David A. Riley's Blog, page 9

The Complete World of Horror Volume 2 from Confessions Press

https://www.facebook.com/100002067187340/videos/567020006014845/ 

I received my copy of The Complete World of Horror Volume 2 today from Confessions Press, which includes a facsimile of my early horror story Terror on the Moors, illustrated by Jim Pitts from issue 6 of that magazine in 1975.

New sword and sorcery story finished - The Mummified Demi-God

One week after I finished my last sword and sorcery story involving Horbeck and his mercenary comrades, Brud and Asnar, I have now completed another involving their misadventures: The Mummified Demi-God.

This makes four stories in which Horbeck appears: The Unhappy Inquisitor, The Demon from Another World, Lies and Treachery, and now The Mummified Demi-God. Of these only The Demon from Another World is scheduled to be published at the moment. It will appear later this month in Anthology of the Damned, Necromoirrium from Treeshaker Books.

From its opening paragraphs:

The three mercenaries rode leisurely down the winding, hard-packedroad, their camels and packhorses burdened with sacks of gold, payment from aparticularly rewarding job. Despite their nonchalant appearance, though, allthree kept their eyes alert on the surrounding woodlands, bushes and small hillocks,wary of bandits.

Their erstwhile leader, Horbeck, was a huge northernerwith a sun-bleached beard and long, dust-filled hair, his rugged chainmail onlypartially covered by what remained of his leather jerkin, scored so often itwas all but rags. His fellow northerner, Brud, was slightly shorter but no lessrobust in appearance, a well-used battleaxe hanging from the saddle of hiscamel from which, in the north, he would have hung the heads of his enemies, a habithe had been persuaded to forgo in the civilised south. The only non-northernerin this trio was Asnar, a black-bearded Josanian archer. Like his comrades, hisclothes had seen better days. His lacquered leather breastplate had all butlost whatever colouring was scrolled across it when he first set out as amercenary years ago. Over one shoulder hung an unstrung bow of surpassing powerand accuracy, though he also had a scimitar sheathed across his back in a gaudyscabbard. All normally wore steel helmets, plain, serviceable and much dented;these now hung from straps beside them as the sun beat down on their heads. Twowore straw hats to keep it off. Asnar preferred a felt cap.

In the distance they glimpsed the gleaming towers of alarge city, though none of them knew its name, having lost track of where theywere many months ago when they were pursued across the Great Desert by theirenemies.

Welgar the Cursed - cover reveal

Cover artwork by Rizky NugrahaIt is with great pleasure I can reveal the front cover for my collection of Welgar stories: Welgar the Cursed, which will be published later this year.

As an appetiser I am including below the Introduction I have written for it. 

The book will be published in the States by Tule Fog Press. 

INTRODUCTION

 The six stories inthis collection chronicle the gradual descent into darkness of the northernbarbarian mercenary hero Welgar.

“Ossani the Healerand the Beautiful Homunculus" was the first story I wrote involvingWelgar, though he is very much a secondary character in this tale after the ratherbizarre sorcerer-cum-apothecary Ossani the Healer. In this novelette Welgar isa young mercenary, already distrustful of sorcery, who becomes embroiledagainst his will in thwarting an attempt to take over the city he has beenemployed to protect as a member of the city watch. By sheer chance he andOssani meet in a prison where they and others have been incarcerated by apuritanical religious movement that is threatening to tear the city apart.Though disliking anything that even hints of sorcery he is gradually persuadedto see Ossani in a better light than others of his ilk and together theycollaborate to save the city from the sinister plot to bring it down.

"The DarkPriestdom" (published in Savage Realms Monthly) sees an older, moremature Welgar who has moved northwards to the “wealthy but licentious” city ofOriaska in a bid to improve his fortunes. There he pitches in to help Nadrainthe Storyteller, who he notices is being set up to take the blame for theabduction of the king of Oriaska's daughter, though there is an element of selfinterest in this, as Welgar sees it as an opportunity to gain the king'sgratitude for helping save the princess. In pursuit of her abductors Welgar andNadrain sail southwards to the benighted city of Agrypt where Welgar is trickedinto being possessed by the spirit of a dark, Agryptian demon god. Althoughthis demon god endows him with increased strength, speed and stamina it is atthe expense of his appearance, which is transformed into a wizened, bleached,deathlike travesty, looking more like a corpse than a living being.

"Welgar theCursed" (published in Swords & Heroes) sees Welgar realisinghow truly cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy,but in the extreme bouts of insane violence the demon god that has possessedhim makes him perform. Insatiable in its appetite for slaughter, there islittle Welgar can do to prevent it.

An incident in "Maskof a Mad God" reveals to Welgar even more vividly how evil this curse trulyis. The horrific events in this story are what lead Welgar to undertake thehazardous trek to the far north to "The Forbidden City of Cyramon"(published in Swords & Heroes). In the arctic wastes beyond theJagged Mountains in which this demon-haunted city is situated he hopes eitherto be killed or to free himself from his curse, though what he encounters thereis far from what he expects.  

The final story,"Emerging from Their Twilit Realms", reveals the full extent ofAgrypt's insane ambitions to create a dark empire, which will cause ruin,mayhem and death around the Azure Sea. Despite his desire to lead a normal lifeonce more, Welgar is forced to oppose the Agryptian forces that head north in away that only he can manage, reuniting him once more with Ossani the Healer inan apocalyptic tale of terror, death and destruction.

All of thesestories chronologically detail Welgar's transformation from a carefreemercenary more interested in the quality of the local beer to an obsessed andcursed pawn in the kinds of sorcerous machinations he hates, distrusts and quiterightfully fears.

David A. Riley, Oswaldtwistle,UK, 2024

Welgar the Cursed

Illustration by Rizky Nugraha
Publication of my collection of Welgar stories is getting closer, with drafts of the cover and its artwork already in the pipeline.The collection includes six stories in chronological order. The first, "Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" sees Welgar as a young mercenary, already distrustful of sorcery, who becomes embroiled against his will in thwarting an attempt to take over the city he has been employed to protect as a member of the city watch. "The Dark Priestdom" (published in Savage Realms Monthly) sees a slightly older, more mature Welgar pitch in to help Nadrain the Storyteller, who is being set up to take the blame for the abduction of the king of Oriaska's daughter, though there is an element of self interest in this, as Welgar sees it as an opportunity to gain the king's gratitude for helping to save the princess. Welgar and Nadrain sail to the benighted city of Agrypt where Welgar unwittingly earns the nickname of Welgar the Cursed when he is possessed by the spirit of a dark, Agryptian demon god. "Welgar the Cursed" (published in Swords & Heroes) sees Welgar realising for the first time how truly cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy, but in the occasional violence the demon god that has possessed him will make him perform. "Mask of a Mad God" reveals even more to Welgar how truly evil this curse is, and leads to "The Forbidden City of Cyramon" (published in Swords & Heroes) where Welgar travels to the arctic north in a desperate bid to rid himself of his curse. The final story, "Emerging from Their Twilit Realms", reveals the full extent of Agrypt's insane ambitions to create a dark empire, which Welgar is forced to oppose. The stories detail Welgar's transformation from a carefree mercenary more interested in the quality of the local beer to an obsessed and cursed pawn in machinations he hates and distrusts. The illustration above is from Swords & Heroes by Rizky Nugraha.

Update on my collection of Welgar stories: Welgar the Cursed

Image of Welgar used in Swords & Heroes

 

Work is progressing on a collection of my Welgar stories, Welgar the Cursed. My publisher recently sent me some first drafts of the cover artwork for my approval.

Hopefully the book will be available soon.  The collection features six stories which detail the ongoing problems that my mercenary character has to endure, opening with Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus. This is followed by The Dark Priestdom, Welgar the Cursed, Mask of a Mad God, The Forbidden City of Cyramon and, finally, Emerging from Their Twilit Realms.

Another sword and sorcery tale finished

 

Just finished what I hope are the final touches to a new sword and sorcery tale, tentatively titled Lies and Treachery.

It's quite a long story (11,100 words) and is my third involving a northern mercenary called Horbeck. He first appears in an as yet unpublished tale called The Unhappy Inquisitor, in which he is a secondary character. The second is in The Demon from Another World, in which this time he is the main character. This is to be published at the end of October in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium from Treeshaker Books. 

From the opening paragraph of Lies and Treachery:

"It was less than a day since thefour mercenaries on their stolen camels reached the end of the Great Desert.Scorched by the sun, they were a desperate-looking band of men. Horbeck, theirerstwhile leader, was a huge Northerner, fully a head taller than any of theothers, his plaited beard and long hair bleached almost white and filled withdust. The scarred mail beneath his leather jerkin showed through rents in thebadly worn garment. Like all the others he wore a plain, much dented steelhelmet. The other northerner, Brud, was slightly shorter but built to the samehardy proportions, with a notched battle-axe swinging from his saddle. Back inhis homeland he would usually have had the severed heads of those he hadvanquished hung alongside it but in more civilised lands he had been persuadedto forgo this touch of vanity. Asnar, a Josanian archer with a sharply-pointed blue-blackbeard in need of a trim, wore lacquered leather armour, though its colours hadbeen dulled and the bright designs on his broad breastplate were barelydiscernible. A scimitar hung in a gaudy sheath across his back. Completingtheir disreputable quartet, Bolbo, a balding Kossanian with a savage scar onone cheek, was the oldest of their group - and a poor rider of camels. Evenafter weeks of travel across the desert he clung onto his mount with steelydesperation, his teeth gritted. His scarlet tunic had been drained of all butthe faintest hint of colour by the sun while the old steel breastplate beneathwas scored and dented from all the blows inflicted on it over the years."

The Storyteller of Koss is reprinted in this month's Schlock! Webzine

My sword and sorcery story The Storyteller of Koss, first published in Dustin Bilyk's Summer of Sci-fi & Fantasy is reprinted in the October issue of Schlock! Webzine, which is available now as an ebook and paperback. 

Kickstarter Project - Anthologies of the Damned

I have an interest in this kickstarter project as I have a 8000 word sword and sorcery yarn in Anthology of the Damned - Necromoirrium called The Demon from Another World.

I have been struck by the sheer enthusuasm and energy of those behind this project and wish them well.

Treeshaker Books

 

 

 

 

Three stories to be reprinted in October

It looks like I'll have three of my stories reprinted in October.

These are:

The Storyteller of Koss, which originally appeared in Summer of SciFi & Fantasy in 2022 edited by Dustin Bilyk. This will now be in the October issue of Schlock! Webzine edited by Gavin Chappell. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Oddity, which was only published for the first time this year in Schlock! Webzine , January issue, edited by Gavin Chappell, will now be in Strange Aeon 2024 edited by M. Keaton in the States. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very old story of mine, Terror on the Moors, will be in The Complete World of Horror Volume 2 . This will be a facsimile of issues 4, 5 and 6 of the 1970s magazine, World of Horror, which is now being reprinted in hardcover by Confessions Press. My story was in issue 6, illustrated by Jim Pitts.

Another new fantasy story finished - Ossani's Apprentice

Although the title might change by the time I send this story out for consideration by potential markets I have now completed another new fantasy tale. This one stands at 4,600 words and is called Ossani's Apprentice. It's a sequel to a couple of other stories, Emerging from Their Twilit Realms and The Moneylender of Oriaska, neither of which has so far been published.