Sunday 30 December 2018

Two great reviews on the British Fantasy Society website.

This weekend two great reviews were published on the British Fantasy Society website for books I am directly involved with, one as the author, the other as co-editor.

Matthew Johns reviewed my Lovecraftian horror novel The Return, ending with:
"Riley’s tales of the weird and evil are always fantastically well written – truly gripping yarns that keep the reader engaged and enthralled throughout.  At times gruesome, filled with superb detail, witty dialogue and believable characters, The Return is a classic work of horror that deserves a place on your bookshelf." 

Click here for the full review.  

Dave Brzeski wrote a very detailed, excellent review of Kitchen Sink Gothic, edited by me and my wife Linden, with the closing summary:
"...on the whole this is a solid collection of stories with no absolute duds."

"...this is Kitchen Sink Gothic—like Kitchen Sink Drama, only scarier. What’s not to like? No haunted mansions here; no bloodsucking counts. No, the horror here is targeted just where it tends to be in real life, at ordinary people who don’t have enough money to protect themselves—indeed some of the horrors in these stories are quite mundane in origin, but certainly no less terrifying for that."

For Mr Brzeski's full review click here

Saturday 22 December 2018

The Vault of Evil Advent Calendar - Day 22 and it's Boat Trip

My Lovecraftian horror story Boat Trip, first published in The Third Spectral Book of Horror, edited by Joseph Rubas, is today's offering, beautifully illustrated by Chrissie Demant.

Vault of Evil Advent Calendar 2018


Thursday 6 December 2018

The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror reviewed in Belfast's Phantasmagoria Magazine

A brilliant review coming soon in Phantasmagoria Magazine by Trevor Kennedy.

THE LURKERS IN THE ABYSS AND OTHER TALES OF TERROR by David A. Riley.
A collection of rather dark horror tales from David A. Riley spanning almost fifty years with each tale originally appearing in now considered genre classic publications such as the Pan Book of Horror series, Fantasy Tales, FEAR Magazine, World of Horror and many more.
I absolutely adored this book! The type of old school (trust me, that is a compliment) horror I grew up reading and still crave for to this day, the influences to Lovecraft and perhaps the likes of M. R. James and Poe (and maybe even Tales From The Crypt), are apparent but certainly not overdone. Riley’s own grim style shines throughout always, compelling and descriptive, though once again never over doing the descriptiveness. The haunting images his words created in my mind’s eye were vivid and lasting.
A couple of my favourite stories would have to be ‘Terror on the Moors’, a creepy, tense and atmospheric witchcraft-related yarn, and ‘Winter on Aubarch 6’, at first a mild science fiction tale that gradually evolves into full-blown, deeply disturbing body horror.
I don’t personally know what the sales figures are for this book, but I am certainly of the opinion that it should be read by as many people as possible, especially those with even a passing interest in horror or the short story form - of which Riley is one of the masters!
Hugely entertaining and great fun, I urge you to go out and purchase you own copy to experience for yourself the dark joys that lie within.
The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror is available from Shadow Publishing and Amazon.
Trevor Kennedy.

 Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.