David A. Riley's Blog, page 6

Welgar the Cursed

I've been informed by my publisher Lyndon Perry of Tule Fog Press that my collection Welgar the Cursed should be available to order as a paperback soon. More details as and when they're available.

My sword and sorcery tale The God in the Keep reprinted in February issue of Schlock! Webzine

My sword and sorcery tale The God in the Keep was reprinted in this month's issue of Schlock! Webzine . This was first published in Sword and Sorcery Magazine in 2021. But although it's a reprint this is actually the first time this tale has appeared in print as Sword and Sorcery Magazine is only an online publication.

Nadrain the Storyteller

One of my recurring sword and sorcery characters is Nadrain the Storyteller, who sometimes narrates his own adventures (which he hates having) and of people he meets, which enable me to write in the first person for a change.

Nadrain's own adventures feature in The Storyteller of Koss (Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1, 2022 and Schlock! Webzine, October, 2024) and in The Dark Priestdom (Savage Realms Monthly #19, 2023 and in the next few weeks in the collection Welgar the Cursed, Tule Fog Press). Additionally, he has retold the tales of the unfortunate snake charmer from In the Temple of the Snake (Crimson Quill Quarterly #3, 2024) and of the artist Essayan in Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War (Crimson Quill Quarterly #5, 2025). I have also used quotes from him at the start of several stories involving Welgar so as to set the scene and provide a few background details. 




 

Crimson Quill Quarterly #5 now available as a paperback and ebook

My sword and sorcery tale, Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War, is in the latest issue of Crimson Quill Quarterly, which is available as a paperback and ebook.

amazon.co.uk 

amazon.com

 

Map of Welgar's World - the Lands around the Azure Sea

Map created by Aaron Rakuu

Lyndon Perry of Tule Fog Press, who is publishing my collection of sword and sorcery stories, Welgar the Cursed in a few weeks time, sent me copies of the maps, one of which will be included in my collection.

Stories included in the collection are:

Ossani the Healer and The Beautiful Homunculus

The Dark Priestdom (first published in Savage Realms Monthly #19, 2023)

Welgar the Cursed (first pubished in Swords & Heroes, 2023)

Mask of a Mad God

The Forbidden City of Cyramon (first published in Swords & Heroes One Story at a Time, 2024)

Emerging from Their Twilit Realms 

Artwork by Rizky Nugraha

New sword and sorcery story accepted - Ammanada to be in the November issue of Schlock! Webzine

I have just learned today that my sword and sorcery tale, Ammanada, will be in the November issue of Schlock! Webzine. 

Here's an update on my new sword and sorcery stories lined up for publication this year:

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War (Crimson Quill Quarterly #5)

Lies and Treachery (Crimson Quill Quarterly #6 and #7)

The Moneylender of Oriaska (Swords & Heroes online and Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Ossani's Apprentice (Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Mask of a Mad God (Welgar the Cursed)

Emerging from Their Twilit Realms (Welgar the Cursed)

Ammanada (Schlock! Webzine November issue)

My early horror story The Farmhouse is to be reprinted in the October issue of Schlock! Webzine

The Farmhouse was first published in 1971 in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural, edited by David A. Sutton for Sphere Books, then was subsequently reprinted in David Stuart Schiff's Whispers #4, and the following year in First World Fantasy Awards edited by Gahan Wilson for Doubleday. 

It will now be reprinted in Gavin Chappell's Schlock! Webzine in October. 

 

Two more sword and sorcery tales accepted for publication

I have just received word that two more of my sword and sorcery tales have been accepted for publication this year.

The stories are The Moneylender of Oriaska and Ossani's Apprentice. My almost tame sorcerer-cum-apothecary, Ossani and his girl apprentice appear in both tales. The Moneylender of Oriaska will be published online first (probably in April) then both will be included in the print and ebook anthology Swords & Heroes 2 during the summer. 

That makes the total of new sword and sorcery stories to be published this year as follows:

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War (Crimson Quill Quarterly #5)

Lies and Treachery (Crimson Quill Quarterly #6 and #7)

The Moneylender of Oriaska (Swords & Heroes online and Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Ossani's Apprentice (Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Mask of a Mad God (Welgar the Cursed)

Emerging from Their Twilit Realms (Welgar the Cursed)

 

Plus these reprints:

Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus (Welgar the Cursed)

The Dark Priestdom (Welgar the Cursed)

Welgar the Cursed (Welgar the Cursed)

The Forbidden City of Cyramon (Welgar the Cursed)

The God in the Keep (Schlock! Webzine August issue) 

New stories to be published in 2025

Yesterday I posted about the new stories of mine to be published in 2025 but I forgot about those that will appear in my collection Welgar the Cursed, to be published as a paperback and ebook by Tule Fog Press. This will include six stories:

Ossani the Healer and The Beautiful Homunculus

The Dark Priestdom (first published in Savage Realms Monthly #19, 2023)

Welgar the Cursed (first pubished in Swords & Heroes, 2023)

Mask of a Mad God

The Forbidden City of Cyramon (first published in Swords & Heroes One Story at a Time, 2024)

Emerging from Their Twilit Realms 

 

 

 

 

My other new stories will be: 

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War in Crimson Quill Quarterly #5. This is a sword and sorcery story, which includes a recurring character of mine, Nadrain the Storyteller, who narrates the tale of the great artist Essayan when he branched out into designing "machineries of war" and of the terrible fate that befell him.

Visit Fungosia in 4Star Stories #30 is a humorous science fiction tale.

Lies and Treachery is to be serialised in two parts later in the year. This is a sword and sorcery tale involving three recurring characters Horbeck, Brud and Asner, who first appeared in The Demon from Another World (Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium). I have written a number of other tales about them in the last couple of months which have yet to be placed.

First new stories to be published in 2025: Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War and Visit Fungosia

It now looks like the first new stories of mine to be published in the New Year will be a dark fantasy called Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War in Crimson Quill Quarterly #5 and a humorous science fiction yarn I wrote a few years back called Visit Fungosia, which will be in 4Star Stories #30. 

I do already have a third story lined up to be serialised in two parts later in the year, Lies and Treachery, which is a sword and sorcery tale involving three recurring characters Horbeck, Brud and Asner, who first appeared in The Demon from Another World (Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium).

My only other story so far scheduled for 2025 is a reprint of one that originally appeared in the online Sword & Sorcery Magazine in 2021. This is a tale called The God in the Keep and will be in the August issue of Schlock! Webzine.