David Clement-Davies
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David Clement-Davies (1964–) is a British writer of fantasy fiction. He is best known as being the author of the highly acclaimed animal fantasy books The Sight and Fire Bringer.
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[edit] Biography
Clement-Davies was born in 1964 and went to Westminster School and Edinburgh University. There, Clement-Davies read History and English Literature, specializing in the Italian Renaissance, and Russian Literature and Society. For many years, he dreamed of one day becoming an actor, taking a drama course and working in theater. However, he was also interested in writing and soon became a freelance travel journalist.
His first novel, Fire Bringer, was a tremendous success. According to his website[1], he had many inspirations for the book: "...Nature and the wild have always played a big part in his writing. Perhaps it was the rich memories of part of his childhood growing up in Wales, or just the wonderful animal books he has read."
Clement-Davies lives in a little mountain home in Andalusia region of Spain for much of the year, but also lives in London. He has also written a musical, two adult novels, and is currently working on a play, set in the present and the 17th Century, called Startled Anatomies, alongside his children’s books.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Fire Bringer
Fire Bringer is a novel about Rannoch, a red deer, born in ancient Scotland — the night his father was murdered. But Rannoch is no ordinary deer; he is special, for he bears a white mark on his forehead resembling an oak leaf. To the Herla, as the red deer called themselves, this white mark holds great meaning and power, for it was stated in a prophecy that the deer who was born with the mark would bring freedom to all Herla in the future, and that the bearer of the oak mark would have the ability to communicate with all animals.
First however, Rannoch must survive. Bucks formerly brawled and fought for the leadership, but that way was erased completely, instead replaced by a Lord of Herds, Drail. His helper, Sgorr, who has militarized the herd by making the stags sharpen their horns, training and drilling the young bucks, and will take no resistance. He realizes the threat Rannoch poses to his leadership. Rannoch escapes from the herd, but deep down in his heart, he knows that he must return, in order to unite the deer, and end Sgorr's reign of terror.
[edit] The Sight
Clement-Davies's second novel, The Sight, is set in Transylvania (modern-day Romania), and is about a pack of wolves, seeking shelter from the harsh winters in the shadow of an abandoned castle (named the "Stone Den"). Palla, the alpha female of the pack, is about to give birth to a litter. Seeking refuge from the cold, and pursuit of Morgra, and her raven, Kraar. Morgra, possessing the Sight, or ability to look through the eyes and mind of birds, reveals that one of the cubs born to Palla (Larka), has the gift of the Sight, only far more powerful than her own ability. Morgra wishes to use this power, to take control of this world and the next, but the pack she hunts is only brave and loving. They will do anything, and everything, to protect one of their own, even if it sets in motion a battle that will involve all of nature, including the creature the wolves fear most: Man.
The Sight was inspired from Clement-Davies' travel to Romania in the winter, 1990, where he learned of superstitious tales and local folklore (such as Dracula).
[edit] The Alchemists of Barbal
His third book, The Alchemists of Barbal, is an adventure story about a bold character named Silas Root.
[edit] Synopsis
The walled city of Barbal lies in the middle of the desert, where Mardak the Dark reigns supreme over the land. There is little knowledge of this mysterious master of Alchemy, except that he wears a golden mask and has a tremendous ambition for power and knowledge. Mardak’s obsessions have already resulted in the imprisonment of the Lord Alchemist, his arch rival. Now nothing, no one, stands in his path except for young Silas Root. Small and determined Silas sets off for Barbal armed with but a simple stone talisman and control over his own destiny. On his incredible journey, he encounters a winged demon and even an army of lost souls. Can Silas muster the ultimate courage to confront and defeat such evil and the man behind the mask? Well - the future of magic depends on it.
[edit] The Telling Pool
Clement-Davies varied slightly from his animal tales when he published The Telling Pool in August of 2005. The Telling Pool tells the story of Rhodri Falcon and his crusader father who become entangled in the war of a king and the machinations of a seductive sorceress - one who literally steals men’s hearts. Rhodri must discover the hero within him, a hero the amazing magic of the Telling Pool links to ancient heroes and even more ancient faiths.
[edit] Fell
Fell, released in October 2007, is a sequel of The Sight. In this continuation of the original story the complexities of Larka’s brother, Fell, are further explored nearly five years following the initial story. Fell, now a ‘Kerl’ or loner, having been on a long spiritual journey in search of answers, has instead found himself another task for his lasting youth supposedly preserved by the strange power of the Sight. A human girl, Alina Sculcuvant (the sister of the human boy cub in "The Sight") , is strangely connected with the past of the black wolf now feared as a ghost or legend. Rescued from the snows as only a child by the shepherd Malduk, who throughout her growing years makes her "dress as a boy and work twice as hard as one".
Even stranger is the odd power Alina holds. The girl also is possession of the Sight. As the truth comes to the surface Alina finds herself on a journey of self-discovery just like Fell but not entirely willingly. Instead with the bounty of a King on her head she is forced to set off on a journey where her path is crossed by a strange, lonely black wolf.
Like The Sight, Fell further explores the relationship between man and animal in this successful continuation of his original story though travels a different path then the first novel making for a new, intriguing tale of this strange anti-hero.
[edit] Future books
Clement-Davies is currently working on a new series, the first of which will be called Terror Spies.
