Plans for 2027

 

The first major plan for 2027 is the launch in January of a new quarterly magazine devoted to tales of fantasy, science fiction and horror called Beyond, a reincarnation of the one we published in 1995. 

This time we intend it to last a lot longer than three issues.

In May next year we will also published Volume 13 of our long-running anthology Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy. A submissions period for this will open in April from the 1st till the 30th. Next November will either see Volume 14 published or Volume 2 of Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past. 

The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 2 2011-2026 will also be published in hard cover, paperback and kindle eBook. This is a large book with over 500 pages and 200,000 words, and includes 35 stories.

I also have several sword and sorcery projects of my own scheduled for 2027, including a novel called The Sorcerer's War. I hope to see a novel-style collection of my Horbeck the Mercenary stories published, either by PUP or, hopefully, another publisher, and an updated collection of Welgar tales. More on all of these later.

 

Update on The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 2 - 2011-2026

I have now received a proof copy for the hard cover version of The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 2 - 2011-2026, which has turned out perfectly okay and ready to be published. Since then I have just formatted and ordered a copy of the paperback, which should arrive towards the end of next week. After that all I have to do is format the eBook version, which with all the illustrations in the book I know will be a trickier task, for which, fortunately, I have plenty of time as I don't intend publishing Volume 2 till sometime in 2027. 

 

The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 2 - 2011-2026 - Proof Copy Ordered

Although I haven't decided on exactly when this collection will be published, I have now completed proofreading it and have ordered a proof copy, which should arrive within the next week or so.

Running at 510 pages and just over 200,000 words, with 35 previously published stories included in it, Volume 2 is quite a hefty book, just slightly bigger than Volume 1.

Full details are here: The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley 

Although the ad states these are, and in the case of Volume 2, will be available in hardcover and e-books, there are and will be paperback versions too. 

From the Introduction to Volume 2: 

Unlike Volume 1 of my Collected Stories this does not include every short story I have had published between the designated years. Omitted are those involving my sword and sorcery character Welgar, some of which have already been collected in a loosely-woven novel, publish-ed by Tule Fog Press in 2025 as Welgar the Cursed. The stories in this collection are “Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus”, “The Dark Priestdom”, “Welgar the Cursed”, “Mask of a Mad God”, “The Forbidden City of Cyramon”, and “Emerging from Their Twilit Realms”. Since then I have written “From the Ashes”, “Trapped in the Dreamlands”, “Escaping the Dreamlands”, and “The Narcolopsia.” “From the Ashes” was published by Savage Realms Monthly in its August 2026 issue.

Besides my Welgar tales, I have also omitted those of Horbeck the Mercenary, the first of which, “The Demon from Another World” was published in 2024 in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium. This was followed by “Lies and Treachery”, serialised in Crimson Quill Quarterly, issues 6 and 7 in 2025. I have written five more Horbeck stories, but these are still looking for a market. In any case, like the Welgar tales, they follow chronologically one after another and I am hoping eventually to have them published as a loosely-woven novel too.

Besides these there are a number of tales featuring my sorcerer Ossani the Healer, two of which were published in Swords & Heroes Quarterly in June 2026, with another appearing in Cirsova magazine in its Fall issue in 2026. Again, these and a number of other stories set in the same time period may one day be collected as Tales of the Azure Sea or some such volume.

The only straight horror story omitted from this collection is “The Tract of Calvanicus”. Although accepted for publication it will not appear till 2027 in Schlock! Webzine. This may also be my last normal horror story, as I have begun to concentrate in recent years on dark fantasy and sword and sorcery.

Beyond - Jim Pitts accepts position as Art Editor

With the launch of Beyond in January next year, I am pleased to  announce that award-winning artist Jim Pitts will be Art Editor. 

A new advert for Parallel Universe Publications

I have just designed a new advert for Parallel Universe Publications, highlighting our next anthology, Swords & Rockets, and the first issue of our quarterly magazine Beyond.

 

Beyond - Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror - a quarterly magazine

We are proposing to launch a revived version of Beyond magazine in January next year.  

Unlike its previous incarnation, this will be a digest-sized magazine (5.25" x 8.25") approximately 100+ pages in length, specialising in fantasy, science fiction and horror. Intended publication dates will be January, April, July and October. Hopefully, we will reach these deadlines. We will also continue publishing Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy twice a year or alternating this with Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past. Either way we intend to continue publishing a book-length anthology twice a year.

Submissions should be headed on the subject line BEYOND - Submission.

Please email these to: paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk 

Payment will be 1p (GB) per word, payable on publication. 

As well as stories, we will also consider book reviews on related genres, plus articles, but there will be limited space for these 

Our initial submissions period will be 1st December to the 31st December this year. October is reserved for submissions to Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past. If necessary, we will open a further submissions period for Beyond in January.  

 

Beyond

Parallel Universe Publications was started in 1995 to publish a fantasy/science fiction magazine called Beyond. 64-pages long, 11 inches by 8.25 inches, (29.5 cm x 21 cm) it continued for three issues before funds ran out and it was forced to close. Our ambition was to have it available in high street shops, including W H Smiths, John Menzies and other outlets. We even had warehouse distribution throughout the UK by the likes of Smiths and Menzies. 

Unfortunately, we were overly ambitious, and with a print-run of over 10,000 copies we were unprepared for the thousands of each issue that were "returned" unsold. (In point of fact, "returned" is a misnomer, as unsold copies were actually destroyed by Smiths and Menzies, etc., and we had to rely on them for the accuracy of their reports.) A lot has happened since then, and PUP returned to publishing in 2015 with the first of what would eventually be over 60 titles in paperback, hard cover and ebooks. 

This first was Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales and from 2020 we have published twelve volumes of our most successful print-run so far with Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy. At this stage we are thinking of starting another venture, with the publication of a quarterly digest-sized magazine called Beyond, perhaps 100 pages in length and dedicated to fantasy, science fiction and horror (and, of course, sword and sorcery). This is still in the formative stages as yet and there's no guarantee we will go ahead with it. That largely depends upon the response from people to the idea.

 

All Parallel Universe Publications Titles now in print

 

DRM (Digital Rights Management) removed from all Parallel Universe Publications eBooks

I have removed DRM (Digital Rights Management) from all Parallel Universe Publications eBooks so that people can now download their purchases as epubs and pdf copies instead of just onto their kindles.  

A detailed review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 10

I missed seeing earlier a rather good, detailed review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 10 on amazon.

Click on the image to get an enlarged version.