Saturday, 28 January 2023

Free E-Book Promotion 1st - 5th February 2023: A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead

From the 1st till the 5th February the kindle version of A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead will be free to download. The paperback will remain available for £5.00.

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.


 

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Tais Teng - one of the most original contributors to Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy


There is a fascinating interview with Tais Teng, one of the most original contributors to Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy, on DMR's Independent Author Spotlight.

His stories have appeared in three of the five volumes of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy so far:

Volume 2 - Highjacking the Lord of Light

Volume 3 - Seal Snatchers of Jorsalem

Volume 5 - Free Diving for Leviathan Eggs

 

Tuesday, 17 January 2023

Volume 1 of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy

Over two years after it was published, Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 1 is still getting 5-star reviews. The latest is from India.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com


 

Friday, 13 January 2023

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

Advert for A Handful of Zombies: Tales of the Restless Dead

 


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.


Monday, 2 January 2023

For the New Year a great new review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5

A great new review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5 has been posted on amazon.com by Richard Fisher.

"This year winds down with another remarkable collection. Riley opens the anthology with an introduction that has me adding numerous titles to my already unwieldy TBR pile. Many of the authors have appeared in previous installments of this series, but a handful are new. Take a gander at this stellar line up..."

"Eleven stories. Several I enjoyed more than others, but there wasn't a clinker in the bunch"

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com