Saturday, 31 December 2022
Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Friday, 9 December 2022
Possible front cover for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 6
Jim Pitts
has been busy in the past week working on colouring a previous black
and white illustration for the front cover of the next swords and
sorcery anthology in May 2023. Below
is a copy of the original illustration together with the coloured
version and a copy of what the cover will almost certainly look like.
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Monday, 28 November 2022
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
Saturday, 26 November 2022
Our new chapbook: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead now available in print as well as kindle
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.
Sunday, 20 November 2022
New e-chapbook available from PUP: A Handful of Zombies
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
Thursday, 17 November 2022
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 now available in paperback and kindle
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| 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.
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.
Wednesday, 16 November 2022
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.
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:
Monday, 14 November 2022
Proof Copy of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5
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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.
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| Proof copy with its distinctive band across the cover and spine with the other volumes so far |
Tuesday, 8 November 2022
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - full list of contents
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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.
Monday, 7 November 2022
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 - Coming Soon!
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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.
Tuesday, 1 November 2022
Submissions now closed for Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5
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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.
Monday, 31 October 2022
Midnight tonight is the final deadline for submissions to Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5
Midnight tonight is the final deadline for submissions to Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5.
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Payment
is £25 per story regardless of length plus one contributor's copy of
the paperback. The book will be published as a paperback and ebook. If a
hardcover version is published we will pay an additional £25. Please send your submissions as attachments (doc or docx) headed
"Submission - Swords & Sorceries 5"
to:
paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
You can send in more than one submission, but we will not accept more than one story per writer. Please only send one story at a time.
Although we prefer original stories we are prepared to consider reprints. Just let us know where and when it was previously published.
You can send in simultaneous submissions, but let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere as soon as you can.
There is no limit on the size of submissions.
There is no need to tell me anything about yourself because the only thing that matters is the story.
All
rejections and acceptances will be sent out by email by the end of the
first week in November. Please don't enquire about your submission
before then.
And good luck!
In the past we have received a number of stories that may be fantasy but are not swords and sorcery. If you are unsure what the swords and sorcery genre is, why not get a better idea by checking out volumes 1 - 4:
Also check our dedicated facebook group:
The contents of Volume One are:
THE MIRROR OF TORJAN SUL - Steve Lines
THE HORROR FROM THE STARS - Steve Dilks
TROLLS ARE DIFFERENT - Susan Murrie Macdonald
CHAIN OF COMMAND - Geoff Hart
DISRUPTION OF DESTINY - Gerri Leen
THE CITY OF SILENCE - Eric Ian Steele
RED - Chadwick Ginther
THE RECONSTRUCTED GOD - Adrian Cole
The cover and all the interior artwork is by Jim Pitts.
amazon.co.uk
The contents of Volume 2 are:
The Essence of Dust by Mike Chinn
Highjacking the Lord of Light by Tais Teng
Out in the Wildlands by Martin Owton
Zale and Zedril by Susan Murrie Macdonald
The Amulet and the Shadow by Steve Dilks
Antediluvia: Seasons of the World by Andrew Darlington
A Thousand Words for Death by Pedro Iniguez
Stone Snake by Dev Agarwal
Seven Thrones by Phil Emery
The Eater of Gods by Adrian Cole
Illustrations by Jim Pitts.
The contents of Volume 3 are:
Sorcerous Vengeance by Lorenzo D. Lopez
Seal Snatchers of Jorsaleem by Tais Teng
When the Gods Send You Rats by Chadwick Ginther
Mother's Bones by Carson Ray
In the Lair of the Snake-Witch by Darin Hlavaz
The Rains of Barofonn by Mike Chinn
Wardark by Craig Herbertson
The Foliage by Rab Foster
In the Lair of the Moonmen by Jon Hansen
Sailing on the Thieves' Tide by Adrian Cole
Illustrations by Jim Pitts.
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of
Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 contains
eleven tales:
In the Iron Woods by Dev Agarwal
My People Were Fair and Wore Stars in Their Hair by Andrew Darlington
At Sea by Geoff Hart
The Flesh of Man by Frank Sawielijew
City at the Mouth of Chaos by Adrian Cole
In the Belly of the Beast by Edward Ahern
The Tracks of the Pi Nereske by Wendy Nikel
Slaves of the Monolith by Paul D. Batteiger
The Green Wood by David Dubrow
Demonic by Phil Emery
The Whips of Malmac by H. R. Laurence
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