SOMTOW, S.P.

   Working name of Thai composer and writer Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul (1952-), who used his surname from the beginning of his career to 1985, when he switched to SPS, announcing that any book previously signed Sucharitkul would be signed SPS on reprinting (although some children'sbooks continued to appear under the earlier form of his name). After university education in the UK and a period in the USA, SPS began in recent years to spend about half his time in Thailand and half in the USA. His first publication of any genre interest was a poem, "Kith ofInfinity", which appeared in the Bangkok Press in 1967 and was assembled - along with early stories like "Sunsteps" (1977 Unearth) - in Fire from the Wine Dark Sea (coll 1983). He won the JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD for Best NewWriter in 1981.His first novel, Starship and Haiku (1981), is typical of much of his work: the tale takes place in a crowded but fluid venue, with culture shocks leading to ornate resolutions; in this case, the citizens of a post- HOLOCAUST Earth are committing suicide, but whales contact Japanese survivors (with whom they share a genetic heritage) and the novelcloses as a new hybrid species sets off for the stars.The Chronicles of the High Inquest sequence - Light on the Sound (1982; rev vt The Dawning Shadow \#1: Light on the Sound 1986), The Throne of Madness (1983; rev vtThe Dawning Shadow \#2: The Throne of Madness 1986), Utopia Hunters (coll of linked stories 1984) and The Darkling Wind (1985) - again injects whale-like sentients into a complex mix, following the interactions of the mutilated humans who hunt them on instructions from the Inquestors, a Galaxy-spanning race whose pretensions to moral superiority are harshlyexamined as the sequence advances. In the end, the Inquestor race dies in cataclysm, leaving a deposit of myth for later races to decipher. Other sf of interest includes the ALTERNATE-WORLD Aquiliad sequence - The Aquiliad (1983; vt The Aquiliad: Aquila in the New World 1988), The Aquiliad \#2:Aquila and the Iron Horse (1988) and \#3: Aquila and the Sphinx (1988) - set in a Western Hemisphere dominated by the Roman Empire; a resident time traveller injects a malicious note of imbalance and insecurity, generating a state of fluid near-chaos typical of SPS at his best. Sf singletons include Mallworld (coll of linked stories 1981), in which the eponymous venue doubles as an observation post for ALIENS fascinated by the human race; and The Shattered Horse (1986), another alternate-world tale in which the Trojans win.At about the time he changed his byline he also began to move from sf into fantasy and horror, notably with the Valentine sequence of vampire novels - Vampire Junction (1984) and Valentine (1992 UK) - and Moondance (1989), a powerful werewolf tale. It is to be hoped,however, that he will continue to contribute sf tales which reflect his quicksilver, sea-change imagination.

   JC

   Other works: 2 "V" novelizations, The Alien Swordmaster * (1985) and Symphony of Terror * (1988); The Fallen Country (1986), for children; Forgetting Places (1987), associational; Riverrun (1991), first volume of the projected Riverrun or Darkling Wars sequence, comprising Riverrun (1991), Forest of the Night (1992) and Music of Madness (1993); Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes (1986 ASF; 1992 chap)I Wake from a Dream of a Drowned Star City (1992 chap); The Wizard's Apprentice (1993); Jasmine Nights (1994 UK), an associational novel withautobiographical elements.

   See also: ANTHROPOLOGY; ECOLOGY; GALACTIC EMPIRES; ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE; MESSIAHS; MUSIC; SOCIOLOGY; SPACE OPERA.