My review of Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography by R. B. Russell to be on Big Hits Radio UK tomorrow

My review of Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography by R. B. Russell will be read out by Trevor Kennedy on his weekly Sunday show on Big Hits Radio UK tomorrow between 12 noon and 2 p.m.

The review will also be published in the next issue of Phantasmagoria magazine. 

 

Three Eyed Jack

Very pleased to learn that Trevor Kennedy will be including my brand new story Three Eyed Jack in the next edition of Gruesome Grotesques: Carnival of Freaks later this year.

Phantasmagoria #12 - Halloween Special is now available

The best horror/fantasy magazine being published today. And unbelievable value at just £7.99! You'd be mad not to buy it.

(It includes my one and only Halloween story, Their Cramped Dark World.)

Check it out on amazon: kindle
paperback

Trevor Kennedy on Facebook:

PHANTASMAGORIA MAGAZINE issue 12, the Halloween special, is now published and will be on sale on Kindle in a few hours time, in paperback by tomorrow, and stocked in Forbidden Planet Belfast at the start of next week!

It is a bumper 356-page horror/fantasy/sci-fi extravaganza, a real treat for the readers and amazing value for money!
Here's the full list of contents:
Cover design by Adrian Baldwin.
Cover artwork by Roberto Segate.
Interior artwork by Jim Pitts (including frontispiece), Allen Koszowski, Stephen Clarke, Roberto Segate, Jonathan Temples and Jihane Mossalim.
- Editorial by myself.
- Interview with author/singer/actress (and loads more!), Samantha Lee (plus a review of Samantha's book 'Amy').
- Interview with dark artist Roberto Segate.
- Three Films From Hell: Rob Zombie feature with Dean M. Drinkel.
- Phantasmagoria at the conventions: Dublin World Con 2019, NecronomiCon 2019 and Fighting Fantasy Fest 3. Feature with myself, Allison Weir, Con Connolly, Jamie Fry and Allen Koszowski.
- Interview with leading UK publisher/author, Jo Fletcher.
- Interview with Peter, Nicky and Mike from PS Publishing.
- Interview with leading UK fantasy author, Adrian Cole.
- Batman (1989): feature by Nathan Waring.
- The Return of the Living Dead: feature by Liam Ronan.
- Devil's Haircut: exclusive comic strip and interviews with artist/writer Malachy Coney and musician Brian Young of The Sabrejets (with whom the strip is based upon).
- Interview with leading American horror/comedy author, Jeff Strand.
- Interview with American 'Goddess of Gore' author Nikki Noir, plus book extract and review.
- Phantasmagoria Fiction Halloween Stories Special! Featuring stories from Peter Crowther, Peter Coleborn, David A. Riley, H. R. Boldwood, Dave Jeffery, Alison Cybe, Joe X Young, myself, Terry Gray, Raven Dane, Andrea Bickerstaff, Carl Redding, Silas Rallings, Karina Sims and Andre Sanders (poem).
- Allen Koszowski Halloween artwork gallery.
- 1930s Horror films: feature by David Brilliance.
- Interview with leading Belfast author, Owen Quinn.
- Belfast's Film Devour film festival: feature/interview with Brian Mullholland, GCH Reilly and myself.
- Dr. Dave's Top 10... Spaceships From Science Fiction Movies.
- American author Carl R. Jennings book feature and review.
- Belfast poet Robert Donaldson book feature.
- Phantasmagoria Reviews:
- Reviews of books by Stephen Jones, Ramsey Campbell, Johnny Mains, Stephen Volk, Jon Bassoff, Jamie Nash, Jesse Dedman, Robert Bloch and Chanel Harry.
- Reviews of the following films and television: Joker, IT: Chapter 2, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Ad Astra, Crawl, Dracula in a Women's Prison, He Drives at Night, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, The Boys, Black Summer, Another Life and Batwoman.
- Reviews by Helen Scott, Barnaby Page, Carl R. Jennings, David A. Riley, Abdul-Qaadir Taariq Bakari-Muhammad, Allison Weir, Nikki Noir, Ciaran Woods, Joe X Young, Con Connolly, Michael Stephenson, Sarah Stephenson, David L. Tamarin, J. K. Wilde, James Keen and myself.

New PUP advert in Phantasmagoria Magazine

Trevor Kennedy is very kindly publishing the following advert for Parallel Universe Publications in the next issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine.

The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts reviewed by Trevor Kennedy of Phantasmagoria Magazine

THE FANTASTICAL ART OF JIM PITTS.
Review by Trevor Kennedy for Phantasmagoria Magazine.
The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts is a bumper hardback dedicated to the life works so far of the man of the title, one of the great fantasy artists of our time. On top of that, it also serves as a history of sorts of the much esteemed British Fantasy Society (and related publications) and the early days of these guys at the forefront of the movement, highlighting their good times, and quite often difficulties, over the last almost half a century. Jim Pitts and his exquisitely detailed artworks are our guides through this fascinating and hugely important period for the UK fantasy/horror scene. And I loved every single page of it!
Jim’s life, from his working class Northern English beginnings and folk band days with ‘The Jim Pitts Folk Quartet’ to the present day, is chronicled over 212 pages alongside a bonanza of his macabre works and written contributions from BFS stalwarts such as David A. Riley, David A. Sutton, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Jones, Brian Lumley, Adrian Cole, Peter Coleborn and more, fascinating real life stories concerning what really must have been a golden era for these pioneers, especially in the 1970s and ‘80s. Reading about the difficulties they faced back then just made me realise how lucky wannabe publishers/writers like myself get it these days. My first job when I left school was with a printing firm, so I know only too well how expensive lithographic printing was, and probably still is.
On the subject of Jim’s artwork itself, firstly I must state that I am no art expert, especially from a technical viewpoint. But for me, as a layman, I found his numerous pieces included on the pages to be brilliantly atmospheric, haunting and Lovecraftian. I particularly enjoyed his representations of certain M.R. James’ stories, some of his Cthulhu mythos-based creations, his cracking portrait of Vincent Price in Witchfinder General, along with a classic Universal monster or two. On a personal level, Jim’s artwork also brought with it warm feelings of nostalgia for my own childhood when I would have read some of the various publications referenced, including Fantasy Tales and the B.F.S. Bulletins, mailed to me in the 1980s by my then pen-pal cousin Dave Carson, another fantasy artist also mentioned in the book and associate of Jim and the aforementioned contributors. For me to now be just a small part of this scene is the greatest of personal honours.
This is a very special book for many reasons, so if you have even a passing interest in fantasy artwork (especially that of Jim Pitts obviously) or the recent history of the UK weird fiction scene, then you really need to grab a copy for yourself as soon as humanly possible!
A limited number of 250 signed copies of The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts have been published by Parallel Universe Publications. If you are interested in acquiring a copy you can contact them through the following:
Parallel Universe Publications
David A. Riley; Linden Riley
Head Office: 130 Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, BB5 3DR, UK.
Email: paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk or davidariley@gmx.co.uk
A future issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine (number 10, late May 2019) will feature interviews with Jim Pitts, David A. Riley and David A. Sutton.

Gruesome Grotesques #4 - Winter on Aubarch 6

Issue 4 of Trevor Kennedy's amazing anthology series Gruesome Grotesques is now out and includes a reprint of my science fiction horror story Winter on Aubarch 6, originally published in Fear magazine in 1989.

John Gilbert, who was the editor of Fear magazine, wrote the Foreword to Gruesome Groesques and had this to say about my story: "There are also shifts in tone such as David A. Riley's 'Winter on Aubarch 6' which is hard-ish Science Fiction/Horror when originally published in FEAR Magazine but could now be considered as a fable for our age of climate change."

Winter on Aubarch 6 is also included in my collection The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing).

Fear magazine 1989

The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror reviewed in Belfast's Phantasmagoria Magazine

A brilliant review coming soon in Phantasmagoria Magazine by Trevor Kennedy.

THE LURKERS IN THE ABYSS AND OTHER TALES OF TERROR by David A. Riley.
A collection of rather dark horror tales from David A. Riley spanning almost fifty years with each tale originally appearing in now considered genre classic publications such as the Pan Book of Horror series, Fantasy Tales, FEAR Magazine, World of Horror and many more.

I absolutely adored this book! The type of old school (trust me, that is a compliment) horror I grew up reading and still crave for to this day, the influences to Lovecraft and perhaps the likes of M. R. James and Poe (and maybe even Tales From The Crypt), are apparent but certainly not overdone. Riley’s own grim style shines throughout always, compelling and descriptive, though once again never over doing the descriptiveness. The haunting images his words created in my mind’s eye were vivid and lasting.
A couple of my favourite stories would have to be ‘Terror on the Moors’, a creepy, tense and atmospheric witchcraft-related yarn, and ‘Winter on Aubarch 6’, at first a mild science fiction tale that gradually evolves into full-blown, deeply disturbing body horror.
I don’t personally know what the sales figures are for this book, but I am certainly of the opinion that it should be read by as many people as possible, especially those with even a passing interest in horror or the short story form - of which Riley is one of the masters!
Hugely entertaining and great fun, I urge you to go out and purchase you own copy to experience for yourself the dark joys that lie within.
The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror is available from Shadow Publishing and Amazon.
Trevor Kennedy.

 Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.