สมเถา สุจริตกุล | S. P. Somtow
Legal name: สมเถา สุจริตกุล
Transliterated name: Sucharitkul, Somtow Papinian
Birth place: Bangkok, Thailand
Birth date: 30 December 1952
Language: English
Bibliographic comments: Canonical name, some early titles as by Somtow Sucharitkul. See also the fanzine Inquestor Tales.
Biographic comments:
Novels
Starship & Haiku
1981
Library edition: September 1981, 1st edition
Timescape / Pocket Books
ISBN 0-671-83601-3
Paperback, 207 pages
$2.50
Notes:
Collections
Fire from the Wine Dark Sea
1983
Library edition: September 1983, 1st edition
Starblaze / The Donning Company
ISBN 0-89865-252-9
Trade paperback, 301 pages
$6.50
Notes:
• Afterword 'In Defense of Ozymandias' by Somtow Sucharitkul.
Fiction: Fire from the Wine-Dark Sea // The Thirteenth Utopia // A Child of Earth and Starry Heaven // Sunsteps //
Aquila the God // Comets and Kings // Angel's Wings // Dear Caressa or This Towering Torment // Absent Thee
from Felicity Awhile… // Darktouch // Coaster Time // The Last Line of the Haiku
Poetry: Kith of Infinity // Messenger // Meeting in Milan Cathedral // On an Unfinished Pieta of Michelangelo // The
Four Dragons and the Dying King
Essays: The What March? // The Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine March
Interviews: Interview by Darrell Schweitzer // Interview by Bob Halliday
Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes
1992
Library edition: February 1992, 1st edition
Pulphouse Printing
ISBN 1-56146-547-X
Paperback, 44 pages
$1.95
Notes:
I Wake from a Dream of a Drowned Star City
1992
Library edition: May 1992, 1st edition
Axolotl Press
No ISBN
Trade paperback, 95 pages
No cover price
Notes:
• Library copy signed by the author in orange marker on the 2nd title page.
Utopia Hunters
1984
Library edition: April 2019, 1st PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-46-3
Paperback, 388 pages
$19.99
Notes:
• Introductions 'Revisiting the Curse: Author's Introduction to the 2019 Edition' and 'The Curse of the Inquestors:
Author's Introduction to the 2013 Edition' by S. P. Somtow.
• 'Inquestor' series #3.
Fiction: The Book of Children's Dreams // The Story of the Rainbow King // The Book of Shapers and Visionaries //
The Story of the Dust-Sculptress // The Story of the Web Dancer // The Book of Rememberers and Warriors //
The Rememberer's Story // The Comet's Story // The Book of Three Young Inquestors // The Myth of Mother Vara
// The Myth of the Windbringers // The Story of Young Arryk // The Book of the Darkweaver
Essay: Frequently Asked Questions About the Inquestral Highspeech
The Crow: Temple of Night
1999
Library edition: December 1999, 1st edition
HarperEntertainment
ISBN 0-06-107348-2
Trade paperback, 224 pages
$13.00 / C$19.95
Notes:
• Movie tie-in novel, set in Thailand.
The Other City of Angels
2007
Library edition: 2007, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-0-9800149-0-7
Trade paperback, 330 pages
฿395 / $17.00 / £9.00
Notes:
• Originally written as a series for Thailand's English-language newspaper The Nation, under the title Bluebeard's
Castle.
Dragon’s Fin Soup
1998
Library edition: 2002 1st Thailand edition
Asia Books
ISBN 974-8383-58-6
Trade paperback, 208 pages
no cover price
Notes:
Fiction: In the House of the Spirits // Dragon's Fin Soup // Lottery Night // The Steel American // Chui Chai // The
Bird Catcher // Diamonds Aren't Forever // Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes // The Last Time I Died in Venice // Glossary
The Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate Mallworld
2013
Library edition: 2018 edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-31-9
PDF, 162 pages
no cover price
Notes:
• Introduction 'Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate?' by S. P. Somtow.
• Illustrated by Karl Kofoed.
Fiction: Prologue // A Day in Mallworld // Sing a Song of Mallworld // The Vampire of Mallworld // Rabid in
Mallworld // Mallworld Graffiti // The Dark Side of Mallworld // The Jaws of Mallworld // A Mall and the Gneiss
Visitors // Bug-Eyed in Mallworld // Epilogue
Tagging the Moon: Fairy Tales from L.A.
2000
Library edition: May 2000, 1st edition
Night Shade Books
ISBN 1-892389-06-1
Trade paperback, 277 pages
$25.00
Notes:
Fiction: Gingerbread // The Ugliest Duckling // A Thief in the Night // The Hero's Celluloid Journey // Dr. Rumpole
// The Sleeping Ice Princess // Though I Walk Through the Valley // Mr. Death's Blue-Eyed Boy // A Hummingbird
Among Angels // Tagging the Moon // The Other City of Angels: A Note from the Author
The Pavilion of Frozen Women
1996
Library edition: July 1996, 1st edition
Gollancz
ISBN 0-575-06120-0
Hardcover, 272 pages
£16.99
Notes:
Fiction: The Pavilion of Frozen Women // Fish Are Jumping, and the Cotton Is High // Fire from the Wine-Dark Sea
// Chui-Chai // Though I Walk Through the Valley // Hunting the Lion // Mr. Death's Blue-Eyed Boy // The Steel
American // Gingerbread // Darker Angels
Other Edens
2005
Library edition: October 2010 edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
no cover price
Notes:
• Foreword 'Ingres' Violin' by William Hjorstberg.
Fiction: A Different Eden // A Lap Dance with the Lobster Lady // Vanilla Blood // The Bird Catcher // Beloved
Disciple
Short fiction chapbooks
The Shattered Horse
1986
Library edition: August 1986, 1st edition
Tor
ISBN 0-312-93730-X
Hardcover, 464 pages
$16.95
Notes:
The Aquiliad
1984
Library edition: December 1983, 1st edition
Timescape / Pocket Books
ISBN 0-671-45443-9
Paperback, 224 pages
$2.95
Notes:
• 'Aquila' series #1.
Fiction: Aquila // Aquila the God // Aquila Meets Bigfoot // Aquila: The Final Conflict
Opus 50
2008
Library edition: 2008, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-0-9800149-2-1
Trade paperback, 395 pages
฿395
Notes:
Fiction: Chui Chai // Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes // Lottery Night // The Pavilion of Frozen Women // Hunting the
Lion // The Bird Catcher // A Different Eden
Poetry: Jeffrey Dahmer // To a Cigar // Blacksburg
Essays: Who Am I? A Short Course in Reinventing Oneself as a Southeast Asian Writer // One Flew Over Kukrit's
Nest: Meditations on Plagiarism vs. Borrowing // Somtow's Guide to Elmer Fudd's Guide to Grand Opera // Top Ten
Gruesome Operatic Deaths // Temple of Horror // Theology for Secular Humanists // Nirvana Express //
Compassion: Two Perspectives (A Sermon)
Light on the Sound
1982
Library edition: September 1982, 1st edition
Timescape / Pocket Books
ISBN 0-671-44028-4
Paperback, 255 pages
$2.95
Notes:
• 'Inquestor' series #1.
The Throne of Madness
1983
Library edition: October 1983, 1st edition
Timescape / Pocket Books
ISBN 0-671-44028-4
Paperback, 255 pages
$2.95
Notes:
• 'Inquestor' series #2.
Vampire Junction
1984
Library edition: August 1984, 1st edition, 1st printing
Starblaze / The Donning Company
ISBN 0-89865-367-3
Slipcased Hardcover, 280 pages
$15.95
Notes:
• 'Valentine' series #1.
The Alien Swordmaster
1985
Library edition: January 1987, 1st UK edition
New English Library
ISBN 0-450-39251-1
Paperback, 185 pages
£1.95
Notes:
• 'V' TV series tie-in #7.
Do Comets Dream?
2003
Library edition: July 2003, 1st edition
Pockets Books
ISBN 0-7434-1130-7
Paperback, 262 pages
$6.99 / C$10.50
Notes:
• Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series tie-in.
My Cold Mad Father
2018
Library edition: September 2018, 1st PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-31-9
Trade paperback, 163 pages
no cover price
Notes:
• 'Introduction to the Introduction' and Introduction by S. P. Somtow.
• Originally intended for publication in September 1992 by Pulphouse Press, USA.
Fiction: Kingdoms in the Sky // Fire from the Wine-Dark Sea // The Bad News Express // Darker Angels
The Ultimate Mallworld
2000
Library edition: April 2000, 1st edition
Meisha Merlin
ISBN 1-892065-07-X
Trade paperback, 333 pages
$15.00
Notes:
Fiction: Prologue // A Day in Mallworld // Sing a Song of Mallworld // The Vampire of Mallworld // Rabid in
Mallworld // Mallworld Graffiti // The Dark Side of Mallworld // The Jaws of Mallworld // A Mall and the Gneiss
Visitors // Bug-Eyed in Mallworld // Epilogue
Riverrun
1991
Library edition: September 1999, 1st edition
Avon
ISBN 0-380-75925-X
Paperback, 259 pages
$3.95
Notes:
• 'Riverrun' series, #1.
Valentine
1992
Library edition: April 1992, 1st edition
Gollancz
ISBN 0-575-05018-7
Hardcover, 383 pages
£14.99
Notes:
• 'Valentine' series #2.
The Wizard’s Apprentice
1993
Library edition: August 2018 edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
$6.85
Notes:
Vanitas: Escape from Vampire Junction
1995
Library edition: July 1995, 1st UK edition
Gollancz
ISBN 0-575-05655-X
Hardcover, 352 pages
£16.99
Notes:
• 'Valentine' series #3.
Jasmine Nights
1994
Library edition: May 1994, 1st edition thus
Hamish Hamilton
ISBN 0-241-00200-1
Trade paperback, xv+380 pages
£9.99
Notes:
• Previously serialised in 15 parts in Pulphouse: A Fiction Magazine, 1991–1993.
Darker Angels
1997
Library edition: November 1997, 1st edition
Gollancz
ISBN 0-575-06122-7
Hardcover, 351 pages
£16.99
Notes:
Forgetting Places
1987
Library edition: October 1987, 1st edition
Tor
ISBN 0-312-93030-5
Hardcover, 216 pages
$14.95
Notes:
The Vampire’s Beautiful Daughter
1997
Library edition: April 2018 edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940-99920-3
Digital
$6.87
Notes:
Bible Stories for Secular Humanists
2013
Library edition: October 2013, 1st PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-0-9860533-7-5
Trade paperback, 324 pages
no cover price
Notes:
Fiction: Brimstone and Salt // A Different Eden // Beloved Disciple // Hunting the Lion // An Alien Heresy // Darker
Angels // ResurrecTech™ // Avoiding Close Encounters // A Thief in the Night
Essay: Theology for Secular Humanists
Symphony of Terror
1988
< May 1988, 1st edition
Tor
ISBN 0-812-55482-5
Paperback, 243 pages
$3.50
Notes:
• 'V' TV series tie-in #16.
The Darkling Wind
1985
< July 1985, 1st edition
Bantam Spectra
ISBN 0-553-24982-7
Paperback, 384 pages
$3.50
Notes:
• 'Inquestor' series #4.
Forest of the Night / Armorica
1992
< November 1992, 1st edition
AvoNova
ISBN 0-380-76628-0
Paperback, x+258 pages
$4.99
Notes:
• 'Riverrun' series #2.
• 1st UK edition in 1994 titled Armorica.
Yestern
1996
< November 2013 PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-0-986-05339-9
Trade paperback, 276 pages
£10.62
Notes:
• 'Riverrun' series #3.
• First publication was in the 'Riverrun Trilogy' omnibus edition.
The Fallen Country
1986
< April 1986, 1st edition
Bantam Spectra
ISBN 0-553-25556-8
Paperback, 198 pages
$2.95
Notes:
• 'Fallen Country/Snow Dragon' series.
The Snow Dragon: Three Variations
2015
< January 2015, 1st PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-11-1
Trade paperback, 316 pages
$18.00
Notes:
• 'Fallen Country' / 'Snow Dragon' series.
• Interior art by Mikey Jiraros.
Fiction: The Fallen Country (novelette) // The Fallen Country (novel) // The Fallen Country: Opera Libretto
Moon Dance
1989
Library edition: August 2018 PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-30-2
Trade paperback, 702 pages
$27.50
Notes:
Sonnets About Serial Killers
2013
< November 2013, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-0-9860533-7-5
Trade paperback, 324 pages
£8.56
Notes:
• Subtitled 'The Poetry Your Teacher Wouldn't Let You Read'.
Poetry: Ed Gein // Ed Gein Critiques His Biopics // Jeffrey Dahmer // John Wayne Gacy // On a List of People at
One Time Thought to Be Jack the Ripper // Armin Meiwes: The Cannibal // Albert Fish // Tinky Winky at the
Televangelist's Tomb // Matthew Shepard // Andrea Yates: On Drowning My Babies // Susan Smith: On Driving My
Babies to the Lake // Dena Schlosser: On Slicing Off My Baby's Arms // Blacksburg // Columbine // Alex King //
The Menendez Brothers // Monica Lewinsky // To a Cigar // On a Copy of Leaves of Grass Presented by the
President to Miss Lewinsky // The Sky at Night // A Congressional Page Contemplates Mr Foley's Proposition // Mr
Foley Contemplates the Internet // In Praise of Entropy // Moral Ambiguity in Thailand and Sudan // On Looking Into
a Copy of Chapman's Homer That Might Have Belonged to Keats // George Junius Stinney // A Prime Example of
Why the Sonnet Is Not the Ideal Medium for the Lyrics of Popular Music
Essays: The Argument // Introductory Words // The Italians // The Historical Context
R E V I E W
A Lap Dance with the Lobster Lady
1998
< 1998, 1st edition
Shadowlands Press
ISBN 0-9665662-8-9
Trade paperback, 28 pages
$6.00
Notes:
The Bird Catcher
2002
< 2018, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-18-0
Trade paperback, 120 pages
$6.99
Notes:
• Winner of the 2002 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.
Homeworld of the Heart
2020
Library edition: April 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
$6.99
Notes:
• Illustrated by Mikey Jiraros.
Club X: Vampire in the Closet
2021
Library edition: December 2021, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
$2.96
Notes:
• Winner of the 2023 BREW Children's Book Excellence Award in the 'Diversity and Inclusion' Category.
Aquila and the Iron Horse
1988
< May 1988, 1st edition
Del Rey
ISBN 0-345-33868-5
Paperback, 261 pages
$3.50
Notes:
• 'Aquila' series #2.
Aquila and the Sphinx
1988
< December 1988, 1st edition
Del Rey
ISBN 0-345-34791-9
Paperback, 242 pages
$3.95
Notes:
• 'Aquila' series #3.
Alien Heresies
2020
< April 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-52-4
Trade paperback, 540 pages
$22.00
Notes:
• Introduction 'A Word' by S. P. Somtow.
• Illustrated by Jiraros Kewjaila.
Fiction: Sunsteps // Cruise Eternity // I Wake from a Dream of a Drowned Star City // The Last Line of the Haiku //
The Thirteenth Utopia // Aquila // Absent Thee from Felicity Awhile // Comets and Kings // Coaster Time //
ResurrecTech™ // The Last Time I Died in Venice // Dear Caressa, or, This Towering Torment // Avoiding Close
Encounters // Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes // Tagging the Moon // An Alien Heresy
Beyond Mallworld
2020
Library edition: September 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-67-8
Trade paperback, 459 pages
$18.00
Notes:
• Introductions 'Beyond Ultimate?' and 'Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate?' by S. P. Somtow.
• Illustrated by Karl Kofoed.
Fiction: Prologue // A Day in Mallworld // Sing a Song of Mallworld // The Vampire of Mallworld // Rabid in
Mallworld // Mallworld Graffiti // The Dark Side of Mallworld // The Jaws of Mallworld // A Mall and the Gneiss
Visitors // Bug-Eyed in Mallworld // Almost an Epilogue // Mallworld Becomes Elektra
Another Avatar
2020
< July 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-62-3
Trade paperback, 104 pages
$5.99
Notes:
• 'Kris and the Dragon Jade' series #1.
Annunciation
2020
< September 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-9409-9969-2
Trade paperback, 84 pages
$6.99
Notes:
• 'Miriam: Memoirs of a Goddess' series #1.
The Riverrun Trilogy
1996
< July 2018, 1st PoD edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-9409-9923-4
Trade paperback, 138 pages
$7.50
Notes:
• Omnibus edition of Riverrun (1991), Armorica (1994) and Yestern (1996), for which this was the first publication.
Omnibus editions
Mallworld Becomes Elektra
2020
< September 2020, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-9409-9969-2
Digital
$2.99
Notes:
• 'Mallworld series.
Nirvana Express
2018
Library edition: August 2018, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-9409-9923-4
Hardcover, 243 pages
$35.00
Notes:
• 'The Curious Adventures of S. P. Somtow' series.
• Subtitled 'Journal of a Very Brief Monkhood'.
• The 2019 digital re-issue contains corrections and some text revisions.
Non-fiction
Sounding Brass
2018
Library edition: August 2018, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-9409-9923-4
Hardcover, 243 pages
$35.00
Notes:
• 'The Curious Adventures of S. P. Somtow' series.
• Subtitled 'A Curious Musical Partnership'.
The Stone Buddha’s Tears
2012
< December 2012, 1st edition, 1st printing
Post Books
ISBN 978-974-228-097-0
Trade paperback, 144 pages
฿200
Notes:
Non-genre fiction
The Maestro’s Noctuary: A Nine Year Dream Journal
2016
< February 2016, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
ISBN 978-1-940999-13-5
Trade paperback, 246 pages
Unknown cover price
Notes:
• Illustrated by Mikey Jiraros.
Lost Valentines: The Collected Vampire Stories
2022
< December 2022, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
$2.99
Notes:
• Introduction 'Me, My Mom, and the Count' by S. P. Somtow.
• Illustrated by 'Loukas Stourmwitch'.
Fiction: The Vampire of Mallworld // Beloved Disciple // The Voice of the Hummingbird // Brimstone and Salt //
Chiaroscuro // Red As Jade // More Strange Than True // Vanilla Blood // The Ugliest Duckling
Other Avatars: The Collected Fantasy Short Stories
2023
< May 2023, 1st edition
Diplodocus Press
No ISBN
Digital
$2.99
Notes:
• Introduction by S. P. Somtow.
Fiction: undetermined
