David A. Riley's Blog, page 44

Competition re The Return - Name the owner of this gun

In my Lovecraftian crime noir novel The Return one character regularly uses a Beretta .22 pistol, favoured by the Mossad.

Name which character this is and the first three winners will receive a copy of any Parallel Universe paperback (or ebook, if they prefer) of their choice.

Email your entries to davidariley@gmx.co.uk , heading the subject line "The Return Contest".

Good luck!

Published by Blood Bound Books

CBGB

It's always great when you come across something you have never heard about before and find it's amazingly good. This happened last night when I came across the movie CBGB , starring Alan Rickman as Hilly Crystal, the clubowner and music entrepeneur who seemingly almost single-handedly helped to create the Punk Rock phenomena.

Rickman, as always, was a joy to watch, with his layed back charismatic performance. I must admit to knowing virtually nothing about the events portrayed in this movie, other than the names of the more well-known groups and performers who benefitted from Crystal's club CBGB, which stood for Country, Bluegrass and Blues, which he mistakenly thought would be the next big thing in music.

Needing groups who would perform for virtually nothing, though, his club, situated in a grim downtown area of New York, becomes a mecca for the new wave of Punk musicians who soon become world famous, including Iggy Pop, The Police, Blondie, The Ramones, the Dead Boys and countless others.

An excellent film, which I wholeheartedly recommend. Currently available on amazon prime.

New PUP advert in Phantasmagoria Magazine

Trevor Kennedy is very kindly publishing the following advert for Parallel Universe Publications in the next issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine.

Hidden Wyndham - a biography of John Wyndham by Amy Binns

Looking forward to this biography of John Wyndham being published next month. I know far too little about him, apart from the fact he was one of Britain's best science fiction writers and I enjoyed reading his books - still do, in fact, though it's re-reading now!

Two more Jim Pitts full-colour prints

We have just added two more of Jim's wonderful artwork to the list of prints available from us.

Click here to see all the prints that are now available.


Print 41 
SHADMOCKS AND SHIVERS: New tales inspired by the stories of R.Chetwynd-Hayes 2019
Print 42 
SOME THINGS MAY BE: Collected writings by James Wade. 2017

New Jim Pitts prints and a great deal from Parallel Universe Publications

Parallel Universe Publications has added some exciting new illustrations to the list of Jim Pitts prints that are available from us, plus they are now post free.
 
Each print is on high quality A4 paper, approved and signed by the artist before being sealed for protection inside a plastic envelope.

Colour prints are £7.00 each including p&p

Black & white prints are £5.00 each including p&p

Any orders for 5 or more prints, whether black and white, colour, or mixed qualify for a 20% discount.

To order please email paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk or davidariley@gmx.co.uk, listing which prints you would like, plus your address. You will then be emailed a Paypal invoice.


Jim Pitts is an award-winning artist (two-times winner of the prestigious British Fantasy Award, plus Science Fiction's Ken McIntyre Award), whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and books, both professional and small press.



Jim Pitts holding his two British Fantasy Awards
Jim Pitts holding a copy of his book, The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts
Now you have the opportunity to own individually signed prints of some of Jim's best work, in black and white and in full-colour.
THE PRINTS
Print 01
Cover for Worlds of the Unknown #1
Spectre Press Print 02
Cover of Dark Horizons #15, 1976 edited by Stephen Jones
British Fantasy Society
Print 03
"Mr October"

Print 04
Inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories
Print 05
Front cover of Cthulhu: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
Spectre Press 2018

Print 06
Tsathoggua - Clark Ashton Smith's
contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos
Print 07
Illustration for Adrian Cole's Steaming into Wonderland
published in Worlds of the Unknown #5, Spectre Press



Print 24    H. P. Lovecraft's The Moon Bog










































Print 08
From The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard
The Hyborian Gazette #1
Print 09
Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft

Print 10
Illustration for The Furies from Boras by Anders Fager
in Cthulhu #8 (front cover)
Print 11
Cover for Cthulhu #7, Spectre Press
Print 12
Illustration for Climbing Those Stairs by David Ieuan
in Worlds of the Unknown #1, Spectre Press
Print 13
Illustration for Baptism of  Fire by Andrew Darlington
in Cthulhu #5
Print 14
Illustration for Game of Nine Pinns by Don Webb
in Cthulhu #7
Print 15
Cthulhu
Print 16
Illustration for Brian Lumley's The Changeling
in Earth, Air, Fire & Water, Fedogan & Bremer
Print 17
Illustration for Brian Lumley's The Gathering
in Earth, Air, Fire & Water, Fedogan & Bremer
Print 18
"Angel" inspired by the Charlie Parker novels
of John Connolly Print 19
M. R. James' The Scrapbook of Canon Alberic
Print 20
M. R. James' The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral

Print 21
M. R. James' Count Magnus
Print 22
M. R. James' Lost Hearts
Print 23
Writer's Cramp by David A. Riley, Northern Chills


Print 25  Hans Bok's Beyond the Golden Stair (The Blue Flamingo) Print 26  Hans Bok's The Blue Flamingo



















Print 27  The Benevolence of Yib by Lin Carter Print 28  R. Chetwynd-Hayes Looking for Something to Suck





















Print 29  R. Chetwynd-Hayes  Looking for Something to Suck Print 30 Robert E. Howard's The Black Stone




















Print 31  H. P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space
Print 32  Halloween 2019




















Print 33 A Trick, or a Treat? Print 34  The Waking Dead




















Print 35 H. P. Lovecraft's The Cats of Ulthar
Print 36  Bats













Print 37  Pumpkin Scarecrow Print 38 Female Zombie
Print 39 Zombie Head Print 40 Hi, Pardner. It's been awhile

Carnival Row

Early days yet, but this series, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, looks promising. The storyline is original, complex, intriguing - and the set designs and special effects superb, creating an amazingly atmospheric Victorian steam-punk setting, complete with fey and other mythical creatures, including centaurs and trolls, living in a semi-industrial, very dark human city, with overhead rail lines and huge Gothic buildings that reach up to a forbiddingly cloudy sky - not to mention the seething slums!

My only doubts at the moment are over a lack of empathy on my part with the main characters, who have yet, after three episodes, to completely engage with me. Perhaps because there are too many unpleasant characters and those that aren't are not exactly sympathetic. Hopefully, this will change as the story progresses. There is a lot going on - and a lot of mysteries about the whole place yet to be shown to us. One thing is for sure, there are some nasty twists and turns yet to come!

Carnival Row is available to watch on amazon prime.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Village

Watched M. Night Shyamalan's The Village last night for the first time. What a long, boring film this was. Well acted, with some first-rate sets, but the story was far too thin to sustain a full-length movie. As an episode of something like The Twilight Zone it would probably have been memorable. Instead it will be memorable to me for 100 minutes of tedium. Shame, because the "creature" outfits were genuinely imaginative and scary.

Ebay sale: Their Cramped Dark World & Other Tales by David A. Riley (signed)

The stories included in this collection are:
Hoody (first published in When Graveyards Yawn, Crowswing Books, 2006)
A Bottle of Spirits (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 2, 1972)
No Sense in Being Hungry, She Thought (first published in Peeping Tom #20, 1996)
Now and Forever More (first published in The Second Black Book of Horror, 2008)
Romero's Children (first published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror, 2010)
Swan Song (first published in the Ninth Black Book of Horror, 2012)
The Farmhouse (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 1, 1971)
The Last Coach Trip (first published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror, 2011)
The Satyr's Head (first published in The Satyr's Head & Other Tales of Terror, 1975)
Their Cramped Dark World (first published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror, 2010)
Cover Art: Luke Spooner
Signed on the title page by the author

Five-star review for my horror novel The Return on Barnes & Noble

I don't often check my books for sale on Barnes & Noble, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this 5-star review of my Lovecraftian novel The Return:
"A gritty noir novel that combines the best elements of crime fiction with genuinely frightening Lovecraftian horror."