Joshua Reynolds's Blog, page 74
December 18, 2013
THE CARNACKI: NEW ADVENTURES COVER REVEALED!!
Reblogged from william hope hodgson:
Yes, here's your first look at the cover to the upcoming CARNACKI: THE NEW ADVENTURES anthology! It's by the excellent artist/designer M.S. Corley and I think you'll all agree that he did a splendid job!
I hope to have the book available on Amazon within the week but that all depends on finishing the final edits and shuffling this through CreateSpace.
New Royal Occultist Audio Track-”An Ounce of Prevention”
The Adventures of the Royal Occultist: The Case Files now has three entries, for your listening pleasure. “Owd Hob”, “The Maida Vale Mummy”, and ”An Ounce of Prevention”, ably read by Richard Gough Thomas and Ruth Narramore, with an assist by Erik Crossley and Jen Edwards in the later tales. The theme music is ‘Limehouse Blues’, a jazz standard.
As ever, these short audio productions are free to listen to and free to download, though you can donate, should you wish, to show your appreciation for the hard work and hours of fiddling with the audio that went into these.
“An Ounce of Prevention” was published in 2012 in the anthology, A Cat of Nine Tales, from Rookhaven Publishing.
“The Maida Vale Mummy” was first published in 2013 in Bento Box 11, from Artifice Comics. It is available to download for free.
“Owd Hob” was published in 2013 in the February issue Monster Corral. To read the story in its original form, visit: monstercorral.com/2013/02/16/owd-hobb-by-josh-reynolds/
December 16, 2013
December 13, 2013
‘Tis the Season for Shameless Self-Promotion
The holidays have crept up on us once again, and given the paucity of my posting hereabouts lately, I felt like I might as well go for broke and remind the five people still checking up on ye old blog that I have many books for sale, should they wish to give the gift of fine literature this season.
The Knights of the Blazing Sun are a noble and venerable order of templars dedicated to the warrior-goddess Myrmidia. The young knight Hector Goetz is sent to the distant island of Svunum to investigate the disappearance of a group of knights. Reunited with his comrades, he battles vicious pirates and bloodthirsty raiders, but from his increasingly disturbing nightmares Goetz realises that there is more to the place than meets the eye. As northern savages lay siege to the island, a deadly secret is revealed that threatens to damn his order for all eternity.
Neferata is a queen without a kingdom. Lahmia has fallen, her vampire children have scattered and she is reduced to draining blood from the beasts of the mountains. After a chance encounter with a party of dwarfs, she sets her sights on a capital for her new empire – the stronghold of Silver Pinnacle. She calls her allies to battle – but can she truly trust Ushoran, Lord of Masks, and his bestial Strigoi vampires?
The Executioner #408: Border Offensive
BLOOD TOLL! American smugglers intent on running terrorists across the Mexican border don’t realize that the extra man they’ve picked up en route is working undercover to stop them. Or that the man is Mack Bolan and he’s dedicated to preventing their treacherous human cargo from ever reaching the U.S. Partnered with a border patrol agent, Bolan needs to come up with a Plan B fast when their covers are blown…or risk the country coming under a devastating terror attack. The Executioner is setting up his own form of border patrol and no one is crossing without his permission.
Gotrek & Felix: Road of Skulls
Gotrek and Felix race to the dwarf hold at Karak Kadrin, finding it besieged by one of the grand armies of Chaos warlord Garmr. When King Ungrim Ironfist speaks of the legendary ‘Road of Skulls’ and of the hated foe’s attempts to open a portal into the Realm of Chaos, Gotrek senses that a great doom awaits him – though it may not be the one he would choose for himself. As the king’s own son leads his army of Slayers to fulfil an ancient prophecy, it seems that Garmr’s hour of victory may be at hand.
The New Adventures of Jim Anthony #1: The Death’s Head Cloud
A smothering fog of doom heralds a terror that leaves a pile of bloody corpses in a busy subway station! The Death’s Head Cloud strikes swiftly, snaring innocents in its foul grip, leaving madness and death in its wake! Will Jim Anthony be able to solve this mystery or will he also succumb to this terrible menace?
Time of Legends: Master of Death
An ancient follower of the Great Necromancer seeks power over death itself. W’soran, one of the first vampires and former pupil of the Great Necromancer Nagash, plots to unravel the secrets of life and death. But his hunt for power is interrupted by a civil war in Mourkain, the mountain nation ruled by his former ally, Ushoran. Now W’soran must battle old friends and new enemies as he weaves a complex web of treachery and deceit in order to anoint himself the Master of Death…
The Adventures of the Royal Occultist #1: The Whitechapel Demon
In the wake of a séance gone wrong, a monstrous killer is summoned from the depths of nightmare by a deadly murder-cult. It’s up to St. Cyprian and Gallowglass to stop the bloodthirsty horror before another notch is added to its gory tally, but will they become the next victims of the horror disguised as London’s most famous killer?
Now, having outlined my holiday wares for your perusal, I will say that one of the best gifts that you, the reader, can get a writer is to both have bought something of theirs and then, maybe, give it a quick review on the site of your choice. If you enjoyed it, let people know. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, when it comes to books.
Happy holidays!
December 9, 2013
THE WHITECHAPEL DEMON Now Available
The Whitechapel Demon, the first book in ‘The Adventures of the Royal Occultist’, is now available in electronic format from the good folks at Emby Press, via Amazon and its international affiliates, for those of you in the UK and Canada. The dead tree version will be along soon, but for right now, if you can’t wait to get your hands on a copy, here it is.
The Whitechapel Demon sees the duo match wits with a sinister secret society as well as the monstrous doppelgänger of Jack the Ripper in an adventure that may very well be their last!
Except not really, because it’s also the first entry in what will hopefully be an ongoing series of novels featuring Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist, and his assistant, Ebe Gallowglass, as they battle the forces of evil on behalf of the British Empire. An excerpt from the next book, The Jade Suit of Death, is included with this edition, and you can hear an audio version of the prologue HERE:
To celebrate the book’s release, in coming weeks there’ll be more additions to the ‘Esoterica’ tag on the site, including a look at the numerous secret societies and strange cults which St. Cyprian and Gallowglass tangle with on a regular basis, such as the Order of the Cosmic Ram, the Black Brotherhood, and the Sisterhood of Rats, as well as a look at certain individuals important to the Royal Occultist mythos, such as Mr. Morris, from the Ministry of Esoteric Observation, Harry Lund, former Viking and current pub-owner, and Aife Andraste, con-woman and inadvertent medium.
There’ll also be giveaways, contests and free stories!
If you’re interested in keeping up-to-date on the world of the Royal Occultist please be sure to ‘Like’ the Facebook page and set your bookmarks for http://royaloccultist.wordpress.com/.
And if you’re a reviewer or book-blogger interested in reviewing a PDF of The Whitechapel Demon or any of the short stories currently available in the series, please contact me at royaloccultist at gmail dot com.
December 4, 2013
New Story-”The Swine of Gerasene”
The newest instalment of Black Coat Press’ ‘Tales of the Shadowmen’ anthology series, Volume 10: Esprit de Corps, is now available, just in time for Christmas. You can grab your copy from the publisher, or via the usual suspects such as Amazon.
I’ve spoken about “The Swine of Gerasene” and the anthology before. But just in case you don’t feel like clicking that link, “The Swine…” sees William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost-Finder team-up with Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence and Norbert Sevestre’s Sar Dubnotal in order to combat the machinations of the sinister Brotherhood of Gerasene.
There are also nods to another of Hodgson’s creations, the enigmatic House on the Borderland, as well as to authors and artists like MR James, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Robert E. Howard and Robert Holmes.
But don’t take my word for it, why not grab your copy today?
December 3, 2013
Some Haunted Holiday Reading
Hey, did you know that I’ve written a seasonal story every year since 2009, including this year? Did you also know that most of these stories are still available for your enjoyment? If you’re in the mood for some sinister Yuletide hijinks, why not check out one or two of the stories listed below this holiday season?
Like MR James before me, I decided a few years ago that one of my holiday traditions going forward (other than yelling ‘KRAMPUS!’ as loudly and as often as possible in public with neither invitation nor context) was to be the gift of a creepy tale at Christmas.
Below are the four most recent of these holiday horror shorts, including this year’s offering, as well as links to where you might read, purchase or download them.
All four of the stories feature the dynamic duo of Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist and his assistant, Ebe Gallowglass. In the following stories, they encounter the demonic Krampus (KRAMPUS!), ghostly swine, murderous secret societies and a vampiric gunslinger–basically, there’s something for everyone.
So why not break out some eggnog, put on Bing Crosby, and enjoy some haunted holiday reading before things start to get hectic this Christmas season, hmm?
*
”Krampusnacht” St. Cyprian and Gallowglass battle the demonic Krampus in London on Christmas Eve! Excerpt HERE.
2011 Horror for the Holidays (Miskatonic River Press)
2012 Free Advent Serial
”Merry John Mock” St. Cyprian and Gallowglass deal with ghostly swine and malevolent mummers during a Winter Solstice in the Channel Islands! Excerpt HERE.
2011 Pulpwork Press Christmas Special (Pulpwork Press)
2012 Psychopomp Christmas Special (Artifice Comics)
”Feast of Fools” St. Cyprian and Gallowglass face down the sinister Saturn Society on a bothersome Boxing Day! Excerpt HERE.
2012 Pulpwork Press Christmas Special (Pulpwork Press)
“The Third Death of Henry Antrim” St. Cyprian and Gallowglass hunt for a vampire during a Christmas party! Excerpt HERE.
2013 Pulpwork Press Christmas Special (Pulpwork Press)
November 20, 2013
New Reviews-”Remorseless” and “Cadre”
My first two forays into the wide, wonderful world of Warhammer 40K fiction, “Remorseless” and “Cadre”, have been reviewed over at Talk Wargaming. You might recall that I’ve mentioned the site before, when they published my story, “The Vociferous Kai”, earlier this year.
From the review of “Remorseless”:
From the review of “Cadre”:
The review of “Remorseless” can be found here, and the review of “Cadre” can be found here. If you feel the need to see what all of the fuss is about, you can purchase both stories direct from Black Library: “Remorseless” can be purchased here, and “Cadre” can be purchased here.
November 18, 2013
New Story Available-”The Third Death of Henry Antrim”
Pulpwork Press has released their 2013 Christmas Special, featuring stories by Joel Jenkins, Russ Anderson, Percival Constantine and–wait for it–me. As with the previous Christmas Specials (all of which are still available, if you’re interested), I contributed a Royal Occultist story,”The Third Death of Henry Antrim”. From the blurb:
The anthology is available in print or electronic format, via Amazon, as are the previous anthologies in the series.
“The Third Death of Henry Antrim” was a fun story to write. Then, pretty much all of the Royal Occultist stories have been fun to write. This one has a vampire causing trouble at a Kensington Christmas party, and as hard as it might be to believe, this marks the first occasion that St. Cyprian and Gallowglass have locked horns with one of the thirsty dead.
But it won’t be the last…
New Story Available-”Bultungin”
Fox Spirit Books has released their second ‘Fox Pockets’ anthology, Shapeshifters, and the table of contents includes “Bultungin”, my story about witches, were-hyenas and courtship rituals on the Third Mainland Bridge.
From the blurb:
Besides my contribution, the book includes stories by such folks as KC Shaw and Alec McQuay. It’s available in print via Lulu and will be available electronically next month.
“Bultungin” was an interesting story to write. It’s fairly outside my comfort zone, in terms of character, if not plot. It could even be called a love story, if you tilt your head and squint a bit. I’ll be interested to see what folks think about it. If you read it, be sure to drop me a line and let me know what you thought.
