David A. Riley's Blog

 

Although I haven't decided on exactly when this collection will be published, I have now completed proofreading it and have ordered a proof copy, which should arrive within the next week or so.

Running at 510 pages and just over 200,000 words, with 35 previously published stories included in it, Volume 2 is quite a hefty book, just slightly bigger than Volume 1.

Full details are here: The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley 

Although the ad states these are, and in the case of Volume 2, will be available in hardcover and e-books, there are and will be paperback versions too. 

From the Introduction to Volume 2: 

UnlikeVolume 1 of my Collected Stories this does not include everyshort story I have had published between the designated years. Omitted arethose involving my sword and sorcery character Welgar, some of which havealready been collected in a loosely-woven novel, publish-ed by Tule Fog Pressin 2025 as Welgar the Cursed. The stories in this collection are “Ossanithe Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus”, “The Dark Priestdom”, “Welgar theCursed”, “Mask of a Mad God”, “The Forbidden City of Cyramon”, and “Emergingfrom Their Twilit Realms”. Since then I have written “From the Ashes”, “Trappedin the Dreamlands”, “Escaping the Dreamlands”, and “The Narcolopsia.” “From theAshes” was published by Savage Realms Monthly in its August 2026 issue.

Besides my Welgar tales, I have alsoomitted those of Horbeck the Mercenary, the first of which, “The Demon fromAnother World” was published in 2024 in Anthology of the Damned:Necromoirrium. This was followed by “Lies and Treachery”, serialised in CrimsonQuill Quarterly, issues 6 and 7 in 2025. I have written five more Horbeckstories, but these are still looking for a market. In any case, like the Welgartales, they follow chronologically one after another and I am hoping eventuallyto have them published as a loosely-woven novel too.

Besides these there are a number oftales featuring my sorcerer Ossani the Healer, two of which were published in Swords& Heroes Quarterly in June 2026, with another appearing in Cirsovamagazine in its Fall issue in 2026. Again, these and a number of other storiesset in the same time period may one day be collected as Tales of the AzureSea or some such volume.

The only straight horror story omittedfrom this collection is “The Tract of Calvanicus”. Although accepted forpublication it will not appear till 2027 in Schlock! Webzine. This may alsobe my last normal horror story, as I have begun to concentrate in recent yearson dark fantasy and sword and sorcery.

 

 I seem to be making the most of the brief time I have before I start reading submissions for Swords & Rockets: Tales of Futures Past in October. 

In the last fortnight I have completed three stories: 

"Death and Punishment" - 5,800 words 

"The Uncanny Dome" - 4,800 words 

"Words on a Parchment" - 9,200 words 

It will be interesting to me to see if I can come up with any more stories in the next few weeks.

After finishing "Death and Punishment" on the 15th, I completed another Ossani the Healer story on the 20th titled "The Uncanny Dome", both stories set in his early days. 

 

REVIEWby David A. Riley

COLDSTEEL AND BLACK HEARTS – THE SPEARSLAYER SAGA

R.K. Olson

Publishedby Raven Tale Publishing, 2026

192pages

ColdSteel and Black Hearts is made up of ten stories styled as chapters,representing the ongoing adventures of Dar the Spearslayer. They follow on fromwhen the Spearslayer Sect has been annihilated at the Battle of the Golga Riverby an alliance of its enemies. After their defeat its soldiers are put to the sword,and any survivors are labelled outlaws to be hunted down and killed. This isthe opening premise for the adventures of Dar.

Determined to find his wife, son anddaughter, who like all the other Spearslayer wives and children have been sold into slavery,Dar travels from city to city, forced to disguise himself as anything otherthan a Spearslayer because, as there is on every other survivor of the massacre, a price has been placed on his head.

On the way, he is unwillingly forced to participatein various adventures, often against his will. Local problems are secondary tohim to finding his family, but life is too complex for him to avoid becoming embroiledin other matters, however temporarily.

Dar is a long way from the carefreeadventurer, roaming his world in search of ill-gotten riches. He is nofreebooter, but a man consumed with an almost impossible goal. But he is a manwho is determined, whatever the odds, to accomplish his self-imposed missionand nothing will stand in his way.

There are many levels of tension in thesestories: there is the tension created by the next dangerous situation he comesup against, whether it is human or supernatural. There is also the tension ofhis search for what has happened to his family, whether they are alive or dead,whether they are still free or have been sold into slavery, and you can feelhis frustration when other things come in his way, and he has to deal withthese first before getting back to his primary mission.

Theseare gritty, well written tales, with a distinctly different kind of hero.

 

 

REVIEWby David A. Riley

AVALLEY OF SHADOW

By LeePatton

Publishedby The Arcanist: Fantasy Publishing

Firstreleased October 2025; Second edition March 2026

190pages

Thisis a brisk, colourfully written sword and sorcery novel with possibly the mostunusual hero I have ever come across, because he is a dead man, with a skeletalface. Although there is more to his body beneath its battered armour, it isstill that of someone who should have been interred in a grave many years ago.

IzrakLaav is a veteran mercenary who has not beenallowed to rest even though he died centuries in the past. Punished by becoming a member of The Call, he must carry outwhatever missions he is sent on. Now haunted and guilt-ridden by half remembered events from his long ago past, he chances on a girl being pursued by strange, mysterious creatures. When he intervenes to rescue her, their two fates become intertwined, even though his continued involvement with her is against his better judgement. Or is it? About thishe becomes increasingly unsure, as he tries to do what is right, even though what that is isn't always obvious to him.

Thisis a dark story, in a world filled with bizarre menace, and often theodds against even his own survival seem slim to non-existent, never mind that ofthe girl, Elishei.

Ienjoyed the writing, which is both vivid and fast moving and never boring.Sometimes I had to reread a few passages, as there are so many named charactersI occasionally became a little confused as to who was who, but that could havebeen me. A quick reread certainly put that straight – and usually the secondreading was even more enjoyable than the first!

Foranyone bored of yet another Conan-type hero, this is a refreshingly fantastical and grotesquely unusual change.

I have just finished writing a new Ossani the Healer story, tentatively titled "Death and Punishment".

This is set in Ossani's early years, starting when he is still apprenticed as an apothecary in Arana. 5,900 words long, it tells of the fate of his master Jassoom Balrahdy and Ossani's initiation into sorcery. 

When I made the decision a few years ago to concentrate more on writing dark fantasy or sword and sorcery stories, one of the assumptions I made was that I would need to create some sort of swordsman or barbarian hero. Hence it was that Welgar was born, a northern mercenary, though his fate would be far from that of a Conan, though, after he was possessed by the spirit of a powerful godlike demon in the notorious city of Agrypt.

Yet, despite writing a number of tales about Welgar, one of my most prolific characters turned out to be the complete opposite of a barbarian hero, but a tall, thin, dark robed, somewhat surreptitious sorcerer named Ossani, who prefers to go by the name of 'Ossani the Healer'. Due to his poor eyesight, he wears a complex contraption he calls his occular on his shaven head, made up of leather and metal bands that hold a number of different polished lenses, any two of which are arranged before his eyes, depending upon whether he wants to see near or far. 

It was with the creation of yet another non-heroic  character, Nadrain the Storyteller, that Ossani was introduced.

In "The Storyteller of Koss" Ossani appears towards the end of the tale, brought in by the city guard in Assabarr to deal with the demonically-possessed sarcophagus of a millennia-dead despot called Rianda the Terrible. Ossani's role in the story is to destroy the entities connected to it and save Nadrain's life.

His next appearance was much more extensive. In "Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" he shares the pages with Welgar, newly arrived in Assabarr to earn a living as a member of the city guard. Unfortunately for the two of them Assabarr has fallen under the malign influence of a puritanical revolution in the city's ruling priesthood and both their lives are in danger till they discover who is behind the troubles.

Again, Ossani is very much a background figure in the next story, "The Troupe", where he is engaged to help a group of travelling actors fool the local priesthood, though his aid ultimately has dire results for the leading protagonist!

After this, it was time for Ossani to leave the city of Assabarr, whose hostile priesthood has  decided to set their dreaded Inquisition on him. Sorcery is illegal in Assabarr on pain of death. Thus it is in "Ossani's Escape" he sets out with a group of newly-acquired  slaves for the city of Oriaska, whose priesthood is weak and whose citizens are more interested in making money and licentiousness than any sorcerous activities. 

Immediately after arriving in Oriaska, though, Ossani meets his most dangerous challenges yet, when two sorcerous attacks are made on his life. This tale is "The Moneylender of Oriaska", in which he meets his future apprentice, the girl Arrenya, who features as the main protagonist in his next story, "Ossani's Apprentice". 

Around this time Ossani appears in a smaller if ultimately important role in "Ezmiyel the Beggar", where some of Ossani's darker side is revealed.

With the return of Welgar after the events that befell our hero in "The Forbidden City of Cyramon", both men have important roles to play in "Emerging from their Twilit Realms".

Putting in but a passing appearance in "The Sorcerer's Casket", Ossani's next major role is in "From the Ashes" when he is reunited with Welgar, when they have to deal with a powerful and deadly vampiric entity. 

"Masks of Deception" introduces a second, younger apprentice to Ossani, who works with Arrenyain a bid to rescue Ossani after he is kidnapped by a group of vengeful Agryptian sorcerer-priests, intent on subjecting him to a long and painful death.

The final Ossani tale to date is "The Narcolopsia", which again involves Welgar and more Agryptian vengefulness.

Ossani stories to date are: 

The Storyteller of Koss - Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Volume 1

Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus - Welgar the Cursed

The Troupe - Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8

Ossani's Escape - Cirsova, Fall Issue 2026

The Moneylender of Oriaska - Swords & Heroes Quarterly Spring 2026

Ossani's Apprentice - Swords & Heroes Quarterly Spring 2026

Ezmiyel the Beggar - not yet published

Emerging from their Twilit Realms - Welgar the Cursed

The Sorcerer's Casket - not yet published

From the Ashes - Savage Realms Monthly July 2026

Masks of Deception - not yet published

The Narcolopsia - not yet published 

 

 

 

My latest Welgar and Ossani story "From the Ashes" is in the latest issue of Savage Realms Monthly.

This is a direct sequel to the last story in my collection Welgar the Cursed published by Tule Fog Press last year. 

This year has already seen two Ossani the Healer stories: "The Moneylender of Oriaska" and "Ossani's Apprentice" in Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2. 

Another Ossani story will be in the Fall issue of Cirsova magazine which will be out shortly: "Ossani's Escape". 

 

 

 

We have just booked a half page ad for Parallel Universe Publications' sword and sorcery books in the next (and final) issue of Cirsova, which will also include one of my stories, "Ossani's Escape."

The next (and unfortunately final) issue of Cirsova magazine will be published this Fall. I have just seen the cover for the first time.

I am currently enquiring about placing a half-page ad for Parallel Universe Publications' sword and sorcery books in it.  

My story is "Ossani's Escape", which will be the fourth Ossani story to be published this year. His previous tales were:

"The Moneylender of Oriaska" and ""Ossani's Apprentice", which both appeared in Tule Fog Press's Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2.

His third story is in the new issue of Savage Realms Monthly, which is due out any time now: "From the Ashes", which reunites him with Welgar the Cursed. 

"Ossani's Escape" actually takes place prior to all these tales.