Thirty Years of Parallel Universe Publications

 

Thirty years ago Parallel Universe Publications was born. Using money from my redundancy at British Aerospace, where I'd worked for twenty years, I planned on bringing out a bi-monthly science fiction/fantasy magazine called Beyond. By now I had already accepted all the stories that would go into the first issue, to be published in 1995, and announced its forthcoming launch at 1994's Fantasycon, where I was to meet for the last time one of our most prominent contributors, Karl Edward Wagner, who died soon after. 

 

Beyond only lasted three issues, and for a few years afterwards Parallel Universe Publications went into abeyance till 2012 when we published the first of many ensuing books. This started with Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales, and over 50 books have followed it, including our successful anthology series Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy, which will be up to volume 9 in November. 

 

Christmas in the Workhouse & Other Gruesome Tales by Craig Herbertson - available for pre-order

Craig Herbertson's The Last Mass illustrated by Chrissie Demant

One of the three books being published bv Parallel Universe Publications this year is Craig Herbertson's second collection of stories from us, Christmas in the Workhouse & Other Gruesome Tales, which will be published on the 15th November. 

Like After Nightfall & Other Weird Tales by David A. Riley, this too is available for pre-order at a discounted price, signed by the author. Please follow this link for details. 

Craig's earlier collection, The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales is available in hardcover, paperback and kindle. 

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales in paperback

At long last copies of Craig Herbertson's brilliant collection of short stories, The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales, is available in paperback.

amazon.co.uk  £7.99
amazon.com  $9.99

Includes:
Timeless Love (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)
Synchronicity (originally published in Filthy Creations #2)
The Glowing Goblins (originally published in Auguries #16)
New Teacher (originally published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror)
The Janus Door
The Heaven Maker (originally published in The 29th Pan Book of Horror Stories)
The Waiting Game (originally published in Back from the Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories)
The Art of Confiscation
Gertrude
Not Waving
Spanish Suite (originally published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror)
The Anninglay Sundial
Soup (originally published in The Fourth Black Book of Horror)
A Game of Billiards (originally published in Tales from the Smoking Room)
The Navigator (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)
The Tasting
Steel Works
Liebniz's Last Puzzle (originally published in The Fifth Black Book of Horror)
Big Cup, Wee Cup
Gifts (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is now available on kindle

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is now available on kindle. A trade paperback will soon be available on amazon too.

amazon.co.uk  £1.99

amazon.com  $3.10

“The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is a big win for me. This is a solid anthology with some interesting concepts and horrifying realities.” Matthew Scott Baker, Hellnotes

“A well written mix of the literary, the trashy and the darkly humorous. A fine addition to any horror lover’s library.” Stewart Horn, British Fantasy Society

The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales reviewed on the BFS website

There's a great review of Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales on the BFS website.

THE HEAVEN MAKER, AND OTHER GRUESOME TALES by Craig Herbertson, Parallel Universe Publications, pb, £11.99.
Reviewed by Stewart Horn
I hadn’t heard of Craig Herbertson before I picked this up, and this collection of twenty dark stories was a pleasant surprise.
The title story is probably the highlight: a grand epic told in a few short chapters about a man trying to rescue his wife from Hell. Reminiscent of Machen’s ‘Great God Pan’ in tone.
Several stories feature Mulholland the occultist, a splendid character who was great fun to spend time with. The best of those was ‘Liebniz’s Last Puzzle’, in which he is one of three academics trying to solve a fiendish puzzle, though none of them are clever enough to think it might not be a good idea. ‘The Anningly Sundial’ was another highlight, riffing on one of M. R. James’s best known stories.
Several stories are based in or around high schools – my favourite of those is ‘New Teacher’. You may have heard a classroom so rowdy it sounds like someone is being murdered.
Another group of stories is very much in the Pan Horror vein. Little nasty revenge tales or outlandish and implausibly horrific situations described with wicked glee. Look out for ‘A Game of Billiards and Soup’.
And there is poetry, a two page joke about Hibernian Football Club and the holy grail, lots of references to malt whisky, and a lovely little Christmas tale to finish off.
Overall, a satisfying read. A well written mix of the literary, the trashy and the darkly humorous. A fine addition to any horror lover’s library.

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales now available as a trade paperback

Craig Herbertson's collection, The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is now available to order. The 274 trade paperback is available for £11.99 including UK postage from Parallel Universe Publications (email me at rileybooks@ntlworld.com for a paypal invoice) Overseas orders Europe add £3. Outside Europe add £4.

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is almost ready

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales is almost ready from Parallel Universe Publications. All we are waiting for now is the proof copy from the printer and it will be available, both from us and from Amazon, etc. Price will be £11.99.

Our first two paperbacks due for publication by the end of November

Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales and Charles Black's Black Ceremonies will be published in trade paperback editions by Parallel Universe Publications by the end of November.

The Heaven Maker and Other Gruesome Tales was first published by us in 2012 as a hardback. Black Ceremonies has never been.