Friday, 3 January 2025

A viewing of '42, a new film by Eric Ian Steele in Oldham

My daughter, Cassandra and I were invited to attend a viewing of the latest film written and directed by Eric Ian Steele at the Hack in Oldham last night. '42 is an alternate history story set in Nazi occupied Britain. Please watch a trailer from the film below. Although created on a tight budget this is an impressively written and directed movie, with some intruigingly original plot twists. The uniforms, weapons and the action sequences were especially impressive, as was the developing relationship between the British prisoners being held for interrogation by the SS, which was pivotal to the storyline. All in all, an original and rewarding experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to watch this new movie.

Eric was kind enough beforehand to give us both a tour of the Hack, which is a huge four-storey building in the centre of Oldham dedicated to the creative arts. My daughter has her own theatrical studios in Hyndburn (ReAct Academy of Theatre Arts), so she was especially interested.


 

Parallel Universe Publications brought out a collection of Eric's stories several years ago. Nightscape is still available in paperback and as a kindle eBook. 

amazon.com


 

Wednesday, 1 January 2025

New publications for 2025 from Parallel Universe Publications

Parallel Universe Publications has three books planned so far for this year: the final volume of Adrian Cole's Atlantis Trilogy - Elak, Sea Hawks of Atlantis later this month, plus volumes 10 and 11 of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy in May and November respectively.
 
Although we have nothing else planned as yet for 2025 that doesn't mean something unexpected might not appear. Only time will tell. All I can predict is that if there is anything else it will more than likely be in the sword and sorcery genre or something closely related to it.

Tuesday, 17 December 2024

Cover art for Elak, Sea Hawks of Atlantis by Jim Pitts, tales by Adrian Cole


Award-winning artist Jim Pitts has now sent in his fabulous cover artwork for Adrian Cole's third Atlantis collection, Elak, Sea Hawks of Atlantis, which will be published in January next year. 

The tales included in this 323-page collection are:

THE SWALLOWER OF ISLANDS Published here for the first time
JEWELS OF THE SEA HAG First published in Tales from the Magician’s Skull, Special #2 (USA) 2022
PRISONERS OF DEVIL DOG CITY First published in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5, edited by David A. Riley, Parallel Universe Publications (UK) 2022
THE CURSE OF BLOODBONE ISLAND First published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, (USA) 2023
GOD OF THE DREAMING ISLES First published in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6, edited by David A. Riley, Parallel Universe Publications (UK) 2023
WHEN THE SEA GODS RISE Published here for the first time

All three volumes will be available as uniform edition paperbacks and as kindle ebooks.




Contributor to Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8 R. K. Olson

 

Contributor R.K. Olson, whose story For the Heart of a Spearslayer appeared in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8, had an article all about him and his other fantasy stories in CNI Briefing this month,
 

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Phantasmagoria - New issue includes review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 and an article about our Elak of Atlantis trilogy by Adrian Cole

The latest issue of Phantasmagoria magazine is now out and includes a review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9, plus an artcle by David A. Riley on Adrian Cole's Elak of Atlantis Trilogy.

The issue also includes a reprint of a science fiction horror story by David A. Riley: Help-Plants, which was first published in Aboriginal Science Fiction. It's also included in the collection from Shadow Publishing, The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror.






Sunday, 17 November 2024

Dead Thieves in the Night - my latest Horbeck sword and sorcery tale

I have now finished Dead Thieves in the Night, my latest sword and sorcery story involving the mercenaries Horbeck, Brud and Asnar. This finished at 10,000 words, a novelette.

As soon as I completed this, though, I found myself embarking on yet another yarn of this trio, though no title as yet. 

The list of Horbeck & Co stories so far are:

The Unhappy Inquisitor

The Demon from Another World (Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium)

Lies and Treachery

The Mummified Demi-God

Dead Thieves in the Night


Sunday, 10 November 2024

Kindle version of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 is now available

The kindle version of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 is now available. The print version will be published next week.

Unfortunately, at the moment the image of the book cover on amazon is a negative. I don't know why, but this should be corrected soon.