesn't shy away from violence, sexuality, surrealism and other similar things, but writes boldly about them. These stories challenge the reader's view of the world and simultaneously intrigue and stimulate his/her imagination. Each story differs from other stories, but common themes and elements can be found in them. (I found no faults in these stories, because I enjoyed reading all of them.)
Here's more information about the stories and my thoughts about them:
Twenty Twenty:
- Jakey steals cash, wallets and credit cards from people, and he has had dealings with the police. When a power blackout occurs, things change for Jakey and an unexpected opportunity presents itself for him...
- This short story is an interesting vision of Edinburgh being struck by a power blackout and how a man can become somebody else.
- Although this story is short, the author explores identity in an intriguing way, because Jakey becomes a new person, but doesn't exactly change very much.
Dogbot™:
- Shareef tries hide and run away from an American robot that is an extremely methodical, relentless and untiring robot.
- This is a fascinating story about a Jihadi terrorist who is stalked by an American robotic dog in Afghanistan.
- The author explores terrorism, religious beliefs and desperation in an interesting way, because a terrorist tries to run away from a robotic dog and thinks about such things as believers and non-believers etc.
Theonae:
- A telepathic female messiah causes confusion and admiration in a near future Britain ravaged by a civil war.
- This is an intriguing story in which the author writes about a new kind of a Messiah and what kind of an effect her arrival has on people. The protagonist's thoughts about the happenings are interesting, because he sees how things change.
Narcissi:
- A collector abuses a pet alien purchased in a golden cage from NASA, but soon something happens to him.
- This is a well written and intriguing story about abuse and its possible consequences to the abuser.
Postcards from the Future:
- The world's first time travelling facility receives postcards from the future.
- The postcards that arrive from the future come from different kind of persons (a flower seller, a policeman, an archaelogist etc).
- These postcards offer interesting glimpses into the future, and some of them offer big surprises for the reader.
Black Sun:
- In this story a man thinks about a lost lover while a planet is falling apart under the influence of a black hole.
- In my opinion this is a beautifully written story.
Multiplicity:
- In this intriguing story the crew of a spaceship are duplicated and altered in interesting ways.
- This story tells of multiplication and human reproduction in a bit different kind of way.
Quasar Rise:
- In this story an epileptic woman confronts her own frailty on a planet that will be exposed to the flashes of a quasar.
- A beautifully and fascinatingly written story about epilepsy and changes in the environment.
Gravity Wave:
- A scientific experiment goes badly wrong in this story and causes a catastrophe. It alters Europe and causes odd effects around Europe.
- The author writes fluently about the changes around Europe and how people react to them.
Volwys:
- Volwys tells of a future world where heavy environmental pollution has provoked a new ice age.
- The city of Volwys is a ruined city where a Geo-Dome is a place for the elite. The peasants suffer and live in harsh conditions outside the Dome.
- Rrio is over two hundred years old and immortal. The Wolf King is Rrio's ruler and Rrio is a diplomat, senator and also an advisor to the King. The Wolf King is guarded by guards who have human bodies, but the heads of birds.
- The mysterious Cherubs visit the court and participate in certain happenings. They have manipulated Rrio's body to keep him alive.
- Rrio participates in the interrogation and torture of the rebels. The rebels speak of a rebel leader who's a mystery to Rrio and the others. Rrio tries to find out who the leader is...
- This complex, well crafted and thoughtfully written science fiction novella is a true masterpiece of visionary storytelling.
Douglas Thompson explores and examines humanity, human condition, existence, technological advancement and evolution in many ways in these stories. His literary, philosophical and strikingly modern approach to these issues feels fresh and exciting, because he examines humanity and its faults and achievements in an observative way.
Douglas Thompson writes fluently and passionately about all things connected to the characters and their feelings without resorting to condescending and stereotypical clichés that all too often annoy readers in science fiction stories. Twenty Twenty, Black Sun and Multiplicity demonstrate how well he writes about the characters, their feelings and their situation.
I think that Twenty Twenty can be used as a good example to explore the author's way of writing about the characters, because the main character, Jakey, is a social outcast who suddenly realizes that he can become somebody else. Jakey isn't afraid of taking advantage of the opportunity that presents itself to him. The transformation from an outcast to an officer is remarkable, but also surprisingly insignificant, because the new identity doesn't exactly change his personality and traits.
What's great about these stories is that they may suddenly become surreal and things change for the characters. For example, Sophie's life changes a lot in Quasar Rise and the happenings feel a bit surreal and fantastical; and the protagonist in Narcissi also suddenly notices that things have changed quite a lot for him.
The characterization in these stories is good and the author is able to create believable characters that have real feelings (he has an ability to create characters that are realistic and interesting). He also has a way of writing about the fates of the characters in an absorbing and addictive way. For example, what happens to Sophie in Quasar Rise is very intriguing and the reader can't help but follow what she does and what happens to her.
Douglas Thompson has a bold and fluent way of writing about sexuality and all things related to it (he's one of the few speculative fiction authors who have a naturally bold way of writing about sex and sexuality). For example, in Theonae he writes perfectly about Theonae and her ability to excite and cause lust and erotic feelings in people around her. in Volvys he writes about Rrio's feelings concerning sex in a fascinating way, because Rrio has lived a long life and has different kind of feelings about sex and its importance to him. He has allowed certain things to be done to himself.
There's also unexpected humour in this collection. Postcards from the Future features some delightfully and sarcastically funny scenes that feature sharp and witty humour. Humour can also be found in Narcissi, because it's a macabre and wickedly sharp story about a man whose alien pet has an interesting diet that consists of dogs etc.
Gravity Wave is one of the best catastrophe stories I've ever read, because the author has created an interesting vision of what can happen when experiments go wrong. I don't normally enjoy reading catastrophe stories, because too many authors tend to emphasize wrong things in their stories, but this story was fortunately a totally different kind of a story and it hooked me. Reading about the consequences of the experiment was fascinating.
Quasar Rise is an intriguing short story, because the main character, Sophie, is a woman who has epilepsy. I enjoyed reading about her and how she had managed to hide her condition from others. Sophie was sensitive to flashes and only the protective eyewear could save her from collapsing and possibly dying. The author wrote well about the changes in the environment when the flashes began and what happened to Sophie.
All the stories in this collection are excellent, but the best and most complex of them is Volwys.
Before I write more about Volwys, I think it's good to mention that Volwys is a kind of a sequel (or perhaps I should say a companion novella) to Sylvow, which was published by Eibonvale Press in 2010. It is set 200 years in the future. It can be read independently, because it's a standalone novella.
Volwys is almost like an elegy to a collapsed world that has suffered a major catastrophe in the form of a new ice age, but it's much more than that, because it's a stunning vision of a future world where knowledge is power. Volwys is a bold and daring glimpse into our world that has changed in many ways since the beginning of the new ice age. What makes this novella especially interesting is that everything is not black and white. There are plenty of shades of grey in this story.
Reading about Rrio and the Wolf King was fascinating for me, because the Wolf King is the ruler who often asks about the wonders of the ancient world (the lost world of humans that was full of technology etc) from Rrio. Rrio advises him in these things and tells him about the wonders of the past. Many of these things feel strange to the Wolf King, because life is different in the future.
Rrio is an interesting character, because he's an immortal and can't die. The Cherubs have done things to his body and changed him. He has gradually become a man who thinks differently about many things. Because of his long life span, he is able to look at things from a different perspective.
I think that the author wrote well about Rrio's friendship with Magda who lives outside the Geo-Dome. It was interesting to read about how Leo told Magda about his life and what happened in the ancient times when the climate began to cool down.
Douglas Thompson writes about many different themes, including religion, survival, power and truth in this novella. I liked the way he examined religion and religious beliefs, because it was done without preaching. He didn't underline anything, but wrote about how the society had changed and what went on in the new world.
Volwys is a complex and rewarding story that will both fascinate and shock readers, because the world we know has changed beyond recognition in it. The cooling climate has forced humanity to adapt to a new kind of a world where fields of ice have taken over the land and landscapes have been covered with snow. It's a unique and beautifully written science fiction novella that deserves to be read.
The prose in these stories is excellent. The prose flows effortlessly in each of the stories. Some of the stories are more scientific in nature than other stories and contain scientific prose. It's great that the author is capable of blending scientific prose and literary prose in a way that feels natural to the reader.
If you're a fan of well written speculative fiction, Volwys & Other Stories has a lot to offer to you. I sincerely hope that readers will find and read this collection, because it contains excellent stories. I'm sure that readers won't be disappointed by these stories, because they showcase the author's writing skills and imagination in a perfect way.
By the way, If you've never read any stories and novels by Douglas Thompson, Volwys & Other Stories is an excellent starting point. If you've possibly read Nina Allan, Brendan Connell, David Rix and other similar authors, and have liked their stories and novels, you should read this collection, because you'll enjoy reading it. If you appreciate quality, originality and good prose, you're in for a real treat when you begin to read this collection.
Highly recommended!