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Post by dem on Nov 12, 2013 8:02:35 GMT
David A. Riley - The Lurkers In The Abyss & Other Tales Of Terror (Shadow Publishing, Oct. 2013)  Cover artwork by Paul Mudie
The Lurkers In The Abyss
After Nightfall
Terror On The Moors
The Shade Of Apollyon
Prickly
Writer's Cramp
Winter On Aubarch 6
The Shadow By The Altar
Out Of Corruption
A New Lease
Help-Plants
Inside The labyrinth
A Sense Of Movement
Soft Little Fingers
His Pale Blue Eyes
Fish Eye
Lurkers
Blurb David A. Riley began writing horror stories while still at school and had his first professional sale to Pan Books in 1969, which was The Lurkers in the Abyss, published in The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories. This story was chosen for inclusion in The Century's Best Horror Fiction in 2012. Over the years he has had numerous stories published in Britain and the United States plus translations into German, Spanish, Italian and Russian. His fiction has appeared in World of Horror, Fear, Whispers, Fantasy Tales, Aboriginal Science Fiction, Dark Discoveries and Lovecraft e-Zine.
His first collection, His Own Mad Demons was published by Hazardous Press in 2012. The Return, a Lovecraftian horror novel was published by Blood Bound Books in 2013.
This second collection brings together under one cover seventeen of the author's best blood-curdling stories.With a novel and umpteen collections on the go, swore I'd resist even the tiniest peek at this for time being, but, you know, Mr. Sutton's typically informative introduction only runs to four pages, what harm can it do, etc. It was the fatal reference to the theme of Writer's Cramp cracked my resolve .... After Nightfall: (David A. Sutton [ed], Weird Window #1, 1970). Cheery anthropologist Elliot Wilderman arrives in the decrepit hamlet of Heron to room at the solitary inn. His generosity at the bar soon wins over the taciturn locals, and in no time he has accumulated much valuable data pertaining to local tradition and legend. But still one mystery remains. Why do the populace hide themselves away behind stout locks at nightfall, and, stranger still, what's with the plates of raw meat they leave outside their doors? His landlady, Mrs. Jowitt, cautions him to do as they do, stay indoors nights and avoid the mouldering huts on the edge of town, but Mr. Wilderman is of nosey disposition. A fog descends on Heron. What harm can it do to lean out of his window and watch for those who come to claim their meal? The title story is perhaps better known, but for this reader, After Nightfall is Mr. Riley's 'seventies masterpiece. The author likely had the typical Lovecraft New England setting in mind for his location, but, for me, Heron anticipates Chetwynd-Hayes' Loughville. Writer's Cramp: (Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton [ed's] Fantasy Tales #1, Robinson 1988). With a deadline impending and the new issue still eight pages shy of completion, Cartwright-Hughes, slimy literary editor of Digest of Horror magazine, plagiarises the plot of a submission from unknown author A. J. Dymchurch of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs. Rubbish writer he may be, but Dymchurch is an accomplished Black Magician, and, unless he receives a very public apology, Cartwright-Hughes is for the chop. Out of Corruption: (Stephen Jones [ed.] The Mammoth Book Of Zombies, Robinson 1993). Set in 1934, very Lovecraftian in feel but - mercifully - minus any Cthulhu Mythos overkill. Our narrator, Raymond Gregory pays a visit to his friend John Poole who has recently moved to the grim and depressing Elm Tree House in Fenley Wood. Poole, an occult dabbler, gives Gregory the guided tour and the more his guest sees of the place, the less he likes it. The house gives off terrible vibes, most notably the pentagram of slime in the cellar. Neither is he over-keen on the tramp-like fellow who has taken to prowling nightly in the garden. Gregory learns from local librarian Desmond Foster that Elm Tree House was built on the site of a 13th Century Abbey torn down when the locals discovered the Holy Fathers were worshippers of Satan. The Monks were the lucky ones - they were merely slaughtered on the spot. The Abbot was half-hung, disembowelled and quartered alive. His last sneered utterance - "The dead rise and come to me" - suggests he didn't mind such treatment in the slightest. His gibbeted remains mysteriously disappeared that same night. With Poole reduced to a gibbering imbecile, it's obvious to Foster and Gregory that their friend's foolish meddling in the dark arts has revived the Abbot and his rotting accomplices. The worst news is, the Abbot firmly believes in taking his revenge in kind ...
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Post by dem on Nov 14, 2013 6:04:38 GMT
Prickly: (Stuart David Schiff [ed.], Death, Playboy 1982). Back to the golden age of witchcraft & black magic, when seemingly every local newspaper thrived on stories of naked witches, grave-robbing ghouls, and all manner of cemetery desecration. What a complete load of warlocks - except for ... Barchester, 1975. The demolition of a row of houses to make way for a tower block releases Prickly, the pet monkey/ familiar of the late Horace Horatio Brierly, who achieved local notoriety as a Black Magician. Prickly is adopted by Brierly's youthful Satanic cult as their den mascot. Soon the walls of the new block are defaced with scrawled graffiti of the PRICKLY RULES OK, PRICKLY SUCKS RED BLOOD variety. They also paste hand drawn pictures of the fanged, red eyed little monster. The kids takes to terrorising the new tenants, poor old Mrs. Glasson coming in for particular persecution. Marooned on the fourteenth floor, and in constant dispute with the council over a rat infestation they dismiss as a product of her neurosis, Mrs. Glasson is one of life's victims, or at least, she will be come Halloween if Prickly and his evil teeny- bopper disciples have any say in the matter. His Pale Blue Eyes: (Johnny Mains [ed], Bite-Sized Horror, Obverse, 2011). Reads like a companion piece to Romero's Children in 7th Black Book Of Horror which is no bad thing. It's been over twenty-four hours now and ten-year-old Allison's parents still haven't returned from the supermarket. Armed with a rifle, she sets off to the rescue, doing her best to keep out of the clutches of the zombies. During the course of her terrifying journey, Allison saves the lives of van driver Greg and his two sons, and persuades them to search for her mum and dad. They eventually spot the doomed couple on the mini-mart roof, hurling slabs down at a forty-strong mob of hungry corpses, whereupon Alice makes a snap decision which may not be in the best interests of Greg and his kids .... His Pale Blue Eyes and The Shadow By The Altar have both previously appeared as Vault advent calendar treats ....
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Post by dem on Nov 15, 2013 15:05:10 GMT
 Jim Pitts: (World Of Horror #7, May 1975). The narrator, a keen student of dark sorcery, is embroiled in public dispute with a smarmy sceptic over the reality or otherwise of "supernatural" phenomena. To resolve their feud, the occultist accepts Updike's challenge to raise a demon. Of course, he has no intention of doing anything so dangerous, but, incensed that his rival should have the temerity to arrive drunk, resolves to teach the smug fool a lesson. He spikes Updike's coffee with a hallucinogenic, then sets to work on his mind, mapping out a deeply unpleasant Middle Eastern adventure for the drugged man centred on a vile statuette of the Angel of Death. Updike is reduced to a quivering wreck, but, by now thoroughly enjoying himself, the occultist prolongs the mental torture for longer than is advisable. Winter On Aubarch 6: (Fear # 11. Nov. 1989). A fugitive crash lands on a lonely uncharted planet. Arrach Gudgeon resolves to wait a year before launching a distress flare, by which time he will have been pronounced dead and his crime forgotten. He's coping well until, with the approach of winter, the huge swamp worms go to ground as his food supplies dwindle. Facing slow starvation, a desperate Gudgeon takes inspiration from a story of auto-cannibalism by obscure 20th century author, Stephen King. With advanced technology at his disposal, all Gudgeon need do is programme the computer to perform a succession of extreme nip and tucks without fear of losing anything vital. Ten months into his ordeal, a rescue party arrive on Aubarch 6 .... |
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Post by dem on Nov 17, 2013 21:31:34 GMT
The Lurkers In The Abyss: (Herbery Van Thal [ed], 11th Pan Book Of Horror Stories, 1969)). "Now be reasonable, eh? We ain't inhuman." Ian Redfern, disgruntled Dole office employee, is set upon by a bunch of unkempt high street thugs while on his way home from the library. Struggling free of their ringleader, Dag - a kid who literally reeks of death - Ian sprints down backstreet's, over a patch of waste ground, on through a cemetery of evil repute until, fatally, he takes shelter in a derelict house. Even now he's not shaken his pursuers, but they who lurk in the tunnels beneath the basement are a far more terrifying prospect.
In Robert Bloch's Sweet Sixteen (aka Spawn Of The Dark One), the '50s motorcycle gangs are seen to have both boots in Satan's camp, and the same is true of the youth in a number of Mr. Riley's stories. Here, Ian is targeted by the hooligans-who-ain't-what-they-seem for no other excuse than Dag regards him an "intellectual" (Hippie?). And, as we've seen in Prickly, they start 'em very young in shunned, legend haunted Accrington ....
A New Lease: (Stephen Jones & David Sutton [eds.],Anthology of Fantasy & SF, 1994)). Young Mark Dillon is bullied by twelve year old Gillian Willoughby and her prepubescent cronies to break into the derelict factory on Canal Street. Little miss sweary mouth insists that the premises are being used by local thieves to store knock off gear, but they've a darker reason for luring Mark onto the premises. What Gillian and friends really want is for him to get up close and personal with the mouldering occupants of one of five elongated boxes ....
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Post by dem on Nov 23, 2013 14:05:47 GMT
Soft Little Fingers: (Barbara & Christopher Roden [eds.], Shades of Darkness, Ash-Tree Press 2008). Now here's a nice horrible one. Peter Devlin first encounters the Corsa in the queue for the drive-through car-wash. The dead-eyed, putty-faced kid staring through the back window gives him a terrible turn. After which, he spots the car and its leprous passenger at regular intervals until it is involved in a fatal accident, Mr. William McCarthy, drunk at the wheel, deliberately hitting a lamp-post head-on at speed. He had recently suffered the twin bereavement of losing both wife and daughter to a baffling wasting disease. Mr. McCarthy is dead on impact, but what about the child with the papier mâché face? Peter leans through the window, hands fumbling across the back seat - and that's when the spectral, ice-cold fingers reach out to transfer their curse from one doomed family to the next ....  David Stann: cover scan from the excellent Galactic Central (i just tarted it up a little). : (Charles C. Ryan [ed.], Aboriginal Science Fiction, Summer 1998). Acting on a tip off from a dying alcoholic prison inmate, Flannery O'Casey, intergalactic wide-boy, travels to the jungles of Queldon, in search of the legendary, self-reproducing help-plant, outlawed by the Droid Corporation as unwanted, free competition to their synthetic flora. With no local knowledge, Flannery hires Fullgor, a slow-witten reptilian giant, to take him to his treasure. Fullgor dutifully locates the Help-Plant, a veined, purple throbbing monstrosity, warted and quite, quite magnificent. Everybody will want one of these! Unfortunately for O'Casey, MacIntyre, his former cell-mate, wasn't as dying as he let on, merely biding his time until he found someone stupid enough to do all the spadework. The Help-Plant is not as harmless to humans as he led O'Casey to believe.
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Post by dem on Nov 27, 2013 4:44:03 GMT
The Shadow By The Altar: (Stuart Hughes [ed.], Peeping Tom #5, 2002/ Vault Advent Calendar, 2010): "Coincidentally, they had both been called to the same Magistrates Courtj, Tibbets for stealing a briefcase and camera from a parked car, Barlow for having attempted to desecrate a grave in the town cemetery.".
Stephen Tibbets, small time criminal, is approached by two men in a pub who offer him £200 to break into the home of Edward Barlow, Black Sorcerer, and deface a specific pentacle on his Satanic altar with red paint. Now that he's here, Tibbets is in two minds about completing the mission. What if those stories about the guy's familiar are true? As he dithers, Barlow returns with the shadow's evening meal ...
A Sense Of Movement: (Charles Black [ed.], Third Black Book of Horror, 2008). Troubled times for Malcolm. The first night of his annual holiday sees him split from his live-in lover after a drunken brawl in The Swan (Bill Sutcliffe loses his teeth but gains Linda. Where's the justice?). And now there's the business with a condemned slum on Anvil Avenue, once home to locally infamous Black Magician, Oscar Cunningham. What is it Malcolm saw last night watching him from an upper window?
Malcolm's drink dependency and recurring nightmares about the house fuel his instability. Even when he cops off with busty barmaid, Jenny Finch, it almost ends in manslaughter as his dreams are so terrible, he unwittingly lashes out in his sleep. There's nothing for it but to confront his fear, just as Oscar hoped he would. A Bedridden patient in the geriatric ward he may be, but the old demon-raiser still has the touch!
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Post by dem on Nov 29, 2013 18:15:45 GMT
Lurkers: Fleeing the scene of a not altogether successful bank robbery, Johnny runs into a gang of thugs. It's Dag and the lads, looking not a day older than when last we met, and still stubbornly immune to the wonders of Clearasil. Johnny, in no mood for humouring cretins, brandishes his sawn-off shot-gun. Dag good as laughs in his face, so the desperate villain blows away one of his mates. Chased through the backstreet's by the pack, Johnny arrives at a row of derelict houses, picks the wrong one, and plummets through the rotting boards to land in a stinking, slime-filled crater in the cellar floor.
Dag and cronies arrive to gloat from the gallery.
The first of the abominations emerges from its tunnel ....
.... and that's where the story really gets going, taking in an Aliens-style shoot out with hideous subterranean creatures and an equally terrifying encounter with a ragged, once human tribe who hunt on behalf of the Old Ones. Sequels are risky, perhaps even more so when penned by the original author. Get them wrong and you risk killing two stories in one go, but, claustrophobic and suspenseful, Lurkers works just fine for this reader.
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Post by dem on Dec 12, 2013 9:52:02 GMT
The Terrror On The Moors: ( World Of Horror #6, April 1975). Alas, poor Peter Ridgeway. Had he but realised he was a character in a 'seventies horror story, the salesman would never have attempted that "short cut" across the Lancashire Moors during a blizzard. Lost in fog and driving snow, his car stalls after swerving to avoid a lunatic in the road, and he has no option other than to head home on foot. As Ridgeway trudges on through the snow, he glimpses a figure running along before him, eventually to arrive at a derelict farmhouse. Ridgeway, sensing a trap, is too cold and weary to resist the promise of shelter. Meanwhile, something as deadly as it is weird, awaits his arrival ..... Into The Labyrinth: ( John Pelan [ed.], Alone on the Darkside, 2006). Beckett's first trip to Crete, a chance to forget his messy split from his wife and indulge the drink dependency which contributed to it. Marvelling at the fresco's unearthed at the Knossos excavation site, he's befriended by Demetrious, a local lecturer, encyclopaedic in his knowledge of Minoan civilisation. After a fascinating private tour, Beckett overlooks his new pal's bleeding stumps of teeth to agree to a dinner invitation. Unfortunately for Beckett, Dem's interest in the Minotaur runs far deeper than is healthy for either himself or those unfortunate enough to make his acquaintance. A drunken Beckett is jumped, dragged to the site entrance, and abandoned to the darkness of the subterranean maze .... This one put me in mind of Conan-Doyle's bleak and nasty The Catacombs with an additional, and very horrible component. Which leaves only a splendid Lovecraftian pulp romp to end on. "The thing's face looks like someone's parents got too friendly with a fish." Fish Eye: ( A.J. French & David Binks[eds.], Lovecraft e-Zine, #16, July 2012). First thought on seeing the cover was that Moody had used a little poetic imagination to depict a scene from the title story, but no, those interbred Innsmouth wannabe's are definitely Fish Eye and his disciples. When Captain Ed and his lobster-men dredge a hideous statue from the ocean, they unleash an ancient evil on the tiny fishing village of St. Mottrams. Soon the locals turn on outsiders - even those they've raised children by - in an orgy of butchery. Holidaymakers Mike Rayburn and Jeb Holowitz escape to raise the alarm ... Very highly recommended. Try this one first - it's a career-spanning, 'greatest hits; Volume 1' compilation is why, then seek out a copy of Mr. Riley's début collection, His Own Mad Demons (Hazardous Press, 2012) to catch up with those dark denizens of Grudge End.
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