"Subtle Invasion" in Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror Vol. 3

I appear in my first 'Year's Best of' collection today, in Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror Volume 3 by Brimstone Press, one of Australia's leading small press publishers in the speculative fiction field.

The collection contains my story "Subtle Invasion" which was short listed for last year's Australian Shadows Award, was read on The Writing Show's Halloween Gast Fest and will appear in the Permuted Press anthology Best New Tales of the Apocalypse (USA). It originally appeared in The Black Book of Horror (UK) by Mortbury Press. Not bad for one story, probably my most successful tale to date, soon to be published in three different continents.

Edited by Angela Challis, the collection also contains stories by Sean Williams, Marty Young, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Gary Kemble and others. So not bad company to keep.

I'm also pleased that the story is last in the book, my first in such a privileged position.

So that's two publications this year, and plenty more to come. Should have some news on some new stories soon too.

Cthulhu's Dark Cults Officially Announced

Cthulhu's Dark Cults has been officially announced on the Chaosium website, for release this winter (or summer if you live on the other side of the world to me). Still waiting on the official cover, as opposed to the cover Chaosium had in one of their catalogues several months back (which might be the same anyway).

Here is the blurb from the Chaosium website:

Cthulhu's Dark Cults
Schemes of the Secret Masters

CHA 6044
$14.95
ISBN 1-56882-235-9
Edited by David Conyers
Fiction Anthology
Call of Cthulhu Fiction Anthology

Journey across the globe to witness the numerous and diverse cults that worship Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones. Lead by powerful sorcerers and fanatical necromancers, their followers are mad and deranged slaves. The ancient and alien gods whom they willingly devote themselves are truly terrifying. These cults control real power, for they are the real secret masters of our world. Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu is an endless source of imagination of all things dark and mysterious.

This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft.This collection of ten stories features the cults which first appeared in classic Call of Cthulhu gaming supplements such as The Masks of Nyarlathotep, The Day of the Beast, Horror on the Orient Express, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth and others.

• "The Eternal Chinaman" by John Sunseri
• "Captains of Industry" by John Goodrich
• "Perfect Skin" by David Witteveen
• "Covenant of Darkness" by William Jones
• "The Whisper of Ancient Secrets" by Penelope Love
• "Old Ghost" by Peter A. Worthy
• "The Nature of Faith" by Oscar Rios
• "The Devil's Diamonds" by Cody Goodfellow
• "Requiem for the Burning God" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
• "Sister of the Sands" by David Conyers

Cthulhu Unbound

My good friend and co-author of The Spiraling Worm John Sunseri has just had his first edited anthology with Thomas Brannan released by Permuted Press. It is called Cthulhu Unbound and features stories from John Goodrich, D.L. Snell, Lee Clark Zumpe, C.J. Henderson and others. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos mixed with every genre you could imagine, from westerns to space opera to romance and everything in between.

I will be appearing in the second volume later this year, Cthulhu Unbound 2.

Keith Herber (1949-2009)

It was sad news to learn today that Keith Herber died suddenly. Keith was arguably the most prolific writer for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game producing respected supplements such as The Fungi from Yuggoth, Spawn of Azathoth, H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham and H.P. Lovecraft's Dunwich, amongst others. Most recently he spearheaded the creation of Miskatonic River Press, a licensee producer of Call of Cthulhu supplements such as the well-received New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley. He will be missed, and my thoughts go out to his wife Sharon and son Eric.

Further news on Keith's passing can be found here and here.

Terrors From Beyond Out Soon

My latest Call of Cthulhu scenario will see print in May this year, appearing in Terrors from Beyond. Here is the news item from Chaosium's website:

Terrors from Beyond

Terrors From Beyond is a collection of 1920s adventures for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, designed for play with pre-generated characters. The book provides fine opportunities for an impromptu game or tournament play and – because the characters are intimately connected with the plot – roleplaying challenges not normally available in most published material. An excellent adventure collection for new and veteran Call of Cthulhu players alike.

GHOST LIGHT – Gary Sumpter

The keepers of a remote Scottish lighthouse have vanished. What fate awaits those who come to investigate the disappearances?

GRAVE SECRETS – Brian Courtemanche

The people of Stafford, Rhode Island, live much the same as their colonial forbears, making only gradual concessions to the encroaching tread of progress. Now, a fate both formless and awful has befallen a family in town. One by one, the children succumb to a newly arrived yet ancient menace.

THE DIG – Brian Sammons

Miskatonic University students on an excavation at nearby Dunlow Woods uncover ancient secrets, murder and horrors from the past.

A METHOD TO MADNESS – John A. Almack

The investigators have been committed to a private asylum. Are they really insane? Is their impending cure now worse than their derangements?

DEATH BY MISADVENTURE – Glyn White

Evidence suggests that Charles Stanhope was killed by the accidental discharge of a faulty shotgun at his home in the Lincolnshire Fens. The Coroner's verdict is death by misadventure – but is there a suggestion of something far more sinister?

THE BURNING STARS – David Conyers

The investigators recover in a US Military hospital in Haiti suffering from ongoing and prolonged blackouts. The last seven days of their lives have vanished from their minds. Can they not remember, or can’t they bear to?