Win Copies of The Eye of Infinity

Lovecraft eZine has a competition going on at their site at the moment, where you can win one of three signed copies of my Harrison Peel novella, The Eye of Infinity, published by Perilous Press and illustrated by Nick Gucker.

In the same competition you can win one of three signed copies of William Holloway's The Immortal Body.

Issue 24 of The Lovecraft eZine is now online. To be entered into the random drawing, all you have to do is comment on one or more of the stories or essays in the issue. 

The Eye of Infinity Kindle Edition

The Eye of Infinity, is now available as a Kindle book on Amazon.com.

At a remote radio telescope facility in New Mexico, an astrophysicist commits suicide after contracting a hideous mutative plague caused by something he saw… and he won’t be the last. Major Harrison Peel has witnessed his share of cosmic mutations before, but now, he faces a threat worse than death, and a powerful enemy that hides behind a human face.

When a top secret NASA program refuses to heed his warnings, Peel is catapulted into a nightmarish government conspiracy that takes him from Ft. Meade’s Puzzle Palace to the launchpads of Cape Canaveral; from the desolate Atacama Desert of Chile, to the very heart of the universe itself, all in a desperate bid to shut… The Eye Of Infinity.

The first Harrison Peel tale in three years, The Eye Of Infinity features a Mike Dubisch cover and a dozen illustrations by Nick Gucker. The Eye Of Infinity continues the saga of Harrison Peel, a veteran of covert wars against alien invaders, and fuses Mythos horror, quantum physics and interstellar cloak and dagger action into an instant pulp classic.

Here is what a few authors and reviewers have been saying about this novella:

I greatly enjoyed THE EYE OF INIFINITY...highly imaginative, exciting, suspenseful, thoroughly entertaining. Peel is a very human character, not some unrealistic super-man...he's easy to identify with! - Jeffrey Thomas, author Punktown, Deadstock and Letters From Hades

The Eye of Infinity is a cracking example of a modern mythos story done well. The pacing is excellent as Peel finds himself more and more out of his depth and moves steadily closer to the horrifying truth. Peel is a likeable, believable and well-rounded character and the central premise fits in well with what readers expect from this kind of yarn, with a resolution that is intelligent and satisfying - Peter Loftus, Albedo One

It grabbed me and wouldn't let go. A fast-paced read with a great plot and some DAMN scary shoggoths! - Mike Davis, Lovecraft eZine

Read more reviews here.

Harrison Peel Series Page

On the request of several readers, I've added a new page to my website, dedicated to my Harrison Peel series of Mythos adventures. Basically, Harrison Peel is a former Australian Army officer turned NSA consultant spy in action adventure style stories against the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, with more science fiction elements than fantasy. Think The Bourne Identity meets At The Mountains of Madness.

Special call outs to Brian M. Sammons, John Goodrich, John Sunseri and CJ Henderson, who've all contributed to the ongoing series.

I will also thanks editors and publishers David Kernot, Cody Goodfellow, Jacob Kier, William Jones, John Manning, Glynn Barrass, Lynn Willis, Thomas Branan and Shane Jiraiya Cummings who made sure the Peel tales were the best they could be.

Second Eye of Infinity Review at Albedo One

The Eye of Infinity has a second review at Albedo One, this one in Issue 42 by Peter Loftus:

The Eye of Infinity is a cracking example of a modern mythos story done well. The pacing is excellent as Peel finds himself more and more out of his depth and moves steadily closer to the horrifying truth. Peel is a likeable, believable and well-rounded character and the central premise fits in well with what readers expect from this kind of yarn, with a resolution that is intelligent and satisfying.

The Eye of Infinity Reviewed at Albedo One

The Eye of Infinity got a great review over at Albedo One from editor and publisher Robert Neilson:

The Eye of Infinty is a splendid mix of SF and cosmic horror. The action is unceasing and the pace relentless. It is almost a relief when Peel pauses to consider the dilemma presented by the relationship he has with his girlfriend and considers the one that she wishes. Peel is a hero in the true sense and one you can enjoy spending an all-too-short 84 pages with.  The novella itself, though part of a series, is comfortably self-contained, though the ending points towards a continuing story. Having read this much I would love to see Harrison Peel’s adventures at novel length.

Read the rest of the review here.

Two Illustrations - Jupiter and The Eye of Infinity

The latest issue of Jupiter, 36 Sponde is out with my cyborg illustration on the cover. This was a character in a space opera novel I wrote a draft for some 20 years ago, which I plan to get back to one day in a completely new structure. Issue 36 is edited by Ian Redman and features new stories from Michael Sutherland, Greg McColm, Alexander Hay, Neal Clift and Dean Giles.
 

The other illustration is by the talented Nick Gucker, of a shoggoth infected human adapted from my novella The Eye of Infinity. Nick's illustration has been immortalised on a t-shirt produced by Scurvy Ink, entitled "Shoggoth Evolution", and is very cool indeed.

On related news, rumours have hit the Internet that The Eye of Infinity could soon be available in e-pubishing formats.

2012 Ditmar Awards

It is award season again, and the Aurealis Awards finalists announced and the Australian Shadows not far behind. Ditmar's too, the Australian speculative fiction most popular awards a ramping up, with anyone 'active' in the industry able to vote, regardless of whether you are from this country or not.

If you want to vote for me, great, and here is how. I'm eligible in the following categories and I've noted which stories I think have been my favorites and from what I can accertain the most popular of my work for this year:

• Best Novella or Novellette, "The Eye of Infinity", Perilous Press
• Best Short Story, "The Advertising Imperative", Ticon4 (read the story here)
• Best Collected Work, Midnight Echo 6, ed. David Conyers, David Kernot and Jason Fischer.
• Best Fan Writer, Interview with Charles Stross, Midnight Echo 6
• Best Fan Artist, Cover, Jupiter 33. (image included above)

To vote simply go to this form and fill it in. If I'm known to you, please use me as a referee for eligibility, espeically if you are not Australian. If you want to vote for more than just me, and there are plenty of good outpourings this year, go to the full list here.
If you do vote for me to win a Ditmar, thank you very much.

Entries close Friday 13 April 2012, or Thursdayt 12 April 2012 if you live anywhere between Europe and the Americas.

David Agranoff reviews The Eye of Infinity

Dark fiction author David Agranoff has posted a review of The Eye of Infinity on his blog:

Jam packed title that left me wanting more. That is a sign of a good read. Cool book, I am first in line and excited for the further adventures.

The Eye of Infinity is reviewed at Innsmouth Free Press

Conyers’ story works as a spy thriller – with Peel and even his NSA superiors locked out of the secrets of INFINITE EYE and somebody suborning or murdering members of the project – and as Lovecraftian horror justified by quantum physics and sudden, violent assaults on Peel and others ... I liked the story enough that I’m going to pick up The Spiraling Worm and will follow Peel’s future adventures. - Randy Stafford, Innsmouth Free Press.

I like this review because it says nice things about the interior art:

And, lest you think $12 is a mite steep for a novella, this one comes with some nice black and white drawings by Nickolas Gucker. His work nicely illustrates dramatic points of the story – whether they’re alien landscapes or sudden and gruesome deaths.

Nick Gucker did a fantastic job at illustrating "The Eye". I felt like he was picking images right out of my mind as I imagined them, he drew it that well.

Read the rest of the review here.

The Eye of Infinity available for Purchase

The Eye of Infinity is now available for purchase, at the Perilous Press website. Here is the blurb:

Cover by MIKE DUBISCH
Interior illustrations by NICK GUCKER

ISBN 0-9704000-4-8
Trade Paperback, 84 Pages

At a remote radio telescope facility in New Mexico, an astrophysicist commits suicide after contracting a hideous mutative plague caused by something he saw...and he won't be the last.

Major Harrison Peel has witnessed his share of cosmic atrocities before, but now he faces a threat worse than death and a powerful enemy that hides behind a human face.

When a top-secret NASA program refuses to heed his warnings, Peel is catapulted into a nightmarish government conspiracy that takes him from Fort Meade's Puzzle Palace to the launchpads of Cape Canaveral; from the desolate Atacama Desert of Chile to the very heart of the universe itself, all in a desperate bid to close... THE EYE OF INFINITY.

The Eye of Infinity is a new novella in the epic series that began in The Spiraling Worm and is a spellbinding fusion of cosmic horror, quantum physics and espionage action.

---

The Eye of Infinity at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival

It's official, The Eye of Infinity is out, even if it isn't yet available on Amazon.com or from other online booksellersw yet. However, if you are in Los Angeles on the 16-17 of September, and are attending the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, the first copies will be officially released there.

Cody Goodfellow, Adam Barnes and Mike Dubisch will be attending, all of whom have been key in ensuring the books release.

Alas, I would be there myself if Los Angelse was not so far away from Australia.

Interviewed by SF Crowsnest plus two Reviews

Rod MacDonald of SF Crowsnest recently interviewed me on my science fiction writing. Topics covered include two of my most successful stories "Black Water" and "Emergency Rebuild", my latest Harrison Peel book The Eye of Infinity, my involvement with Albedo One, and the upcoming issue of Midnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special. You can read the interview here.

Rod also reviewed The Eye of Infinity:

David Conyers, who comes from Australia, is very good with his plot, characterisation and dialogue, three aspects which if properly combined make a worthwhile story. He has certainly achieved that here! ‘The Eye Of Infinity’ can be read in one sitting, not bad because it's a page-turner you won't want to put down.

I also had my cover illustration for Jupiter 33 also reviewed:

Very striking in appearance, stark in its monochrome simplicity, on a tropical paradise beach an alien being menacingly approaches. Completely reflective, on the alien we see a mirror image of a startled figure perhaps living his last moments, hopelessly trying to avoid death. Enhanced by the anonymity of the alien, this is a powerful illustration which is completely different from the cover of the last issue, so displaying Conyers' skill in producing artwork. It will be interesting to see more of his art as well as fiction in the future.

Thanks Rod!

The Eye of Infinity Reviewed on Horrorscope

The Eye of Infinity has just been reviewed by Shane Jiraiya Cummings on Horrorscope.com.au, the first review for my new Major Harrison Peel release, which should be back from the printers any day now:

The Eye of Infinity is a standalone novella and the latest in a series of Cthulhu Mythos-style adventures featuring protagonist Major Harrison Peel. In the novella, Peel has retired from the Australian armed forces (following the catastrophic events in The Spiraling Worm) and now works as a consultant for the USA's National Security Agency (NSA). He struggles to balance his home life with long-term girlfriend Nicola and his duties as a 'spook' on the frontline protecting mankind from alien incursions.

But The Eye of Infinity is no Men in Black pastiche, with cute aliens to befriend and singular enemies to defeat. David Conyers dredges up all the dark creations of cosmic dread spawned from H. P. Lovecraft's imagination and gives them a modern twist. Men and women like Harrison, Nicola, and NSA agent Jack Dixon fight the almost futile fight to keep shoggoths and star spawn from our door, and unfortunately for them, their victories are always Pyrrhic.


Central to The Eye of Infinity is the concept of subjective reality. Can we believe what we see in the deep, dark reaches of space? To a less indoctrinated mind, the vast expanse of stars and galaxies could be celestial dragons or roiling, living chaos. In the multi-dimensional adventure of The Eye of Infinity, this is exactly how reality is portrayed. Knowing that reality hinges on the fragility of the human mind - and that the horrors experienced by protagonist Harrison Peel could be wrought by his own mind - is a terrifying concept. What if malevolent alien wills were shaping the human race into their own dark image ... and we were convinced this was in our best interest? This is the question posed by Conyers - and it is a compelling one.


David Conyers has grappled with the true, terrifying nature of evil in his previous Mythos stories - most notably, The Spiraling Worm, his collaboration with John Sunseri - but in The Eye of Infinity, he has succeeded in showing the reader just how insignificant humanity is in the grand scheme of the universe. At the same time, Conyers' hero Harrison Peel has to contend with rogue elements in his own (adopted) government, which when contrasted with the scale of the forces threatening to engulf humanity, highlights the petty nature of humanity.


Conyers' interpretation of the Outer God Azathoth is revolutionary. In keeping with Lovecraftian tradition, Conyers manages to evoke cosmic horror on a grand scale, and yet, he simultaneously applies scientific principles by describing the god in terms of quantum physics as a force above and beyond nature.


While not the rollicking adventure of The Spiraling Worm, The Eye of Infinity is a well-crafted tale of espionage and counter-terrorism (of the alien, reality-warping kind) that is permeated by a sense of loneliness. Peel struggles against the threat of unimaginable forces, and he can't even open up to his girlfriend or accept the happiness of a mundane life.


Although the relationship between Peel and Nicola is critical to the story and Peel's motivations, the dialogue and emotions expressed felt stilted in places. While Conyers excels at making impossible dread possible, he needs to flex his authorial muscles more when it comes to romance and the nuances of relationships. Much of the interaction was good, but there were a few discordant notes in the dialogue and characters' actions that portrayed them as somewhat wooden.


However, the sense of loneliness came through strongest when Peel was travelling the cyclopean wastes of other worlds. It was fantastic to see the development of Harrison Peel's human side. Over the course of The Spiraling Worm, Conyers gave Peel a compelling character arc from naive but tough military man to a dying martyr filled with regret. Miraculously cured of his fatal disease at the end of The Spiraling Worm, Peel has become a more three dimensional character in The Eye of Infinity. Peel's inner struggles with his life's direction, his doubts, and more importantly, his fears (based on previous near-death experiences with shoggoths and other creatures) are the threads upon which the plot hangs, and as such, Conyers has moved beyond Lovecraftian tropes to ascend to the highest - and most captivating - form of storytelling: creating a character that the reader will genuinely care about.


The other downside, perhaps because of the use of recurring characters: much of the protagonist's backstory is filled in with chunks of exposition. While necessary in parts, this bogged the story's pace down somewhat.


Niggles aside, The Eye of Infinity is the epitome of modern Cthulhu Mythos fiction: tough, probing characters facing unfathomable beings and making impossible decisions. It's round two in the biggest fight we'll ever face - humanity vs. cosmic horror - and this time, no one is going to escape unscathed. David Conyers is the reigning king of the Cthulhu Mythos Down Under. With Conyers at the helm, you won't be disappointed by your journey.

This review was originally published here.

I've also included a reading list of Harrison Peel stoires in chronological story order, and where each story can be most easily found. Hopefully, there will be a second collection that captures these tales (fom "The Eye of Infinity" onwards):

• "Made of Meat" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm, Chaosium Inc. 2007)
• "To What Green Altar" by John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "Impossible Object" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm)
• "False Containment" by David Conyers (Horrors Beyond, Elder Signs Press, 2005 and The Spiraling Worm)
• "Resurgence" by John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "Weapon Grade" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm)
• "The Spiraling Worm" by David Conyers & John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "The Eye of Infinity" by David Conyers (The Eye of Infinity, Perilous Press, 2011)
• "Not What One Does" by John Sunseri and C.J. Henderson (Lai Wan: The Dreamwalker, Mythos Books, 2007)
• "Stomach Acid" by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons (Cthulhu Unbound 3, Permuted Press, 2008)
• "The Masked Messenger" by David Conyers and John Goodrich (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 52, forthcoming)
• "The R'lyeh Singularity" by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons (Cthulhu Unbound 3, Permuted Press, forthcoming)

I'm working on several more Harrison Peel tales, which will fill in many of the gaps between "The Spiraling Worm" and "The R'lyeh Singularity".

New Look Website

I decided to clean up my website today, and include a Latest news section, which also functions as journal entry. I figured I was already entering all my news on my blogspot journal, so I might as well combine the two.

I've added further details on my upcoming The Eye of Infinity novella, and I'll add some details about Cthulhu Unbound 3 when I have the go ahead to release news on that one.

I'm going to do some more work on by bibliography and other content, but it's a start.

"The Masked Messenger" A New Harrison Peel tale

I caught up with fellow speculative fiction writer and editor David Kernot on a recent trip to Adelaide for the Christmas holidays. We talked many things including issue 6 of Midnight Echo, the science fiction special we are editing for the Australian Horror Writers Association, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine where David is a co-op member and editor, and writing in general. David and I have been friends for some time and he is a very talented author, whom I'm certain we'll see more of his work out there in the future. David and I are working on two collaborations.

David's wife, Olivia Kernot, is a very talented photographer and offered to take some author photographs of myself, which I was very excited to see, especially compared to my ameuter self-portraits I've been using of late. More news (and images) when they are complete.

The great news David Kernot had for me was that my collaboration with John Goodrich, "The Masked Messenger" has been accepted for issue 52 of the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine due out in Aug 2011. A very nice way to end the year, with a sale. "The Masked Messenger" is a new Harrison Peel tale set in Morocco and Algeria, part of an ongoing series. That's four Harrison Peel tales potential out next year.

Other exciting Harrison Peel news, publisher and editor of Perilous Press informs me that my Harrison Peel novella, The Eye Of Infinity, has been upgraded from a chapbook and will be out in trade paperback next month.

The Eye of Infinity

At a remote radio telescope facility in New Mexico, an astrophysicist commits suicide after contracting a hideous mutative plague caused by something he saw… and he won’t be the last.

Major Harrison Peel has witnessed his share of cosmic mutations before, but now, he faces a threat worse than death, and a powerful enemy that hides behind a human face.

When a top secret NASA program refuses to heed his warnings, Peel is catapulted into a nightmarish government conspiracy that takes him from Ft. Meade’s Puzzle Palace to the launchpads of Cape Canaveral; from the desolate Atacama Desert of Chile, to the very heart of the universe itself, all in a desperate bid to shut…

The Eye Of Infinity.

Perilous Press announces the release of The Eye of Infinity, the first Harrison Peel tale in three years, released as a chapbook this Halloween. The Eye Of Infinity will feature a Mike Dubisch cover and a dozen illustrations by Nick Gucker, and it’ll be available from the Perilous Press store the week of Halloween.

The Eye Of Infinity continues the saga of Harrison Peel, a veteran of covert wars against alien invaders, and fuses Mythos horror, quantum physics and interstellar cloak and dagger action into an instant pulp classic.

Harrison Peel Returns in "The Eye of Infinity"

The first Harrison Peel tale since the release of The Spiraling Worm in 2007 will be published by Perilous Press later this month, The Eye of Infinity.

This novella chapbook will feature a Mike Dubisch cover and ten interior illustrations by Nick Gucker. Edited by Cody Goodfellow, this is a fusion of cosmic horror, quantum physics and espionage action. Following on directly from the last story in The Spiraling Worm, this new adventure sees Peel join the NSA on a new cosmic investigation, taking him to New Mexico, Maryland, Florida, the Atacama Desert and the very heart of the universe itself.

The chapbook will not be expensive, however their numbers will be limited to under 500, and they’ll only be available through Perilous Press' store, and at conventions and signing appearances.