Published Works by David Rix:
Number 18, in Strange Tales, Tartarus Press, 2004 World Fantasy Award Winner for Best Anthology, 2004 This is an early story now and, as such, i have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with it. I still like the free and wild imagery that came flowing out when i wrote it, though the actual themes that the story is built on are perhaps less interesting than anything i would release now. It received mixed reviews when it came out, but i was pleased to see that the reaction was either love it or hate it - nothing too bland in between!
What the Giants were Saying, Eibonvale Press, 2006 What the Giants were Saying is a dark-hued and surreal fable on the theme of creativity. It is an extreme horror tale of artist's block, tattoos, Don Quixote, copper wire . . . and wind turbines! Always wind turbines! It tells of a landscape artist desperately trying to escape his own feelings of mundanity and having hallucinatory encounters both with those great white whispering giants and a wild tattooed girl who pushes creative experience to the very limit and knows that the towers are the key to something remarkable. Tattoos, Windmills, turbines, human skin and copper wire . . . with these keys a world of supernatural change is unlocked - and supernatural creation. After all, what could creativity be like when such things as pain, life and death no longer have the same meaning? The reaction to the book has proved mixed in true love it or hate it fashion, which is essentially agreeable in spite of the occasional vitriol as I have always found works that can annoy people to be among the more interesting. The book has been described as ‘that wonderful thing, an unclassifiable work’, which made me very happy as I have always had a minor war waging against labels and classification. Terry Grimwood especially had some very nice thing to say: http://tff-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/rix-what-giants-are-saying-2009.html On the other hand, one American review attempted to describe the book in terms of a ‘splatter’ novel (which made me chuckle) and predictably neither got very far or found much positive to say about it – indeed, sounded slightly offended by the work! I am not quite sure what a ‘splatter’ novel is to be honest, but I am fairly sure that one possible definition is ‘not What the Giants were Saying’.
The cover art is my own.
The Magpies, a Novella In Strange Tales II, Tartarus Press, 2007 This was written at the request of the editors of the wonderful Strange Tales books from Tartarus Press and it ended up diving into some of the strangest territories I have ever done. I think it remains my story with the most interesting ideas behind it and you will encounter such things as a Magpie Man who eats carrion, a world-spanning polyhedron, lots of music (and composers block) - and all set in the wonderful lonely hills of Dartmoor. It is essentially a story about what happens when the mind runs away out of control and enters more irrational areas. This will also hopefully be a part of the in-progress 'Whispering Girl' collection.
A Taste of Casu Marzu I am really happy to continue regular appearances in the wonderful Strange Tales anthologies from Tartarus Press. A Taste of Casu Marzu is a shorter and lighter work – a surreal little story about the infamous Sardinian maggot cheese.
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