Gateway Essentials: D. G. Compton
D.G. (David Guy) Compton was born in London in 1930. His early works were crime novels published under ‘Guy Compton’, but he began producing SF as ‘D.G. Compton’ in 1965 with The Quality of Mercy. His 1970 novel The Steel Crocodile received a Nebula nomination, but it was 1974’s The Continuous Catherine Mortenhoe that made his reputation. Eerily predictive of the 21st century’s obsessions with media voyeurism and ‘reality television’, it was filmed as Death Watch in 1979, by Bernard Tavernier.
So, obviously the place to begin with D.G. Compton is The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe, SF Masterworks being the milestone books that they are:
The recent release of a US edition has prompted a new wave of coverage for this incredibly prescient work, with Flavorwire making comparisons with J.G. Ballard and Anthony Burgess, the Literary Hub citing it as one of the essential reads for July and Vol 1 Brooklyn praising the novel in its July preview.
And after that? We’re glad you asked. As ever, once you’ve finished with an author’s Masterworks, your next port of call should be the Gateway Essentials; in this instance:
You can find more of D.G. Compton’s work via his Author page on the Gateway website and read about him in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
