David A. Riley: June 2021

Friday, 18 June 2021

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 - Video

Here is a video advert for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasdy Volume 2 created by my very talented daught, Cassandra. Please feel free to share.

Tuesday, 8 June 2021

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 is now available in paperback and kindle

We are excited to announce that Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 is now available as a paperback and ebook (kindle). The paperback is £11.99 and the kindle is just £2.99.

The contents of Volume 2 are:

Introduction by David A. Riley

The Essence of Dust by Mike Chinn

Highjacking the Lord of Light by Tais Teng

Out in the Wildlands by Martin Owton

Zale and Zedril by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Amulet and the Shadow by Steve Dilks

Antediluvia: Seasons of the World by Andrew Darlington

A Thousand Words for Death by Pedro Iniguez

Stone Snake by Dev Agarwal

Seven Thrones by Phil Emery

The Eater of Gods by Adrian Cole

Illustrations by Jim Pitts.

Amazon.co.uk £11.99 paperback/£2.99 kindle

Amazon.com $16.97 paperback/$4.2 3 kindle

Saturday, 5 June 2021

My review of C. C. Adams' There Goes Pretty is in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine

The latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine includes my review of There Goes Pretty by horror writer C. C. Adams.

THERE GOES PRETTY by C. C. Adams

Dark Minds Press, 2021

Not all ghost stories lead to misery, horror, and violent death – but there is never any doubt that these are exactly where There Goes Pretty is taking us.

Set in present day London, with numerous name checks on eating places and other fashionable venues, it is not a world within which one would normally expect the supernatural to emerge, yet this is exactly what happens here, written with deceptive subtlety as newly married couple, Denny and Olivia find their new found joy subverted by something neither of them can understand.

It begins with Olivia, who might just be suffering from hallucinations to start with, till she is subjected to a physical assault and realises she is either self-harming without knowing about it or being subjected to attacks by something preternatural that has evil intentions towards her.

A practical woman, though, Olivia is mystified why the manifestation can only be seen and felt by her, while her husband goes on with his life with no other worries than the state of his wife’s mental health, which he is totally ill-equipped to understand. An inevitable rift grows between them, which the manifestation is only too eager to exploit, sending Olivia deeper into a mental breakdown.

Only after this has reached its horrific conclusion does Denny begin to realise the grim reality of what is going on – but the results from his reactions, though dramatically different than his wife’s, are just as horrific.

Some tales have no happy outcomes. Some tales you know don’t have this as an option. And so it is with There Goes Pretty, in which the horror accumulates to a bleak and deadly conclusion and a closing line that says it all.

Well written, fast moving, and as bleak as hell, There Goes Pretty is grim, unsettling and incredibly gripping.

Not long to go now before Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 is published

We are really excited that the print and kindle versions are all but ready to be published. An announcement of the launch of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 is imminent.