David A. Riley's Blog, page 104
October 15, 2013
Shadow Publishing Book Launch at the World Fantasy Convention
Shadow Publishing will be launching four books at the World Fantasy Convention on Friday the 1st November. The event, which includes complementary wine, will be from 2 till 3 p.m.The books launched will be:
• The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (David A. Riley)
• Phantoms of Venice (David A. Sutton, Mike Chinn, Tim Lebbon & Conrad Williams)
• Worse Things Than Spiders and Other Stories (Samantha Lee)
• The Whispering Horror (Eddy C. Bertin)
The Dunwich Horror - Remake
I haven't watched this yet so I have no idea how good it is, but the fact it's based on H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror should make it interesting. At least I hope so!
October 14, 2013
Shadow Publishing Blog
Dave Sutton has created a blog for Shadow Publishing, which looks pretty interesting and is well worth a visit.
Komodo vs Cobra
Watched this over the weekend on DVD. Not my usual fare, but it sounded interesting enough in a bizarre way to justify a viewing.CGI does help low budget films like this. Years ago, what we had here would have even looked impressive. At least the monsters could be seen moving with a semblance of realism on the same screen as the human characters. By today's standards, though, it does fail woefully, especially when the creatures scoop up their victims. That did look hilariously unrealistic, especially as their victims just disappeared in the blink of an eye.
What really made this film fail, though, was the terrible casting, the worse acting and the simplistic, cliched dialogue. Not to mention the pistols that could fire countless rounds without ever needing to be reloaded (and I'm talking of well over 50 shots at a time) - or to offer any sort of recoil in the hands of those firing them! Less realistic gunfire I have never seen in my life.
Was it bad enough to be good?
Well, apart from a few laughs at the ineptitude of some of the really awful acting, I would have to say no.
Review Copies Available of The Return
Electronic review copies of my Lovecraftian horror novel, The Return, are available. If you do reviews on your blog, on a website or a magazine please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com and I'll email a copy to you to upload on your kindle, etc.
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
October 12, 2013
Free Copies of The Return Won On Lovecraft eZine Last Night
Three free ebook copies of
The Return
were won last night during the Lovecraft eZine's online playing of
The Call of Cthulhu
. Congratulations to all those who won copies - and I hope you enjoy reading it!If there are any reviewers who would like copies of the ebook version of this Lovecraftian horror novel, please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com.
October 9, 2013
World Fantasy Convention - Programming Grid
Details of the programming for the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton at the end of this month have been released. Just click on the image below for a pdf.
October 8, 2013
First Review of Dark Visions 1
The first Amazon review for Dark Visions 1 gives it 5 stars and a great, detailed write up. I was particularly pleased to see the reviewer mention that my story, Scrap, "could easily have been a kitchen sink drama, depicting the lives of two brothers growing up in a poverty-stricken council estate in England", adding "Riley chooses to inject a healthy dose of horror, elevating his story to a different, altogether more gruesome level."
Kitchen sink was exactly what I was aiming for while writing this story, which I believe is one of the best I have ever done.
October 2, 2013
Harrassment Policy at FantasyCon 2014
I noticed that the FantasyCon 2014 website has details of a Harrassment Policy. I can't recall ever seeing anything like this on the website (or anywhere else for that matter) for a British fantasy convention before. It's left me wondering whether this is merely a preemptive strike or whether there have been genuine concerns over this issue here in the UK in recent years, even though I can't recall hearing anything about it.
Don't get me wrong. I have no objections to such a policy. In fact anyone who hasn't already adhered to it in spirit, never mind the letter, has no place at a convention so far as I'm concerned. It just seems sad that something about this issue has to be posted on the site. It could raise concerns and maybe even fears about what sometimes happens at conventions to anyone who has never attended one before.
Is this a sign of just where things have been heading over recent years in the wake of so many horrendous disclosures and prosecutions after the Jimmy Saville scandal? Or am I, not for the first time I might add, missing the point?
Don't get me wrong. I have no objections to such a policy. In fact anyone who hasn't already adhered to it in spirit, never mind the letter, has no place at a convention so far as I'm concerned. It just seems sad that something about this issue has to be posted on the site. It could raise concerns and maybe even fears about what sometimes happens at conventions to anyone who has never attended one before.
Is this a sign of just where things have been heading over recent years in the wake of so many horrendous disclosures and prosecutions after the Jimmy Saville scandal? Or am I, not for the first time I might add, missing the point?
