David A. Riley's Blog, page 25
December 9, 2022
Possible front cover for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6
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Volume 6 will be open for submissions on the 1st April for the full month.
December 4, 2022
My story After Nightfall reprinted in the Phantasmagoria Fantasy Tales Special
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It was nice to see one of my earliest stories, After Nightfall, reprinted yet again, this time in the massive
Phantasmagoria Fantasy Tales Special
. This story previously appeared in the following:
1970 Weird Window 1, Shadow Publishing edited by David A. Sutton
1971 The Year's Best Horror Fiction 1, Sphere Books & DAW Books edited by Richard Davis
1985 Fantasy Tales #15 edited by Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton
1992 Tayaschiysya Horror 2, (Таящийся ужас 2) published in Russia, translated by Vladimir Vladimirov
2011 Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! edited by Otto Penzler, Vintage Books
2012 Zombies: A Compendium of the Living Dead edited by Otto Penzler, Corvus/Atlantic Books
2013 The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror, Shadow Publishing
2017 Gallery of Curiosities edited by Kevin Frost
2018 Gallery of Curiosities webzine edited by Kevin Frost
2020 After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales, Parallel Universe Publications
2022 Phantasmagoria Fantasy Tales Special edited by Trevor Kennedy
December 2, 2022
Book Review: Savage Realms Monthly November 2022
My review of the latest issue of Savage Realms Monthly:
SAVAGE REALMS MONTHLY November 2022Edited by William Miller
Literary Rebel, 73 pages. Paperback
Savage Realms Monthly has been running for almost two years, publishing three stories per issue with an impressive regularity. And, under the editorship of William Miller, some outstanding tales it has published too.
This issue is no exception.
It kicks off, almost literally, with a true Norse adventure by Garrett Boatman. In Ragnar’s Bane our barbaric protagonist, King Ragnar Broadaxe is a giant of a man even amongst his Viking subjects, out raiding for plunder when he is cast onto a storm-swept island, where he encounters a beautiful woman he soon learns is a witch – a witch imprisoned by a powerful wizard who she begs Ragnar to kill for her. It’s a request, which along with all the promised wealth this will bring to him, Ragnar is unable to turn down. Of course, in the event this task is far from as straightforward at it looks at first glance and its conclusion far from what Ragnar expects. A well-constructed rollicking tale, full of grim twists and turns for our rapacious hero.
Contrastingly, the second tale, To Outlast the Moon by Jared Kerr, is in a deceptively far more civilised setting, the ancestral home of General Jalan Hazim. Although he is the Empire’s most successful soldier, now turned sixty-one by tradition he must honourably die in one-to-one combat to make way for younger men. To compel him to comply the Emperor has already sent an anonymous knight-executioner, along with an imperial witness to make sure everything is carried out according to law. Hazim is prepared to die, though he is equally determined to do so defending himself to the best of his ability, knowing that even if he defeats his first opponent another will be sent a few days later to make sure his death is accomplished. This is a touching tale of honour, the passing of time and pathos, with again some twists to what otherwise would seem a straightforward tale.
The final entry is City of the Forgotten Kings by H. E. Johnston, and to me a more traditional swords and sorcery yarn than the others, in which two thieves, hearing of a great treasure, head for the feared realm of the City of the Forgotten Kings, whose ruins teem with the ghosts of its long-dead past inhabitants. The main protagonists are the worldly-wise female warrior Tanet, deadly at swordplay, and her companion, Ghede of Zabal, “a small man with a wiry frame and a grin that held more secrets than mirth…” Tales about looters of lost cities are always entertaining, the more dangerous the environment the better – and few come more dangerous than the City of the Forgotten Kings!
So, again three highly entertaining stories, all well-written, with inventive plots and colourful settings and convincing characters.
David A. Riley
November 26, 2022
Our new chapbook: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead now available in print as well as kindle
After several expressions of interest in a print version of our new e-chapbook A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead we have now published it in softcover, priced at just £5.00. If this experiment in chapbooks proves popular enough we intend to publish more in the future by other authors.
All four stories in this collection cover a wide range of tropes within the zombie genre.
Dead Ronnie and I is a tale of high adventure by plane and sea, with an abortive escape by our protagonist to the as yet untainted Isles of Scotland. This was originally published in Sanitarium Magazine No 44 in 2016.
His Pale Blue Eyes is probably the most traditional take of zombie stories today, featuring a young girl’s determined search for her parents during a zombie apocalypse. It’s a story, though, about conditioning and how what someone is taught can radically affect their behaviour. Is the horror in this the shambling undead or the girl herself? See what you think. This first appeared in Bite-Sized Horror edited by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books in 2011.
By contrast Right For You Now, originally published in Weirdbook Zombie Annual No 3 in 2021, harks back to the original concept of the zombie in Voodoo-haunted Haiti, though this tale is set in present-day Britain. It’s a combination of a crime story, revenge, and a man’s obsessive fascination with age-old practices.
Our final tale, Romero’s Children, is more in the way of a science fiction story. The zombies here are certainly the most different. For a start off they are not dead but have been granted near immortality by a drug that swept the world with its promise to stop aging. Alas for those caught up in the frenzied demand to use it, though, its side effects were such that they would have been better off dead. This story appeared in 2010 in The Seventh Black Book of Horror edited by the late Charles Black and was subsequently picked up by American editor Paula Guran for her 2012 anthology Extreme Zombies.
I would like to thank my friend Jim Pitts who has kindly allowed me to use his illustrations both for the covers and for the interior.
November 20, 2022
New e-chapbook available from PUP: A Handful of Zombies
At PUP we are experimentng with a new line in cheap e-chapbooks, which will be available online for £1.99 each..The first is now available, with a cover and interior illustrations by Jim Pitts. Called A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead e-chapbook number 1 includes four stories by David A. Riley: Dead Ronnie and I, His Pale Blue Eyes, Right For You Now, and Romero's Children. amazon.co.uk £1.99
amazon.com $2.99
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 now available in paperback and kindle
Cover: Jim Pitts
I am pleased to announce that Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5, presented by Jim Pitts and me, is now available as a paperback and kindle e-book.
The contents are:
The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich
Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott
For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni
People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez
Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng
The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz
Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald
The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow
Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish
Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal
Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole
Of the eleven writers included this time, five hail from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, one from The Netherlands and one from Argentina.
This is our biggest volume so far, with over 300 pages, though the price has stayed the same.
October 31, 2022
The latest issue of Lovecraftian: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror
I received the latest issue of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldtrich Horror today, appropriately enough Halloween.This issue includes my 12,000 word story The Psychic Investigator, which is set in my fictitious Grudge End.
October 16, 2022
My story The Psychic Investigator is in the next issue of Lovecraftiana Magazine
I am pleased to see that my story The Psychic Investigator will be in the next issue of Lovecraftiana Magazine (Halloween 2022).I have had a number of stories in the Lovecraftiana Magazine but these have always, till now, been reprints. This is the first brand-new story I have purposefully written for the magazine to appear in it.
Though the title might not sound Lovecraftian, believe me it is. It is also set in one of my favourite fictitious places: Grudge End.
October 6, 2022
Inside Man
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We watched all four episodes of
Inside Man
last night after having read so many glowing reports about it. I must admit to having mixed views about it. The parts set in the United States, especially with both Stanley Tucci and Askins Estimond were great - fascinating and amusing - and very well written and acted. The two characters are so different they make an engrossing double act. But the English scenes with David Tennant were often irritating and downright daft. Normally I like Tennant's acting but in this he seemed over the top, irrational and the set up for the storyline in which he is involved seemed unrealistically contrived and unbelievable. As for his son - the less said the better.Although I would have given all of the US scenes 5 out of 5, I could only offer a rather grudging two for the rest. If there is a second season and it is predominantly about the two Americans on Death Row I would look forward to watching it. But, please, no more "Sexy Vicar"!
September 30, 2022
Submissions open for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 at midnight tonight
Submissions open for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 at midnight tonight until midnight on the 31st October.
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Payment is £25 per story regardless of length plus one contributor's copy of the paperback. The book will be published as a paperback and ebook. If a hardcover version is published we will pay an additional £25. Please send your submissions as attachments (doc or docx) headed "Submission - Swords & Sorceries 5" to:
paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
You can send in more than one submission, but we will not accept more than one story per writer. Please only send one story at a time.
Although we prefer original stories we are prepared to consider reprints. Just let us know where and when it was previously published.
You can send in simultaneous submissions, but let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere as soon as you can.
There is no limit on the size of submissions.
There is no need to tell me anything about yourself because the only thing that matters is the story.
All rejections and acceptances will be sent out by email by the end of the first week in November. Please don't enquire about your submission before then.
And good luck!
In the past we have received a number of stories that may be fantasy but are not swords and sorcery. If you are unsure what the swords and sorcery genre is, why not get a better idea by checking out volumes 1 - 4:
Also check our dedicated facebook group: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy 
THE MIRROR OF TORJAN SUL - Steve LinesTHE HORROR FROM THE STARS - Steve DilksTROLLS ARE DIFFERENT - Susan Murrie MacdonaldCHAIN OF COMMAND - Geoff HartDISRUPTION OF DESTINY - Gerri LeenTHE CITY OF SILENCE - Eric Ian SteeleRED - Chadwick GintherTHE RECONSTRUCTED GOD - Adrian ColeThe cover and all the interior artwork is by Jim Pitts. amazon.co.uk
The contents of Volume 2 are:
The Essence of Dust by Mike Chinn
Highjacking the Lord of Light by Tais Teng
Out in the Wildlands by Martin Owton
Zale and Zedril by Susan Murrie Macdonald
The Amulet and the Shadow by Steve Dilks
Antediluvia: Seasons of the World by Andrew Darlington
A Thousand Words for Death by Pedro Iniguez
Stone Snake by Dev Agarwal
Seven Thrones by Phil Emery
The Eater of Gods by Adrian Cole
Illustrations by Jim Pitts.
The contents of Volume 3 are: Sorcerous Vengeance by Lorenzo D. Lopez Seal Snatchers of Jorsaleem by Tais Teng When the Gods Send You Rats by Chadwick Ginther Mother's Bones by Carson Ray In the Lair of the Snake-Witch by Darin Hlavaz The Rains of Barofonn by Mike Chinn Wardark by Craig Herbertson The Foliage by Rab Foster In the Lair of the Moonmen by Jon Hansen Sailing on the Thieves' Tide by Adrian Cole Illustrations by Jim Pitts.
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 contains eleven tales:
In the Iron Woods by Dev Agarwal
My People Were Fair and Wore Stars in Their Hair by Andrew Darlington
At Sea by Geoff Hart
The Flesh of Man by Frank Sawielijew
City at the Mouth of Chaos by Adrian Cole
In the Belly of the Beast by Edward Ahern
The Tracks of the Pi Nereske by Wendy Nikel
Slaves of the Monolith by Paul D. Batteiger
The Green Wood by David Dubrow
Demonic by Phil Emery
The Whips of Malmac by H. R. Laurence
