If anyone would like an invite to join please message Parallel Universe Publications.
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Facebook Group formed
If anyone would like an invite to join please message Parallel Universe Publications.
Poetry collection by Benjamin Blake: Standing on the Threshold of Madness
Respected Lovecraftian scholar S. T. Joshi had this to say about it:
"I was most impressed with Standing on the Threshold of Madness. These dark, brooding vignettes do far more than send a shudder up one's spine (although they do that again and again, with elegance and panache). Benjamin Blake has found a way to infuse into his horrific lyrics a keen sensitivity to human emotions, an understanding of the fragility of life, and a bleak portrayal of the evanescence of all existence. This is a volume that aficionados of weird poetry will want to read over and over."
Other comments about Benjamin Blake and his poetry:
“Benjamin Blake relishes funereal lyricism with a spice of surrealism.” - Ramsey Campbell
"Language and imagery rule in this
collection of dark visions. Blake has a distinctive voice, rich in surrealism,
and he uses it to considerable effect." - Bruce Boston, SFPA Grandmaster
Poet
“A plethora of dark and haunting poems
that could be likened to a bone chilling symphony overall! Mood enhancing
language that will curdle the blood, and excellent, original imagery!” - Marge
Simon, Bram Stoker Award winning poet.
Benjamin Blake was born in the July of 1985, and grew up in the small
town of Eltham, New Zealand. He is the author of the poetry and prose
collections A Prayer for Late October, Southpaw Nights, and Reciting
Shakespeare with the Dead. His debut novel, The Devil's Children, was
published in October of 2016. Find more of his work at
www.benjaminblake.com
trade paperback:
Sunday, 9 August 2020
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy
 | |
| Artwork: Jim Pitts |
We will be announcing further details shortly.
Thursday, 11 June 2020
British Fantasy Society review of A Distasteful Horror Story
Great review of Johnny Mains' debut novel A Distasteful Horror Story has
just been posted on the British Fantasy Society website.
"His knowledge of and love for the horror genre and its authors shines through, and he also manages to make the reader feel some empathy and sympathy for the protagonist writing from his prison cell. All in all, a great read, and one for the shelves of (almost) any horror fan."
Click on this link to see the full review.
"His knowledge of and love for the horror genre and its authors shines through, and he also manages to make the reader feel some empathy and sympathy for the protagonist writing from his prison cell. All in all, a great read, and one for the shelves of (almost) any horror fan."
Click on this link to see the full review.
Thursday, 2 April 2020
Free Mobi and PDF Copies of these PUP Books during the Coronavirus Crisis
A reminder that if anyone during this crisis is short of some good reading material on their kindle (or your computer if you are okay with pdfs) free mobi copies of the following books are available from Parallel Universe Publications. All you need do is email paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk and either a mobi copy (which can be copied and pasted onto your kindle) or a pdf will be emailed to you completely free.
Please ask for all or a selection of these titles. That's up to you.
Fishhead: The Darker Tales of Irvin S. Cobb
Classic Weird 2
Kitchen Sink Gothic
Classic Weird
Things That Go Bump In The Night
Goblin Mire
Their Cramped Dark World & Other Tales
His Own Mad Demons
Moloch's Children
Into the Dark
Saturday, 21 March 2020
Free mobi copies (downloadable onto your kindle device) of Classic Weird volumes 1 & 2, and Things That Go Bump in the Night
As a further gesture towards helping people keep entertained during this crisis, we are offering free mobi copies of these anthologies. Mobi copies will be emailed to you and you can download them onto your kindle device. Alternatively, we would be happy to send you pdfs.
Just email us at paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
Things That Go Bump in the Night edited by Douglas Draa and David A. Riley is now available in trade paperback from Parallel Universe Publications. 365 pages long, this bumper volume contains 19 classic weird stories by Sir Hugh Clifford, Edward Lucas White, William Hope Hodgson, George Allan England, F. Marion Crawford, Frederick Marryat, E. F. Benson, W. C. Morrow, Amyas Northcote, M. P. Shiel, Lord Dunsany, Perceval Landon, Robert E. Howard, G. G. Pendarves, Henry Brereton Marriott Watson, Irvin S. Cobb, Huan Mee, Abraham Merritt, Nictzin Dyalhis, and Edith Wharton.
The Ghoul Sir Hugh Clifford
The House of the Nightmare Edward Lucas White
The Voice in the Night William Hope Hodgson
The Thing from Outside George Allan England
For the Blood is the Life F. Marion Crawford
The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains Frederick Marryat
The Room in the Tower E. F. Benson
His Unconquered Enemy W. C. Morrow
The Late Mrs. Fowke Amyas Northcote
Xélucha M. P. Shiel
A Narrow Escape Lord Dunsany
Thurnley Abbey Perceval Landon
The Black Stone Robert E, Howard
Werewolf of the Sahara G. G. Pendarves
The Devil of the Marsh Henry Brereton Marriott Watson
Fishhead Irvin S. Cobb
The Black Statue Huan Mee
The Pool of the Stone God Abraham Merritt
The Sea-Witch Nictzin Dyalhis
The Lady’s Maid’s Bell Edith Wharton
Classic Weird contains:
The Monster-Maker by W. C. Morrow
The Man Who Went Too Far by E. F. Benson
The Interval by Vincent O'Sullivan
The Doll's Ghost by F. Marion Crawford
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
The Ghost-Ship by Richard Middleton
The New Catacomb by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
The House of the Dead Hand by Edith Wharton
A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
Phantas by Oliver Onions
This 298-page volume contains weird tales by some of the classic authors of the genre, including:
Just email us at paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
Things That Go Bump in the Night edited by Douglas Draa and David A. Riley is now available in trade paperback from Parallel Universe Publications. 365 pages long, this bumper volume contains 19 classic weird stories by Sir Hugh Clifford, Edward Lucas White, William Hope Hodgson, George Allan England, F. Marion Crawford, Frederick Marryat, E. F. Benson, W. C. Morrow, Amyas Northcote, M. P. Shiel, Lord Dunsany, Perceval Landon, Robert E. Howard, G. G. Pendarves, Henry Brereton Marriott Watson, Irvin S. Cobb, Huan Mee, Abraham Merritt, Nictzin Dyalhis, and Edith Wharton.
The Ghoul Sir Hugh Clifford
The House of the Nightmare Edward Lucas White
The Voice in the Night William Hope Hodgson
The Thing from Outside George Allan England
For the Blood is the Life F. Marion Crawford
The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains Frederick Marryat
The Room in the Tower E. F. Benson
His Unconquered Enemy W. C. Morrow
The Late Mrs. Fowke Amyas Northcote
Xélucha M. P. Shiel
A Narrow Escape Lord Dunsany
Thurnley Abbey Perceval Landon
The Black Stone Robert E, Howard
Werewolf of the Sahara G. G. Pendarves
The Devil of the Marsh Henry Brereton Marriott Watson
Fishhead Irvin S. Cobb
The Black Statue Huan Mee
The Pool of the Stone God Abraham Merritt
The Sea-Witch Nictzin Dyalhis
The Lady’s Maid’s Bell Edith Wharton
Classic Weird contains:
The Monster-Maker by W. C. Morrow
The Man Who Went Too Far by E. F. Benson
The Interval by Vincent O'Sullivan
The Doll's Ghost by F. Marion Crawford
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
The Ghost-Ship by Richard Middleton
The New Catacomb by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
The House of the Dead Hand by Edith Wharton
A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
Phantas by Oliver Onions
This 298-page volume contains weird tales by some of the classic authors of the genre, including:
J.
Sheridan Le Fanu (An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier
Street)
E. F. Benson (The Judgement Books)
Vernon Lee (Oke of
Okehurst)
Vincent O'Sullivan (When I was Dead)
Edith Wharton (The
Eyes)
W. C. Morrow (A Story Told by the Sea)
Irvin S. Cobb (The
Unbroken Chain)
Edith Nesbit (From the Dead)
Robert Murray Gilchrist
(Witch In-Grain)
Amyas Northcote (The Downs)
J. H. Riddell (The
Uninhabited House)Fishhead: The Darker Tales of Irvin S. Cobb - kindle edition free for the next five days
As a small gesture to those of us who are stuck indoors during the current virus crisis we are offering free downloads of the kindle version of one of our best books for the next five days: Fishhead: The Darker Tales of Irvin S. Cobb, one of America's finest storytellers.
Additionally, after this period if you would like a mobi copy which you can download onto your kindle, just email us at paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk and we will email one to you free of charge.
During his lifetime Irvin S. Cobb was one of the most celebrated writers in American literature, though nowadays he is almost forgotten, apart perhaps from his Lovecraft connection. Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born in Paducah, Kentucky on the 23rd June, 1876. His father, unable to cope with the death of his own father, succumbed to alcoholism when Cobb was only sixteen. As a result, Cobb’s education came to an end and he started work, first on the Paducah Daily News, then the Louisville Evening Post. By 1904 Cobb’s career in journalism was doing so well that he moved to New York, where he would go on to spend the rest of his life, starting work at the Evening Sun, though it wasn’t long before an assignment to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire so impressed Joseph Pulitzer that he offered Cobb a job at the New York World, where he became the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States. In 1911 Cobb moved to the Saturday Evening Post. Three years later he was asked to cover the Great War. Amongst the many stories he wrote while there were the exploits of the Harlem Hellfighters, a unit of black American soldiers who had gone on to earn distinction for their courage and discipline, which Cobb celebrated in his book The Glory of the Coming. Besides his prolific work as a journalist, Cobb’s fame largely came from his humorous stories, which were published in the leading magazines of his day, and collected in numerous books during his lifetime. But, though he was best known as a humourist, he did have a darker side, exemplified by the tales collected in this volume. Two of the most famous succeeded in catching the attention of H. P. Lovecraft. It is claimed that Fishhead influenced Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. And there is certainly no doubt that Lovecraft was favourably impressed with this tale. In his groundbreaking essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Lovecraft wrote: “Fishhead, an early achievement, is banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake…” The Unbroken Chain gave Lovecraft the key idea behind The Rats in the Walls, though in all other respects the two tales are totally different. Besides writing and journalism, Cobb’s career extended to Hollywood, where legendary director, John Ford, made two films based on his books: Judge Priest (1934) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953). Other films included Peck’s Bad Boy (1921), starring Jackie Coogan, and The Woman Accused (1933), with a young Cary Grant. Cobb also did a stint at acting himself, appearing in ten movies altogether, including Pepper, Everybody’s Old Man (1936), Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) and Hawaii Calls (1938). It’s a sign of the prominence he had achieved that in 1935 he was invited to host the 7th Academy Awards. Other than the tales that inspired Lovecraft, Cobb also wrote some brilliantly dark stories that culminate in a kind of sadistic irony. They are some of the finest conte cruel ever written. Amongst the best of these is the final story in this collection: Faith, Hope, and Charity, whose protagonists, as is often the case in Cobb’s stories, struggle against fates that are not only pre-ordained but are horrendously appropriate! It must be added his hapless victims are far from blameless. What fates await them under Cobb’s pen have most definitely been brought upon them by themselves! Through most of the tales there is a wry sense of humour, so wry, in fact, that it never detracts from the impact at the end; indeed, it often adds to and embellishes it! I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did and share with me the conviction that it is high time they were revived.
Contents are:
Fishhead
The Escape of Mr. Trimm
The Gallowsmith
Mr. Lobel's Apoplexy
The Unbroken Chain
The Second Coming of the First Husband
Masterpiece
January Thaw
Cabbages and Kings
We Can't All Be Thoroughbreds
Queer Creek
Ace, Deuce, Ten Spot, Joker
Balm of Gilead
Faith, Hope, and Charity
trade paperback:
Amazon.co.uk £9.99
Amazon.com $12.99 Barnes & Noble $11.87
ebook:
Amazon.co.uk £2.99 - free for the next 5 days
Amazon.com $3.79 - free for the next 5 days
hard cover:
Amazon.co.uk £20.00
Amazon.com $26.00
£18..00 email: paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
Additionally, after this period if you would like a mobi copy which you can download onto your kindle, just email us at paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk and we will email one to you free of charge.
During his lifetime Irvin S. Cobb was one of the most celebrated writers in American literature, though nowadays he is almost forgotten, apart perhaps from his Lovecraft connection. Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born in Paducah, Kentucky on the 23rd June, 1876. His father, unable to cope with the death of his own father, succumbed to alcoholism when Cobb was only sixteen. As a result, Cobb’s education came to an end and he started work, first on the Paducah Daily News, then the Louisville Evening Post. By 1904 Cobb’s career in journalism was doing so well that he moved to New York, where he would go on to spend the rest of his life, starting work at the Evening Sun, though it wasn’t long before an assignment to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire so impressed Joseph Pulitzer that he offered Cobb a job at the New York World, where he became the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States. In 1911 Cobb moved to the Saturday Evening Post. Three years later he was asked to cover the Great War. Amongst the many stories he wrote while there were the exploits of the Harlem Hellfighters, a unit of black American soldiers who had gone on to earn distinction for their courage and discipline, which Cobb celebrated in his book The Glory of the Coming. Besides his prolific work as a journalist, Cobb’s fame largely came from his humorous stories, which were published in the leading magazines of his day, and collected in numerous books during his lifetime. But, though he was best known as a humourist, he did have a darker side, exemplified by the tales collected in this volume. Two of the most famous succeeded in catching the attention of H. P. Lovecraft. It is claimed that Fishhead influenced Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. And there is certainly no doubt that Lovecraft was favourably impressed with this tale. In his groundbreaking essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Lovecraft wrote: “Fishhead, an early achievement, is banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake…” The Unbroken Chain gave Lovecraft the key idea behind The Rats in the Walls, though in all other respects the two tales are totally different. Besides writing and journalism, Cobb’s career extended to Hollywood, where legendary director, John Ford, made two films based on his books: Judge Priest (1934) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953). Other films included Peck’s Bad Boy (1921), starring Jackie Coogan, and The Woman Accused (1933), with a young Cary Grant. Cobb also did a stint at acting himself, appearing in ten movies altogether, including Pepper, Everybody’s Old Man (1936), Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) and Hawaii Calls (1938). It’s a sign of the prominence he had achieved that in 1935 he was invited to host the 7th Academy Awards. Other than the tales that inspired Lovecraft, Cobb also wrote some brilliantly dark stories that culminate in a kind of sadistic irony. They are some of the finest conte cruel ever written. Amongst the best of these is the final story in this collection: Faith, Hope, and Charity, whose protagonists, as is often the case in Cobb’s stories, struggle against fates that are not only pre-ordained but are horrendously appropriate! It must be added his hapless victims are far from blameless. What fates await them under Cobb’s pen have most definitely been brought upon them by themselves! Through most of the tales there is a wry sense of humour, so wry, in fact, that it never detracts from the impact at the end; indeed, it often adds to and embellishes it! I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did and share with me the conviction that it is high time they were revived.
Contents are:
Fishhead
The Escape of Mr. Trimm
The Gallowsmith
Mr. Lobel's Apoplexy
The Unbroken Chain
The Second Coming of the First Husband
Masterpiece
January Thaw
Cabbages and Kings
We Can't All Be Thoroughbreds
Queer Creek
Ace, Deuce, Ten Spot, Joker
Balm of Gilead
Faith, Hope, and Charity
trade paperback:
Amazon.co.uk £9.99
Amazon.com $12.99 Barnes & Noble $11.87
ebook:
Amazon.co.uk £2.99 - free for the next 5 days
Amazon.com $3.79 - free for the next 5 days
hard cover:
Amazon.co.uk £20.00
Amazon.com $26.00
£18..00 email: paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk
Saturday, 7 September 2019
New PUP advert in Phantasmagoria Magazine
Trevor Kennedy is very kindly publishing the following advert for Parallel Universe Publications in the next issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine.
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Two more Jim Pitts full-colour prints
We have just added two more of Jim's wonderful artwork to the list of prints available from us.
Click here to see all the prints that are now available.
Click here to see all the prints that are now available.
 |
| Print 41 SHADMOCKS AND SHIVERS: New tales inspired by the stories of R.Chetwynd-Hayes 2019 |
 |
| Print 42 SOME THINGS MAY BE: Collected writings by James Wade. 2017 |
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
The Winter Hunt soon to be Out of Print
 | |
| Cover Art: Joe Young |
 |
| Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis at the launch for The Winter Hunt at The Grand Hotel, Scarborough |
Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis, a two-man, Swansea-based writing-team (though they have written individually as well, and excellently too) are contemporary authors in the best sense of the phrase. They are also hugely respectful of and clearly motivated by some of the great work done in the past. So often their stories, at first glance, may be ‘kitchen sink’ in tone. By that, I mean they could be set on a drear council estate, or in a bus station café, or a second-hand shoe shop, or a seaside boarding house on a dull day in the off-season. But never be fooled by any of that, because these calm waters run very, very deep indeed. The Lockley/Lewis style is deceptively simple – an easy and comfortable read, comprising beautiful, well-constructed prose that will carry you straight to the heart of the plot. Already, that’s a sign of quality where I’m concerned. But in addition, in terms of the subtext, these tales are never less than awe-inspiring, and I choose my words carefully. There are massive concepts at the heart of so much Lockley and Lewis. One minute you think you’re reading about a weary shop-girl who spends all day worrying about her wayward brother and his car-thief mates, the next you’re confronted by demonic forces and a winter storm so hellish they surely come from a place beyond time. A few minutes later, you think you’re travelling with two single middle-aged women on a short holiday to the coast, but the next thing you’re asking ‘coast of what?’ What kind of edge have they ventured to here, and for God’s sake, why? Nothing is what it appears in the book you are about to read, but there is nothing complex here either. Think of these tales as contemporary, urban parables, often unapologetically horrific, and yet rich in heart and soul. They deal with issues that go far deeper than the events on the page, and yet the best thing is – you don’t have to go digging for that. It’ll all be brought to you in due course.
Contents are:
Introduction by Paul Finch
The Winter Hunt
Gabriel Restrained
Family Ties
Lullaby
The Woman on the Stairs
Never Go Back
Damp
Last Day
The Worst Part
City of Woes
Death Knock
Playmates
De Profundis
Puca Muc
Shadows in Paint
The Winter Hunt was first published in F20, 2000
Gabriel Restrained was first published in Darkness Rising Two: Night's Soft Pains, 2001
Family Ties was first published in The Third Black Book of Horror, 2008
Lullaby was first published in Vivisections, 2003
Never Go Back was first published in British Invasion, 2008
Damp was first published in Chimeraworld #2, 2005
City of Woes was first published in Doorways, 2008
Death Knock was first published in At Ease with the Dead, 2007
Puca Muc was first published in Shrouded by Darkness, 2006
Order Direct from us
trade paperback:
Amazon.co.uk £9.99
Amazon.com $12.99 Barnes & Noble $12.99
ebook:
amazon.co.uk £2.99
amazon.com $4.27
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