Storytellers On Tour is a Blog/Instagram Tour organising service. It was born out of Justine’s (Whispers & Wonder) and my love and dedication toward SFF indie books and authors. Our goal is to give as much exposure to our clients as we can, while we also build a community among our Roadies. Find out more about us on www.storytellersontour.online!
This past week we gave the spotlight to The Boy Who Walked Too Far, the first book in Dom Watson’s Sci-Fi Horror series, The Xindii Chronicles! Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with reviews, interviews and other posts. Now it’s time to bring the show to an end and it’s my pleasure to present you with the encore, including some extra content. Come and learn a bit more about the world of The Boy Who Walked Too Far through Dom’s unique way of introducing his fan cast!
Shall we?
Dom Watson lives, writes, and dreams in Suffolk, England. He enjoys life with his wife, daughter, and three cats. He also doesn’t mind the occasional glass of Merlot.
It’s the end of the universe, and everything has come undone. Entropy has won the war, but one last battle rages in the half-ruined city of Testament.
No one knows who created this last outpost and peopled it with billions of species. However, it is here, under a sky with no stars, that the last remnants of life in the universe live, love, and pray to their many gods. It is here where Godrich Felstrom dies.
Most residents of Testament care little for the affairs of a single, fragile human, but the event brings back bad memories for Heironymous Xindii.
It has been many years since the dreamurlurgy professor discovered his true potential and doomed four people in the process. Now, he lectures to bored students who dream of the many pleasures Testament has to offer. Xindii, on the other hand, becomes obsessed with the mysterious Godrich and his missing soul. As he and his valiant companion, the Neanderthal Solomon Doomfinger, look back at Felstrom’s last steps, they discover the shocking truth about Felstrom’s death, his destiny, and the future of Testament and all those angels, demons, liars, and dreamers who call it home.
Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!
DECEMBER 9TH–THE WELCOMING
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight
DECEMBER 10TH
Jake is Reading – review
“The Boy Who Walked Too Far isn’t a book for the faint of heart, and perhaps not for the casual reader. It is brutal at times, featuring all the body horror you could (and couldn’t) imagine. Its certainly a story like no other and an entirely memorable experience, so I’m excited to see what happens next in The Xindii Chronicles.”
Susy’s Cozy World – review
“If you are in for something wild and unpredictable, with a high dose of surreal in it, than you cannot let this one go, but be warned, it is a book with some uneasy topic, gore and violence in it (I think it deserves a long list of trigger warning, to be honest with you!). But it sure as hell is worth your time!”
HighhFantasy – review
“The Boy Who Walked Too Far by Dom Watson is probably one of the strangest reads I’ve experienced, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.”
DECEMBER 11TH
Fantasy Book Critic – guest post: Creating a Sociopath, A Breakdown of Heironymous Xindii
“Oliver Twist on acid.
That’s how I sold the book over two years ago when someone asked me about the publishing world, and the high intensity pressure of banging my book out. I swear, no one understands the pressure us Self-Published authors are under. This is high rolling business. The biscuit tin must be crammed full, tea in plentiful supply. And for Christ sake, back up, back up the backups . And remove those wine bottles from the table, it makes you look like some kind of irascible laureate. (Exclusive. That was the look I was going for. You should see my hair – It’s Wolverine’s lovechild).
That was the gist anyway.”
Off the TBR – excerpt
Sadie’s Spotlight – spotlight
DECEMBER 12TH
Beneath A Thousand Skies – review
“This book won’t be for everyone, and I would say that it’s not an easy read – it’s brutal, it’s perplexing – but it is a fantastically weird book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what will happen next in the Xindii chronicles.”
@camryndaytonas – IG spotlight
DECEMBER 13TH
I Can Has Books? – review + IG spotlight
“I have never read anything like this before, I sat and though long about who I would compare this book to. and I came up blank. Dom Watson’s mind must be a very interesting place.”
Out of This World SFF Reviews – review
“The world-building is out of this world great (no pun intended). Dom Watson has created such a deep and wondrous setting with Testament and its environs that this book is such a pleasure to read almost based on that alone. When you add to that some terrific characters, a wickedly dark and brutal story line, and a mystery that is incredibly intriguing and keeps you hooked to the very last page, the result is a genre-traversing story that both entertains and horrifies at the same time. I look forward to reading more books by Dom Watson and also to seeing where he takes this series in particular. If you are looking for a different and challenging read that is far from the usual fluff variety, pick up a copy of THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR.”
DECEMBER 14TH
FanFiAddict – excerpt
Jessica Belmont – review
“The Boy Who Walked Too Far by Dom Watson is an unpredictable and complicated journey. But so worth the read. I’d say it was pretty trippy and the world is bizzare, but it held my attention from beginning to end, and honestly, I loved it.”
THE REALITY BOMB
I never give much thought into who might – one day – potentially – play the characters in my head. It is a quandary to me that it could even be an option. I may sound like C3PO but the chances of that happening are well, you get the idea. The chances are slim enough in securing an agent in asking you for the full manuscript.
But this is for fun, so, I dug deep, into past conversations where people I knew would ask that big question. Who would play Xindii if Netflix came knocking. At the time I picked a name out of the hat. Patrick Stewart. Wasn’t a bad call I thought. But would dear Patrick be up for the rigours of playing this very physical character.
Insert flashbacks of myself drinking late night coffee and getting that epiphany – the lightbulb moment us cadre of authors sometimes get in the most inopportune moments . . .
Matt Smith – the drunk giraffe. The Eleventh Doctor Who. It made sense. I started writing the Boy Who Walked Too Far in around 2010/ 11 ish when he was in full flow. Doctor Who has always been my guilty pleasure. Like the book itself, this is a very patchwork study in where these characters can originate. The Boy is made from the genres I love. It stands to reason that Matt Smith’s portrayal would linger in my psyche. There is a big part of Doctor Who in my life. The ability to go anywhere, any time. Use one platform to tell any story and pick a genre. Transcendental indeed.
Deep down my picture of Heironymous Xindii is vastly different but if any actor could grasp the meaning of him, Smith would come close.
So, what of his dear friend, Solomon Doomfinger. Which actor could breathe life into this Neanderthal at the end of time. Buckle in ladies, and men . . . no other than his nibbs, Tom Hardy. Now I know every swinging dick on the planet has a hard-on for him, but that’s just the way it is. We can’t help it. That smooth voice and iron presence, articulate, silk on the throat – a primal presence which echoes the character he will create for telly. Doomfinger has some hefty passages of dialogue, passionate and compelling arguments he needs to hammer out with Xindii. Who better.
I have always been a fan of breaking the fourth wall. Ready to stab a manuscript with my meta knife. Deadpool, Supernatural. It lifts a script and opens its possibilities to anywhere. This is limitless storytelling. The power of story. It’s touched on within the novel and more within my next novel Smoker on the Porch. We are limitless in our ability to create.
I adored the scene in the 50th Anniversary docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time, where David Bradley, playing William Hartnell as the first Doctor sees Matt Smith as the eleventh – a kind of adrenaline fuelled vision that showed the series would endure, beyond celluloid, beyond the BBC ‘s purse strings, beyond childhood and adulthood, beyond memory. A meta knife. I wanted to do something a little bit different for this encore. A chance to have some fun and knock the shit out of that fourth wall. Like I’ve said in the past. What rule book?
META KNIFE
‘And, CUT.’
The director pulled himself up from his chair and adjusted the arse-end of his trousers, pulling them up slightly to circumnavigate that old ‘builders bum.’
‘Right folks, an hour for lunch. Matt, Tom, Cliff, you guys go first, I need you back on set ASAFP to discuss the next scene. K.’
Tom looked up, holding his hand aloft. ‘Ah, Derek, I thought that was it for the day. I have a CBeebies Bedtime story to do this afternoon.’
Derek, looked down at the script, mulling over his directorial take. ‘Sorry, Tom, this is a multimillion-dollar co-production with HBO, not kids bedtime. The yummy mummies can wank off to Mad Max again, can’t they.’
‘I can’t just not turn up. There’s obligations.’
Derek smiled. ‘Yes, there is, to this project, Tom. We’re on a deadline here. Dom Watson isn’t George Martin you know, he’s contracted to produce one Xindii book a year. It’s a wh – wha –’
Tom looked on incredulous, fighting the urge to nut him.
‘Oh, for fuck sake, someone, what is a five-book saga.’
‘Quintet,’ the softly spoken Swedish voice echoed across set.
‘Thank you, Noomi. That, that Tom is essentially five years work for you, possibly seven, I hear they’re thinking of doing a Brick spin-off.’
‘Seven fucking years in this shitty makeup.’
‘Oh, give it a fucking rest, think about poor Cliff.’
‘Fuck Cliff,’ Tom suddenly turned round and saw Cliff wating for him. ‘Sorry, Cliff –’
‘Bloody charming,’ Cliff replied, his arms reaching out for air.
‘Anyway. Spin off? Cliff’s a fucking stuntman, who’s voicing Brick anyway?’
‘They’re adding it in later. A voiceover, Andy Serkis I believe’ Derek winked. ‘High brow production mate. Get some lunch.’
Tom shook his head, which seemed to wobble, the Neanderthal prosthetic starting to slip in the moist heat of the studio. He turned about and walked into Cliff .
‘Jesus Cliff, what the fuck?’
‘ I need a hand in the toilet Tom. Matt said you’re taking turns.’
‘He what? Sorry.’ Tom asked, leaning his ear in.
‘Matt said it was your turn.’
‘I am not touching your cock mate – not again.’
‘You don’t need to, I have the coat hanger, just need the zip down.’ Cliff waved his massive grey rubber hands.
Tom closed his eyes and rubbed his prosthetic brow. ‘Jesus.’
Tom guided Cliff toward the urinal and delicately pulled his zip down. ‘They’re ya go boss, piss away.’
‘Thanks Tom.’
‘Just, just keep it to yourself eh, Cliff.’
‘No worries.’
‘We suffer so much for our art, don’t we?’
The voice echoed through the lavatory.
Tom looked in the mirror at his peeling forehead. ‘It was your turn you prick.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘To touch Cliff’s prick, ya prick.’
Tom stifled a laugh.
‘Yes, so sorry about that. Just checking Twitter. Hashtag, Cliff’s penis.’
Cliff tried to turn back. ‘Matt you better not be, we all signed a confidentiality clause.’
‘Oh, for crying out loud, Clifford, don’t be so pedantic. I did Doctor Who for years remember, I know how it works.’
‘So, did I , Cyberman 2. Tennant always helped me in the toilet. A gentleman.’
A long drawn out sigh emanated from trap one. ‘Oh, Clifford If I had a fiver for every time you reminded me.’
The cubicle door opened, and Matt slid out adjusting his lapels, waving Xindii’s horsetail through the air. He joined Tom at the sink and washed his hands.
‘What’s tickled your fancy? Having a quick reach around in there?’ Tom asked.
‘Don’t be vile.’
‘Come on, spill.’
He smiled at the mirror, looking himself up and down. ‘Look at us, characters from an author’s mind brought into the world. How majestic that is, brought into this world on the scribblings of a boy from Suffolk. How grand. Magical. Across the barriers of thought.’
Matt looked deep into the mirror, looking into Xindii’s heart.
‘Maaaaaaatt? I’ve dropped my coat hanger.’
Heironymous Xindii rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, the glamour.’ He walked over to Cliff as Tom looked into the mirror. It seemed to shimmer in the faux light, another set of eyes observed him, his own butt bursting with an alien intelligence. Solomon Doomfinger smiled.
‘Magical.’
The lavatory door burst open, Derek standing there with a clipboard. ‘Change of plan guys, Eva Green has turned up, she wants to shoot the study scene now.’ He fell away from the opening, leaving the door to close delicately.
Matt turned to Tom. ‘Well then, my dear Solomon. Let’s not keep Eva waiting. The world rests on our shoulders.’
Tom looked back. ‘All packed back in, Cliff?’
‘Good as.’
‘Just as well,’ Matt chirped in, ‘Wouldn’t want to scare Eva off now, would we.’
Heironymous Xindii, Solomon Doomfinger and Inspector Brick shuffled out from the lavatory leaving the room cold, lonely, the mirror shimmered once more, as if some universal conjunction were about to take place. Creation paused and took a deep breath, through the mirror, through matter and wavelengths humans had no place in labelling, across infinitesimal dimensions where possibility and tangibility made forceful love for aeons and gave birth to imagination and her sibling, magic, in a pocket dimension of human thought, Heironymous Xindii altered his cravat in the mirror while observing his old confidante behind him.
‘Where are we having lunch?’ Doomfinger asked him.
‘Vatarios, lovely little place off the Brentish boulevard.’
The Neanderthal stepped up behind him. ‘You’re sure about this?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be? Can’t sit here as if I’m some cripple. Life goes on.’
‘The Flea King took a lot out of you.’
Xindii agreed, nodding his head. ‘Indeed, but it taught me something too.’
Doomfinger scrutinised his friend in the mirror. ‘Such as?’
‘Our stories never end.’
Doomfinger scratched his forehead and smiled at his friend’s bizarre insight. ‘Well, I’ll gladly drink to that. I’ll wait outside.’
‘I’ll be along.’
Xindii reaffirmed his position on the cravat, taking his hands away as if their very movement was tarnishing the fragile geometry.
‘There, good enough for Vatarios.’
The glass shimmered, and voices carried on a cool breeze. The hair on the back of his hands rising – static. No, it was more than that. A primal force that permeated creation and dream. He smiled, appreciating the moment.
‘Our stories never end. Succour for the great serpent.’
Xindii walked toward the chair and slipped on his blazer, gazing at the mirror, a sly smile forcing its way out of his small mouth. He nodded contently. And as he picked up his cane and held it tight – he winked at the mirror and wished us all sweet dreams.
THE BOY WHO WALKED TOO FAR
BBC 1 9:00 SUNDAY EVENING
On the last outpost in creation an academic sets out to solve the murder of a poor unfortunate killed by dream.
Matt Smith heads a stellar cast in this BBC/HBO CO-PRODUCTION
HEIRONYMOUS XINDII………MATT SMITH
SOLOMON DOOMFINGER …….TOM HARDY
INSPECTOR BRICK…VOICED BY ANDY SERKIS
GWENDOLYN PENDRAGON…EVA GREEN
BLISS KIA…..NOOMI RAPACE
GUSTAF/GODRICH…..HARRY LLOYD
HADIGAN…..BEN KINGSLEY
THE COMMODORE…..SEAN BEAN
JOSIAH KAHN …….MATTHEW MACFADYEN
THE FLEA KING …VOICED BY BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
If you are interested in The Boy Who Walked Too Far and would like to get in contact with Dom Watson, you can find him on social media:
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This is brilliant! 😂
Hopefully when the world really ends it won’t just be white, cis folk left 🤞