Working name of Australian lecturer in English, television performer, songwriter and writer Terence William Dowling (1947- ). One of the most interesting new voices in 1990s Australian local sf, Dowling has also gleaned international praise as well. His master's thesis was, unusually for Australia, about sf – its topic was J G Ballard and the Surrealists. "The Man Who Walks Away behind the Eyes" (May/June 1982 Omega Science Digest), a Ditmar Award winner, inaugurated an sf career that has so far been devoted almost exclusively to short fiction (over forty stories to date); his work was at first too obviously indebted to Cordwainer Smith and Jack Vance, but later developed an individual voice. Dowling's idiosyncratic but vivid between-the-lines style is perhaps best displayed in his Tyson stories, some of which are collected in Rynosseros (coll of linked stories 1990), Wormwood (coll of linked stories 1991), Blue Tyson (coll 1992) and Twilight Beach (coll of linked stories 1993): the first two volumes won Ditmar Awards. Though many characters are featured, the sequence tells centrally of Tom Tyson, captain of the sandship Rynosseros, in which he roams the strange, high-tech Ab'o societies of a future Australia's outback, occasionally undergoing mystical epiphanies. Much of his later work is fantasy, including his only novel, the effective Clowns at Midnight (2010). With Richard Delap and Gil Lamont (1947- ) he edited The Essential Ellison (coll 1987) by Harlan Ellison and with Van Ikin he put together Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF (anth 1993), which presents the sf of his native land as evolving its own characteristic themes and timbre. [PN]
Terence William Dowling
born Sydney, New South Wales: 21 March 1947
died
works
series
Tom Tyson
- Rynosseros (Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1990) [coll: Tom Tyson: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Blue Tyson (Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1992) [coll: Tom Tyson: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Twilight Beach (Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1993) [coll: Tom Tyson: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
individual titles
- Clowns at Midnight (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publications, 2010) [hb/Nick Stathopoulos]
collections and stories
- Wormwood (Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1991) [coll: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- The Mars You Have In Me (North Perth, Western Australia: Eidolon Books, 1992) [story: chap: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- The Man Who Lost Red (Paramatta, New South Wales: MirrorDanse Books, 1994) [coll: pb/Shaun Tan]
- An Intimate Knowledge of the Night (Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1995) [coll: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Antique Futures: The Best of Terry Dowling (Nedlands, Western Australia: MP Books, 1999) [coll: pb/Nick Stathopoulos]
- Blackwater Days (North Perth, Western Australia: Eidolon Books, 2000) [coll: pb/Shaun Tan]
- Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear (Forest Hill, Maryland: Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006) [coll: hb/Julia Morgan-Scott]
- Make Believe (Greenwood, Western Australia: Ticonderoga Publications, 2007) [pb/Paul Delvaux]
- Amberjack (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2010) [coll: hb/Nick Stathopoulos]
works as editor
links
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