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. 

Updated cover for Swords & Rockets - Tales of Futures Past

 

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

I am currently proofreading The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 2 2011-2026, which will be published later this year, initially as a hardback and large-sized paperback. 

Like Volume 1 it is just over 500 pages long. At the moment I am up to "Three Eyed Jack", which was originally published in 2020.

Although this book covers a shorter time period than Volume 1 there are more stories, without even taking into account all those sword and sorcery stories I have excluded, like my Welgar tales (recently published in Welgar the Cursed by Tule Fog Press) and my stories of the mercenary captain Horbeck and his companions, which I hope to see published as a loosely-woven novel sometime soon. Plus there are a number of fantasy tales that are scheduled to be published in various places over the coming months. 2011 till now has been a very prolific time for me.  

 

 

The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 1 - 1970-2010 is now available in hardback, paperback and kindle eBook

 

Further to the hardback and kindle eBook versions of The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 1 - 1970-2010, we have now published it as a 500-page paperback, packed with artwork and illustrations. 

amazon.co.uk 

amazon.com 

 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 is now available as a paperback and kindle eBook

 

Swords & Sorceries; Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 is now available as a paperback and kindle eBook.

 

The stories are:

Wall Master to the Late Emperor by Henry Helbog

Twilight’s Four by Phil Emery

Noose and the Fae’s Gifts by Jaap Boekestein

Coldwell: A Stranger Tale by Jay Litwicki

The Altar of Self by Henry Ikechukwu

The Cold Maiden’s Aid by Eli Freysson

Raid on Knorrtuft by J. Benjamin Sanders Jr

Atonement for a Shattered Eye by Frank Sawielijew

Vampires in Moratt by David A. Riley

Where Dwell the Forgotten Men by Jeffery A. Sergent

The Stone Knights by Adrian Cole 

 

The book is 307 pages long.

 

amazon.com 

amazon.co.uk 

Kindle eBook version of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 now available

 

The kindle eBook version of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 is now available. The print version should be available soon.

amazon.com 

amazon.co.uk 

Gung-Ho Geeks have posted a lengthy, irreverent, frequently funny but also in-depth review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12

 

Gung-Ho Geeks have posted a lengthy, irreverent, frequently funny but also in-depth review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12, which is to be published at the start of May as a paperback and kindle eBook. 

As a side note, Gundrol Ghonardial, the main character in my story in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12, "Vampires in Moratt", appears in just one other story: "Mask of a Mad God" in my collection from Tule Fog Press Welgar the Cursed. 

 

Part of the first online review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 by Gung-ho Geeks

 

Here's a small taster of the irreverent review by Gung-Ho Geeks of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12, (due to be published at the start of May). I'll post more as soon as the rest is online. 

Opening seconds of the review 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 - one week to go

 

There's now just one week to go before the publication of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12 as a trade paperback and kindle ebook.

Order Signed Copies of The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 1 - 1970-2010 Direct from PUP

 

New advert for Sword and Sorcery books from Parallel Universe Publications

 

Phantasmagoria Magazine #28

The latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine includes an advert for Parallel Universe Publication's sword and sorcery books opposite the first page of my story "The Carpetmaker of Arana", originally published in Savage Realms Monthly in 2022 (issue 12).

First review of The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 1 - 1970-2010

 

"I had the chance to read and review Volume 1 of David Riley's short stories. The review is on Amazon and included below . . .

Mr. Riley owes me one good night of sleep.

Maybe I shouldn’t have read his short horror story “Romero’s Children” before bedtime.

That tale—and thirty others—appear in The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror of David A. Riley, Volume 1, a showcase of classic British horror: moody, unsettling, and crafted with a storyteller’s sure hand. Riley blends creeping dread with memorable characters and images, the kind that settle under the skin and festers long after the final page.

I’m convinced that John Collier and David A. Riley are kindred spirits. Collier’s stories for The New Yorker weren’t always horror, but in tone, temperament, and style, the two writers share a certain dark kinship.

What stands out most in this collection is the range. Each story delivers its own distinct chill while still feeling part of a unified, haunted world. Riley’s characters feel grounded and real, which makes their descents into the uncanny—and the unsavory—even more effective."

 

R. K. Olson 

Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past to be published in November

 

In place of the 13th volume of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy, Parallel Universe Publications will publish volume 1 of Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past, an anthology of sword and planet stories.

Volume 13 of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy will now be published in May 2027.

Submissions for Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past will open on the 1st October till midnight GMT on the 31st of that month. Acceptancves and rejections will be emailed out by the end of the first week in November and it is intended to publish before the end of the month. 

All submissions should be sent to paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk

Please send only one submission  at a time - the one you consider the best fit for us. 

Although we like original stories we are always more than happy 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 possible. Bear in mind you will receive either an acception or rejection by the end of the first week in November.

There is no limit on the size of submissions.  

There is absolutely no need to tell us anything about yourself as the only thing that matters is the story. Everything else is irrelevant. We will ask for details about yourself if your story is accepted. 

All rejections and acceptances will be sent by email by the end of the first week in November. Please don't enquire about your submission before then.

And good luck!