David A. Riley's Blog, page 81

A Sample Chapter from Goblin Mire

A sample chapter from Goblin Mire:



Dark shapes moved through the gloom.            Goblin soldiers muttered, uneasy at the vile smells that wafted towards them as the Corrupted One gathered the goblin captains to the rear of his wagon. Crudely built from massive lengths of timber, its solid wheels had sunk into the muddy ground as it was dragged here days ago, drawn by manacled teams of slaves: maimed ogres, tortured into submission decades ago for work in the mire. Their sightless faces twitched as they crouched in their chains at the front of the wagon, squatting in their own filth like huge maggots.            Torches burned from sconces fixed to poles in the ground as the goblin leaders watched the Corrupted One work. As he dragged out bodies from the depths of his wagon he laid them across the ground, muttering to himself a high-pitched litany.            Standing with the rest of the Grand Council, Mickle Gorestab scowled as the air grew cold about him, knowing that this was sorcery of the darkest sort. Beside him, Ograff Bludrip shuffled his feet, his large hands gripping the hilt of his sword for reassurance. Ghosts of the dead elves lying before them seemed to whisper in their ears, while phantom fingers, as cold as ice, plucked at their arms. Mickle's eyes darted from side to side but he could see nothing, though their armed escort, watching from beyond the torchlight, seemed even further away than before. Mickle grunted, knowing they probably were.            "I wish we had never needed his help," Ograff murmured, his large face sick with nausea.            Mickle swallowed, though his throat felt dry as he steeled himself as firmly as he could against his fears. Vile though it was, they needed the Corrupted One's help. Without it they would never get past the city’s walls. And he knew - oh, he knew, with a twitching of his hands - that the burning of Cyramon and the wholesale slaughter of its pestilential citizens would be worth all of this.            The air seemed to thicken, congealing about them. Mickle stared through the flickering, unreal gloom towards the elf. The bodies he had gathered from the slain lay at his feet as he raised his face and glared at the stars - at the harsh stars that burned intensely in the sky. He shrieked suddenly. Mickle involuntarily clamped his hands to his ears in a vain attempt to seal the awful, blood-chilling sound of the Corrupted One's cries from his head. The bodies before him seemed to glow, seemed to spread before his eyes, their outlines shifting and growing softer as if somehow they were starting to melt.            Fascinated despite the nausea that made him want to be sick, Mickle stared as the elves were transformed from solidity to a liquid, then into a shimmering translucent gas like feeble, enthralled ghosts before the Corrupted One's arms. The shrieking ended and Adragor, exhausted, slumped to his knees, his head bowed onto his chest. As he fell, so the ghosts of the elves dispersed, floating and fading towards the goblins, who flinched away from them, dazed as the shapes disappeared inside them.            Mickle removed his hands from his ears. It was then that he noticed the change that was taking place in his body - how his fingers were becoming paler and thinner and... elf-like!            Startled, he turned to Ograff, the shock of what he saw, as his eyes bulged with disbelieving horror, paralyzing his throat.
trade paperback:

Amazon.co.uk  £9.50
Amazon.com   $13.30

ebook: 

Amazon.co.uk £2.97
Amazon.com $4.50

Parallel Universe Publications

Originally created to publish our science fiction/fantasy magazine, Beyond, in 1995, our imprint, Parallel Universe Publications, lay dormant for many years till it was revived in 2012 to publish Craig Herbertson's hardcover story collection The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales. It was only then that we, Linden and I, discussed the possibility of publishing further books at some time in the near future. We have now published three more books in the past few months: Black Ceremonies by Charles Black, a reprint (for the first time in actual print as opposed to an ebook) of my fantasy novel Goblin Mire, and a trade paperback version of Craig's hardcover short story collection.

In the coming months we have other books planned, including an anthology, Kitchen Sink Gothic.

A Big Thank You to Joe Young

I would like to give a big thank you to Joe Young, without whom I would not have considered republishing Goblin Mire.

After my one and only fantasy novel was originally published by Renaissance eBooks several years ago, I was so discouraged with the appallingly bad cover they slapped on it and by the total lack of help I got from them in promoting the book, I took it off the market as soon as my contract with them allowed. There the novel would have stayed until, out of the blue, Joe Young contacted me. On his own initiative, equally appalled by the original cover, he had designed a new one. His encouragement led me to rewriting the novel, shedding 8 or 9 thousand words and, finally, getting it published again as a trade paperback and ebook with Joe's wraparound cover.

Thanks, Joe. However well (or not) the book does, I am glad that it's properly available again - and this time with the kind of cover I hope it deserves!

Goblin Mire now available on kindle

My fantasy novel, Goblin Mire, is now available on kindle:

Amazon.co.uk £2.97

Amazon.com $4.50

Goblin Mire published by Parallel Universe Publications

Cover Art: Joe Young
Goblin Mire was originally published by Renaissance E-books. I was not very happy with how the book was promoted nor with the appalling cover the publisher gave it, which resulted with me ending my contract with them as soon as I could.

Goblin Mire is now available in trade paperback, published by Parallel Universe Publications. 318 pages long, it is £9.50 in the UK and $13.30 in the US.  European copes are 12. Euros. There is also be a kindle version.

Amazon.co.uk  £9.50

Amazon.com   $13.30


Reviewers can receive copies of this book either by contacting Parallel Universe Publications on Facebook or emailing rileybooks@ntlworld.com.

"Many years have passed since Elves defeated and killed the last Goblin king. Now the Goblins are growing stronger in their mire, and Mickle Gorestab, one of the few remaining veterans of that war, is determined they will fight once more, this time aided by a renegade Elf who has delved into forbidden sorcery and hates his kind even more than his Goblin allies. Murder, treachery and the darkest of all magics follow in a maelstrom of blood, violence and unexpected alliances. Facing up to the cold cruelty of the Elves, Mickle Gorestab stands out as the epitome of grim, barbaric heroism, determined to see the wrongs of his race avenged and a restoration of the Goblin King."

Vault of Evil reviews Charles Black's Black Ceremonies

There's a detailed review of Charles Black's short story collection, Black Ceremonies, on the Vault of Evil website:

 Charles Black - Black Ceremonies (Parallel Universe Publications, Jan. 2015)




Paul Mudie

The Obsession of Percival Cairstairs
Call of the Damned
The Revelations of Dr Maitland
Tourist Trap
Face to Face
The Coughing Coffin
The Madness Out of the Sea
Death on the Line
The Necronomicon
A Bit Tasty
A Fistful of Vengeance

Blurb:
Those that participate in the thirteen strange dark rites that comprise Black Ceremonies find themselves at the mercy of sinister forces.

Make an invocation to evil.
Witness the horrors of war.
Hear the sound of death.
Feel the hand of vengeance as it reaches out from the grave.

Are you ready to join the doomed and the damned?

“When it comes to dark and twisted tales, they don’t come much darker and more twisted than this. If you have a taste for the macabre, you really will be biting off as much as you can chew with this exciting debut collection from renowned editor and creator of the Black Books of Horror, Charles Black.” - Anna Taborska, author of For Those Who Dream Monsters

‘Charlie’s yarns are very entertaining.” Johnny Mains, editor of Best British Horror

Was going to wait a few weeks until I've a hard copy to read from, but could no longer resist a rematch with some old friends. Charles' stories are peopled by book-collectors, sadists, loners, frequenters of gentlemen's clubs and the most breathtakingly ill-equipped dabblers in the Black Arts. As gadfly-about-town turned cadaverous tramp Percival Carstairs confesses on his way to the madhouse. “I have meddled with things I do not understand and done things that no sane man would contemplate doing.”

The Revelations of Dr. Maitland: Begins like it means Lovecraftian business (it even references M. Pickman), but we are a very long way from the Cthulhu Mythos. It is 1972, and Dr. Andrew Maitland is experimenting with the powerful drug, Liao. Maitland is quick to reassure an outraged business associate that he's not dropped out, nor has he any intention of leaving Barbara for a hippy chick. Liao is no hallucinogenic, but a portal offering access to one's past and future lives. Maitland has recently witnessed the horrors of the trenches via the eyes of a young conscript, Private George Prendergast, and must share his knowledge or lose his sanity!

The Coughing Coffin: A curious episode in the life of Major Guthrie who interrupts his hunting and shooting vacation to pay a visit a detested old regimental colleague, Hadingly-Scott, at Morstan House. Sadly, the old rotter passed away the previous year following an ill-starred African jaunt, during the course of which he upset a powerful witchdoctor. When Guthrie hears a coughing in the vault, he suspects either foul play on the part of Hadingly-Scott's heir, or worse, premature burial ....

Tourist Trap: Amiable American tourist Joe Buchowski is getting on just fine with the friendly country folk of Hexhill village - until he innocently lets slip to the Reverend Dobson that his ancestors are reputedly buried in the local churchyard ....

Read more: http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/5915/charles-black-ceremonies#ixzz3OwNXRKPh

Great quotes from Anna Taborska and Johnny Mains on Charles Black's Black Ceremonies

Great quotes from Anna Taborska and Johnny Mains on Charles Black's Black Ceremonies :

A Great Family Night Out at the Oyster and Otter

A great family night out at the Oyster and Otter.  

Black Ceremonies by Charles Black now available

Charles Black's short story collection from Parallel Universe Publications, Black Ceremonies, is now available on Amazon.co.uk (price £6.99) and on Amazon.com (price $10.45).

After today's events in Paris...