There's just one catch to earn this gift, everyone has to repeat what they did on the day before the aliens came (for the benefit of study groups)-for a million years. The short story 'Absent Thee From Felicity Awhile' features aliens who offer the human race the gift of immortality.In addition to his work as a composer, he is the artistic director of the Bangkok Opera. He also wrote a musical, Raya the Musical, based on a novel by his mother which had already been adapted as a soap opera on Thai TV. His opera Madana (based on a play by King Rama VI of then-Siam) was the first western-style opera ever written by a Thai national. He has also written novels set in the Star Trek universe, the V (1983) universe, and The Crow universe.Īs a musician, he has composed a number of operas, several symphonies, and one ballet, Kaki. He wrote and directed the horror film The Laughing Dead, and co-wrote the Roger Corman film, Bram Stoker's Burial of the Rats. His horror novels include Vampire Junction and its sequels, the cowboy/werewolf novel Moon Dance, and the YA novel The Vampire's Beautiful Daughter. He also has several SF series, including the Inquestor series, the Mallworld series, and the alternate history series, The Aquiliad. Much of his older work has been republished under the new byline.Īs an author, his best known work is probably Jasmine Nights, a semi-autobiographical work set in Thailand with added elements of Magical Realism. The P comes from his actual middle name, Papinian. Somtow-possibly because it's easier for westerners to spell. His early fiction was published under the name Somtow Sucharitkul, but he quickly switched to using S. He currently has dual US/Thai citizenship. He moved back to Thailand while still fairly young, and is fluent in both languages. Somtow is a minor member of the Thai royal family, but he was raised in England, and his first language is English.

Somtow, sometimes known as Somtow Sucharitkul, is a Thai/American author of English-language science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as a composer and musician.

The Crow by S.P. Somtow