Wiles, Will
Entry updated 26 June 2023. Tagged: Author.
(? - ) UK journalist and author whose first novel, Care of Wooden Floors (2012), edges close to the fantastic in its depiction of the experience of interior life in an unnamed European City in terms evocative of the work of Franz Kafka. His second novel, The Way Inn (2014), Equipoisally intermixes Inner Space and Media Landscape topoi in a gonzo rendering of the world-City we inhabit, either now or in the very Near Future, depending on the reader's definition of the distribution of things to come within the tale. The narrative itself focuses on the Way Inn chain of hotels, which imposes upon clients an almost Little Big experience [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], as the interior of each hotel expands and complexifies the further inside one goes (see M C Escher). But the deeper you penetrate, the more profoundly you are yourself penetrated, and the essence of your experience more and more intimately quantified. The protagonist, a "conference surrogate" who does conferences for those too busy to attend, finds himself trapped within a Way Inn hotel as something like a literal descent into hell begins to disintegrate the world. The Last Blade Priest (2022) as W P Wiles is an epic fantasy novel. [JC]
see also: Kitschies.
Will Wiles
born
works (selected)
- Care of Wooden Floors (London: Harper Press, 2012) [hb/]
- The Way Inn (London: Fourth Estate, 2014) [hb/]
- The Last Blade Priest (London: Angry Robot, 2022) as W P Wiles [pb/]
links
previous versions of this entry