Latest advert for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8

 

This is the monochrome version. The lettering has been changed from black to white so it will stand out better.

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6

 

There was a great recent 5-star review on amazon for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6:

Phantasmagoria Magazine Hellraiser Special

I received my contributor's copy of the Phantasmagoria Magazine Hellraiser Special this morning. My only contribution is a critical review of Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), which must surely rank as the worst entry in the whole franchise - at least I definitely hope so! 

This is another beautufully produced issue, over 370 pages of stills, drawings, articles, interviews, reviews, etc., with entries by Trevor Kennedy, Peter Atkins, Adrian Baldwin, Simon Bamford, Clive Barker, Imogen Boorman, Tori Borne, Doug Bradley, David Brilliance, Mike Chinn, Malachy Coney, Con Connolly, Kenneth Cranham, Dean M. Drinkel, Kelly Dunn, Terry Farrell, Christopher Figg, John Gilbert, Christopher Gray, Anthony Hickox, Clare Higgins, Dave Jeffery, Carl R. Jennings, Stephen Jones, Paul Kane, Bob Keen, Ashley Laurence, Ivan McCann, Kim Newman, Barnaby Page, Evangelia Papanikou, Geoff Portass, Owen Quinn, Tony Randel, David A. Riley, Andrew Robinson, Helen Scott, Michael Marshall Smith, Jessica Stevens, Nicholas Vance, Nat Whiston, Cliff Wallace, Allison Weir, Sarah Graven Weir, Barbie Wilde, Ciaran Woods and Christopher Young, plus artists Clive Barker, Jonny Boyle, Randy Broecker, Dave Carson, Les Edwards, Graham Humphreys, Allen Koszowski, Ivan McCann, Jim Pitts, Steph Sciullo and Andrew Smith. 

Only £13.35 from amazon

Day Thirty-Nine of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 7

And here we are at day thirty-nine of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications with Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 7, which we published last November.

This is the final showcasing. We have published other books (The Winter Hunt & Other Stories by Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis; England 'B': Ninety Minutes of Hell by Richard Stains (Mark Samuels); Will Anyone Figure That This Is A Repackaged First Collection by Johnny Mains; A Distasteful Horror Story by Johnny Mains; and A Little Light Screaming by Johnny Mains) but all of these have been discontinued and are out of print. 

In 2024 we will be publishing two further volumes of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy plus a trilogy of interlinked sword and sorcery collections by a veteran writer (further information to be issued later).  All five books will be illustrated by Jim Pitts. 

 Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 7 is available as a paperback and ebook (kindle)

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

 

The stories and authors included are:

 

PITILESS by Stephen Frame

UNHALLOWED TOMBS by Paul Batteiger

SORCERIES IN ASSABARR by Andrew Graham

SCHISM OF SPECTRES by Phil Emery

THE CROSSROADS IN THE FOREST by Gavin Chappell

WISPS by Jason M Waltz

DARK THE SKY, RADIANT THE ROAD by Jalyn Renae Fiske

THE BLOOD OF KHALID AL'TAHIR by Craig Comer

THE DARK KNIGHT OF THE SOUL by eric Ian Steele

PROHAIRESIS by Jon Zaremba

BLADES FOR A BOUNTY by Harry Elliott

The artwork, as always, is by Jim Pitts.

Day Thirty-Eight of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Lucilla - a novella by David A. Riley

 

Day thirty-eight of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's my own Lucilla - a novella, which was originally serialised in Bewildering Stories. 

 

Lucilla - a novella by David A. Riley is available in hardcover for £13.99, in paperback for £5.50, and in kindle for £2.99. The cover artwork is by Jim Pitts.

It was just another standard day at the Women’s Refuge until the arrival of Lucilla. Then Miranda’s world was never the same again.
Unaccountably influenced by what the girl needed, her job, her friendships, even freedom itself were of no importance. It was not until her niece’s life was at risk that Miranda knew she had to act.
But what could she do against someone who had such a tight, insidious grip on her?

amazon UK £13.99 in hardcover, £5.50 in paperback, £2.99 in kindle

amazon.com $17.19 in hardcover, $6.70 in paperback, $3.70 in kindle

Day Thirty-Seven of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6 is available as a paperback and ebook (kindle)

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

 The contents are: 

LAND OF THE DEAD by Dev Agarwal

THE HOUSE OF BONES by Carson Ray

THRENODY OF GHOSTS by Phil Emery

WARDARK AND THE SIREN QUEEN by Craig Herbertson

OTRIM by Lyndon Perry

GODS, MEN, AND NEPHILIM by David Dubrow

GOLDEN WITCH OF ADZELGAR by Scott McCloskey

RAIDING THE GRAVEYARD OF LOST SHIPS by Tais Teng

A PLACE OF GHOSTS by Andrew Darlington

THOSE WHO WEAR THEIR WHITE HAIR PROUDLY by Lauren C. Teffeau

TRIALS FOR TREASURE by Harry Elliott

GOD OF THE DREAMING ISLES by Adrian Cole

The Triptych of Hell in the latest issue of Lovecraftiana Magazine

 

It was good to see my story The Triptych of Hell in the latest issue of Lovecraftiana: the Magazine of Eldritch Horror, but it's a shame the picture referred to in the story wasn't able to be included. I was originally asked to write the story to accompany the illustration commissioned by a private buyer for a collaboration between Jim Pitts, Allen Koszowski and Dave Carson, renamed Johann Potts, Albertus Krakowski, and Desmond Cartier in the tale.

Day Thirty-Six of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Childe Rolande by Samantha Lee

 

For day thirty-six of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications, it's Samantha Lee's amazing mix of sword & sorcery and post apocalyptic science fantasy Childe Rolande. 

Parallel Universe Publications is proud to announce that we have published Samantha Lee's groundbreaking post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel Childe Rolande as a paperback and kindle e-book.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Originally published by Futura Books in 1989, our new version includes an Introduction by the author and a brand-new cover by talented Scottish artist Paul Mudie, who will be familiar to many for the iconic covers he created for the Black Books of Horror. There is also the added bonus of interior chapter headings by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

Childe Rolande has been optioned by Forlan Films for a proposed TV series and is currently in pre-production development.

Day Thirty-Five of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead

 

Day thirty-five of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's the turn of our first (and only) chapbook: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead by David A. Riley, illustrated throughout by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

What was intended as the start of a series of low-priced chapbooks, A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead included four previously published short stories by David A. Riley with illustrations by Jim Pitts.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

All four stories in this collection cover a wide range of tropes within the zombie genre. 

Dead Ronnie and I is a tale of high adventure by plane and sea, with an abortive escape by our protagonist to the as yet untainted Isles of Scotland. This was originally published in Sanitarium Magazine No 44 in 2016.

His Pale Blue Eyes is probably the most traditional take of zombie stories today, featuring a young girl’s determined search for her parents during a zombie apocalypse. It’s a story, though, about conditioning and how what someone is taught can radically affect their behaviour. Is the horror in this the shambling undead or the girl herself? See what you think. This first appeared in Bite-Sized Horror edited by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books in 2011.

By contrast Right For You Now, originally published in Weirdbook Zombie Annual No 3 in 2021, harks back to the original concept of the zombie in Voodoo-haunted Haiti, though this tale is set in present-day Britain. It’s a combination of a crime story, revenge, and a man’s obsessive fascination with age-old practices.

Our final tale, Romero’s Children, is more in the way of a science fiction story. The zombies here are certainly the most different. For a start off they are not dead but have been granted near immortality by a drug that swept the world with its promise to stop aging. Alas for those caught up in the frenzied demand to use it, though, its side effects were such that they would have been better off dead. This story appeared in 2010 in The Seventh Black Book of Horror edited by the late Charles Black and was subsequently picked up by American editor Paula Guran for her 2012 anthology Extreme Zombies.

Phantasmagoria Magazine Hellraiser Special

 

Very pleased to have a review in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine, which is a Hellraiser Special. Ironically, my piece is on what is almost certainly the worst Hellraiser movie ever made: Hellraiser: Revelations. 

To order it from amazon follow this link: Phantasmagoria Magazine Hellraiser Special

 

Day Thirty-Four of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 is available as a paperback and ebook (kindle)

 

 amazon.co.uk

 amazon.com 

  

The contents are: 

The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich

Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott

For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni

People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez

Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng

The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz

Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow

Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish

Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal 

Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole

Floating Free to be published in September

I just received notification that a longish story of mine called Floating Free has been accepted for publication in September this year.

More details later.

Day Thirty-Three of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4

 

Day Thirty-Three of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4, published in June 2022.

 

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 contains eleven tales:

In the Iron Woods by Dev Agarwal
My People Were Fair and Wore Stars in Their Hair by Andrew Darlington
At Sea by Geoff Hart
The Flesh of Man by Frank Sawielijew
City at the Mouth of Chaos by Adrian Cole
In the Belly of the Beast by Edward Ahern
The Tracks of the Pi Nereske by Wendy Nikel
Slaves of the Monolith by Paul D. Batteiger
The Green Wood by David Dubrow
Demonic by Phil Emery
The Whips of Malmac by H. R. Laurence

Day Thirty-Two of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 3

 

Day thirty-two of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's the turn of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 3, published in November 2021.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Contents are:

Sorcerous Vengeance by Lorenzo D. Lopez 

Seal Snatchers of Jorsaleem by Tais Teng

When the Gods Send You Rats by Chadwick Ginther 

Mother's Bones by Carson Ray 

In the Lair of the Snake-Witch by Darin Hlavaz

The Rains of Barofonn by Mike Chinn

Wardark by Craig Herbertson

The Foliage by Rab Foster 

In the Lair of the Moonmen by Jon Hansen 

Sailing on the Thieves' Tide by Adrian Cole

 

The covers and interior artwork are again by Jim Pitts.

The book is 270 pages and will cost £11.99 (£2.99 kindle).

Day Thirty-One of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: A Grim God's Revenge: Dark Tales of Fantasy & Horror

 

Day thirty-one of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's A Grim God's Revenge: Dark Tales of Fantasy & Horror by David A. Riley, published in 2021.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

A Grim God's Revenge by David A. Riley includes fourteen dark tales of fantasy and horror ranging from 1971 to 2020.

Dead Ronnie and I was first published in Sanitarium issue 44, 2016
Corpse-Maker was first published in Weird Window issue 2, 1971
The Urn was first published in Whispers issue 1, 1972
Gwargens was first published in Beyond issue 3, 1995
Retribution was first published in Peeping Tom issue 3, 1991
The Bequest was first published in Dark Horizons, 2008
They Pissed on My Sofa was first published in Malicious Deviance, 2011
Old Grudge Ender was first published in The Screaming Book of Horror, 2012
A Girl, a Toad and a Cask was first published in The Unspoken, 2013
Scrap was first published in Dark Visions 1, 2013
Lem was first published in The Eleventh Black Book of Horror, 2015
A Grim God’s Revenge was first published in Mythic issue 4, 2017
Grudge End Cloggers was first published in Scare Me, 2020
Hanuman was first published in Phantasmagoria issue 16, 2020

Day Thirty of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2

 

Hot on the heels of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 1, our book being showcased today is Volume 2.

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 2 is available as a paperback and ebook.

The paperback is £11.99; the kindle version is £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/$4.23 kindle

Parallel Universe Publications

Day Twenty-Nine of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 1

 

Day twenty-nine of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's the turn of our most popular book so far: Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 1.

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy is intended to be the first in a series of swords and sorcery anthologies.

The contents of Volume One are:

INTRODUCTION - David A. Riley

THE MIRROR OF TORJAN SUL - Steve Lines

THE HORROR FROM THE STARS - Steve Dilks

TROLLS ARE DIFFERENT - Susan Murrie Macdonald

CHAIN OF COMMAND - Geoff Hart

DISRUPTION OF DESTINY - Gerri Leen

THE CITY OF SILENCE - Eric Ian Steele

RED - Chadwick Ginther

THE RECONSTRUCTED GOD - Adrian Cole

The cover and all the interior artwork is by Jim Pitts. 

 

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Parallel Universe Publications

Day Twenty-Eight of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales by David A. Riley

 

Day twenty-eight of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales by David A. Riley, illustrated by Jim Pitts.

After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales by David A. Riley, illustrated by Jim Pitts contains the following stories:
Three Eyed Jack
The Fragile Mask on his Face
Terror on the Moors
The Shade of Apollyon
Writer's Cramp
Fish Eye
Boat Trip
Prickly
After Nightfall

Here are just a couple of the over 20 illustrations, most of which are full page.

The paperback version and kindle are available through amazon, the paperback can be ordered direct from us:

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

 The hardcover version of this book is now out of print.

Day Twenty-Seven of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: The Ever More Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts

 

For day twenty-seven of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications it's the second volume of art by Jim Pitts, appropriately titled The Ever More Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts, which is available to order either direct from us or via various online outlets like amazon as a hardcover or large-sized paperback. 

Since we brought out The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts in 2017 Jim has been constantly busy, including interior artwork for Elak: King of Atlantis and After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales, covers for Phantasmagoria magazine, and a host of other projects, with new techniques and fresh designs. 

The Ever More Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts is a fitting sequel to the first volume, published in hardcover and packed with black and white and full-colour illustrations.

These are just a few of the pages from this book:

All copies ordered direct from PUP will be signed by Jim Pitts and include some great extras.

To order direct from PUP click on this link

 Amazon.co.uk £25.00

Amazon.com $30.04

Day Twenty-Six of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts

 

 

Day twenty-six of showcasing books by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to our most ambitious project yet: The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts.

 

Celebrating over 40 years of work in the fantasy/horror genres, The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts is a large-size 212-page hardcover book containing hundreds of black and white and colour illustrations created by one of the finest fantasy artists in the UK. Included are articles by people who have worked with and known Jim for many years: Brian Lumley, David A. Sutton, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Jones, Jon M. Harvey, Peter Coleborn, Nick Caffrey, and David A. Riley. 

The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts is a numbered, limited edition of 250 copies, each of which is signed by Jim Pitts. As such it is only available direct from us. It cannot be ordered from Amazon or anywhere else.

To order the hardcover version of The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts click onto this link.
To order the softcover versions direct from us click onto this link.

Also available in soft cover in two volumes:

Volume 1 Amazon
Volume 2 Amazon

Volume 1 Amazon
Volume 2 Amazon 

Day Twenty-Five of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Christmas in the Workhouse & Other Gruesome Tales by Craig Herbertson

 

For day twenty-five of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications it's Craig Herbertson's Christmas in the Workshouse & Other Gruesome Tales.

 

This is the second collection of stories written by Craig Herbertson to be published by Parallel Universe Publications. A musician and songwriter, Craig lives in Edinburgh with his partner and children. Craig is one of the original authors included in the infamous Pan Book of Horror Stories series. Two of his stories received honourable mentions in Ellen Datlow's renowned lists - The Best Horror of the Year. When not writing Craig is playing folk music, mostly Scottish, or watching football.Some of the stories in this collection show the influence of some of his favourite writers, including Philip K. Dick and J. G. Ballard.

 

An ideal present for Christmas for anyone who loves well-written, dark, sardonically macabre stories, complete with several spot illustrations by Chrissie Demant and one illustration by Craig himself.  Published in hardcover (now OOP) with an illustrated dustjacket, this is one of the best collections we have ever published. It is still available as a paperback and kindle eBook.

To order the softcover direct from us click on this link. 

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Day Twenty-Four of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: The Crabian Heart by Erik Hofstatter

 

Day twenty-four of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's The Crabian Heart by Erik Hofstatter. 

 

The Crabian Heart: A Synopsis

Irena and her thirteen-year-old son Aleš are refugees living in a lonely seaside town of Dover, England. Aleš has never seen an ocean, let alone one that glows purple when he’s nearby. On a local beach, he befriends the ostensible Mother of Crabs, an amputee with rigid demeanour and unequivocal warnings. Soon, purple crustaceans crawl behind his every step and women with pincers threaten to recondition his sensitive heart.

Erik Hofstatter is a dark fiction writer and a member of the Horror Writers Association. Born in the wild lands of the Czech Republic, he roamed Europe before subsequently settling on English shores, studying creative writing at the London School of Journalism. He now dwells in Kent, where he can be encountered consuming copious amounts of mead and tyrannizing local peasantry. His work appeared in various magazines and podcasts around the world such as Morpheus Tales, Crystal Lake Publishing, The Literary Hatchet, Sanitarium Magazine, Wicked Library, Tales to Terrify and Manor House Show. Other works include The Pariahs, Amaranthine and Other Stories, Katerina, Moribund Tales and Rare Breeds.

Starburst magazine by Jon Towlson.

"...the emotional tug that The Crabian Heart exerts on the reader is palpable. The Crabian Heart is also a coming-of-age tale, one that resonates with the pangs of unrequited love. And as such, it concludes, like all great coming-of-age stories, with a very difficult and painful realisation for the love-struck main character. By the end of its 100 pages you will find yourself both haunted and moved by Hofstatter’s evocative writing."

hellnotes

"I like this little collection a lot. Definitely a case of bigger not always being better. Hofstatter could have watered this down with more words, but that would have taken the impact out of the stories. I also like how he slips a lot of important messages into his work. For example “people are scared of what they don’t know…or understand,” says Enola, as she and Ales walk along the beach. Zsofia tells him that life is a gamble and his mother points out that the powers that be make the rules that govern us and we have to go where they tell us to. Ultimately, the decisions of what we do are ours, but I’d like to suggest that you try a copy of The Crabian Heart.   That forward is going to be the icing on the cake!"

Hardback, paperback & kindle:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com

You can order the hardcover version direct from us on this link, post free.

You can order the softcover version direct from us on this link, post free.

Day Twenty-Three of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Parlour Tricks by Carl Barker

 

For the start of a new month and day twenty-three of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications we have Carl Barker's collection of short stories: Parlour Tricks. 

 

The cover illustration is the work of talented artist Luke Spooner.

 

Devil worshippers stalk the ageing boards of Blackpool Pier, a scrap-yard automaton devours the souls of lost children, and a murderous priest hunts an ancient she-demon through the streets of New York.

A selection of horror stories to chill the blood, featuring revenant felines, garbage-eating clairvoyants, flesh-eating magpies and a severed head with murder in mind.

 

Unexploded Girlfriends (c) 2010 was first published in Dark Horizons, Issue 57, BFS Journal, Winter 2010.

From Chatterton Hill (c) 2011 was first published in Estronomicon, October 2011.

Old Loves Die Hard (c) 2012 was first published in Title Goes Here, Issue 12, July 2012.

Eater of Lost Causes (c) 2011 was first published in Full Fathom Forty, BFS, October 2011.

With The Band (c) 2013 was first published in Niteblade, Issue #25, September 2013.

Fish Out of Water (c) 2011 was first published in Midnight Movie Creature Feature, May December Publications, October 2011.

Kicks (c) 2013 was first published in Miseria's Chorale, Forgotten Tomb Press, November 2013.

Why the Wild Things Are (c) 2010 was first published in Zombie Zoology, Severed Press, May 2010.

The Man Who Came to Dinner (c) 2009 was first published in Midnight Street, Issue #12, April 2009.

Things Lost in Fire (c) 2011 was first published in Dark Gothic Resurrected, October 2011.

Junkyard Dog, The Certainty of Chance, The Cabinet of Ed Monroe, and Lemming Revolution (c) 2016 are all original to this collection.

Paperback & kindle:

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com