Scott, Tim 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born November 12, 1962. Education: Graduate of Cambridge University. Hobbies and other interests: Surfing.

ADDRESSES:

Home—England.

CAREER:

Writer, comedian. Worked variously as a plasterer, decorator, and delivery driver. Star of twenty-six episodes of a late-night comedy show on the British television network ITV; television director.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award, 2003, for children's television program Ripley and Scuff.

WRITINGS:

JUVENILE; EXCEPT AS NOTED

(With William Vandyck and David Farris) The Musketeers's Adventure Agency, Lightning, 1990.

(With William Vandyck and David Farris) Tony and Cleo's Interesting Year, Lightning, 1990.

(With John Bendall-Brunello) Colin and the Paper Dart, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1990.

Sir Undone and the Skateboarding Ghost, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1991.

(With William Vandyck) How to Have the Best Christmas Ever, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1991.

(With William Vandyck) How to Get Away with Absolutely Anything, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1993.

A Journey Back in Time: Dinosaurs, Children's Company (London, England), 1994.

A Journey through Space, Children's Company (London, England), 1994.

Sir Undone and the Walnut Cake, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1994.

(With William Vandyck) How to Do Your Homework in Ten Seconds Flat, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1995.

(With William Vandyck) How to Have the Best Holiday Ever, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1996.

The Maths Repair Kit, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1999.

History Hoaxes, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 2000.

Brilliant Games to Play in Boring Lessons, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 2001.

Outrageous Fortune (adult novel), Bantam Dell (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to anthologies, including Sally and the Booted Puss, Longman Book Project, 1994. Writer and comedian for approximately fifty half-hour shows for BBC Radio 4; writer, with others, and director of Ripley and Scuff (children's series), BBC.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tim Scott graduated from Cambridge University in England, but after working in a variety of jobs that included plasterer, decorator, and delivery driver, he turned to comedy. He wrote and appeared in approximately fifty half-hour comedy shows on BBC Radio 4, which resulted in his being given a late-night surreal comedy series on the British television network ITV. Scott is the author of children's books and has written for children's television. Ripley and Scuff, which he cowrote and directed, earned him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award.

Scott's Outrageous Fortune is an adult sci-fi novel that features Jonny X67, an architect of dreams for the wealthy and powerful who lives in Chillout, one of the sectors of Santa Cruz, a city that is divided into music zones that include Jazz, Classical, and Compilation. His friend Mat lives in Rave, and in Christmas Single, people spend the entire year dressed in Santa Claus suits. Music is an important element in the lives of all. Scott hints at where capitalism is taking us, with corporations controlling politics and communications devices embedded in the human ear, all of which might seem farfetched until we reflect on how quickly we are heading in this direction. In this story of the future, ads are viruses that people catch and elevators crack jokes for the riders' pleasure. Booklist reviewer Carl Hays wrote: "Consider this the opening salvo of one of the genre's most promising and original new voices in years."

Jonny wakes one day to discover that his house and everything he owns has been stolen with the use of a new shrinking technology. He is left a note that reads, "Don't you hate it when this happens?" From a helicopter jumps Caroline E61, an encyclopedia saleswoman who follows him as he heads toward the Inconvenient, a bar that is difficult to find and even more difficult to get served in. As he drinks his Long Island iced tea, he is contacted by the house thieves, who want to make a deal. Jonny is then kidnapped by motorcyclists, each named after one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and he is taken to an abandoned hospital. The bikers feed Jonny porridge and tell him that it is his job to assassinate God, but Caroline, who turns out to be his guardian angel, comes to his rescue, still trying to make a sale. Jonny suspects that his life is being threatened because of his work on the Dream Virus Project, the purpose of which is to create dreams that target the dreamer's DNA. As Jonny tries to make a getaway, he is arrested by the traffic police. When he makes bail, he goes surfing (a favorite pastime of his creator, Scott), then locates the encyclopedia company, only to learn that since he did not purchase a set, a Belgian assassin is tracking him down.

Lora Friedenthal reviewed the book for the Dragon Page Web site, writing that the story "is absurd—not comedic in a way that will necessarily make you laugh out loud, not constructed of jokes and punch-lines. It's absurd in the vein of Dali, which I think becomes quite apparent in Tim Scott's prose. He tends toward eccentric turns of phrase that burst from the page like a zombie's hand spasming and clawing from its hard, cold grave." A subplot concerns Jonny's friend Jack, who died in an accident, leaving Jonny and his friend Mat pained by the loss.

In reviewing the novel in Library Journal, Amy Watts commented that "the disjointedness of it all could be too much for some." "Hilarious," concluded a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "if all this tickles your funny bone."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2007, Carl Hays, review of Outrageous Fortune, p. 50.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2007, review of Outrageous Fortune.

Library Journal, June 15, 2007, Amy Watts, review of Outrageous Fortune, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2007, review of Outrageous Fortune, p. 36.

Washington Post Book World, July 22, 2007, Jeff VanderMeer, review of Outrageous Fortune, p. 11.

ONLINE

Dragon Page,http://www.dragonpage.com/ (November 9, 2007), Lora Friedenthal, review of Outrageous Fortune.