Official Website of Allan Walsh
Hello Readers,
It is always an exciting time for me when I have a new release on the horizon, and it is no different as the release date for The Cold and the Dead draws nearer. And what is a new release without a cover reveal? Well, it’s just not as much fun is it. So with that in mind I’m super excited to share the cover with you. And here it is…
As always, I’ll post again soon to let you all know when the book has been released.
Happy Reading
Allan
Brisbane, Australia.
Hello Readers,
There’s more exciting news for you with my next new release on the horizon. I’m pleased to let you know that The Cold and the Dead is scheduled to be released at the end of this month. In case you’re wondering, yes, I am still planning to release a collection of my short stories in an anthology over coming months, and yes, the anthology will include this story, plus many more.
Anyway, to whet your appetite for The Cold and the Dead, I’ll be revealing the cover in the near future. This one is a short horror/grimdark tale, so if it sounds like something you’d be interested in, keep an eye out for the cover reveal post.
Happy Reading
Allan,
Brisbane, Australia.
Hello Readers,
Well it is finally here! My new short story ‘Shades of Hades’ is now available. You’ll find all the links below the blurb. And don’t forget the anthology, which will include this short story, will be coming out in the not too distant future.
***
It can be tough ruling the underworld. Hades is cold and has a headache, but nobody seems to care, least of all the dead. When he decides to move to a warmer climate, the other gods aren’t pleased.
Will Hades find somewhere warm to call home? Or is he destined to a life of misery?
Shades of Hades is a short satirical fantasy about the gods. If you like fun filled fantasy, comical capers, and tales of ancient gods, you’ll love Shades of Hades.
***
If you don’t want to wait for the anthology, you can get a copy of Shades of Hades at the following retailers:
I hope you enjoy the story. I certainly had fun writing it. Please let me know what you think and feel free to share this post with any of your friends or family who might enjoy a good, comical short fantasy.
Thank you so much for your support.
Happy Reading,
Allan
Hello Readers,
Here is the next sample of my work in the 10% Club series of posts, I give you a peek at Little Monster, a short horror story about a little monster that turns out to be big trouble. I hope you enjoy this glimpse of horror.
Little Monster by Allan Walsh
The creature was hideous; the dimples in its bulbous eyes reminded Jordan of a golf ball. Wart-ridden, black skin glistened over its body like an oil slick on a giant toad. Jordan stared at the thing’s long arms, his eyes straying down one of the creature’s muscular biceps, across its trunk-like forearm to the huge hand—knuckles dragging through the dirt, leaving a slimy black trail as the creature skulked along.
“I hope I don’t get that one,” he grumbled, flipping the cereal box over. Words seeped down the front of the packet—‘Monster Crunch, a little fiend in every box. Collect all six.’ He already had Godzuku and the Trull, he didn’t care which of the others he got, as long as it wasn’t the Akuma. That one gave him the creeps. He slid his finger under the flap.
“Ouch!”
He pulled away and saw a line of crimson leaching from a paper cut. Jordan popped his finger into his mouth and sucked on the wound; the metallic taste of blood crept over his tongue. A moment later he tried opening the box again, this time tearing the flap open. He took the waxy packet from within and pulled on either side. The seam gave way with a jolt and cereal burst into the air, clattering down to the tabletop.
There it was. The Akuma. Just lying there on its back. Bulging yellow eyes glaring up at him, pocket sized collectors’ card beside it. Jordan grabbed the figurine and held it aloft, studying its grotesque form. Blood oozed from the slit in his finger, smearing on the Akuma.
“Why’d it have to be you? You’re so damn ugly, why would anyone ever want to collect you?” he said, tossing it away.
If you enjoyed this sample of my writing, please share it with your friends.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.
Hello Readers,
Well it is finally here! The new short story, Little Monster, is now available. You’ll find all the links you could possibly need below the blurb. And don’t forget the anthology, which will include this short story, will be coming out in the not too distant future.
***
Could you take the supernatural seriously if your soul depended on it?
Jordan collects monster figures for inspiration. He doesn’t believe in the paranormal and all that rubbish, after all, it’s a load of nonsense… isn’t it?
Little Monster is a short horror story. If you like creepy tales, spine-tingling horror, and dark mythical monsters, you’ll love Little Monster by Allan Walsh.
***
If you don’t want to wait for the anthology, you can get a copy of Little Monster at the following retailers:
I hope you love the story. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think and feel free to forward this email to any friends or family who might enjoy a good short horror story.
Thank you so much for your support.
Happy Reading,
Allan
Hello Readers,
It is an exciting time for me as the release date for Little Monster draws nearer. With that in mind, and as promised, I’m delighted to share the cover with you. And here it is…
I’ll keep you posted on any further developments and will let you all know when the book is released.
Happy Reading Allan
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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Hello Readers,
I’ve been quite busy of late but I now have some exciting news for you. I’m delighted to let you know that I’m very close to releasing my next short story for your reading enjoyment. The story is called Little Monster and is scheduled to be released in the near future. I wrote this story for a writing competition some time ago and while it didn’t win, it did receive an honourable mention. I’ve made a few changes to the story since then in the hope of improving it.
But that’s not all. I also plan to release a collection of my short stories in an anthology over coming months. The anthology will include this story, plus many more. And to whet your appetite, I’ll be doing a cover reveal next week. So keep an eye out for that post in the coming days.
Happy Reading
Allan
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King is a compilation of short horror stories.
The Cover: There are a couple of different covers for this book; a black one with a hollow face and a white one with an array of colour. I have a copy of the white cover version, and while I do like this cover, it is not a good fit for the genre. It is a crisp well-presented cover, but this is a book of horror stories! The bright, cheery image does little to convey that. The font works for me, but the impact is totally diminished by the kaleidoscope of colour behind it. I feel the other version of the cover is a far superior one for this genre.
The Good Stuff: I’m probably going to upset a few Stephen King fans here, but I didn’t find much to talk about here. It is a professionally presented book, but for me, the stories are slow, they are not very interesting, and the ones that did tweak my interest fell short of the mark at the end.
The Bad Stuff: I have tried to read King before, and never been able to get into his stories. I do enjoy the movie adaptations of his books, yet I’m not a big fan of his writing style. But there are thousands who rave about his writing and hail him as the king of horror, so it would seem he just doesn’t work for me. I wasn’t hooked into any the stories I read in this book. I must admit that this one is going onto my DNF list (only the second book to land on this list to date). I got to page 189 and that is enough for me. That covers 8 of the 21 short stories within the book, and only 2 of those I read caught my interest, yet turned out to be disappointing in the end for me.
Overall, I found it a labour to read as much of this book as I managed to get through. I kept going for as long as I did in the hope that I would connect with one of the stories and really start to enjoy it. But this just wasn’t meant to be. I’m comparing this to an old horror movie where the ghosts are just actors wearing sheets with eye holes cut out, this one gets an unexciting, fright-fizzling 1 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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Hello Readers,
***Spoiler Alert***
So, Dracula has started on Netflix. I’m 3 episodes in already and they run for around an hour each, so they cover a fair bit of ground. Episode 1 got off to a great start with me. It really came across like Bram Stokers Dracula. The make-up/effects are pretty good and it starts close to the original story, but as it got further into the episode it started to go a little down hill for me. Episode 2 again starts pretty well and then dwindles some. And don’t get me started on episode 3.
In my opinion the series tries to be both scary and funny, but doesn’t quite pull either off. I find Agatha Van Helsing really annoying (but to give full disclosure, my better half – AKA “My Amazing Woman” – really likes Van Helsing’s character). And that’s not all I don’t like… The vampire tropes are confused, the story jumps into the future, and apparently all a known deadly vampire needs to be released into the human-smorgasbord-of-a-world, is a good lawyer. No arguments. That’s it. Bon appetite!
I wanted this show to be truly dark and scary, I wanted to love it, I wanted it to be great, but in fact I find I have an ambivalent relationship with it. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t. It isn’t awesome, but it isn’t that bad that I won’t watch it. There are some great scenes in it. It just isn’t what I wanted it to be.
So what do you think? Feel free to comment below.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
Or if you’d rather read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, you can purchase yourself a copy from the links below (P.S. There are so many versions out there I will leave it up to you to pick which one is for you):
Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo
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Hello Readers,
I’ve come to my last post depicting some of the miniatures I painted when I was younger. I’ve saved a group photo for this last post. I hope you enjoy it.
This one is a band of orcs and goblins. These are a mixture of plastic and metal cast figures. Personally I prefer to work with metal figures, but I also do not mind the resin ones. Plastic is my least favourite, they just don’t have the same feel to them and I find they tend to lack the level of detail you get on the metal cast figures. At least they did when I used to paint them many tears ago.
I wish the picture quality was better, but alas this was the best I could do with photos that were taken on film many years ago. None the less, I hope you got some satisfaction out of them and that somehow they have tweaked your creativity.
If you’re looking for some more modern Orc’s, I recommend you check out Games Workshop.
What are you’re favourite fantasy creatures? Leave a comment to let me know.
Happy Reading!
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
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