Gruesome Grotesques #5 now available in paperback and kindle

Gruesome Grotesques #5, The Outer Zone, is now available in paperback and kindle. This 478-page book contains my story Lock-In. It also has an amazing list of contributors, and at £9.99 is an absolute bargain!

amazon

 

THE RETURN by David A. Riley is our Patreon book of the month.

My crime noir Lovecraftian horror novel THE RETURN  is Blood Bound Books' Patreon book of the month.
Get paperbacks delivered to you doorstep every month for $10: www.patreon.com/bloodboundbooks
Learn more about the novel: https://bit.ly/33nEnzb

Green Book

Watched an excellent movie last night on my favourite TV "channel" (amazon prime) called Green Book, which I shall be adding to our list of great Christmas movies - not that this is merely a Christmas movie by any means, but it ends on Christmas day and has an uplifting message that fits the season, just like the numerous adaptations of Scrooge to Hammer's Cash on Demand.
Well worth watching at any time of the year, mind.

Hidden Wyndham by Amy Binns - The 1957 World Science Fiction Convention

While reading Amy Binns' excellent biography of John Wyndham (Hidden Wyndham) I was fascinated by some of the photographs reproduced in it from the 1957 World Science Fiction Convention in London, at which Wyndham was president. Also included in the link below are photos of other well known names, including a very young Michael Moorcock, who I would never have recognised if not for the label!

15th World Science Fiction Convention - London 1957 

Frank & Belle Dietz, John Wyndham, unknown, Ted Carnell, Frank Arnold, Arthur C.Clarke,
Bob & Barbara Silverberg

Michael Moorcock

Movie - The City of Life and Death

Watched The City of Life and Death on Amazon Prime last night, a brilliant Chinese movie about the Nanking massacre of 1937 by the brutall invading army of the Japanese who slaughtered over 300,000. Filmed in stunning black and white, this 2009 movie depicts events from both sides, including a Japanese soldier who finds himself sickened by the excesses carried out by his comrades and superiors. Well worth watching, especially for its unflinching realism.
The link below is interesting but if you want to avoid spoilers don't read it till after you have seen the film.
The City of Life and Death - Wikipedia

Hidden Wyndham by Amy Binns arrived today

Received my copy of Hidden Wyndham by Amy Binns in the post today from Amazon and look forward to reading it over the next few days. It's a great looking book, complete with a section of black and white photographs and an index.

I intend writing a review of it for a future issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine.

Stories for publication in 2020

I so far have three stories due to be reprinted in various publications next year.

The latest is Help-Plants, which will appear in Martian Wave from Alban Publishing. This story was first published in Aboriginal Science Fiction.

Two other stories will appear in Lovecraftiana: Lurkers and The Shadow by the Altar.

Currently I have one story in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine: Their Cramped Dark World, and a second, Lock-In in Gruesome Grotesques #5, due next month, the Twilight Zone issue, as well as Writer's Cramp in Terror Tales of Northwest England.

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.

Terror Tales of Northwest England edited by Paul Finch

I am pleased to announce that Terror Tales of Northwest England is now available, both as a paperback and ebook.
Published by Telos Publishing, it is edited by Paul Finch and includes stories by Jason Gould, Cate Gardner, Simon Kurt Unsworth, John Travis, Edward Pearce, Christopher Harman, Stephen Gallagher, Peter Bell, Sam Stone, Ramsey Campbell, Anna Taborska, Simon Bestwick, Solomon Strange, Paul Finch, and my own story Writer's Cramp.

Competition re The Return - Name the owner of this gun

In my Lovecraftian crime noir novel The Return one character regularly uses a Beretta .22 pistol, favoured by the Mossad.

Name which character this is and the first three winners will receive a copy of any Parallel Universe paperback (or ebook, if they prefer) of their choice.

Email your entries to davidariley@gmx.co.uk, heading the subject line "The Return Contest".

Good luck!

 

And for anyone with more than a passing interest in guns:

CBGB

It's always great when you come across something you have never heard about before and find it's amazingly good. This happened last night when I came across the movie CBGB, starring Alan Rickman as Hilly Crystal, the clubowner and music entrepeneur who seemingly almost single-handedly helped to create the Punk Rock phenomena.

Rickman, as always, was a joy to watch, with his layed back charismatic performance. I must admit to knowing virtually nothing about the events portrayed in this movie, other than the names of the more well-known groups and performers who benefitted from Crystal's club CBGB, which stood for Country, Bluegrass and Blues, which he mistakenly thought would be the next big thing in music.

Needing groups who would perform for virtually nothing, though, his club, situated in a grim downtown area of New York, becomes a mecca for the new wave of Punk musicians who soon become world famous, including Iggy Pop, The Police, Blondie, The Ramones, the Dead Boys and countless others.

An excellent film, which I wholeheartedly recommend. Currently available on amazon prime.

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.

Hidden Wyndham - a biography of John Wyndham by Amy Binns

Looking forward to this biography of John Wyndham being published next month. I know far too little about him, apart from the fact he was one of Britain's best science fiction writers and I enjoyed reading his books - still do, in fact, though it's re-reading now!

Two more Jim Pitts full-colour prints

We have just added two more of Jim's wonderful artwork to the list of prints available from us.

Click here to see all the prints that are now available.

Print 41 
SHADMOCKS AND SHIVERS: New tales inspired by the stories of R.Chetwynd-Hayes 2019

Print 42 
SOME THINGS MAY BE: Collected writings by James Wade. 2017