Three new Parallel Universe Publications titles in just over a month

In just over a month Parallel Universe Publications has brought out three books in paperback and kindle.

The first of these is Childe Rolande, an epic fantasy by well-known author Samantha Lee.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Originally published by Futura Books in 1989, our new version includes an Afterword/Introduction by the author and a brand-new cover by talented Scottish artist Paul Mudie, who will be familiar to many for the iconic covers he created for the Black Books of Horror. There is also the added bonus of interior chapter headings by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

Childe Rolande has been optioned by Forlan Films for a proposed TV series and is currently in pre-production development. 

The second book is yet another volume in our popular anthology series Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy. 

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com 

The contents are: 

The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich

Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott

For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni

People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez

Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng

The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz

Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow

Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish

Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal

Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole

Of the eleven writers included this time, five hail from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, one from The Netherlands and one from Argentina. 

All the interior art and the front and back covers are by Jim Pitts. 

The third is what may be the start of a series of low-priced chapbooks, A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead. This includes four previously published short stories by David A. Riley with illustrations by Jim Pitts.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

All four stories in this collection cover a wide range of tropes within the zombie genre. 

Dead Ronnie and I is a tale of high adventure by plane and sea, with an abortive escape by our protagonist to the as yet untainted Isles of Scotland. This was originally published in Sanitarium Magazine No 44 in 2016.

His Pale Blue Eyes is probably the most traditional take of zombie stories today, featuring a young girl’s determined search for her parents during a zombie apocalypse. It’s a story, though, about conditioning and how what someone is taught can radically affect their behaviour. Is the horror in this the shambling undead or the girl herself? See what you think. This first appeared in Bite-Sized Horror edited by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books in 2011.

By contrast Right For You Now, originally published in Weirdbook Zombie Annual No 3 in 2021, harks back to the original concept of the zombie in Voodoo-haunted Haiti, though this tale is set in present-day Britain. It’s a combination of a crime story, revenge, and a man’s obsessive fascination with age-old practices.

Our final tale, Romero’s Children, is more in the way of a science fiction story. The zombies here are certainly the most different. For a start off they are not dead but have been granted near immortality by a drug that swept the world with its promise to stop aging. Alas for those caught up in the frenzied demand to use it, though, its side effects were such that they would have been better off dead. This story appeared in 2010 in The Seventh Black Book of Horror edited by the late Charles Black and was subsequently picked up by American editor Paula Guran for her 2012 anthology Extreme Zombies.

 

November 2022 Parallel Universe Publications Newsletter

 

Our new chapbook: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead now available in print as well as kindle

After several expressions of interest in a print version of our new e-chapbook A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead we have now published it in softcover, priced at just £5.00. If this experiment in chapbooks proves popular enough we intend to publish more in the future by other authors.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

All four stories in this collection cover a wide range of tropes within the zombie genre. 

Dead Ronnie and I is a tale of high adventure by plane and sea, with an abortive escape by our protagonist to the as yet untainted Isles of Scotland. This was originally published in Sanitarium Magazine No 44 in 2016.

His Pale Blue Eyes is probably the most traditional take of zombie stories today, featuring a young girl’s determined search for her parents during a zombie apocalypse. It’s a story, though, about conditioning and how what someone is taught can radically affect their behaviour. Is the horror in this the shambling undead or the girl herself? See what you think. This first appeared in Bite-Sized Horror edited by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books in 2011.

By contrast Right For You Now, originally published in Weirdbook Zombie Annual No 3 in 2021, harks back to the original concept of the zombie in Voodoo-haunted Haiti, though this tale is set in present-day Britain. It’s a combination of a crime story, revenge, and a man’s obsessive fascination with age-old practices.

Our final tale, Romero’s Children, is more in the way of a science fiction story. The zombies here are certainly the most different. For a start off they are not dead but have been granted near immortality by a drug that swept the world with its promise to stop aging. Alas for those caught up in the frenzied demand to use it, though, its side effects were such that they would have been better off dead. This story appeared in 2010 in The Seventh Black Book of Horror edited by the late Charles Black and was subsequently picked up by American editor Paula Guran for her 2012 anthology Extreme Zombies.

I would like to thank my friend Jim Pitts who has kindly allowed me to use his illustrations both for the covers and for the interior.

New e-chapbook available from PUP: A Handful of Zombies

At PUP we are experimentng with a new line in cheap e-chapbooks, which will be available online for £1.99 each..

The first is now available, with a cover and interior illustrations by Jim Pitts. Called A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead e-chapbook number 1 includes four stories by David A. Riley: Dead Ronnie and I, His Pale Blue Eyes, Right For You Now, and Romero's Children.

 

amazon.co.uk  £1.99

amazon.com  $2.99

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 now available in paperback and kindle

Cover: Jim Pitts

We are pleased to announce that Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 is now available as a paperback and kindle e-book.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com 

The contents are: 

The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich

Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott

For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni

People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez

Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng

The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz

Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow

Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish

Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal

Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole

Of the eleven writers included this time, five hail from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, one from The Netherlands and one from Argentina. 

This is our biggest volume so far, with over 300 pages, though the price has stayed the same.

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - available in kindle

We are pleased to announce that the kindle version of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 is now available to download as a kindle e-book, priced £2.99 in the UK and $3.55 in the US. 

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

The print version should be available within the next few days.

The contents are: 

The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich

Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott

For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni

People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez

Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng

The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz

Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow

Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish

Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal

Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole

Of the eleven writers included this time, five hail from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, one from The Netherlands and one from Argentina. 

All the interior art and the front and back covers are by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - Reciprocal Ads

Again we have been successful in publishing reciprocal ads in our anthology series. 

Below are images of those published in Volume 5:

Proof Copy of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5

The proof copy for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 arrived today - and for the first time doesn't need any alterations! It's good to go - apart from waiting for a couple of updated adverts.

Both the paperback and kindle e-book will be available to order online later this week.

At over 330 pages this is the biggest volume in our swords and sorcery series yet, with eleven outstanding tales by some of the genre's best writers, including Charles Gramlich, Harry Elliott, Gustavo Bondoni, Lorenzo D. Lopez, Tais Teng, Darin Hlavaz, Susan Murrie Macdonald, David Dubrow, Earl W. Parrish, Dev Agarwal, and Adrian Cole.

As always the covers and interior artwork are by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

 

Proof copy with its distinctive band across the cover and spine with the other volumes so far

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - full list of contents

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 will be published next week as a paperback and a kindle e-book. At 336 pages this is the longest yet in our popular anthology series.

The contents are: 

The Rotted Land by Charles Gramlich

Skulls for Silver by Harry Elliott

For the Light by Gustavo Bondoni

People of the Lake by Lorenzo D. Lopez

Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs by Tais Teng

The Black Well by Darin Hlavaz

Degg and the Undead by Susan Murrie Macdonald

The Mistress of the Marsh by David Dubrow

Silver and Gold by Earl W. Parrish

Bridge of Sorrows by Dev Agarwal

Prisoners of Devil Dog City by Adrian Cole

Of the eleven writers included this time, five hail from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, one from The Netherlands and one from Argentina. 

All the interior art and the front and back covers are by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - Coming Soon!

The 5th volume of our popular anthology series Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy will be published as a paperback and kindle e-book later this month. The full list of contents will be revealed here in the next few days.

With more pages than ever, there are some new names included in the TOC plus the return of some favourites. 

As alwsays the cover and interior artwork is by award-winning artist Jim Pitts. 

Check out our dedicated Swords & Sorceries Page. 

Submissions now closed for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5

 

With midnight last night the submissions period for volume 5 of our swords and sorcery anthology series closed.

We have had a huge response and, though most of the stories have now been read, there are still quite a few to go through. Then follows decision time. From the sheer number of excellent stories sent in this will be a difficult process and may take longer than usual.

Thank you everyone who has submitted a story to us. We hope to be able to let everyone know the fate of their tale within the next two weeks.