Very pleased to see some kind comments about my story An Oddity, which appeared in Schlock! Webzine recently.
Pages
- News, Views, Reviews and Stuff
- Published Stories
- My Novels
- My Book Reviews
- Collection - The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror
- Collection - Their Cramped Dark World and Other Tales
- Collection - His Own Mad Demons: Dark Tales from David A. Riley
- Beyond and Prism
- Interviews
- Audio Stories
- Parallel Universe Publications - direct orders
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Day Twenty-Two of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Nightscape by Eric Ian Steele
Nightscape includes eleven tales:
Charlie - first published in Terror Tales #4, edityed by John B. Ford and Paul Kane
The Musical Box - first published in Chaos Theory: Tales Askew #13, edited by A. A. Roberts
The Groaner in the Glen - first published in The Lovecraft eZine #29, edited by Mike Davis
City of the Damned - first published in In Bad Dreams II
Black Annis - first published in The Willows #1, edited by Ben Thomas
After the Fall - first published in Chaos Theory: Tales Askew #3, edited by A. A. Roberts
Moths - first published in Scifantastic
Cycle - first published in Terminal Earth
A Dahlia Among the Roses, Ars Armortia, and Indian Summer are original to this collection.
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Day Twenty-One of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Benjamin Blake's Standing on the Threshold of Madness
For day twenty-one of showcasing books
published by Parallel Universe Publications it's the turn of the only
book of poetry so far published by PUP, Benjamin Blake's Standing on the Threshold of Madness.
Respected Lovecraftian scholar S. T. Joshi had this to say about
Benjamin Blake's collection, Standing on the Threshold of Madness:
"I was most impressed with Standing on the Threshold of Madness.
These dark, brooding vignettes do far more than send a shudder up one's
spine (although they do that again and again, with elegance and
panache). Benjamin Blake has found a way to infuse into his horrific
lyrics a keen sensitivity to human emotions, an understanding of the
fragility of life, and a bleak portrayal of the evanescence of all
existence. This is a volume that aficionados of weird poetry will want
to read over and over."
Other comments about Benjamin Blake and his poetry:
“Benjamin Blake relishes funereal lyricism
with a spice of surrealism.” - Ramsey Campbell
Paperback and kindle:
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Day Twenty of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Radix Omnium Malum and Other Incursions by Mike Chinn
Day twenty of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's Radix
Omnium Malum and Other Incursions by Mike Chinn, published in February 2017.
Mike Chinn lives in Birmingham, UK, with his wife Caroline and their
tribe of guinea pigs. In 2012 he took early retirement so he can spend
more time writing (and not housework). Over the years he has published
over sixty short stories, as well as editing three volumes of THE
ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES, and SWORDS AGAINST THE MILLENNIUM,
also for The Alchemy Press. His own contribution to the Pulp Adventure
genre, THE PALADIN MANDATES garnered two nominations for the British
Fantasy Award in 1999. A second Damian Paladin book, WALKERS IN SHADOW,
is to be published by Pro Se Productions; as is a Western: REVENGE IS A
COLD PISTOL. In 2015, his Sherlock Holmes steampunk mash-up, VALLIS
TIMORIS (Fringeworks), sent the famous detective to the Moon.
Radix
Omnium Malum and Other Incursions includes the following stories:
“Radix Omnium Malum” originally published in THE GRIMORIUM VERUM ©2015
“Two Weeks Saturday” originally published in DARK HORIZONS 23 ©2004
“Kittens” originally published in READ RAW ©2009
“Blood of Eden”
originally published in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF DRACULA ©1997
“Suffer a
Witch” originally published in SALVO 7 ©2003
“Cheechee’s Out” originally
published in SECOND CITY SCARES ©2013
“The Owl that Calls” originally
published on WikiWorm ©2013
“The Pygmalion Conjuration” originally
published in THE TENTH BLACK BOOK OF HORROR ©2013
“To Die For”
originally published in BFS JOURNAL 10 ©2014
“Sons of the Dragon”
originally published in kZINE 1 ©2011
“Only the Lonely” originally
published in DARK VALENTINE 4 ©2011
“Rescheduled” originally published
in FINAL SHADOWS ©1991
“Considering the Dead” originally published in
DARK MUSES, SPOKEN SILENCES ©2013 “Wednesday Morning at Five O’Clock”
originally published in PHOBOPHOBIAS ©2014
“The Streets of Crazy Cities”
and “The Mercy Seat” are original to this collection. ©2017
Paperback and kindle:
You can order the softcover direct from us on this link, post free.
Monday, 26 February 2024
Day Nineteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Shades: Dark Tales of Supernatural Horror by Joseph Rubas
Day Nineteen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to Shades: Dark Tales of Supernatural Horror by Joseph Rubas.
Joseph Rubas began writing in 2002 after reading Stephen King’s The Stand.
His earliest efforts reflected his deep love of that novel; he tried
again and again to write a rip-off, but finally gave up around 2006 and
resigned himself to writing original fiction. His first short story was
published in May 2010 on the now defunct Horror Bound Online website.
His second story was published in September 2010 in a Pushcart Prize
nominated literary magazine for new and beginning writers called The Storyteller. Since then, his work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. His first collection, the now out of print Pocketful of Fear, was released by a small publisher in 2012. His second collection, After Midnight, appeared in 2014. His short fiction has appeared in: Nameless Digest; The Horror Zine; Eschatology Journal; Thuglit; Manor House; All Due Respect, and others. He has self-published three longer works: The Rocking Dead: Seasons 1-3 (a parody of the AMC series The Walking Dead); The Rocking Dead: Season 4; The Shapeshifter; and Dracula 1912, the latter a novel.
He currently resides in Albany, New York.
This Collection includes:
Midnight
Aokigahara
Snowbound
Deja Vu
The Ghostly Hitchhiker
Just a Mask
Meeting Ray Bradbury
5051 Bartley Square
The Witching Hour
Potter's Field
The Warlock
Confessional
The Thing in the Woods
The Lake House
Chomo
The Traveling Show of 2016
Evildoer
A Perfect Life
Fury
Paint
Night of the Dog
Paperback and kindle:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
Sunday, 25 February 2024
Day Eighteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: The Chameleon Man & Other Terrors by David Williamson
Day eighteen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to David Williamson's collection The Chameleon Man & Other Terrors.
This collection includes four tales that originally appeared in the Pan Books of Horror.
The Procedure
He lives in West Sussex near the sea.
Paperback and kindle:amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
Saturday, 24 February 2024
Day Seventeen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: A Place of Skulls and Other Tales by David Ludford
Day seventeen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to A Place of Skulls and Other Tales by David Ludford. This collection includes twelve tales of terror previously published in Schlock! magazine.
A Place of Skulls
Paperback and kindle:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
Friday, 23 February 2024
Day Sixteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Haunted Grave and Other Stories by Ezeiyoke Chukwunonso
Day sixteen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to Haunted Grave and Other Stories by Ezeiyoke Chukwunonso, "Eight Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction from the African Continent."
Ezeiyoke Chukwunonso is an MA graduate of Creative Writing, Swansea University Wales. His short stories, poems and non-fiction have appeared in a couple of journals, anthologies and magazines such as Emanation: Foray into Forever, Africa Roar Anthology, Open Road Review, Criterion Journal, ANA Review, Ground's Ear Anthology, Future Lovecraft, African Eyeball, Miracle e-zine, Episteme Journal, Texts on SAVVY Journal. He has been shortlisted in IdeasTap Inspires: Writers' Centre Norwich Writing competition, Ghana Poetry Prize, and Quickfox Poetry Competition.
Eaters of Flesh
Paperback and kindle:
Thursday, 22 February 2024
Day Fifteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Fishhead: The Darker Tales of Irvin S. Cobb
Day fifteen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to Fishhead: The Darker Tales of Irvin S. Cobb, published in August 2016 in hardcover, paperback and a kindle ebook.
During his lifetime Irvin S. Cobb was one of the most celebrated writers in American literature, though nowadays he is almost forgotten, apart perhaps from his Lovecraft connection. Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born in Paducah, Kentucky on the 23rd June, 1876. His father, unable to cope with the death of his own father, succumbed to alcoholism when Cobb was only sixteen. As a result, Cobb’s education came to an end and he started work, first on the Paducah Daily News, then the Louisville Evening Post. By 1904 Cobb’s career in journalism was doing so well that he moved to New York, where he would go on to spend the rest of his life, starting work at the Evening Sun, though it wasn’t long before an assignment to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire so impressed Joseph Pulitzer that he offered Cobb a job at the New York World, where he became the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States. In 1911 Cobb moved to the Saturday Evening Post. Three years later he was asked to cover the Great War. Amongst the many stories he wrote while there were the exploits of the Harlem Hellfighters, a unit of black American soldiers who had gone on to earn distinction for their courage and discipline, which Cobb celebrated in his book The Glory of the Coming. Besides his prolific work as a journalist, Cobb’s fame largely came from his humorous stories, which were published in the leading magazines of his day, and collected in numerous books during his lifetime. But, though he was best known as a humourist, he did have a darker side, exemplified by the tales collected in this volume. Two of the most famous succeeded in catching the attention of H. P. Lovecraft. It is claimed that Fishhead influenced Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. And there is certainly no doubt that Lovecraft was favourably impressed with this tale. In his groundbreaking essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Lovecraft wrote: “Fishhead, an early achievement, is banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake…” The Unbroken Chain gave Lovecraft the key idea behind The Rats in the Walls, though in all other respects the two tales are totally different. Besides writing and journalism, Cobb’s career extended to Hollywood, where legendary director, John Ford, made two films based on his books: Judge Priest (1934) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953). Other films included Peck’s Bad Boy (1921), starring Jackie Coogan, and The Woman Accused (1933), with a young Cary Grant. Cobb also did a stint at acting himself, appearing in ten movies altogether, including Pepper, Everybody’s Old Man (1936), Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) and Hawaii Calls (1938). It’s a sign of the prominence he had achieved that in 1935 he was invited to host the 7th Academy Awards. Other than the tales that inspired Lovecraft, Cobb also wrote some brilliantly dark stories that culminate in a kind of sadistic irony. They are some of the finest conte cruel ever written. Amongst the best of these is the final story in this collection: Faith, Hope, and Charity, whose protagonists, as is often the case in Cobb’s stories, struggle against fates that are not only pre-ordained but are horrendously appropriate! It must be added his hapless victims are far from blameless. What fates await them under Cobb’s pen have most definitely been brought upon them by themselves! Through most of the tales there is a wry sense of humour, so wry, in fact, that it never detracts from the impact at the end; indeed, it often adds to and embellishes it! I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did and share with me the conviction that it is high time they were revived.
Contents are:
Fishhead
The Escape of Mr. Trimm
The Gallowsmith
Mr. Lobel's Apoplexy
The Unbroken Chain
The Second Coming of the First Husband
Masterpiece
January Thaw
Cabbages and Kings
We Can't All Be Thoroughbreds
Queer Creek
Ace, Deuce, Ten Spot, Joker
Balm of Gilead
Faith, Hope, and Charity
Hardback, paperback and kindle:
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Day Fourteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Classic Weird 2 edited by David A. Riley
Cover art: Simon Mathurin |
Day fourteen of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's our second and final volume of Classic Weird.
This 298-page volume contains weird tales by some of the classic authors of the genre, including:
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Day Thirteen of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Into the Dark by Andrew Jennings
Andrew Jennings' horror crime noir novel Into the Dark is Parallel Universe's nineteenth book. It is now available as a paperback and an ebook.
"There's a serial killer at loose in London. Janice, who has a chronic
fear of the dark, stumbles into a relationship with the man who may
secretly be the murderer. Neither know that in the North of England, in
a place previously owned by his dead mother, activities are taking
place that may unleash a horror that could spell the end of civilisation
in Britain - an ancient evil that would make the activities of any
serial killer look like child's play by comparison. Could a psychotic
killer be the only man capable of ending this?"
Paperback and kindle:
Monday, 19 February 2024
Day Twelve of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Tough Guys by Adrian Cole
Artwork by Jim Pitts |
Day Tweve of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications and it's Adrian Cole's collection Tough Guys.
Adrian’s latest collection, Tough Guys, contains three previously
unpublished novellas and a short. Based on the title theme, these four
works are completely different in subject matter and tone. There is, of
course, A Nick Nightmare story herein, ‘Wait for the Ricochet’, in
which the gumshoe is entrusted to convey a message about “The Malleus
Tenebrarum”, a book that names the properties and powers of dark and
light, to the Mechanic, one Oil-Gun Eddy... His adversary is the
sinister Lucien de Sangreville, plus assorted non-human denizens of the
murky lower levels, and his sidekick the sword-wielding business-woman
Ariadne Carnadine. In contrast, in ‘If You Don’t Eat Your Meat’ the
reader enters a post-apocalyptic world where the very unsavoury Ryan
relates his story of rival families and cannibalism. It is gruesome and
unflinching horror. In ‘A Smell of Burning’ a hospital patient finds he
is having out-of-the-body experiences. On his astral journeys he visits a
man recalling his abused childhood and this leads to a shocking
revelation... Finally, ‘Not If You Want to Live’ explores the fate of
Razorjack, who is a Redeemer, a dead man used by a shady organisation to
bring back others from death. An intriguing and engrossing story of
love between Razorjack (aka Jack Krane) and mobster’s moll Rebecca
Fellini, with science fictional and satanic elements.
Contents:
Paperback and kindle:
Sunday, 18 February 2024
Day Eleven of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Other Visions of Heaven and Hell by Jessica Palmer
Day Eleven of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to Other Visions of Heaven and Hell by Jessica Palmer, published April 2016.
Jessica
Palmer has had 28 books published, both fiction and nonfiction. Her
novels – horror, fantasy and science fiction – were released by Pocket
Books in the United States and Scholastic in the United Kingdom. She has
written two textbooks about Native American history, which were
published by McFarland, and an encyclopedia of natural history released
by Harper Collins’ label Element Books and later by Thorson in the UK.
Palmer
has also written ten science-and-technology manuals on the topics of
explosives and radiation. These were distributed globally. It was this
work that brought her to Great Britain in 1988.
The daughter of a
professional clown, Palmer refers to her switch to writing fiction as an
exercise in damage limitation. She taught classes and conducted
workshops on creative writing and publishing at North Shropshire College
in Whitchurch, Stanmore College and the Islington Arts Factory in
London.
As a journalist, Palmer won awards in New Mexico and Texas
for writing features, public service and breaking news – the most recent
in 2013. Palmer has also written satirical columns for newspapers,
including “A Slice of Life” and “How to Make Love to your Personal
Computer.”
Her two loves are writing and animals. She started a
nonprofit in Kansas for wildlife rescue and has held a wildlife
rehabilitation permit since 2002.
Other Visions of Heaven and Hell
are a series of sometimes inter-related stories about our ideas of
Heaven and Hell, sometimes hilarious - sometimes horrific - but always
entertaining.
Contents are:
Devil's Due
The Faithful
And now, a Word from our Sponsor
Heavenly Bodies
On the Wings of a Prayer
Fallen Angel
A Stitch in Time
Infinity
No Good Turn
Leap of Faith
Divine Comedy
Force of Habit
The Gates of Hell
Hell on Wheels
Cinderella Revisited
Last Laugh
Sisters
A Cold Day in Hell
Cheap Shots
What the Dickens
When Hell Freezes Over
Bad Medicine
Wrong Number
A Snowball's Chance
Devil Woman
To Be or Not
The King's Plate
An Afterthought
About the Author
Last Laugh was first published in Weirdbook #28, Autumn 1993, edited by W. Paul Ganley
Cinderella Revisited was first published in Weirdbook #29, Autumn 1995, edited by W. Paul Ganley
What the Dickens was first published in Substance Sept 1995
Paperback and kindle:
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
Amazon.com
Saturday, 17 February 2024
Day Ten of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: A Saucerful of Secrets by Andrew Darlington
Artwork by Vincent Chong
Day
Ten of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications
brings us to Andrew Darlington's amazing collection of short stories A Saucerful of Secrets, first published in March 2016.
Andrew Darlington has had masses of material published in all manner of
strange and obscure places, magazines, websites, anthologies and books.
He's also worked as a Stand-Up Poet on the ‘Alternative Cabaret
Circuit’, and has interviewed very many people from the worlds of
Literature, SF-Fantasy, Art and Rock-Music for a variety of publications
(a selection of favourite interviews collected into the ‘Headpress’
book ‘I WAS ELVIS PRESLEY’S BASTARD LOVE-CHILD’). His latest music
biography is ‘DON'T CALL ME NIGGER, WHITEY: SLY STONE & BLACK POWER’
(Leaky Boot Press).
Contents are:
The Strange Laudanum Dream of Branwell Bronte
London Bridge is Falling Down, Falling Down
Thuesday to Fryday
The Door to Anywhere
Beast of the Baskervilles
Derek Edge and the Saucerful of Secrets
Refuge
The Non-Expanding Universe
Gender-Shock
Big Bad John
Terminator Zero and the Dream Demons
A Grotesque Romance
This World Holds Space Enough
And the Earth Has No End
The Strange Laudanum Dream of Branwell Bronte was first published in Tigershark #3, 2014
The Door to Anywhere was first published in Worlds of the Unknown #1, 2014
Beast of the Baskervilles was first published in Tigershark #5, 2014
The Non-Expanding Universe was first published in Hellfire Crossroads #5, 2015
Gender-Shock was first published in Tigershark # 2, 2013
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
Friday, 16 February 2024
Day Nine of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Moloch's Children
Day Nine of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to my horror novel Moloch's Children, which received some favourable reviews including in Dark Discoveries magazine.
Elm Tree House had a sinister history but few realised the true demonic power that lurked within its forbidding depths till it was taken over by a cult determined to make use of its horrendous secret.
"A modern day Dennis Wheatley yarn that the old master would have enjoyed. The protagonists have to endure some horrendous experiences within a pentacle in a scene that ramps up the horror. Written with pace and panache by the very accomplished David A Riley. A real page turner. More, please." Amazon review
"What a fantastic book! Take a Bow Mr. Riley! I could not put down the book for a moment till I finished it. Great level of detail, vivid imagery, likable characters, not too original but engaging plot nevertheless, this is the kind that engaging horror is made of! I hope there are more such books from Mr. Riley's pen that come out soon." Amazon review
Reviewed by Stuart Conover (Dark Discoveries magazine)
"What can I say aside from David A. Riley’s Moloch’s Children short of the fact that if you love the idea of a haunted house, a writer with an overactive imagination, Satanists, and so much more – you will love this book! Honestly even though it took place in more modern times it felt like a throwback to the slow build suspense work and the strong hints of Satanism that were both quite popular in the 60’s and 70’s. Riley knows not only how to strikingly set the mood but build upon that foundation to have an entire story weaved together which will keep you wondering what will happen next.
The main focus on the novel is the Elm Tree House which has a long and sordid history. Or should I say that the grounds it stands on do and it has acquired it by association. That hasn’t stopped Oliver Atcheson who is recovering from the loss of his wife to purchase the property. His dream for it is to create an artist’s colony there and with the steal he purchased the mansion at it seems like a dream that will easily be made a reality. That is of course until the repair bills start piling up as well as what the locals think about the place.
We also get to learn about others who are both interested in Oliver’s project or have become associated with him. Of course anyone who knows anything about the house seems to be holding some of the information back and we have plenty to discover as the pages turn.
They’ll be turning quickly too because for everything question that is answered, two more pop up. In a move where the suspense constantly builds as well there is no way to put the book down until you get to the bitter end.
In some ways I was reminded of Ti West’s film The House of the Devil though there really is no direct comparison between the stories. Still, much of the way I felt the mood and descriptions worked here really seemed to apply to both the film and novel."
Thursday, 15 February 2024
Day Eight of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After by Kate Farrell
Day Eight of showcasing books published
by Parallel Universe Publications brings us to Kate Farrell's debut
collection in December 2015 And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After, with an Introduction by Reggie Oliver. The cover artwork is by Vincent Chong.
Contents are:
Introduction by Reggie Oliver
Mea Culpa
Helping Mummy
A Murder of Crows
No Junk Mail
All in a Row
Dad Dancing
The Way and the Truth and the Life
My Name is Mary Sutherland
The Efficient Use of Reason
How I Got Here
His Family
The Sands are Magic
Once Upon a Time
A. Reeves Tale
Las Cosas Que Hacemos por El Amor
Peacock Blue Dress
Alma Mater
Waiting
Mea Culpa was first published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror, 2011
His Family was first published in The Ninth Black Book of Horror, 2012
Dad Dancing was first published in The Tenth Black Book of Horror, 2013
Helping Mummy was first published in The Screaming Book of Horror, 2012
The Sands are magic was first published in Terror Tales of the Seaside, 2013
Waiting was first published in Kitchen Sink Gothic, 2015
Alma Mater was first published in The Eleventh Black Book of Horror, 2015
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Day Seven of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: His Own Mad Demons
His Own Mad Demons contains
Lock-In
The Worst of All Possible Places
The Fragile Mask on His Face
Their Own Mad Demons
The True Spirit
"This is great start to the collection, with a perfect mix of gangsters and ghosts, David A. Riley has created a wonderful gritty tale full of great characters and an excellent twist on vengeful spirit. This story gets right up your nose in the best possible way.
"To most blokes being trapped in a pub is probably a great thing, free beer and as many bags of peanuts you could eat is my idea of heaven. However after reading Lock -In, I now no longer wish this to be this case. This is a very claustrophobic tale thats takes a well used theme of lurkers in the dark and shapes it into an original and truly tense story.
"The Fragile Mask On His Face, is perhaps the most shocking and horrific tale in this anthology. This is definitely not a tale for those of you with a weak stomach. This story returns to the town of Edgebottom, and in particular The pub of the previous story, and features another fabulous Black magician, this time one with a penchant for skinning faces, glorious stuff.
"The True Spirit, after a terrible massacre that left ambulance driver Harold Briscombe so traumatised that he suffered a breakdown and never returned to work. Now years later the only pleasure that Harold has in his life is his allotment and his cat loving wife Alice. When two of her cats go missing the the prime suspect of their angry neighbour. But soon he is found dead at the bottom of his stairs apparently the victim of a silly fall. To make things worse Harold's allotment gets vandalised. However when a mysterious and charismatic stranger arrives and promises to out things right. Harold suspects there is more to this young man than meets the eyes, so he decides to follow him one night, is this just what was intended to happen all along?
"This is a brilliant story that captures a that unsettling and terrifying feeling of many great horror stories of the 1970's. This is the sort of story that would have been a highlight in such films as From Beyond the Grave.
"The Worst Of All Possible Places is the final tale is the final tale in this excellent collection.
Bill Whitley only has two options left to hom, become homeless or take up residence in the dumping ground for all of Edgebottom's undesirables, Daisyfield House. The house itself has been witness to many tragedies, built on the site of a church that was the scene of a mass killing, this a place where the dead don't stay dead, and where real horror stalks its corridors.
"This is a fitting end to a remarkable collection. Robert Rankin has his Brighton, Terry Pratchett has his Discworld, and so David A. Riley has his Edgebottom, and I for one know which of these worlds I would like to take a return trip to. In an era where so many authors are trying to find a unique twist on the horror the story, at the expense of a well written story, it is a refreshing to come across an author who understands how to write a scary, gripping and down right entertaining story. His Own Mad Demons is what I like to call good old fashioned horror, and this is a shining example of that.
"I can't wait for the release of David's latest collection later on this year."
Amazon.com
Tuesday, 13 February 2024
Day Six of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Kitchen Sink Gothic
Day Six of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications:
Kitchen Sink Gothic selected by David A. Riley and Linden Riley:
Coined in the 1950s, Kitchen Sink described British films, plays and
novels frequently set in the North of England, which showed working
class life in a gritty, no-nonsense, “warts and all” style, sometimes
referred to as social realism. It became popular after the playwright
John Osborne wrote Look Back In Anger, simultaneously helping to create
the Angry Young Men movement. Films included Saturday Night and Sunday
Morning, The Entertainer, A Taste of Honey, The L-Shaped Room and The
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. TV dramas included Coronation
Street and East Enders. In recent years TV dramas that could rightly be
described as kitchen sink gothic include Being Human, with its cast of
working class vampires, werewolves and ghosts, and the zombie drama In
the Flesh, with its northern working class, down to earth setting. In
this anthology you will find stories that cover a wide range of Kitchen
Sink Gothic, from the darkly humorous to the weirdly strange and
occasionally horrific.
Cover artwork by Joe Young.
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
1964 by Franklin Marsh
Derek Edge and the Sun-Spots by Andrew Darlington
Daddy Giggles by Stephen Bacon
Black Sheep by Gary Fry
Jamal Comes Home by Benedict J. Jones
Waiting by Kate Farrell
Lilly Finds a Place to Stay by Charles Black
The Mutant's Cry by David A. Sutton
The Sanitation Solution by Walter Gascoigne
Up and Out of Here by Mark Patrick Lynch
Late Shift by Adrian Cole
The Great Estate by Shaun Avery
Nine Tenths by Jay Eales
Envelopes by Craig Herbertson
Tunnel Vision by Tim Major
Life is Prescious M. J. Wesolowski
Canvey Island Baby by David Turnbull
Monday, 12 February 2024
Day Five of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Classic Weird
Day Five of showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications:
Classic Weird, published in May 2015
Classic Weird contains:
The Monster-Maker by W. C. Morrow
The Man Who Went Too Far by E. F. Benson
The Interval by Vincent O'Sullivan
The Doll's Ghost by F. Marion Crawford
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
The Ghost-Ship by Richard Middleton
The New Catacomb by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
The House of the Dead Hand by Edith Wharton
A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
Phantas by Oliver Onions
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
amazon.com
Day Four of Showcasing books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Their Cramped Dark World & Other Tales
Cover artwork: Luke Spooner |
Table of Contents:
Hoody (first published in When Graveyards Yawn, Crowswing Books, 2006)
A Bottle of Spirits (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 2, 1972)
No Sense in Being Hungry, She Thought (first published in Peeping Tom #20, 1996)
Now and Forever More (first published in The Second Black Book of Horror, 2008)
Romero's Children (first published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror, 2010)
Swan Song (first published in The Ninth Black Book of Horror, 2012)
The Farmhouse (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 1, 1971)
The Last Coach Trip (first published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror, 2011)
The Satyr's Head (first published in The Satyr's Head & Other Tales of Terror, 1975)
Their Cramped Dark World (first published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror, 2010)
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free. Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Saturday, 10 February 2024
Day Three of Showcasing the books published by Parallel Universe Publications: Things That Go Bump In The Night edited by Douglas Draa and David A. Riley
Day 3 of showcasing books published by PUP:
Things That Go Bump in the Night edited
by Douglas Draa and David
A. Riley was published as a trade paperback and kindle eBook in January
2015. 365 pages long, this bumper volume contains 19 classic
weird stories by Sir Hugh Clifford, Edward Lucas White, William Hope
Hodgson, George Allan England, F. Marion Crawford, Frederick Marryat, E.
F. Benson, W. C. Morrow, Amyas Northcote, M. P. Shiel, Lord Dunsany,
Perceval Landon, Robert E. Howard, G. G. Pendarves, Henry Brereton
Marriott Watson, Irvin S. Cobb, Huan Mee, Abraham Merritt, Nictzin
Dyalhis, and Edith Wharton.
The Ghoul Sir Hugh Clifford
The House of the Nightmare Edward Lucas White
The Voice in the Night William Hope Hodgson
The Thing from Outside George Allan England
For the Blood is the Life F. Marion Crawford
The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains Frederick Marryat
The Room in the Tower E. F. Benson
His Unconquered Enemy W. C. Morrow
The Late Mrs. Fowke Amyas Northcote
XĂ©lucha M. P. Shiel
A Narrow Escape Lord Dunsany
Thurnley Abbey Perceval Landon
The Black Stone Robert E, Howard
Werewolf of the Sahara G. G. Pendarves
The Devil of the Marsh Henry Brereton Marriott Watson
Fishhead Irvin S. Cobb
The Black Statue Huan Mee
The Pool of the Stone God Abraham Merritt
The Sea-Witch Nictzin Dyalhis
The Lady’s Maid’s Bell Edith Wharton
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free or, alternatively:
Amazon.com