Joshua Reynolds's Blog, page 29
November 6, 2018
The Denied
I had a new audio drama released yesterday. “Hallowed Knights: The Denied” finds a Knight-Questor of the Hallowed Knights on the hunt for a scheming aelf corsair – but he’s not the only one interested in bringing the pirate to justice…
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From the blurb:
Knight-Questor Akastus must return an aelf corsair, Salekh, to Hammerhal Ghyra to face justice. But the servants of Sigmar aren’t the only ones looking to punish Salekh for his myriad crimes…
“The Denied” marks the first of what I hope will be several adventures featuring these two. The bickering between Akastus and Salekh was a lot of fun to write, and I think it adds a nice note of levity to the Hallowed Knights series.
“Hallowed Knights: The Denied” is available as an MP3 download from Black Library, as well as Audible and iTunes. If you have time, give it a listen, maybe leave a review on Amazon, Audible or Goodreads. And if you’ve already listened, and you want more Akastus and Salekh, be sure to drop by the Black Library Facebook page and let them know.
October 31, 2018
Hunting Monsters
It’s Halloween, and as is tradition, I was hoping to write something about monster movies but didn’t get to it. In fairness, I have a little monster of my own to take care of, and that means things like blithering on about old movies take a backseat. Still, no reason to let the holiday pass by unremarked on.
Below is a list of all my writings about monsters and movies to date. Some of these are quite a few years old, but I think they hold up. Hopefully, I’ll have added to the list when Halloween rolls around next year.
‘The Night Has Teeth’
‘We Didn’t Come Here to Fight Monsters, We’re Not Equipped For It’
‘A New and Terrible Juggernaut of Destruction’
‘Crawling Terror…100 Feet High’
‘Invisible Empire’
‘Reign Over the Earth’
‘Death Rides the Moonbeams’
‘Seven Jackals Howl’
‘The Uncanny Ape’
But that’s not all! There’s a new free-to-read story over at my Patreon for you to enjoy. “The Fates of Dr. Fell” is my twisted take on the classic horror portmanteau film, albeit in short story form, and it seems appropriate to reprint it on Halloween. It originally appeared in the 2016 anthology, Spawn of the Ripper, from April Moon Books. The anthology is still available, by the way, and I highly recommend you check it out!
October 17, 2018
The Soda City Matter
Moonstone Books has announced the forthcoming anthology, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. It features new short stories about the Man With the Action-Packed Expense Account, by writers like Joe Gentile, Garry Phillips, Bobby Nash and myself.
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From the blurb:
For the first time EVER, BRAND NEW STORIES of the “man with the action-packed expense account”! One of classic Radio’s most beloved detectives makes his way to prose in Moonstone’s YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR! This thrilling collection features today’s top authors, including Anthony Award winning Author Gary Phillips, putting Johnny in the cross-hairs of all kinds of danger, dames, and dark deeds! More stories by: Tommy Hancock, Joe Gentile, Ron Fortier, Eric Fein, Bobby Nash, Josh Reynolds, & Barry Reese.
My story, “The Soda City Matter”, finds Johnny travelling to Columbia, South Carolina on the trail of a missing man, but true to form he finds more than he bargained for.
I’m actually a bit surprised that this one is seeing the light of day – the anthology has been in the works for around seven years. I wrote “The Soda City Matter” in 2011, and I haven’t actually read it since then. The editor seemed to enjoy it, which is what counts, I suppose. Anyway, I’m proud to be a part of this book.
If you don’t know anything about Johnny Dollar, you should definitely check out some of the original radio shows, mostly available for free via the Internet Archive. The Bob Bailey episodes are my favourites, and they’re the ones I modelled my own story on.
October 15, 2018
The Black Pharaoh
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Permit not thou to come nigh unto me him that would attack me in the House of Darkness.
-Book of the Dead
Nephren Ka. The name of an old horror from a forgotten time. Little is known of the being known as the Black Pharaoh. Scattered references in ancient writings were all that remained to mark the existence of a creature intentionally obscured from history.
Obscured, that is, until the year 1919, when occultist Edward Bellingham and his Esoteric Order of Thoth-Ra discovered the long-hidden tomb of the Black Pharaoh and brought him back to London. During a ghastly unwrapping ceremony, the monster was freed from his ancient prison. Luckily, the Royal Occultist was on hand to return the savage mummy to the sleep of ages.
Or so he thought.
Nephren Ka returned again and again to bedevil St. Cyprian and Gallowglass. Each time,the mummy returned, stronger and more cunning than before. The creature even found allies in the ancient cults that served the same dark gods as Nephren Ka had in life. But each time, St. Cyprian and Gallowglass managed – if barely – to seemingly destroy the creature through fire and sorcery. Only time will tell if his most recent return was also, finally, his last.
I love mummy movies – like The Mummy’s Hand, or The Mummy’s Curse – and mummy stories – like Conan Doyle’s “Lot No. 249”, Charles L. Grant’s The Long Night of the Grave, Lin Carter’s “Curse of the Black Pharaoh”, or Steve Duffy’s “The Night Comes On” – so it’s probably no surprise that I’d try to wedge one (or several) into the Royal Occultist series.
There’s something about a mummy that just fits the 1920’s horror aesthetic. Interest in Egyptology and occultism were growing in the West, and the idea of an ancient terror wandering the foggy streets of London is a potent one. I’ve gone to that particular well numerous times – probably too many – but it’s hard to resist.
Appropriately, Nephren Ka has proved to be one of my most enduring villains. Like the Hound, he’s an homage to the old monster movies I enjoyed as a kid. And like them, he returns again and again, each time worse than before. But while he’s not the only mummy to appear in the Royal Occultist stories (did I mention that I like mummies?), he is the most dangerous.
I’d love to make Nephren Ka a reoccurring foe for future Royal Occultists, having him pop up in the Fifties, the Seventies and so on, being brought back to un-life by cults, mad scientists and the like. For some reason, I’ve got this image of a crumbling mummy tearing apart Piccadilly Circus stuck in my head…
Nephren Ka has appeared in the following stories:
“The Unwrapping Party”
“The Door of Eternal Night”
“The Fane of the Black Queen”
For more on the adventures of St. Cyprian and Gallowglass, as well as past and future holders of the office, take a look at the Royal Occultist chronology on this site, as well as a number of free short stories, available only on Patreon. And be sure to ‘Like’ the Royal Occultist Facebook page, in order to keep up with all the latest news and info on the series!
October 9, 2018
The Boots of Frankenstein
The sixth issue of The Audient Void is now available. Among a slew of fine stories is my homage to the silver screams of yesteryear, “Bruno J. Lampini and the Boots of Frankenstein”.
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“Bruno J. Lampini and the Boots of Frankenstein” represents something of a departure for me. It’s a full on black comedy, where the horror and the action takes a backseat to the humour. Lampini is a disreputable sort of character – an agent of eldritch acquisitions, looking to buy and sell sinister artefacts, horrific memorabilia and esoteric grimoires.
I had so much fun writing this one that I’ve started working on a follow up, tentatively titled “Bruno J. Lampini and the Claw of Satan”. Where “Boots” was a send-up of the Universal Frankenstein films, “Claw” is a pastiche of some of my favourite folk horror stories, including The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971).
Only time will tell whether Bruno will make a third appearance. For the time being, why not grab a copy of The Audient Void and see what you think of him?
The Audient Void: A Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, issue six, is available via the publisher’s website or ebay.
October 5, 2018
Fiends Fell
There’s a brand new Royal Occultist story up at my Patreon today. “Fiends Fell” finds St. Cyprian and Gallowglass in Northern England, hunting a monstrous, aquatic terror with the help of a diving suit and a sceptical vicar.
The story is patron-only, so if you’d like to read it, you’ll need to drop a dollar in the bin. But once you’ve become a patron, you’ll get access to a variety of other stories on the Patreon, including science-fiction, fantasy and horror. There’s also a few free stories, if you feel like checking things out before you get out the old wallet. Why not check it out, maybe leave a comment or even give it a retweet or a share on Facebook or Tumblr?
And for more on the adventures of St. Cyprian and Gallowglass, as well as past and future Royal Occultists, take a look at the Royal Occultist chronology on this site, as well as a number of free short stories, available only on Patreon. And be sure to ‘Like’ the Royal Occultist Facebook page, in order to keep up with all the latest news and info on the series!
October 4, 2018
Twenty Years in the Making
The first volume of Black Library’s revitalised Inferno! anthology series is now available. Packed full of tales, from the dark reaches of the 41st Millennium to the shadowed forests of the Old World, it includes two never-before seen stories by me, including a new tale of Zavant Konniger.
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From the blurb:
The premiere volume of this new anthology series brings you new short fiction from the worlds of Warhammer. Penned by debut and current Black Library authors, its tales range from the back streets of the world-that was to a shrouded inn in the Mortal Realms, while in the brutal galaxy of the Dark Imperium, the Ultramarines and others deliver the Emperor’s fury to their many foes, and in the depths of Necromunda’s underhive, gangers clash in brutal combat.
My stories, “Waking the Dragon” and “How Vido the Learned the Trick”, were written before the End Times claimed the Old World. You can read a bit more about them here, in this wonderful Inferno! retrospective by Michael Dodd over at Track of Words.
Inferno! is available from Black Library, as well as Amazon.com and its subsidiaries.
October 3, 2018
Green Hell, Red Murder
18thWall Productions’ newest anthology, Silver Screen Sleuths is now available. It includes “Green Hell, Red Murder”, a story by me, which finds Vincent Price attempting to solve a murder on the set of the 1940 anti-classic Green Hell.
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From the blurb:
Silver Screen Sleuths presents mystery stories in the style and tradition of Golden Age B-movie mysteries, starring the stars themselves.
Curated by Nicole Petit and featuring stories by Josh Reynolds, Jon Black, Nicole Petit & James Bojaciuk, C.L. Werner, M.H. Norris, William Martin, & John Linwood Grant. Featuring a cover by Johannes Chazot.
My story, “Green Hell, Red Murder” finds Vincent Price investigating a murder on the set of the legendarily terrible adventure film, Green Hell (1940), on behalf of James Whale. You can read an excerpt here, if you’re interested.
This was a fun story to write, as well as research for. So much so that I’m noodling around with the idea for a second one, called “Scream for Your Life”, which finds Price and director William Castle teaming up to solve a murder at a matinee showing of The Tingler (1954).
Silver Screen Sleuths is available from 18thWall Productions and Amazon.com and its international subsidiaries.
October 2, 2018
Swiftblade
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Did you enjoy Hallowed Knights: Plague Garden? Do you want to know more about how the Stormcast Eternals and the soldiers of the Freeguilds work together to reclaim the lost cities of the Mortal Realms? Are you interested in the process by which an ancient sewer system is cleared of a troll infestation? Then maybe grab a copy of Hallowed Knights: Black Pyramid when it comes out next month.
October 1, 2018
Brotherhood of Shadows
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Strange shadows stretch and writhe in the light, as if possessed by malign intent. Eerie laughter echoes from all around, rising from everywhere and nowhere. In the swirling black, shapes emerge–to strike where they are least suspected.
The Black Brotherhood has come, and someone is going to die…
The beginnings of the group known as the Black Brotherhood are lost to history. Some say that they are the remnant of an ancient order of Atlantean sorcerer-priests. Others claim that they are the descendants of a breakaway sect of the Order of Santiago who vanished into the jungles of the New World and discovered a new faith. Whatever their origins, the Black Brotherhood are one of the most dangerous occult societies loose in the world.
With the ability to control and travel through shadows, the Black Brotherhood are exceedingly capable assassins and have been known to track their quarry across oceans, from Rio de Janeiro to London, and even further. However, their code of honour prevents them from catching their prey unawares. Instead, they will warn their target–haunting them for days or weeks with rippling shadows and eerie laughter, prior to striking. Some occultists have theorised that this might be the modern form of some ancient ritual, rather than a communal sense of fair play.
The Black Brotherhood are also known to be the guardians of a number of highly potent mystical artefacts, including one of the infamous Obsidian Mirrors of Tezcatlicopa. Of late, this stewardship has seen them thrust into conflict with the Order of the Cosmic Ram as well as Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist.
Elliott O’Donnell’s Strange Cults & Secret Societies of Modern London (1934) has a lot to answer for. I’ve used it as the basis for a number of Royal Occultist stories, including “The Black Brotherhood”. Frankly, a secret society of shadow-walking assassins was too good not to employ, at least once.
The Brotherhood, like the Order of the Cosmic Ram, provide a bit of a respite from the usual monster of the week antagonists. They’re human, and have a code of conduct that St. Cyprian is keen to abide by, if only to keep the body count down. They can be bargained with, tricked or bought off, opening up avenues for a more diverse array of plot resolutions.
And while I don’t have any plans to revisit the Brotherhood, I like to keep my options open. They may well pop up again, at some point in the future.
The Black Brotherhood has appeared in the following stories:
“The Black Brotherhood”
For more on the adventures of St. Cyprian and Gallowglass, as well as past and future holders of the office, take a look at the Royal Occultist chronology on this site, as well as a number of free short stories, available only on Patreon. And be sure to ‘Like’ the Royal Occultist Facebook page, in order to keep up with all the latest news and info on the series!
