Blog Archives
The angel gunslinger will Azrael will ride again!
I’m absolutely delighted to announce I’ve written a new tale of Azrael the angel gunslinger — and Beneath Ceaseless Skies will be publishing it! More details to come. In the meantime, here are the previously published Azrael stories:
- The Angel Azrael Rode Into the Town of Burnt Church on a Dead Horse – The angel Azrael rides into the town of Burnt Church for a drink and ends up helping the very strange inhabitants fight off a gang of demons that’s been tormenting them.
- The Angel Azrael Delivers Small Mercies – The angel Azrael encounters an angel who is determined to turn the world into her own personal Hell and only Azrael can stop her.
- The audio version of “The Angel Azrael Delivers Small Mercies” with a new introduction I recorded for the story
- The Angel Azrael Delivers Justice to the People of the Dust – The angel Azrael rides into a mining town that is under siege from curious bone creatures stealing the town’s children. When Azrael intervenes, he discovers that nothing is what it seems in this strange place.
- The Angel Azrael Encounters the Revelation Pilgrims and Other Curiosities – The angel Azrael is hired by a group of pilgrims to guide them through a dangerous stretch of land, where they encounter a city of the dead and an outlaw band of half angels intent on ensuring they don’t make it to their destination.
- The Angel Azrael and the War Ghosts – The angel Azrael tries to stop a group of ghostly soldiers from preying upon travellers and rides straight into his own troubled past.
- The Angel Azrael Battles a Dead God Among the Heretics – The angel Azrael encounters a village full of crazed golems intent upon resurrecting a dead god to unleash upon the world — a god that Azrael has already killed once.
- The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man’s Hand – The Angel Azrael wanders into a strange town and becomes trapped in a supernatural and deadly card game. A recommended read by Locus!
Support your favourite magazines
I was saddened to see the news that On Spec, the Canadian magazine of the fantastic, will no longer be publishing print editions because of the increasing costs of print production and distribution. On Spec holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first magazine to publish my work. And it has incredible importance to the genre scene, both for Canadians and internationally.
On Spec isn’t alone in their struggles. Most magazine publishers have been ringing the alarm bells for some time now, especially after Amazon drastically reduced the ability to subscribe to their publications through its online service (a significant source of revenue for many magazines). There have been a number of magazines that have shut down over the last little while, and there will no doubt be more to come.
There are ways to support your favourite magazines, though. Many use Kickstarters to raise funds for the year, such as Uncanny, while others are increasingly using Patreon — see, for example, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex, Grimdark, Bourbon Penn, Pulp Literature, etc. And there’s a good selection of magazines available on Weightless Books, either by the issue or by annual subscription. Often you can buy issues directly from the magazine publishers as well so they don’t have to pay a cut to another service — see Weird Horror magazine, for example.
So if you want to see your favourite magazines survive and keep providing you with reading material please support them today with a subscription or purchase of an issue! You may make the difference to the magazine continuing on or not.
As always, thanks for reading!
peter darbyshire 