6 Books with David Quantick

David Quantick is an author, television writer and radio broadcaster. He wrote the surreal thriller The Mule and the comic scifi novel Sparks as well as the critically-acclaimed TV drama Snodgrass, currently being developed into a feature film, and he’s just written Dickens In Rome, a new play for Northern Stage. His new novel is from Titan Books, All My Colors

Today he shares his six books with us.

1. What book are you currently reading? 

Readymade Boddhisatva, which is a brilliant collection of Korean scifi stories by various writers. I’ve just finished writing a scifi novel set in Korea, so I thought I’d better see how it was done properly. Korean scifi is superb, and I can’t recommend this book highly enough: it’s introduced me to a whole world of new writers.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

It’s been out for a bit, but it’s upcoming to me because I just ordered it - The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders. I love the feeling of getting a new book by someone who’s new to me and this one sounds very exciting and interesting.

3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to re-read? 

I think The Separation by Christopher Priest.  I love his work, but this particular book, with its themes of slipstream, World War Two and twins, is my favourite.

4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about – either positively or negatively?

The one that comes to mind is Iain M Banks’ Walking On Glass. I didn’t exactly dismiss it first time round, but I was feeling very miserable at the time I first read it and that gloom affected my reading of the book. When I reread it, I realised what an amazing book it is. The title image is one of my all-time favourites.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Prince Caspian by C.S Lewis. I remember my primary school teacher, Miss Ashby, reading it out loud to the class, and the chapter where the Pevensies realise they’re in the ruins of Cair Paravel and that hundreds of years have elapsed since their last visit is probably the moment I realised what stories could do.

6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?

It is called All My Colors, and its awesomeness is mostly down to the songs playing in my head when I wrote it – Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf, More Than A Feeling by Boston, Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. It also has a scary story about a jerk called Todd Milstead who realises he’s the only person who’s heard of a very famous novel (called All My Colors) and decides to write it from memory – with terrifying consequences. It’s fun to write a book where the hero is a jerk because then you can hurt him more.