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D.M. Cornish

Goodreads Author

Born

in Adelaide, Australia

Website

https://www.artstation.com/punctographist

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult, Children's Books

Influences

JRR Tolkien
Mervyn Peake
ER Eddisson
HP Lovecraft
Jane Austen
CS Lewis
John ...more

Member Since

February 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/dmcornish

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D. M. (David) Cornish (born 1972) is a fantasy author and illustrator from Adelaide, South Australia. His first book is Foundling, the first part of the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy. The second book named Lamplighter was released in May 2008. The third in the series is yet to be named.

D.M. Cornish was born in time to see the first Star Wars movie. He was five. It made him realize that worlds beyond his own were possible, and he failed to eat his popcorn. Experiences with C.S. Lewis, and later J.R.R. Tolkien, completely convinced him that other worlds existed, and that writers had a key to these worlds. But words were not yet his earliest tools for storytelling. Drawings were.

He spent most of his childhood drawing, as well as most of his tee D. M. (David) Cornish (born 1972) is a fantasy author and illustrator from Adelaide, South Australia. His first book is Foundling, the first part of the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy. The second book named Lamplighter was released in May 2008. The third in the series is yet to be named.

D.M. Cornish was born in time to see the first Star Wars movie. He was five. It made him realize that worlds beyond his own were possible, and he failed to eat his popcorn. Experiences with C.S. Lewis, and later J.R.R. Tolkien, completely convinced him that other worlds existed, and that writers had a key to these worlds. But words were not yet his earliest tools for storytelling. Drawings were.

He spent most of his childhood drawing, as well as most of his teenage and adult years as well. And by age eleven he had made his first book, called "Attack from Mars." It featured Jupitans and lots and lots of drawings of space battles.

He studied illustration at the University of South Australia, where he began to compile a series of notebooks, beginning with #1 in 1993. He had read Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels, The Iliad, and Paul Gallico's Love of Seven Dolls. Classical ideas as well as the great desire to continue what Mervyn Peake had begun but not finished led him to delineate his own world. Hermann Hesse, Kafka and other writers convinced him there were ways to be fantastical without conforming to the generally accepted notions of fantasy. Over the next ten years he filled 23 journals with his pictures, definitions, ideas and histories of his world, the Half-Continent.

It was not until 2003 that a chance encounter with a children's publisher gave him an opportunity to develop these ideas further. Learning of his journals, she bullied him into writing a story from his world. Cornish was sent away with the task of delivering 1,000 words the following week and each week thereafter. Abandoning all other paid work, he spent the next two years propped up with one small advance after the other as his publisher tried desperately to keep him from eating his furniture. ...more

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D.M. Cornish’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 16,206 ratings · 1,397 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 8,080 ratings — published 2006 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo, #2) 4.22 avg rating — 4,563 ratings — published 2007 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Factotum (Monster Blood Tattoo, #3) 4.25 avg rating — 2,918 ratings — published 2009 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Legends of Australian Fantasy by Jack Dann (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jonathan Strahan (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Isobelle Carmody (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 3.89 avg rating — 235 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tales from the Half-Continent (Monster Blood Tattoo, #3.5) 4.02 avg rating — 127 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I don't want to eat my dinner really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Monster Blood Tattoo: Book One the Foundlin really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Io sono Rossamünd. Monster blood tattoo vol. 1 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Foundling, Book One it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I Don't Want Go To Bed it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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D.M. Cornish's Blog

Grasping the nettle.

Well, it has been a while (understatement of the day so far...) Below is my first faltering steps into what I hope/intend will be Europe's "back story" (ugly phrase, but the best way to describe things here). It is not in any way edited or vetted, just straight from draft to you.

.D. EUROPE: THE BEGINNERING of the first kind © D.M. Cornish

When the Duke and Duchess Magentine of the great Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 16, 2017 13:22

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Series by D.M. Cornish

Monster Blood Tattoo (3 books)
by

D.M. Cornish (Goodreads Author)

4.06 avg rating — 15,687 ratings

Terre des monstres / Monster Blood Tattoo (1 book)
by

D.M. Cornish (Goodreads Author)

3.90 avg rating — 8,079 ratings

D.M. is Currently Reading

D.M. Cornish is currently reading

Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era

by Janet MacDonald

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D.M. Cornish said: " Only 30 pages in and already this has told me so much. An invaluable tool for research and a wonderful, chewy read to boot. "

Mar 18, 2011 02:30AM · see review

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Realmshift

by Alan Baxter (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 25, 2010 05:05PM

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D.M. Cornish wants to read The Crimson Spark (Vagabond Legacy #1) by William Hastings (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 31, 2023 05:49PM · like
D.M. Cornish is now following William Hastings Author of The Crimson Spark (Vagabond Legacy #1)
Jan 31, 2023 05:49PM · like

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Quotes by D.M. Cornish (?)

“Providence ever turns bad to the good, if you have eyes to see it.”
― D.M. Cornish, Factotum (Monster Blood Tattoo, #3)

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“One moment they were in a Brandenyard street, the next running by wicket-fenced fields where stupidly dignified goats with great, flopping ears and fat, overlong noses stared at them solemnly.”
― D.M. Cornish, Factotum

tags: fantasy, field, funny, goats, humor, solemnity

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“I myself shall be elsewhere this evening, visiting with the Lady Madigan, Marchess of the Pike—one of the few folk in this city worth the time—and would have invited you with me . . . But no matter.”
― D.M. Cornish, Factotum (Monster Blood Tattoo, #3)

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D.M.’s Quotes

“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
― C.S. Lewis

330 likes

D.M.’s Friend Comments

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Comments (showing 1-7) post a comment »

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message 7: by Bill

Jan 12, 2011 06:21PM

I just finished Factotum a few minutes ago. And I wanted to leave a few thoughts.

(SOME SPOILERS)

The stories I cherish the most are those which introduce me to beloved characters that become as real as those who draw breath. The kind you dread finishing because you will be saying goodbye to those you have grown so fond of. Remember when you first read Lord of the Rings and your heart wrenched when Sam returned to his wife and child? Or when the grownup Harry, Ron and Hermione saw their children off to Hogwarts? Such stories are few and far between. And thanks to a recommendation by a worker at Half-Price books, I discovered one more.

Most of me wishes you will continue this story. I do realize that if you do, as one reviewer has said, it may spoil the mood of these three books. This may be so. But as sad as it is to part from Rossamünd and Europe, it seems downright criminal that they should be eternally apart from each other.

Thank you, D.M. And bravo.

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message 6: by Shawn

Jan 01, 2011 09:22AM

i have just finished reading factotum. And i need to thank you for that brilliant story. Thank You

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message 5: by GrimMandarin

Sep 27, 2010 08:50PM

Thanks for adding me, Cap'n Cornish.

Book 3 out very VERY soon, and I'm both happy & sad - happy that it's a new MBT, sad because it's likely to be the end of Rossamund's MBT. Mind you, I'm glad you're not stringing it out indefinitely, mozarella style.

Hope you're well.

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message 4: by D.M.

Aug 24, 2009 07:54PM

Ahh, alas I shall not be in attendance at either event - Book 3 takes all my time and concentration, only a couple of months left now till it is done and off to printers. I am dead keen, though, to be involved at WorldCon in Melly next year... which reminds me...

How goes your own wrestle with words?

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message 3: by Alan

Aug 24, 2009 07:40PM

Hey mate - how are things? Hope all is well. Are you going to be around any cons this year? I'm presenting a few bits and pieces at Conflux in October and Freecon again in November.

Alan

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message 2: by D.M.

Mar 05, 2009 07:48PM

Hello Bradley,

The day is a mixture of joys and woes, thanks for asking.

How is yours?

Bradley wrote: "I hope you are having a good day! =)

http://www.cardshark.com/content/view...

[bc:Dreamsbane of Tamalor|508388|Dreamsbane of Tamalor|Bradley James Simpson|http://phot..."

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message 1: by Bradley

Feb 25, 2009 12:11AM