Happy Christmas from Parallel Universe Publications

 With just two weeks to go before the great day we at Parallel Universe Publications would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas.

 

Reprinted stories during 2025

 2025 saw a number of my previously published stories being reprinted. These are:

"The Farmhouse" in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural Omnibus from PS Publishing

"A Bottle of Spirits" also in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural Omnibus from PS Publishing

"The Shade of Apollyon" in The Complete World of Horror Volume 3 

"The God in the Keep" in Schlock! Webzine February 2025

"The Psychic Investigator" in Lovecraftiana Omnibus Book 7

 "The Dark Priestdom" in Welgar the Cursed

"The Forbidden City of Cyramon" in Welgar the Cursed

"Ossani the Healet and the Beautiful Homunculus" in Welgar the Cursed 

New stories published in 2025

It looks as though my short science fiction tale "Visit Fungosia" will be my final new story to be published this year. 

Here is a summary of 2025:

 

"Mask of a Mad God" appeared in my Tule Fog Press collection of Welgar stories, Welgar the Cursed.  

"Emerging from their Twilit Realms" also appeared in Welgar the Cursed and at that time was my final Welgar story (since then I have written four more). 

 

"Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War" was published in Crimson Quill Quarterly #5.  

 

 

"Lies and Treachery" was serialised in issues 6 and 7 of Crimson Quill Quarterly. This featured my mercenary hero Horbeck and his companions, who first appeared the year before in Anthology of the Damned: Necromorrium in "The Demon from Another World".

 

"Ammanada" appeared in Schlock! Webzine in November. 

"Visit Fungosia" was published in 4 Star Stories, an online magazine. The story can be read here. 

There were also a number of reprints.  

2026 so far has these new stories lined up to be published:

"The Abomination in the Crypt" 

"The Moneylender of Oriaska" 

"Ossani's Apprentice"

"Ossani's Escape" 

Hopefully I'll be able to announce more soon.  

 

 

Visit Fungosia published in 4 Star Stories #32

 

My latest story to be published is "Visit Fungosia" in 4 Star Stories edited by David Gray, "a not so tongue-in-cheek alien invasion story. Harry Nealson III was a bored, thrill-seeking adventurer who got more in "the vacation of a lifetime" than he bargained for. Inadvertently swept up in a secret government investigation, he and his traveling companion hold the fate of humanity in their increasingly alien, fungoid hands."

Check it out for free here:

https://4starstories.com/Dark.../html/bonus_story7.html

https://4starstories.com/Dark_grove_Issue32/index.htm

Visit Fungosia

It looks like my next story to be published will be a strange little SF tale called "Visit Fungosia" in the online magazine 4 Star Stories. 

I wrote this quite a few years ago. I'll post a link when it's available.

The Abomination in the Crypt

 

Winter of Sci-fi & Fantasy Volume 1 is coming soon with a little dark fantasy tale of my own in it, "The Abomination in the Crypt".

 

 

New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural Omnibus from PS Publishing

 

My contributor's copy of New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural Omnibus from PS Publishing arrived today. This is a reprint of volumes one and two of New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural edited by David A. Sutton in 1971 and 1972 by Sphere Books. I had a story in both volumes and these are included in the Omnibus: "The Farmhouse" and "A Bottle of Spirits".

 

There was a previous reprint of the two volumes in 2013 under Dave Sutton's own imprint, Shadow Publishing, retitled Horror! Under the Tombstone.

 

There was to have been a third volume in 1973 but Sphere cancelled their contract. As a result Dave Sutton managed to get it published instead by Corgi Books under the new title of The Satyr's Head & Other Tales of Terror (which was also the title of my story in this anthology).

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 11

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 11 is now in the process of being made available as a trade paperback and kindle eBook. Links will be posted here as

In the meantime, as a taster, below are copies of the Introduction, which contains details of all 10 writers included in the eleventh volume: Harry Elliott, David A. Sutton, Susan Macdonald, Marc Edward Star, Tais Teng, Andrew Darlington, Geoff Hart, Uumbi, Daniel Mahoney, and Craig Herbertson, plus the award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

 

 

 

Ongoing series in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy has published a number of stories that form parts of ongoing sagas. Volume 11 includes three of these.

The first is another Undervalley tale from Harry Elliott, involving his intrepid trio Hel Strumm, Mann Silver and the ever-thirsty Gul Hakker. "Silence for Snakes" marks the fifth story following “Skulls for Silver”, “Trials for Treasure”, “Blades for a Bounty” and “Masks for the Madness” in volumes 5, 6, 7 and 10.

 

Another series involves Craig Herbertsons tales of the barbarian hero Wardark. Prior to "Wardark and the Sands of Serpanam" in our latest volume we published "Wardark", "Wardark and the Siren Queen" and "Wardark and the Pirate King" in volumes 3, 6 and 8.

 

We have so far published four of Andrew Darlington's Eternal Assassin stories: "A Place of Ghosts" in Volume 6, "Moonfinger and the Gift" in Volume 8, "The Memory Eaters" in Volume 9 and "The Man Who Hunted Death" in Volume 11, though other Eternal Assassin stories have appeared elsewhere, some of which were collected in his Tule Fog Press collection The Eternal Assassin Chronicles: The Lives & Times.

 

Welgar the Cursed - Reviews on Goodreads

There are now three five-star reviews and one four-star on Goodreads for my collection from Tule Fog Press, Welgar the Cursed. 

To see these reviews follow this link: Goodreads 

My swords and sorcery tale Ammanada is published in the latest issue of Schlock! Webzine

 

The latest issue of Schlock! Webzine (November 2025) contains my longish swords and sorcery tale "Ammanada".

Here is a link to Schlock! Webzine's website where you can read a copy of this story for free: Ammanada 

New dark fantasy story accepted for publication: The Abomination in the Crypt

Great news just received about one of my most recent dark fantasy stories set in my usual swords and sorcery world, which has just been accepted for an anthology to be published later this year. More details soon.
 

The story is called "The Abomination in the Crypt".

This makes five dark fantasy stories due for publication between now and Autumn next year: 

 

The Moneylender of Oriaska

Ossani's Apprentice

Ammanada

Ossani's Escape

The Abomination in the Crypt 

 

Several more are out awaiting for a decision from various publishers.

Ossani's Escape

Pleased to find out that my swords and sorcery story "Ossani's Escape" is scheduled to be published in autumn (the Fall) in 2026.

A Grim God's Revenge

It was in 2017 that my first effort at a swords and sorcery story, "A Grim God's Revenge", was published in Mythic #4. Sadly this publication ceased to exist a year or so back. I reprinted "A Grim God's Revenge" in my collection of the same name.

Below is a link which will lead you to a pdf of my story which I'm presenting here as a free read. Hope you enjoy it.  

 

A Grim God's Revenge 

A Grim God's Revenge