Great review for The Lurkers in the Abyss on hellnotes

I was amazed to see a stunningly great review for my collection The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror on hellnotes.

Two quotes from it:

"The universe that Riley presents is not a forgiving one.  Like Lovecraft, Riley’s early influence, his universe does not care about you nor is it concerned with whether you are a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person or even what could be considered ‘fair’ in life.  Many of the main characters in Riley’s fiction are people who are simply going about their regular lives until something happens and suddenly they have been marked by darkness."


"In the introduction, David A. Sutton characterizes Riley’s stories as “urban horror” and there is plenty of that here but there is also something more.  Something that, like the work of Ramsey Campbell, is out of synch with the rest of reality.  Even more, with Riley’s fiction, you are left with the feeling that you yourself, at any time, doing the most mundane acts, could be consumed by darkness."

To read the full review follow this link.

Lurkers - The Vault of Evil Advent Calendar 2013

One of the final offerings on this year's Vault of Evil Advent Calendar is a downloadable copy of my story Lurkers, a sequel of sorts forty years on of my first professionally published story, The Lurkers in the Abyss, which originally appeared in The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror in 1970.

Lurkers

Getting Ready For the WFC

My last day at work this week and it's all about getting ready for going to Brighton tomorrow morning for the start of the World Fantasy Convention. The weather looks good today, and I hope it stays that way for the next few days!

Other than attending various program events as a member of the audience and taking photos, I only have one commitment, and that's the Shadow Publishing book launch on Friday afternoon at 2.00 p.m. for, amongst others, my short story collection The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror. Sorry to have just learned that the only other author who was due to be there, Samantha Lee, won't be able to make it. That just leaves Dave Sutton and me.

The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror - where all the stories in it have previously been published

I was checking through my records earlier today and surprised at just how many appearances many of the stories in this collection have had over the years since the first of them was published in 1970. Here are the book and magazine covers.

The Lurkers in the Abyss:

 

After Nightfall:

Prickly:

Writer's Cramp:

A New Lease:

Out of Corruption:

Help-Plants:

Terror on the Moors:

The Shade of Apollyon:

Winter on Aubarch 6:

Inside the Labyrinth:

The Shadow by the Altar:

A Sense of Movement:

Soft Little Fingers:

His Pale Blue Eyes:

Fish Eye:

World Fantasy Con 2013 - Brighton

The World Fantasy Convention in Brighton starts this Thursday. Lin and I are setting off first thing Thursday morning to reach the convention hotel, The Brighton Hilton, in the early afternoon for what promises to be an eventful weekend.

Appropriately, our first night there will be Hallowe'en. I have only one commitment on my time there: the Shadow Publishing books launch on Friday afternoon at 2.00 o'clock. Alongside my own short story collection, The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror, Shadow Publishing will be launching Samantha Lee's Worse Things Than Spiders and Eddy C. Bertin's The Whispering Horror. There will also be copies of David Sutton's Phantoms of Venice. Plus wine and soft drinks for buyers while they get their copies signed.

Other than this I intend to enjoy listening to as many of the panels, speeches and talks being held at the convention as I possibly can. I'll also be taking lots of photos for a report on the convention afterwards on this blog.

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)."

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)

WFC Shadow Publishing Book Launch

World Fantasy Convention flyer from Shadow Publishing

 

This is the flyer that Shadow Publishing will be handing out at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton this November. 

Proof reading finished!

Finally finished my second bout of proof reading in the last month. The first was for my novel, The Return (Blood Bound Books). The second was for my much longer collection of short stories, The Lurkers in the Abyss & other Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing). It feels like a marathon stint. All I have to do now is email Dave Sutton at Shadow Publishing with all the typos, etc., that I've found and I can go on holiday at the end of next week with a clean slate. May even find time to start writing something new!

Slightly altered cover for The Lurkers in the Abyss

The lettering on the front cover has now had some red blended into the black to make it stand out more clearly. I think it also gives it a 3D effect too.

Cover for The Lurkers in the Abyss by Paul Mudie

This is the cover as it will probably appear on my short story collection when it's published in October this year by Shadow Publishing.  All of the stories, which start with my very first professional sale, appear in chronological order and should show how my writing has developed over the years.