David Conyers

FREE EBOOK: The Yuggoth Island of Doctor Moreau

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 06:24:00 +0000

A classic science fiction masterpiece… with a Cthulhu Mythos twist.

First published in 1896, H. G. Wells classic novel tells of a shipwrecked Englishman, Edward Prendick stranded on the South Pacific island-home of Doctor Moreau, a notorious physiologist who practiced gruesome experiments in vivisection transforming animals into human hybrids. But Wells’ published version omitted the most gruesome details.

Published for the first time, this reportedly true version of Prendick’s adventure, recently unearthed by learned professors of Arkham’s Miskatonic University and authenticated as Wells’ original version of events, includes details that until now have remained missing: cosmic gods, alien horrors, and the dark machinations of the Cthulhu Mythos. For Moreau did not conduct his experiments alone.

His allies were the dreaded Mi-go, the Fungi from Yuggoth as recounted in H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Whisperer in Darkness”, and reveals this unknowable alien race from beyond the stars with a plan not only for animal alteration, but focused on the evolution of humanity itself…

A plan still in action today…

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE HERE

CTHULHU UNMASKED Released

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 22:21:00 +0000

My latest Cthulhu Mythos short story collection is out and available on Amazon and Kobo, CTHULHU UNMASKED.

These stories while set in the Harrison Peel universe (and the wider Cthulhu Mythos universe) don’t feature Peel himself, but include several characters, Outer Gods, tomes, locations and cults that also appear in the main Peel series.

These tales are reprints, but I’ve gone back and revised and edited them all.

Stories include “Sister of the Sands”, “The Swelling”, “From the Sick Trees”, “The Faceless Watchers”, “As Above So Below”, “Winds of Nzambi” with David Kernot, “Sweet as Decay” with David Witteveen, “A Shared Romance”, “Solvent Hunger”, “Vanishing Curves”, “Screaming Crawler”, “The Eldritch Force” with Peter Rawlik, Glynn Owen Barrass, Brian M. Sammons, Bruce L. Priddy, Robert M. Price and Rick Lai, “The Dream Quest of a Thousand Cats” and “Outside Looking In.”

Also included are two appendices: “Appendix 1: The Code-89 Initiative” and “Appendix 2: Major Harrison Peel.”

CTHULHU RELOADED out now, in PAPERBACK and EBOOK

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:43:00 +0000

Well, I've been blown away by how quickly CTHULHU RELOADED has been selling since its release today, both in paperback and eBook format.

So if you like a mix of espionage and military action, weird science fiction, and Lovecraftian nightmarish and alien gods, check it out...

And if you enjoyed it, please post a review too. Reviews go a long way toward helping authors like me promote the book to other readers who might enjoy it.

Thank you everyone for your support in finally getting a complete Harrison Peel series out there in print.

HARRISON PEEL RETURNS: Cthulhu Reloaded 24 June 2021

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 05:23:00 +0000

From award-winning Lovecraftian author David Conyers… Cosmic horror like you’ve never seen it before…

For fans of weird science fiction, Delta Green and Charles Stross’s The Laundry, the Harrison Peel series is a collection of interconnected cosmic horror stories that explore the world, and the entire universe, of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, stretched across all space and time.

The series begins 24 June 2021 with CTHULHU RELOADED

STORIES

NEW STORY: “TEARS IN YELLOW”

This original story sees Peel consult on a murder investigation in Los Angeles. When an actress disappears on a film set, clues lead a screenplay based on the legendary play, The King in Yellow. Then a bizarre reality creeps into Peel’s existence, and the shores of Lake Hali on distant Carcosa beckon…

Two New Harrison Peel collections out now

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 23:40:00 +0000

I have two new Harrison Peel books out now at Amazon (Kindle) and Smashwords (ePub).

The Elder Codex (Book 3)

Harrison Peel’s third collection of adventures features two novellas set against the backdrop of war torn Africa:

The Elder Codex — When ripples in the fabric of space-time warp reality in Somilia, Peel investigates, and retraces his past in the ruins of devastated land.

The Spiraling Worm (with John Sunseri) — A missing US soldier resurfaces in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, mutilated and deformed, and commanding an army of cultists soldiers on a war path against Peel and a small contingent of special forces soldiers.

The Infinity Agenda (Book 4)

The fourth collection features two short stories and one novella set against the backdrop of the War on Terror, the Space Program and radio astronomy.

The Road to Afghanistan — Peel contacts an assassin embroiled in a conspiracy festering at the very heart of the Pentagon, one involving alien creatures pulled from another dimension and released into Taliban controlled territory.

War Gods of Men (with David Kernot) — in Afghanistan a new super-weapon is decimating soldiers on the battlefronts, so Peel teams up with cyber-analyst Sergeant Emerson Ash and leads a search and destroy mission inside the enemy heartland.

The Eye of Infinity — an astrophysicist is found dead at a radio telescope facility in New Mexico with a condition called multiple eye syndrome, and Peel’s investigation leads him to NASA and a conspiracy at the heart of the very universe itself.

See the Harrison Peel page for details where these books can be purchased. If you want a review copy, please email me.

New Story "Downsizing in the Technopoly" in SF Anthology Tides of Possiblity

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:46:00 +0000

I’m appearing in a new anthology out later in the year, Tides of Possibility, formulated from the idea that the rise of the indie author is upon us, that many of those authors write science fiction. This is an anthology to celebrate the success of the new form of 21st Century SF writer, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

A science fiction anthology from the rising stars of indie-publishing in Texas and beyond, edited by K.J. Russell with cover art by David Sidebotham.

This is a description of my story: “Downsizing in the Technopoly”, is an intimate look at the tragedy inflicted on one man's life when the coming of generous extra-terrestrials upends the global economy of the planet Jharkhand. One of millions suddenly unemployed, Yusuf McCredie finds no comfort in the utopian technologies meant to uplift his species. He is a corporate man, and if he cannot manage others, how can he be happy? The only intellect that understands his plight — an extra-terrestrial being calling itself a Skin Hitcher — has a proposition for him: "You want to become the biomass/intellect contribution to my micro-farm/eco-genesis?"

Here is a list of many of the authors and stories I’ll be appearing along side in the anthology:

“The Color of Silence” by Mandy Broughton, a terminally ill woman sends her best friend-nanny-android on a mission to answer a question to heal her of her sickness.
“Part of a Whole” by Carolina Dolislager, is about life in the Society, a far-future setting where people follow step-by-step instructions to wake up, eat breakfast, and go to work.
“House of Tin” by L. Fabry, presents a world where a new law, Ordinance 93, can render unapproved pregnancies illegal.
“A Loveable Face” by C Stuart Hardwick, Alain Delacort is proud of his team's success in engineering what he calls Flying Wolves, an adorable winged canine pet.
“Reaction” by Kelly Horn, in a space station in the far future a servant of the elite class knows things she shouldn't, like how to read and think.
“The Black Prince” by Erin M Kennemer, shows us a future in which there are no stars in the sky above Earth, and people don’t think that's strange.
“The Woman Who Wanted to Play Miss Havisham” by Haralambi Markov, the bankrupt nation of Bulgaria has been purchased in its entirety by Britain, and is being renovated into the largest stage in history.
“The Commitment” by E.L. Russel, is about an aging woman who is struggling to manage her husband's degenerating health.
“A Perfectly Stable Dataglobule” by K.J. Russell, where the meaty brains of fighter pilots are having their dreams crafted artificially by external forces.
“Imperfection” by Jay Wilburn, presents a post-cataclysm world wherein organic people don't last very long.
“The Reader” by D.L. Young, portrays the deadly negotiations for control of the natgas fields in Texas.

Adventuring in the Extreme: Eight Exoplanet-inspired Science Fiction Novels

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:28:00 +0000

The sheer variety of exoplanets is making us rethink science fiction. The variety of alien terrains that heroic space adventurers will now be subjected to is likely to be more bizarre than anything we’ve yet encountered, or at least that is what David Kernot and I think.

Therefore, in celebration of the recent release of our book Extreme Planets, the first anthology of exoplanet tales featuring carbon planets, water worlds, super-Earths and lava planets, we would like to draw your attention to eight classic SF novels that feature some of the strange worlds ever imagined.

Check out our guest post on SF Signal.

"The Eldritch Force" in Lovecraft eZine

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:50:00 +0000

I've recently appeared in "The Eldritch Force" A Cthulhu Mythos Round Robin with Peter Rawlik, Glynn Owen Barrass, Brian M. Sammons, Bruce L. Priddy, Robert M. Price, Rick Lai and myself. This one features superheros in a Post World War Two setting.

This is my second publication with Lovecraft eZine, and I'm proud to have teamed up with such a talented bunch of authors.

Read the story here.

World War Cthulhu "The Bullet and the Flesh" Promo Video

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:35:00 +0000

I’ve recently been involved in a Indiegogo sponsorship campaign for a new anthology I’m appearing in:

World War Cthulhu

A Collection of Lovecraftian War Stories to the forefront with 19 war stories rooted deep in the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Wars and battlefields written by top names in the industry like John Shirley, Tim Curran, W.H. Pugmire, William Meikle, Cody Goodfellow, Jeffrey Thomas, David Kernot, Konstantine Paradias, C.J. Henderson, Peter Rawlik and many more featuring original illustrations by artist M. Wayne Miller, front cover artwork by award-winning artist Vincent Chong and edited by Brian M. Sammons and Glynn Owen Barrass.

“The Bullet and the Flesh” by David Conyers and David Kernot

My contribution is modern day tale of horrors perpetrated by man against man. The use of child soldiers in Zimbabwe are not the worst things to be encountered as lives are given less worth than shiny baubles from the earth. Evil men mess with things unpredictable, and brave men such as Major Harrison Peel (from Cthulhu Unbound 3) are forced to fight for justice and balance.
Here is my promo video, to learn more:

Support the World War Cthulhu campaign by following this link.

Extreme Planets is Out

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 12:42:00 +0000

Extreme Planets is now out, and available from Amazon. Gardner Dozois says of the book in Locus, "The anthology does contain a lot of solid, entertaining, core SF"

Here is an extract from David Kernot and my contribution to the anthology, "Petrochemical Skies" set on a carbon planet.

Petrochemical Skies

David Conyers and David Kernot

Jenna Seno rechecked her astrogation calculations for the fifteenth time. The numbers came out the same and still she didn’t like them. She rolled her shoulders to relieve the tension in her back. It would be a long shift.

Despite her lack of practical experience, Jenna knew the info-courier, Banshee Stalker, could make the next hyperspacial jump but only if she used the gravitation field from the Iyangura class star system properly. From twelve light-years out, slingshotting them thirty-two light-years across the void to Hadrian Secondus was a risky move and a stark contrast to the slow three light-year-per-day pace through ‘safer’ space routes.

“Well, Seno?” Crandon ‘Towers’ Kerman, the Banshee’s captain, cracked his knuckles like he didn't have a care.

Jenna swallowed to free her tight throat. She didn’t know what he wanted her to say.

“Are you ready? Or do I need to baby-step you through your calculations again?”

Like her, Towers was strapped into an acceleration couch on the ship’s bridge, ready for any unexpected forces the jump might generate when they transitioned space-time points. He didn't seem bothered by the risky slingshot trajectory.

He wasn't being fair, but she pushed her inexperience aside. “Captain, if I make a mistake we’ll end up in the heart of the system’s star.”

He sneered. “Would you rather we took the long route, through deep space?”

“No, captain.”

“Want to lose six days and an expensive amount of energy generating our own slingshots? Our competitors will beat us to our client.”

Jenna closed her eyes. She wanted to scream. She hated that he was having fun with her.

One nagging thought compelled her not to agree with Towers; they could all die. She gathered courage and voiced her concern, “Captain, it _is_ safer to open a wormhole in a near absolute vacuum, deep into the void.”

He laughed. “Even near stars, Seno, there’s a vacuum.”

“I guess… I suppose——”

“Make the jump.”

She couldn’t be sure of her calculations, not yet, she only needed another minute. “What if we collided with any planets in Iyangura 281A?" A collision would be fatal. She wanted to mention the radial velocities if they came out of hyperspace too close to a planet.

“The Stalker’s hyperdrive automatically compensates for that.”

“But——”

“I said jump!”

Without waiting, Towers punched his authority codes into the bridge’s console, transferred her coordinates to the ship’s semi-AI via his biometrics.

Towers! Damn him! The man was a reckless fool.

They lurched.

Invisible forces pinned Jenna into her acceleration couch.

Anti-matter engines burned a point into the vacuum the size of an atom, until a massive gravitation singularity expanded from space-time and formed a wormhole. The _Banshee Stalker_ slipped into it and shifted: everything moved, like a bug swimming in a jug of water poured into a bigger jug, and then into an even bigger jug…

They fell, and Jenna tensed every muscle, closed her eyes from the vertigo. They accelerated away under high-g maneuvers toward who knew where. A vacuum hopefully but close enough to Iyangura 281A to appease Towers.

The wormhole opened on the opposite mouth and pulled the _Stalker_ through before it collapsed.

The other side greeted with a noise like hail on a roof. Ship sensors highlighted the hull bombardment exceeded ten thousands rock pellets. Their craft decelerated rapidly, and Jenna opened her eyes. On the bridge, virtual skin schematics lit the outside scene. They weren’t in a vacuum but conversely they didn’t fall into the million-degree heart of a sun. Visuals displayed a planet.

Debris shot skyward, a mix of giant boulders and fine dust flung outwards. Smaller rocks peppered them like machinegun fire. The visual displays showed the wormhole opening had pulverized a mountain-sized mass on the surface.

The Stalker spiraled downwards into the kilometer-wide crater, which sparkled like a diamond. Jenna closed her eyes again and contained another scream, hoped their disintegration would be instantaneous and painless.

The 2013 Scorecard

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 04:50:00 +0000

2013 was an interesting year for me on the writing front, mostly because I followed the lead of Shane Jiraiya Cummings and Hugh Howey, and tried self-publishing through Amazon and Smashwords with far greater success than I could have imagined when I first set out.

Despite the naysayers of the established pros and the fear self-publishing is generating in the world today, I think it is a great opportunity for writers, offering more than one path to success in the industry. I've been able to release collections of my science fiction, weird fiction and reboot my Harrison Peel spies versus the Cthulhu Mythos series, as well as working with various authors to develop sampler books of our works. I've also been able to work with Albedo One to get their magazine out in Kindle and ePub versions too. The reach to my audience has dramatically improved and I'm getting more positive reviews than I've ever had.

If you are sitting on the fence with self-publishing, I'd suggest the worst that will happen if you do is that no one will read your book or review it, and that's no worse of than where you are right now. Even if you only get bad reviews they help, because readers disagree with reviewers and buy it anyway. Reviewers, if you don't want a book to sell, say nothing.

The other fantastic news this year was that I was asked to become Art Editor with Albedo One magazine, and was able to help the team now led by Robert Neilson and Frank Ludlow to produce issue 44, with some very excellent tales included within. Robert, Frank and the rest of the team have been very supportive of my writing over the years, and it is an honour to join the team in a more senior capacity, after years as a reviewer.

Okay, here are the publications. The following ebooks were released this year:

The Entropy Conflict (SF)
The Uncertainty Bridge (SF)
The Nightmare Dimension (Horror and Weird Fiction)
The Impossible Object: The Harrison Peel Files Book 1 (Cthulhu Mythos)
The Weaponized Puzzle: The Harrison Peel Files Book 2 (Cthulhu Mythos)

New stories published this year include:

"Driven Underground" in The Impossible Object (Amazon Direct Publishing)
"The Weaponized Puzzle" in The Weaponized Puzzle (Amazon Direct Publishing)
"The Entropy Conflict" in The Entropy Conflict (Amazon Direct Publishing)
"The Road to Afghanistan" in What Scares the Boogeyman? anthology
"Playgrounds of Angolaland" in Eldritch Chrome edited by Brian M Sammons and Glynn Barrass (Chaosium)
"Romero 2.0" in Undead & Unbound with Brian M Sammons
"The Dream Quest of a Thousand Cats" in The Nightmare Dimension (Amazon Direct Publishing)

The following books I edited and were released this year:

Undead & Unbound with Brian M. Sammons and published by Chaosium
Extreme Planets with David Kernot and Jeff Harris is at the printers but won't be out until 2014, so it doesn't yet make the list.

I had lots of reprints for 2013 most in my ebooks, but of note was "Subtle Invasion" appearing in
Best Tales of the Apocalypse edited by D.L. Snell and Bobbie Metevier, which makes this the third time the story has appeared in a "Best of" collection. The other was "The Masked Messenger" with John Goodrich appearing in issue 22 of Lovecraft eZine.

As I said before, I contributed to launching the Australian Horror Writers Sampler 2013 and the Cthulhu Mythos Writers Sampler 2013, both of which have been a great success in promoting all the authors involved. I was also Art Editor for Albedo One #44. I also wrote "The Jermyn Horror" and with Peter Gilham "The Crystal of Chaos" appearing in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game book, The House of R'lyeh.

2014 will see my short stories in the anthology Extreme Planets, and the magazines Albedo One and Lovecraft eZine, and a chapter in the forthcoming reprint of the classic role-playing game, Horror on the Orient Express. I will also be releasing more Harrison Peel collections starting with Book 3: The Elder Codex.

Thanks to everyone who has supported my writing this year, especially to reviewers who go a long way in making a writer become noticed. Special thanks to David Kernot, who as always has been a great sounding board on my writing.

Cthulhu Mythos Writers Sampler 2013

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 04:11:00 +0000

A late post but this year I appeared in the Cthulhu Mythos Writers Sampler 2013, available for 99c from Amazon, which I assisted in pulling together.

The book has proved to be rather successful considering the number of downloads and positive reviews. My contribution included a sample from my Harrison Peel series. Here is the blurb:

Inside this book you’ll find a taste of some of today’s top Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraftian writers.

“The Great White Bed” – A senile old man makes a deal with a strange being for a new lease on life. What happens when a book reads you?

“The Cellar Gods” – In the 1940s, a young medical student protects a beautiful Asian woman from prejudiced townsfolk, only to discover she is connected to mysterious entities from an unholy dimension.

“The Locked Door” – The visions of a psychic threatens the existence of a secret order.

“In the Gyre” – A research vessel investigating a growing pollution problem in the ocean finds that something else has discovered a use for our waste material—something designed for building, and growing, and multiplying.

“The Gate and the Way” – Poking around the local spook house for redeemable cans and bottles, two brothers stumble upon cosmic horrors from beyond space and time.

“I Cannot Begin To Tell You” – A desperate father kidnaps his infant son and flees to a remote cabin to wait out an apocalypse only he can perceive. Is the man psychotic? Or is the boy a conduit for an ancient malevolence from the depths of Time?

“Cutter” – A man and boy are trapped in an abandoned house by plague of bizarre monsters.

“Graveyard Orbit” – In the future, the deep space exploration vessel Wellington encounters the unthinkable orbiting the uncharted planet Osiris II. Amid the debris of a trillion alien corpses, the Wellington’s Captain Walker will stumble upon an unlikely ally—and potentially, the secrets of the universe.

“The Weaponized Puzzle” – A Russian spy steals an alien artifact from the Australian Government which soon transforms into a prison, and Australian spy Harrison Peel must solve its various puzzles and confront its captive horrors to escape again.

Fiction by Don Webb, Jeffrey Thomas, Brian M, Sammons, Peter Rawlik, William Meikle, Kevin Lucia, David Kernot, Scott R. Jones, C.J. Henderson, Cody Goodfellow, David Dunwoody, Shane Jiraiya Cummings and David Conyers. Cover illustration by Paul Mudie.

This sampler collection provides links to the various author’s works, personal interviews, and further information on their e-books.

Step inside, and discover the newest horror releases lurking in the nightmare lands of Lovecraft…

Albedo One (Issue 44) Released on Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Out now on Amazon Kindle.

A race with hounds across Europe to seek true love, a dying world plagued by invading jelly, a soulful train journey through the wastelands of purgatory, and an angry father who might have saved the wrong daughter.

Issue 44 of Ireland’s longest running science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine, Albedo One, features new fiction from Ian Wild, James Carney, Steve Billings, Alexandra Fleetwood, Dave Siddall and Eric M. Witchey; an in-depth review with Philip K. Dick award winning author Simon Morden; cover art from Charlie Terrell; and reviews from Juliet E. McKenna, John Kenny, Peter Loftus and David Conyers.

Print and ebup copies not far away. I was Art Editor on this one, so very proud of the outcome. Check out Albedo One for more news on this issue.

Australian Horror Writers Sampler 2013

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:10:00 +0000

A group of Aussie authors got together and produced this sampler, featuring seven authors and one Australian artist. I'm one of them, and here is the blurb:

Inside this book you’ll find a taste of some of Australia’s top horror writers.

“The Grief School” by Matthew Tait – as a man of chance, Myles Lacey understood all too well the whims of the universe, and that meant death was a constant in life.

“Harry's Dead Poodle” by David Kernot – tells us there is more to people than what you see on the outside, like ex-butcher Harry Mills, who is good with a knife.

“Hear No Evil” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings – Blaine wakes in hospital after an accident. Although deaf, only he can hear a distant, desperate scream. What evil will he face when he answers the call?

“The Nightmare Dimension” by David Conyers – modern day mage Gordon McColley might not have sold his soul to the demons of hell, but they still have work for him to do, and he can’t refuse.

“The End of Ever” by Troy Barnes – In a world where nightmares reign, an unlikely group of friends must face the unknown and travel through the sinister heart of Ever in search of a way home. Friendships will be torn apart. Lives will be lost. Will anyone live happy after Ever?

This sampler collection provides links to the various author’s works, personal interviews, and further information on their e-books.

Step inside, and discover the horror lurking in the Land of Oz…

Here is the Amazon.com review of my story:

"The Nightmare Dimension is another rollicking good novella from David Conyers. Take a pinch of Clive Barker, a drop of Hellblazer, a good glug of quality writing, a handful of magic and demonology and shake vigorously and you have this heady brew of a story. Conyers never fails to impress with the sheer fun that he conveys through his writing."

Download it here from Amazon.com for only 99c.

Best Tales of the Apocalypse featuring "Subtle Invasion"

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 11:57:00 +0000

Best Tales of the Apocalypse edited by D.L. Snell and Bobbie Metevier is now released. It took a while to be released, considering the manuscript was completed more than 5 years ago, but I'm excited nonetheless mostly because of the authors I'm sharing space with.

In these 14 shattering tales by some of the genre’s first and final scribes, the world doesn’t just end once. These are the horsemen, the trumpeting angels. Their words are the bowls of wrath, dumped again and again. This is the book that’s been centuries in the making. The Final Book. And the choir’s singing one last Psalm:

The End is the best part.

BEST TALES OF THE APOCALYPSE

Joe McKinney - Tim Curran - J.F. Gonzalez - Michael Oliveri = David Conyers - Lee Moan - Rebecca Day - Derek J. Goodman - Lyn C.A. Gardner - Ian Randal Strock - Michael Sellars - Dario Ciriello - Daniel R. Robichaud - Ian Rogers - Patrice Sarath

My story is "Sublte Invasion", which first appeared in The Black Book of Horror, was shortlisted for the Australian Shadows Award and appeared in Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume 3, and now in my collection The Nightmare Dimension. Yes, a very successful story.

Available from Permuted Press and Amazon.com.

The Weaponized Puzzle: The Harrison Peel Files Book 2 Released

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 06:42:00 +0000

Harrison Peel is back in the second in my rebooted series of spies versus the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. If geometry, the five perfect solids, shoggoths, Elder Things, military action and weird science fiction is your thing, then check it out, from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Smashwords (epub version).

Here is the opening scene:

McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica, June 1995

The South Pole mid-winter was a world enveloped in both ice and darkness, and Coaldale hated everything about it.

McMurdo was the largest official bastion of human settlement in the great white continent, the only location for hundreds, if not thousands of miles where the lights were on. It was two in the afternoon, base time, but only stars shone beyond the settlement. US SEALs and Rangers newly deployed to the ice were being inducted in the temporary facilities recently commandeered by the US Department of Defense.

One of those Rangers was Captain Byrd Coaldale. He was late arriving, having been delayed by another briefing, but he also didn’t care that he was late. His only show of respect was to enter the building quietly, to sit towards the back where he rubbed his hands together warming them. Listening to the inducting officer drone on had to be preferable than enduring the bitter outside cold.

A silent black and white film ran through a digital projector at the far end of the briefing room. The footage was circa 1950s. A man in a fur coat with UN insignia stood adjacent to what resembled a gigantic cucumber with a starfish on its apex and five vine-like appendages emerging from its mid-section. Then it moved. As Coaldale recovered from his shock he realized he was staring at a living entity.

It was one of those alien’s everyone in the Pole had talked of so often since his arrival, spoken of in tones that painted the creatures in reverence and awe. The projected black and white UN man played a pipe, although there was no sound with the footage. The monster presumably responded with piping of its own. Coaldale had thought it some kind of put up, until this very moment. Like a switch had been turned on inside him and suddenly he was interested in everything the inducting officer was saying.

“This,” spoke up Robert Lynch, the Navy SEAL Lieutenant leading the briefing, “is a Pentapod.”

Lynch gave the crowd a moment to let the words sink in. If the officer was expecting awe, they gave none. They were silent like corpses.

“Any questions so far?”

No one answered.

Standing half in the light of the projector and half hidden by it, Lynch pointed to the cucumber shape like he had seen one every day for a year, and perhaps he had.

“This is project RESOLUTION ZERO archive footage. The man you are looking at is Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, who was a legend in our circles. Back then we had limited communications with the ‘Visitors’, as the RZ guys like to refer to them, and Peaslee led much of our work. The Pentapods taught us a thing or too. Things we really didn’t want to know…”

Coaldale shuddered and not from the cold. He had heard all about the Pentapods, read all the reports, but he had yet to see one in the flesh. Film footage was the next best thing, and had proved more disturbing than he had expected. The problem was it didn’t look fake, despite his recently marveling at the digital special effects in the Jurassic Park movie a few years back. Anything could be doctored, and yet an undefined and very sinister element captured in the footage made it genuine.

“These days we rarely see the Pentapods, yet we continue to carry on the tasks they burdened us with all those decades ago. The Pentapods however,” Lynch emphasized, “are not our problem.”

He changed video files. New footage from the same era was of an icy desert seen from an airplane. At first Coaldale didn’t know what he was looking at until he identified men on the ground, tiny individuals filmed from an airplane high above the fields of Antarctic snow. They were running, fast and away from a threat Coaldale could not see. He looked for the pursuer, until he realized his mind wasn’t imaging a hunter much bigger than the men. When he spotted the amorphous shape the size of a mining dump truck, all white and tentacles and eyes and mouths that seemed to shift in and out of a jelly-like consistency, he squirmed. The pulsating shape rolled over one man crushing him without slowing an iota. It was like watching a tsunami engulf unsuspecting bathers on a populated beach.

Lynch let the film roll, as one by one each fleeing man was crushed. They had no hope, but they all ran regardless, until the very end.

“That,” explained Lynch, “is a shoggoth.”

A private up the front puked. The acidic smell quickly filled the room, and he puked again. No one said a word and all left the young soldier to soak in his mostly digested lunch. The private quickly excused himself until Lynch told him to sit down. There was more learning to do.

“This shoggoth was spotted in 1961,” the inducting officer explained. “It disappeared shortly after this footage was taken. We haven’t seen another one this big since, but we know they are many more in the depths of Pentapod City.”

A young Navy officer raised her arm. “Sir, how do we fight them?”

Lynch laughed unkindly. “You don’t. You run as fast as you can, and you hope you can run faster than your buddies.”

Coaldale laughed too, understanding the sick joke he had signed up for. All the men in the footage had run. It proved only that the advantage of speed was in being crushed last. It would be him running soon, for it was his mission to lead a team of US Rangers into the depths of the Pentapod City and map it, and that was where the shoggoths presumably still existed.

“How did you survive?” Coaldale demanded of Lynch, from the back and in the shadows.

The SEAL officer was all seriousness when he said, “I ran the fastest.”

“So the ‘shoggoth’ gave up?”

“No. I was in a team of a hundred men. Only three of us got away because we ran in the opposite direction, away from the largest flock of fleeing men.”

Flock.

Coaldale snorted. He knew then why he had been sent to Antarctica. He was just another sheep being led to the slaughter.

The Entropy Conflict and The Impossible Object e-Pub Editions

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:47:00 +0000

The Entropy Conflict and The Impossible Object are now both available as epub editions, for those of you who don't own Kindles. The Nightmare Dimension and The Uncertainty Bridge to follow.

New Review of The Impossible Object

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 21:37:00 +0000

I was rather pleased to see this review go up the other day, of the first my connected novella series The Impossible Object. at Best Science Fiction Stories.

"The Impossible Object is what I have been waiting to read of Lovecraftian fiction since pretty much forever. It delves into the specifics of the entities of the Mythos, presents horrifying sights and hints at a far greater mystery (and threat) in quick succession, making the reader dive head-first into the horrifying world that is the world of Harisson Peel."

So if you are sitting on the fence about whether or not to read my book, the rest of the review by Konstantine Paradias might sway you one way or the other.

Well, I better hurry up and get the sequel, The Weaponized Puzzle, up on Kindle soon.

Two Honourable Mentions for "The R'lyeh Singularity"

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 01:26:00 +0000

"The R'lyeh Singularity" which appeared in Permuted Press's Cthulhu Unbound 3 has gathered numerous positive reviews has now received honour mentions in two Year's Best collections.

The first is in Best Horror of the Year Vol. 5 edited Ellen Datlow and the second in The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2012 edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene.

Some reviews on "The R'lyeh Singularity" on Amazon.com:

"Conyers has an elegant grasp on quantum physics, while Sammons knows how to get all the "big military toys" in the sandbox. They both fuse together to create some kind of mad orchestrator that doles out awesomeness by the handfuls."

"For those interested in seeing how the American government might handle national security threats of the Cthulhu-kind, I would say this one is worth the price of admission on its own."

"I devoured "The R'lyeh Singularity" in a single sitting, turned back to the opening page and did it again. This is a big budget Hollywood summer movie in novella form, though far smarter than anything Michael Bay would bring to theaters."

"The story was high energy spy thriller that integrates the horror of the Cthulhu mythos effortlessly."

Undead & Unbound on the Shelves

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 01:09:00 +0000

My latest anthology edited with Brian M. Sammons, Undead & Unbound, has just been released on Amazon.com.

Undead & Unbound celebrates those who have returned from the grave — in all their glory and in whatever form they take. You will find the famous blood-drinkers and flesh eaters here, but also ghosts, patched-together reanimates, fiends of myth and folklore, and some not-so-easily-identifiable creatures from beyond the grave.

Nineteen tales take the undead to their limits. From the distant past to the far-flung future, and to all corners of the Earth, the undead are eternal and everywhere: symbiotes, parasites, monster mash-ups and ghoulish grins, bleak tales of inescapable dread, an ancient evil from a far-away land with unspeakable dietary needs, a boy and his…well, it’s not a dog. History is brought to (un)life. Ghosts, specters, phantoms and haunts of every sort. Not-so-easily-classifiable stories that do new things with the basic premise of what’s alive, what’s dead, and what’s neither.

And yes, you lovers of all things zombie—fear-not, for your favorite flesh eaters are here but, thankfully, not exactly as you would expect them.

Undead & Unbound celebrates all things from beyond the grave, the different, and no matter how old the bones, new life can always be found.

Selected and edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers. Cover art by Paul Mudie. 288 pages. Trade Paperback.

The Tales Included:

Blind Item by Cody Goodfellow
Dead Baby Keychain Blues by Gary McMahon
A Personal Apocalypse by Mercedes M. Yardley
The Unexpectedby Mark Allan Gunnells
Incarnate by David Dunwoody
Marionettes by Robert Neilson
Undead Night of the Undeadest Undead by C.J. Henderson
I Am Legion by Robert M. Price
When Dark Things Sleep by Damien Walters Grintalis
Descanse En Paz by William Meikle
Thunder in Old Kilpatrick by Gustavo Bondoni
Phallus Incarnate by Glynn Owen Barrass
Wreckers by Tom Lynch
Scavenger by Oscar Rios
In the House of Millions of Years by John Goodrich
Romero 2.0 by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers
Mother Blood by Scott David Aniolowski
The Unforgiving Court by David Schembri
North of the Arctic Circle by Peter Rawlik

New Kindle Book: The Nightmare Dimension

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:04:00 +0000

My latest collection, The Nightmare Dimension, is now available on Kindle.

"David Conyers is like the physicist who is all too happy to remind us that the solid world is only an illusion. Time and again, Conyers rips open the universe for us, to show us how empty it is, and how dark." - D.L. Snell, author of Pavlov's Dogs

Collected together for the first time are thirteen tales of the best Cthulhu Mythos horror and weird short stories written by award-winning Australia speculative fiction author, David Conyers.
A wartime spy rescues a woman from the Sahara who has walked unscathed from a massacre of a thousand men. A mother sailing the ocean on a family holiday finds herself lost on a cargo ship where all the crew are made of paper. A business man becomes trapped in his hotel room because gravity has unexpectedly reversed for him. A reckless driver commits a serious crime and is forced to see out his twenty year sentence as a dog. Every story is a nightmare from which the victims cannot escape.

The collection includes the following stories: "Dream Machine" (Australian Shadows Finalist), "The Nightmare Dimension", "Cactus", "The Lord of the Law" (Australian Horror Writers Fiction Award Finalist), "Sister of the Sands", "The Dream Quest of a Thousand Cats", "Winds of Nzambi" with David Kernot (Australian Horror Writers Fiction Award Winner), "Sweet as Decay" with David Witteveen, "The Swelling", "From The Sick Trees", "Homo Canis" (Australian Horror Writers Fiction Award Winner), "Six-Legged Shadows" with Brian M Sammons and "Subtle Invasion" (Australian Shadows Finalist).

Win Copies of The Eye of Infinity

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:54:00 +0000

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.

Iain Banks (1954-2013)

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:45:00 +0000

The great Iain Banks as died, a fantastic author who was a huge influence on my writing. I was particularly fond of Consider Phlebas, which I still consider one of my top 10 favourite books of all time. To me it remains one of the best space operas ever written.

He wrote consistently good novels, in both science fiction and literary fiction, Use of Weapons, The Player of Games, Surface Detail, The Wasp Factory, Walking on Glass, The Bridge, Crow Road and Complicity to name my favourites. He will be missed.

I interviewed Iain a couple of years ago for Albedo One issue 41. The editorial team there say that interview will be up on site soon. I'll post when it is.

New Kindle Book: The Entropy Conflict

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:28:00 +0000

My latest e-book, The Entropy Conflict has just gone up on line at Amazon around the world, with more of my science fiction short stories, including the never before publisher titular story.

"Conyers delivers inventive SF with a unique perspective on society and the human condition-well worth the read." - Jay Caselberg, author of Wyrmhole

"Emergency Rebuild" - on the frozen surface of Mars, Liam Richter barely survives a horrific accident, but does he deserve to live?

"The Advertising Imperative" - in a marketing-saturated Solar System, Natalya Serov seeks to distinguish her product, but is her solution also the problem?

"Soft Viscosity" - deep in the jungles of South America, Gloria McKenzie seeks to avenge a brother's death, but does retribution make her the terrorist?

"Three Shots" - in a corporate dominated future, Casey wants nothing more than to get ahead, but will falling in love jeopardize more than just her career?

"The Entropy Conflict" - on a distant world, Donna Kettner battles an alien invader she cannot defeat, but is it the universe that is her real enemy?

In the vein of Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton and Neal Asher, THE ENTROPY CONFLICT features five short stories from Australian science fiction author, David Conyers.

New Kindle Book: The Uncertainty Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (David Conyers) — Sun, 05 May 2013 05:48:00 +0000

Following on from the last post, I've also released some of my 'cyberpunk' near future Earth tales on one collection on Amazon Kindle, The Uncertainty Bridge.

This will be the first of several of my science fiction works collected again, and my foray into the world on online publishing.

Here is the blurb:

Black Water — in a poverty stricken Africa, water specialist Joseph Nuwangi hopes to scam a corporation, but will his conscience be his own undoing?

Aftermath — in a continent at war with itself, Donna Young is forced by a neural implant to obey every command of her superior, but can she protect herself from him?

The Uncertainty Bridge — a world decimated by plagues, Geoff Harbin finds he has gained sudden and unexpected encyclopaedic knowledge, but what price does the information demand?

In the vein of Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton and Neal Asher, The Uncertainty Bridge features three novellas from Australian science fiction author, David Conyers.Click to add text, images, and other content.