Frightful Horrors

Frightful Horrors is a website created by Caroline Callaghan to help promote small press books. The latest posting on its facebook site is about my short story collection, The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror, which is Frightful Horror's "book of the day".

"Frightful Horrors will be running an occasional ‘Book of the Day’ feature. Today’s featured book is David A. Riley’s The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror, from Shadow Publishing (2013). Cover artwork is by the very talented Paul Mudie.

David Riley’s first professional sale was the short story, The Lurkers in the Abyss, published in the The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories. The story was also chosen for inclusion in The Century’s Best Horror Fiction, published by Cemetery Dance in 2012.

His first collection of short stories, His Own Mad Demons: Dark Tales, was published by Hazardous Press in 2012. This second collection brings together under one cover seventeen of the author’s best blood-curdling stories, including the title story from The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories.

The Lurkers in the Abyss can be purchased direct from Shadow Publishing’s website and can also be bought via Frightful Horrors. If you’d like to purchase the book here please message me, Caroline Callaghan, with your name and address. Alternatively, email me on frightfulhorrors@virginmedia.com. I’ll let you know how to pay via PayPal (or by cheque, if you don’t have a PayPal account). The price, inclusive of P&P in the UK, is £14.50 (Eur £17.00; USA/RoW £18.00).

If you’ve read the book and would like to leave a comment below telling us what you thought of it, you’d be most welcome to do so. Frightful Horrors would love to encourage readers to share their reading experiences with others (especially since I’ve just ordered a copy for myself and I’m wondering what I’ve let myself in for! – CC)."

The Appeal of the First Person Narrative

I'm halfway through a fairly large anthology of new stories and have been struck by how overwhelmingly many have been written in the first person. It's so prevalent in fact that when I see an opening sentence with the inevitable "I", I begin to shudder.

Now, let me be clear, I have nothing against first person narratives. But in my own writing I have only ever used it thrice - and then only in some of my earliest stories. I haven't used it in decades.

Which is perhaps why I am puzzled why so many writers in this anthology have chosen this form of narrative. Is it because this is now more popular, at least amongst younger writers? Have I missed spotting a new trend? Or is it because many of these writers, being new, feel it is easier to use this viewpoint?

For a horror story, it has always struck me that the first person has distinctive limitations, particularly for the climax. Not to mention limitations in characterisation. It takes a particularly good writer to be able to give a distinctive character to the narrator when theirs is the only voice.

As I would automatically start a new story in the third person singular, I am interested to know why there are so many first person viewpoints in this anthology, all but to the exclusion of any other. It's something I'll probably feel obliged to look out for in other anthologies too now that I've noticed it here to see if this is prevalent today.

Highest Hits on this Blog Yet

Last month this blogs's stats showed that it had attracted the most hits since I started it in 2010. Astonishingly, it has already attracted the same number this month - and it's only the 17th!

Whispers From The Abyss

Starting to read this Lovecraftian anthology on my kindle tonight. Looks like a great lineup of writers:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction by Alasdair Stuart.
“Iden-Inshi” by Greg Stolze
“Pushing Back” by J.C. Hemphill
“Nation of Disease: The Rise & Fall of a Canadian Legend” by Jonathan Sharp
“When We Change” by Mason Ian Bundschuh
“Nutmeat” by Martin Hill Ortiz
“The Last Tweet” by Charles Black
“Secrets In Storage” by Tim Pratt & Greg Van Eekhout
“The Well” by Tim Jeffreys
“The Neon Morgue” by Nathan Wunner
“The Deep” by Corissa Baker
“Fear And Loathing In Innsmouth: Richard Nixon’s Revenge” by Jason Andrew
“My Friend Fishfinger By Daisy, Age 7″ by David Tallerman
“Chasing Sunset” by A.C. Wise
“The Thing With Onyx Eyes” by Stephen Brown
“I Do The Work Of The Bone Queen” by John R. Fultz
“Suck It Up, Get It Done” by Brandon Barrows
“The Substance In The Sound” by W.B. Stickel
“Stone City, Old As Immeasurable Time” by Kelda Crich
“Hideous Interview With Brief Man” by Nick Mamatas
“The Sea, Like Glass Unbroken” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“The Decorative Water Feature Of Nameless Dread” by James Brogden
“Henry” by Lance Axt
“My Stalk” by Aaron J. French
“Give Me That Old Time Religion” by Lee Finney
“Afraid Of Dobermans” by Chad Fifer
“Leviathan” by Nicholas Almand
“Horrorscope” by Charles Black
“The Jar Of Aten-Hor” by Kat Rocha
“The Floor” by Jeff Provine
“Waiting” by Dennis Detwiller
“Other People’s Houses” by Sarena Ulibarri
“You Will Never Be The Same” by Erica Satifka
“Death Wore Greasepaint” by Josh Finney

Shadow Publishing Book Launch at the World Fantasy Convention

Shadow Publishing will be launching four books at the World Fantasy Convention on Friday the 1st November. The event, which includes complementary wine, will be from 2 till 3 p.m.

The books launched will be:

•  The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (David A. Riley)
•  Phantoms of Venice (David A. Sutton, Mike Chinn, Tim Lebbon & Conrad Williams)
•  Worse Things Than Spiders and Other Stories (Samantha Lee)
•  The Whispering Horror (Eddy C. Bertin)

The Dunwich Horror - Remake

I haven't watched this yet so I have no idea how good it is, but the fact it's based on H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror should make it interesting. At least I hope so!

Shadow Publishing Blog

Dave Sutton has created a blog for Shadow Publishing, which looks pretty interesting and is well worth a visit.

Komodo vs Cobra

Watched this over the weekend on DVD. Not my usual fare, but it sounded interesting enough in a bizarre way to justify a viewing.

CGI does help low budget films like this. Years ago, what we had here would have even looked impressive. At least the monsters could be seen moving with a semblance of realism on the same screen as the human characters. By today's standards, though, it does fail woefully, especially when the creatures scoop up their victims. That did look hilariously unrealistic, especially as their victims simply disappeared in the blink of an eye.

What really made this film fail, though, was the terrible casting, the worse acting and the simplistic, cliched dialogue. Not to mention  pistols that could fire countless rounds without ever needing to be reloaded (and I'm talking of well over 50 shots at a time) - or to offer any sort of recoil in the hands of those firing them! Less realistic gunfire I have never seen in my life.

Was it bad enough to be good?

Well, apart from a few laughs at the ineptitude of some of the really awful acting, I would have to say no, most definitely no. It's not only bad but dumb.

Review Copies Available of The Return

Kindle review copies of my Lovecraftian horror novel, The Return, are still available. If you do reviews on your blog, on a website or a magazine please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com and I'll email a copy to you to upload on your kindle, etc.

If you would prefer a hard copy that too can be arranged. Just let me know which would be preferable by you.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com
 

Free Copies of The Return Won On Lovecraft eZine Last Night

Three free ebook copies of The Return were won last night during the Lovecraft eZine's online playing of The Call of Cthulhu. Congratulations to all those who won copies - and I hope you enjoy reading it!

If there are any reviewers who would like copies of the ebook version of this Lovecraftian horror novel, please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com.

WFC Shadow Publishing Book Launch

World Fantasy Convention - Programming Grid

Details of the programming for the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton at the end of this month have been released. Just click on the image below for a pdf.

First Review of Dark Visions 1

The first Amazon review for Dark Visions 1 gives it 5 stars and a great, detailed write up.

I was particularly pleased to see the reviewer mention that my story, Scrap, "could easily have been a kitchen sink drama, depicting the lives of two brothers growing up in a poverty-stricken council estate in England", adding "Riley chooses to inject a healthy dose of horror, elevating his story to a different, altogether more gruesome level."

Kitchen sink was exactly what I was aiming for while writing this story, which I believe is one of the best I have ever done. 

Harrassment Policy at FantasyCon 2014

I noticed that the FantasyCon 2014 website has details of a Harrassment Policy. I can't recall ever seeing anything like this on the website (or anywhere else for that matter) for a British fantasy convention before. It's left me wondering whether this is merely a preemptive strike or whether there have been genuine concerns over this issue here in the UK in recent years, even though I can't recall hearing anything about it.

Don't get me wrong. I have no objections to such a policy. In fact anyone who hasn't already adhered to it in spirit, never mind the letter, has no place at a convention so far as I'm concerned. It just seems sad that something about this issue has to be posted on the site. It could raise concerns and maybe even fears about what sometimes happens at conventions to anyone who has never attended one before.

Is this a sign of just where things have been heading over recent years in the wake of so many horrendous disclosures and prosecutions after the Jimmy Saville scandal? Or am I, not for the first time I might add, missing the point?