latest happenings

Official Welcome

Terry extends a warm welcome to all visitors to his homepage and web domain. Sincere thanks to Wolfgang Bylsma at Anima Creative for the page design and other invaluable assistance with the creation of this site. He would also like to extend heartfelt thanks to Jeremy G. Byrne at www.eidolon.net for hosting the previous TD homepage for many years.

Clowns at Midnight now available from PS Publishing

Terry’s disquieting debut novel Clowns at Midnight appeared from PS Publishing in October 2010 and concerns family secrets in present-day Australia as well as ancient rituals and a very special kind of clown.

“With its acute observations of a parched landscape, its blending of the everyday and the forces of myth, Clowns at Midnight is an exceptional work that bears comparison to John Fowles's The Magus.”
- The Guardian, October 2010

“Make no mistake about it: this is smart person's horror, an unerringly rich and intelligent account that encompasses clown-phobia and the true origins of western religion.”
- Fright Site Reviews and Commentary 18 October 2010 http://www.fright.com/edge/ClownsAtMidnight.htm

“If you wish to fall into another world for a time—of shifting masks, beautiful bodies and terrible fears, of mystic philosophy and living labyrinths (with the human heart at their centre)—you have found your book…Mr. Dowling’s Clowns at Midnight is the stuff of magic.”
- Danel Olson, editor of Exotic Gothic I, II, III, and 21st  Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000

“Clowns at Midnight is a masterpiece of suspense – a suspense that is multiplied, rendered all the more terrifying, by the brilliantly constructed ambiguity of the plot. This is the territory of John Fowles’s great novels, The Magus and A Maggot: a psychological landscape in which the reliability of perception, of memory, and of narration is interrogated to its uttermost limits. And Terry Dowling’s fine prose is quite the equal of Fowles’s in the bargain.”
- Nick Gevers, editor of Postscripts, Extraordinary Engines, Other Earths, Infinity Plus

“Clowns at Midnight plays with a grand spectrum of emotions…At novel length, Dowling can work his peculiar magics in an almost symphonic form. The result is a memorable addition to the Tales of Appropriate Fear.”
- Faren Miller, Locus, August 2010 (20)

“Suffice to say, readers familiar with other dark fantasies concerned with the survival of ancient traditions and beliefs into the present – John Fowles’ The Magus, Thomas Tryson’s Harvest Home, Donna Tarrt’s The Secret History, Graham Joyce’s The House of Lost Dreams – will have an inkling of where Dowling is leading them. Clowns at Midnight deserves to be mentioned in the company of these superb tales not because it echoes them but because it takes the premise underlying them all in a refreshingly original direction.”
- Stefan Dziemianowicz, Locus, October 2010 (27)

“[A] particularly interesting writer…Dowling manages to pull off a clever technical trick in putting this book together.…That he manages to create a real and mounting sense of menace is a tribute to an excellent storyteller on top form.”
- David Marshall / November 22, 2010 http://opionator.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/clowns-at-midnight-by-terry-dowling/

Amberjack: Tales of Fear and Wonder from Subterranean Press

Terry’s collection Amberjack: Tales of Fear and Wonder appeared from Subterranean Press in June 2010 and earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly. It features an Introduction by long-time Dowling friend Jack Vance and includes such acclaimed stories as "The Lagan Fishers," "Flashmen," "Toother" and "The Suits at Auderlene" as well as Terry’s major 2009 Tom Rynosseros adventure "The Library."

Amberjack: Tales of Fear & Wonder
Terry Dowling, Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $40 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59606-293-1
“Dowling's newest collection…highlights his rich and complex sideways storytelling with 12 stories that run the speculative fiction gamut. ‘The Magikkers’ gently explores the lives of the fortunate few who possess a small spark of magic in a mundane world. In ‘Flashmen,’ competing rescue teams risk annihilation in a savage landscape. ‘Toother’ and ‘The Suits at Auderlene’ are creepy and cruel, but ‘Truth Window,’ set in the universe of the Wormwood story cycle, finds humanity shining even in slavery. Dowling's terse and enigmatic style is subtle and brain stretching, enticing readers with fully realized worlds that clearly extend far beyond each story's boundaries. Insightful afterwords complete the sensation of being transported someplace truly alien by Dowling's intelligent and thoughtful work.” (Starred Review)
- Publishers Weekly, July 2010.

“Two Steps Along the Road” in Best New Horror 21

Terry’s chilling 2009 Vietnam ghost story “Two Steps Along the Road” from Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, edited by Danel Olson, appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21, edited by Stephen Jones and published in the UK by Robinson in 2010.

“Stitch” in Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror / TD Most Chosen Author!

In her preface to Terry’s story “Stitch” in the major US horror retrospective Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, editor Ellen Datlow says: “I fell in love with [Terry’s] consistently disturbing supernatural and psychological horror fiction. In fact, more of his horror stories appeared in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror during its twenty-one year run than any other writer.”

TD selections featured in this important, long-running series are: “The Daemon Street Ghost-Trap,” “Scaring the Train,” “Beckoning Nightframe,” “Jenny Come to Play,” “Basic Black,” “The Saltimbanques,” “Stitch,” “Clownette,” “La Profonde” and “Toother.”

“The Maze Man” in Best of the Best

Acclaimed Australian editor Barry Oakley chose "The Maze Man" for Best of the Best, his 2009 anthology from The Five Mile Press featuring Oakley’s top picks from his six previous Five Mile anthologies.

“Toother” in four Year’s Bests!

Terry’s story “Toother” was selected for four Year’s Best collections: by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz for Horror: The Best of the Year 2008, by Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt for Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy 4, and by Ellen Datlow for the 2008 edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 20. It is Terry’s tenth appearance in the important YBFH annual anthology series. Previous selections have been: “The Daemon Street Ghost-Trap,” “Scaring the Train,” “Beckoning Nightframe,” “Jenny Come to Play,” “Basic Black,” “The Saltimbanques,” “Stitch,” “Clownette” and “La Profonde.” The story has also appeared in the inaugural volume of Award Winning Australian Writing 2008, edited by David Tenenbaum, and was called “The gem of the collection” by the Sydney Morning Herald, 11 October 2008.

“Toother” Wins 2007 Australian Shadows Award

Terry’s 2007 story “Toother” from Eclipse One: New Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Jonathan Strahan, won the Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story in April 2008. In the words of Guest Judge Richard Harland: “Terry Dowling’s story is a conscious extension of Poe’s ‘Berenice’…whilst also drawing on some fascinating research into a very murky corner of history. The psychic angle of the investigation is far more real and plausible than the standard psychic investigations of TV series…This is a story that does everything right.”

Praise for “The Fooly”

The US magazine Locus for July 2008 has praised Terry’s ghost story “The Fooly” from Jack Dann’s anthology Dreaming Again, calling it “a brilliant ghost story…The concept is superb, the punchline delivered immaculately.”

Terry a Judge for the inaugural John Hinde Prize

In July 2008 Terry completed his duties for the Australian Writers’ Guild as one of three judges for the inaugural John Hinde Award for produced science fiction film and television scripts. The $15,000 annual prize is the bequest of the late Aussie film and TV critic John Hinde, who had a lifelong love of science fiction films and television.

Thirteen Years at June Dally-Watkins Business Finishing College

Terry celebrates thirteen very happy years at the June Dally-Watkins Business Finishing College at 210 Clarence Street, Sydney (02 9267 3255 / www.jdw.com.au) teaching both Business Communication and English.

 » Browse the Happenings Archive

All content is © Terry Dowling, unless otherwise stated.