Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Tony Thorne MBE.
Bio – Tony Thorne MBE, a Chartered Design Engineer, built up a research and development company in Kent, England, specialising in 30000C graphite furnaces, liquefied helium gas pipelines, nuclear protection equipment and low temperature surgery instrumentation. The latter and its worldwide commercial success led to him being awarded the MBE by the Queen.
Now retired, he writes science fiction and macabre tales and has published over ten collections of short stories, including the award winning TENERIFE TALL TALES trilogy, ROBOTS INCLUDED, MACABRE TALES and TALL SF TALES FOR TEENAGERS, all now available as eBooks and paperbacks from AMAZON, B&N etc. His first novel, POINTS OF VIEW will be published later this year by ETERNAL PRESS.
Blurb/Review –“ If you stop to think about everyday things happening in your life, and then turn a speculative. scientific, but definitely weird glare on that activity, you would begin to understand the type of stories written by Thorne. For instance, one tale describes how a man one day finds his wife frozen in place by fright, holding a knife, standing near their washing machine. The man had already been frightened by a strange creature on the way home, so he wondered if another was in the machine…After all, something was causing the glow and the strange wailing from inside his washer… I loved the ending of this one!
Consider the cell phone… Do you carry yours everywhere you go? Might you even take it to the grave with you? After all, you might want to, say, call your spouse and share a little…
Have you heard about nanotechnology? It is the future for medical surgical procedures according to some individuals… Thorne poses the question: What if nanophytes decide to take up residence in…your head?
A futuristic thought–individuals may become trained to work at Euthanasia, Inc. You’d probably never be out of work, right? Don’t count on it…
I found Tony Thorne more droll than truly gruesome. His concepts are clever, his writing sharp and quickly to the point and he closes with a quiet flourish. He delves into personal areas, our daily lives and asks you to consider the alternatives that are conceivably possible, if only…! Highly recommended for a true exploration of the macabre.” – GABixlerReviews
Writer’s website
Buy link…
Excerpt – From SHAPE SHIFTER, MACABRE TALES
Sometime later, it must have been well after midnight, something disturbed me. Raising myself up slightly, from the bed, I could see through the door into the other room. The moon was shining through the main window in the living room and I could clearly see my desk, which looked the same as usual. Then I realised that the idol was not where I was sure I had left it, certainly not now on the desk. I sat upright with a start and looked around the bedroom. Everything looked normal, until I glanced sideways and saw what I’d dreaded to see. There it was, propped close against my pillow, leaning forward slightly and grinning directly at me, with its arms folded. It didn’t move, but I certainly did.
I leapt out of bed on the other side and switched on the twin bedside lamps. The idol’s eyes lit up and for several long moments we just stared at each other. Then I moistened my lips nervously and croaked, “What do you want with me?” The idol seemed to grin even wider. Then, to my horror, it slowly unfolded its right arm and raised it to point directly at me. Totally unnerved, I collapsed into my bedside chair with my heart pounding. I stayed there for quite some time, my eyes fixed on the idol, which still had its arm raised, pointing towards me.
I got up slowly and tiptoed around the bed. Thankfully, the idol stayed exactly where it was, still pointing in the direction of the chair. I came around the other side of the bed and approached the little figure cautiously, and then I reached out and picked it up. It seemed to squirm in my hand, but I didn’t drop it. Then before my eyes, as I held it, it changed. I was astonished to find myself holding a clay replica of an occupied bedroom chair. I held it closer to the bedside table lamp and examined it. The figure sitting on the chair was clearly meant to be me. I took it into the living room and switched on the bright ceiling lights. The detail of the model was remarkable, from the wickerwork of the chair to the effigy of me sitting on it. I closed my eyes and felt the object all over. I soon decided I couldn’t be hallucinating. I could actually feel its shape, both the chair and the tiny figure of me in it. Or was my brain simply just interpreting the sensations in my fingers in such a way as to make me believe that? I opened my eyes again as I sensed the onset of a painful headache.
Dropping the object back on my desk I suddenly became very scared, what could the thing have done to me? There was a mirror by the door and, in what must have been a mindless panic, I rushed over to it dreading what I might see…
Interview
1. In three days, all power will go off, everywhere for a very long time. What will you include in your author survival kit?
A solar powered generator, and a big battery to go with it…plus my laptop of course.
2. Where did the idea for the work you are promoting arise?
Some of the tales in the collection I woke with, almost complete … others I just began and then let them grow by themselves…!
3. What do you like to read?
Science Fiction mostly… and the latest science news.
4. Tell us about the most exciting place you have ever visited?
That has to be Singapore… twice. The atmosphere, the weather the people… I was fortunate to be there.
5. What is the most mundane, day to day, thing you can share about yourself?
I get the breakfast and do the washing up… most mornings.
6. What scares you the most?
The world situation… I suspect our grandchildren will be in for a rough and tricky time.
I think my grandparents had the same thought about my parents who thought that for us… It is difficult to watch this crazy world and not be able to do much about it….
7. Tell us anything but keep it G rated.
I’ve had a very full and interesting life and still do … I traveled the world, flew around it twice, visited America many times, once back to England via Concorde, patented several inventions, created a successful R&D company specialising in Applied Physics products, had a medal pinned on me by the Queen, set up the European Group of an American company specialising in Medical products. I set up a computer training school, pioneered intelligent software and animated graphics set to music, ran a military radio station in the 40’s with the British Army, sailed my own boat single handed from Finland to England, presented technical papers at conferences in various countries, had my first stories, and some poetry, published in the 50’s, and have published over 100 short speculative stories and a novel since retiring(!) at 75.
Writer’s website
Buy link…
Keywords:
Tony Thorne MBE, author, SciFi, macabre, speculative, fiction, Whortleberry Press, Books To Go Now, Eternal Press, Etcetera Press, FeedaRead, Amazon, Kindle, Createspace, Smashwords.
Thanks Mr. T. for letting me put you up on my blog!
All Writerly Wednesday posts are at http://writerlywednesday.com .