News: Blood, Boggarts and Battlestars: An Introduction to Speculative Fiction with Margo Lanagan

Come to the New South Wales Writers Centre, and dig around in the three genres that make up spec fic today: science fiction, fantasy and horror.

Tutor Margo Lanagan is passionate about genre fiction, and keen to impart this love of the fabulous to her students. "You can go anywhere in science fiction; just ask Margaret Atwood. And fantasy will take you places you only ever dreamed of; Stephanie Meyer will tell you that. As for horror, there are no holds barred there; learn to turn readers’ stomachs along with the darkest of dark Palahniuk... First we’ll loosen up with some fast writing, unconfined by plot and form. Then we’ll put ourselves through a series of longer exercises, exploring some of the classic scenes, characters and plot devices in SF/F/H stories."

Lanagan explains how she has crafted a hands-on course to get students writing in genre right away. "This workshop will be a learn-by-doing experience. There won’t be a lot of theory; instead I’ll send you off into space, or the dark forest, or into the murderer’s arms, to see what you encounter, to see what you find and bring back. Let’s push our brains out of their day-to-day shape. Let’s experiment with the sorts of questions, dark and bright, funny, tragic and mysterious, that can only be asked within these three genres."

Expected learning outcomes:
Students will gain a clearer idea of the possibilities for their own writing within the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror. They will experiment in all three forms in several different ways, pick up the names of a few new authors to explore, and be inspired to explore speculative fiction writing further.

BLOOD, BOGGARTS AND BATTLESTARS: AN INTRODUCTION TO SPECULATIVE FICTION
With Margo Lanagan (10LANA3)
Saturday 6 March, 10am – 4pm

Full Price: $140.oo
Member (30% Discount): $100.00
Concession Member (40% Discount): $85.00


Level: Adults Beginner/Intermediate
Student Requirements:
Food: Tea and coffee making facilities will be provided. Course participants are advised to bring their own lunch.
Size: 20 max

MARGO LANAGAN has published three speculative fiction short story collections and a dark fantasy novel, Tender Morsels, as well as books for junior readers and young adults. Her writing has won two World Fantasy Awards (and been nominated for two others), two Printz Honors, a Victorian Premier’s Award, three Aurealis Awards and four Ditmar Awards, and has been longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, a Nebula, a Hugo, a Bram Stoker, a Theodore Sturgeon, a Shirley Jackson, a Seiun, an International Horror Guild Award, and has twice been on the Honour List for the James Tiptree Jr Award. She maintains a blog at amongamidwhile.blogspot.com.

Source: Jacqui Dent via Dr. Marty Young

News: Writing Imaginary Worlds with Richard Harland

Do you have ideas for invented worlds and alternative realms? Perhaps you should be writing in the imaginative genres of speculative fiction. The New South Wales Writers' Centre has just the course for you!

Fantasy, science fiction and horror not only demand more imagination than other genres but also a high level of narrative technique. This workshop shows how to turn your imaginative ideas into a fully fleshed-out story – strategies for involving the reader in another world, conveying foreground and background at the same time, ‘defining’ a mystery, building to a climax … and not forgetting the very important art of pitching to a publisher!

Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Student Requirements:
Food: Tea and coffee making facilities will be provided. Course participants are advised to bring their own lunch.
Size: 20 max

RICHARD HARLAND's latest novel, from Allen & Unwin, is the steampunk/Victoriana fantasy Worldshaker. It will be published in the US by Simon and Schuster in May, by Templar in the UK in June, and in France and Germany later in the year. Richard has won five Aurealis Awards, including Best Fantasy Short Story (twice) and the Golden Aurealis for Best Novel in any form of Speculative Fiction.

Richard has put up a website on tips for writers of fantasy and genre fiction at www.writingtips.com.au. It’s as big as a small book, 145 pages of free advice on (i) good writing habits (ii) action; setting; dialogue; interior thought (iii) characters (iv) story (v) using language effectively and (vi) getting published. This workshop provides the practical experience to go with the advice—writing and planning exercises to develop the storytelling skills that lie behind every suck-you-in page-turner.

WRITING IMAGINARY WORLDS With Richard Harland (10HARL5)

Sunday 9 May, 10am – 4pm

Full Price: $140.00

Member (30% Discount): $100.00

Concession Member (40% Discount) $85.00

Source: Jacqui Dent via Dr. Marty Young

News: Eclecticism #11

Eclecticism #11 is up and running, and ready to download for free from the website. If that wasn’t enough, the website you will be downloading from is brand new and funky fresh. That’s right, the new year is off with a bang with an eclectic bag of goodness. Enjoy!

Issue #11 features the haunting theme 'Ghost Story' and the work of: Keith Nunes, Myra King, Mark Smith-Briggs , Trost, Lynley Stace, Nicholas Deigman, Allan Wilson, E. Armanious, Chantel Schott, and Featured Artist Katie Ryan.

The ISSUU version (magazine layout) will be released by Tuesday 2^nd February 2010.

UPCOMING THEME

The theme for Issue #12 (late April 2010) is OBSESSION (as suggested by contributor/ subscriber Lynley Stace). If you have a suggestion for a theme, simply email it to: eclecticism@westnet.com.au

Download the free online magazine!

Source: Craig Bezant

Review: The Burning by Bentley Little

Like many writers of Horror Fiction in the world today, Bentley Little has crafted his own style over the years and now has it down to kind of science. His books invariably follow a formula, but it is a well – practiced formula and no doubt keeps readers coming back again and again ensuring a dedicated readership and often imitated writing method.

The dedication in The Burning is interesting, and gives a fascinating insight into the roots of stories and how they can manifest and evolve. In this case, Bentley dedicates it to his son, who asked for a story that included a haunted train and two graves marked Mother and Daughter side by side together. Taper this with his formula and Bentley Little delivers a simple, elegant Horror novel that has no pretensions about its grassroots influence.

As with his previous novels, the author is heavily influenced by a Chinese mythological connection. In The Burning we have Angela Ramos, an Hispanic University student who has just moved away from home into a share house with a ghost. There’s Henry Cote, a Native American descendant Park Ranger who lives in the National Park and is plagued by perverse erotic dreams of Chinese twins who haunt the Canyonlands. Recently divorced Joylene has moved to Bear Flats with her son Skylar to start a new life living with her mother … and it will be them that come across the eerie graves of a Mother and Daughter. So too will they witness the gaunt, leprous face that peers in a Skylar during the night, grinning malevolently. And finally a Chinese American, criss-crossing the country on a journey of self discovery, being called toward something he only partially understands – toward ancient ancestors seeking redemption for past transgressions.

At the centre of this group, and slowly peeled away through their strange encounters, an eternal hellish Train raised from the bowels of history carrying the departed souls of different races seeking reprisal. Those that have been wronged by Caucasian man since the Civil War and beyond.

At its heart, The Burning is primarily a revenge novel, seen through the eyes of very disparate characters trying to connect the dots before the inevitable showdown as the train finally pulls into its metaphorical station. What I liked about this novel – as apposed to Bentley’s previous forays – was the more worldly aspect to it. Too often, Bentley concentrates on the small town mythos, and although this is a perfectly honorable way to tell the tale, it was utterly gratifying to see things like the White House being laid waste to eternal powers. Moreover our trips back in time to witness the decrepitude and heinous acts committed by those before the turn of the last century. And it does this without being too preachy or trying to shove a message down your throat.

There is another Horror review site that likes to give stars based on the smell of a book. A little eccentric, but one eccentricity I think we all can relate to. I give The Burning 5 out of 5 in relation to this; it’s the perfect little horror book to take on your next flight interstate … or Train ride, perhaps.

Review by Matthew Tait

News: Aurealis Awards Winners

The Aurealis Award winners for 2009 were announced at the thirteenth annual Aurealis Awards ceremony at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane on Saturday 24 January 2010.

BEST CHILDREN'S NOVEL

• Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost in My Suitcase, Puffin Books

BEST CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED WORK/PICTURE BOOK

• Pamela Freeman andd Kim Gamble, Victor's Challenge, Walker Books Australia

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan Trilogy: Book One, Penguin

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

• Cat Sparks, `Seventeen', Masques, CSFG

BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL

• Nathan Jurevicius, Scarygirl, Allen & Unwin

BEST ANTHOLOGY

• Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 3, Night Shade Books

BEST COLLECTION

• Greg Egan, Oceanic, Gollancz

BEST HORROR NOVEL

• Honey Brown, Red Queen, Penguin Australia

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
(tied)

• Paul Haines, `Wives', X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing
• Paul Haines, `Slice of Life — A Spot of Liver', Slice of Life, The Mayne Press

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

• Trudi Canavan, Magician's Apprentice, Orbit

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
(tied)

• Christopher Green, `Father's Kill', Beneath Ceaseless Skies, #24
• Ian McHugh, `Once a Month, On a Sunday', Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

• Peter M. Ball, `Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens', Abyss & Apex Magazine, May 2009

PETER MCNAMARA CONVENORYS' AWARD' Award

• Justin Ackroyd, proprietor, Slow Glass Books

The KRIS HEMBBURY ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD for Emerging Artists

• Kathleen Jennings

Judges Reports

Download a list of Judges' Reports below:
Science Fiction Novel: SFNovel.pdf
Science Fiction Short Story: SFShort.pdf
Fantasy Novel: FantasyNovel.pdf
Fantasy Short Story: FantasyShort.pdf
Horror: Horror.pdf
Anthology/Collection: antho.pdf
Young Adult: ya.pdf
Children's: childrens.pdf

Download a complete history of Aurealis Award winners.
WORD (1.1Mb) / PDF (712k)

The Aurealis Awards have a significant history behind them now. Since the Awards' first ceremony, both the field of literature and the vibrancy of the Australian speculative fiction community have grown substantially. This list of past winners and finalists is not only a great guide to a basic bookshelf selection of the best Australian works, it is also a useful survey of more than a decade's worth of signficant topics and themes, a who's who of the genre locally and the growth of the Australian publishing industry's commitment to the genre.

Source: www.aurealisawards.com

News: Continuum 6 - Future Tense

Remember when "2010" was one of those dates they used in sci-fi to mean simply, The Future? We do...

Future Tense. The killer robots are beating down the front door while the mutant hordes gather at the back; your emotional inhibitor is on the fritz again and your computer has started calling you "Dave"; the world outside is a burning wasteland but that's OK, there's an ice age right around the corner; so climb into your nutrient tank and get comfy - it's going to be a lovely apocalypse.

This year’s guests of honour include: futurist writer and virtual reality pioneer Mark Pesce (Hyperpeople, ABC’s New Inventors) and Aurealis-award winning author Kim Westwood (The Oracle, The Daughters of Moab). Panel discussions, workshops, readings and more.

Continuum 6 are host to the awards night for the Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian science fiction, fantasy and horror in 2009.

Continuum 6 - Future Tense
26-28th February, 2010
Venue: ether, Little Bourke St, Melbourne CBD
www.continuum.org.au

Source: www.continuum.org.au

News: Victorian Writers Centre Upcoming Events & Year-Long Programs

The Victorian Writers Centre are offering a range of professional development and creative writing courses and workshops; for the full program, see www.vwc.org.au.

February events

· Wednesdays 3 February – 10 March. Writing and Photography. Course with Pam Davison. Hurry – last days to book!

· Saturday 6 February. Applying for Arts Funding. Half-day workshop with Tom Cho. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn the essentials of grant writing.

· Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 February. Inside Publishing & Editing – A Head Start. Weekend workshop with Christine Nagel.

· Thursdays, 18 February, 18 March, 22 April, 20 May, 17 June. This is a Work of Fiction. Course with Liam Davison.

· Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 February. Free-form Writing. Weekend workshop with Ania Walwicz.

· Saturday & Sunday 27-28 February. Hook a Publisher with a Great Proposal Masterclass with Sheila Hollingworth. Hurry! Submission deadline 8 February.

“Year of” courses – commencing in March

Please note: For all the “Year of” courses, a minimum $200 deposit is required at time of booking to secure a place. The full amount must be finalised by two weeks prior to course start.

· Saturday 13 March (course starts). Year of the Novel with Sallie Muirden. This course is full.

· Saturday 13 March (course starts). Year of the Novel – Advanced with Andrea Goldsmith. Applications close 26 February.

· Sunday 14 March (course starts). Year of Poetry with Jordie Albiston. This course is full.

· Saturday 20 March (course starts). Year of Writing for Children with Nicolas Brasch.

· Sunday 21 March (course starts). Year of the Short Story with Paul Mitchell.

· Saturday 27 March (course starts). Year of SF & Fantasy with Paul Collins.

· Saturday 27 March (course starts). Year of Travel with George Dunford.

· Sunday 28 March (course starts). Year of Creative Non-fiction with Lee Kofman.

Bookings are essential for all events. Book via the VWC website: www.vwc.org.au/what-s-on.

Source: Victorian Writers' Centre

News: Hugo Awards Nominations

The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. They were first awarded in 1953, and have been awarded every year since 1955. The 2010 Hugo Awards will be presented in Melbourne, Australia during Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention.

Members of Aussiecon 4 who join by 31 January 2010 and members of Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, will be eligible to nominate people or works from 2009 in various categories.

The Award Categories are defined in Article 3 of the WSFS Constitution.

Nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards open 1 January 2010, and will close 13 March 2010.

How to Nominate

Paper Ballot

A paper nomination ballot will be sent to Aussiecon 4 members in Progress Report 2 in January 2010, and as a separate mailing to members of Anticipation who have opted into paper publications.

You may also download the Nomination Ballot as a .pdf file:

Online

An Online Nomination Ballot is available.

Electronic voting instructions will be emailed to Aussiecon 4 and Anticipation members in January 2010. For online nominations a 4 or 5 digit PIN number is used in place of a signature. If you need a PIN please email hugopin@aussiecon4.org.au

If you have any questions, feel free to pass them on to us at
hugoadmin@aussiecon4.org.au

Recommendations

Several sources provide recommendations for Hugo nominations. LiveJournal has a community dedicated to the purpose :

http://community.livejournal.com/hugo_recommend/

A Campbell Award recommendation page is available here:

http://www.writertopia.com/awards/campbell

Hugo Award Categories

• Best Novel
• Best Novella
• Best Novelette
• Best Short Story
• Best Related Work
• Best Graphic Story
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
• Best Editor, Short Form
• Best Editor, Long Form
• Best Professional Artist
• Best Semiprozine
• Best Fanzine
• Best Fan Writer
• Best Fan Artist
• John W. Campbell Award

Source: www.aussiecon4.org.au

News: JUMP National Mentoring Program for Young and Emerging Artists

Are you a creative, young Australian on the cusp of a great artistic career? You’ve got the talent, the vision and the drive it’s going to take – but do you have the professional skill set, one on one support and national network to match? JUMP can make sure that you do.

JUMP directly supports the career development of artists aged 18-30, and in the first five years of their professional practice, by facilitating mentorships with professional artists regarded highly in their chosen artform. The program is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and managed nationally by Youth Arts Queensland.

So if you’re ready to jump a rung or two at a time in your career ladder, JUMP would love to see what you have to offer. You can find details about being involved in JUMP, either as a mentee or mentor, by visiting the FAQs section. You can also click on the following links to find more information About JUMP and its funding and delivery partners.

applications

Applications to be a mentee or mentor in the inaugural JUMP program in 2010 must be submitted to Youth Arts Queensland by 5pm (Brisbane time), Friday 26 February 2010. Visit the Applications page for further details and to download the application forms. You can also find some quick answers on the FAQs page.

Source: www.jumpmentoring.com.au

Review: Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection

'Dr. Robert Twombly' (Don Roff), illus. Chris Lane, Chronicle Books, 2009

'This illustrated journal was discovered in the aftermath of the worldwide necrotic infection that began on or around January 7, 2012 and lasted for approximately one year, killing more than 5 billion people... The fate and whereabouts of the author remain unknown...'

Illustrated throughout in ink and watercolour, and written in longhand, Zombies indeed has the feel of the real-life journal it purports to be. The tale is a simple and familiar one, of Twombly's trek across an America devastated by a zombie apocalypse, penned in 'amateur' fashion (visible edits made on the page, with words or sentences scratched out), which brings an unsettling realism to the work. The illustrations are often stark and rough (although, cleverly, those completed in 'safe havens' are always far more polished), again giving the impression of 'sketches' made from memory or on the fly.

While not necessarily adding anything new to the zompocalyptic subgenre, Zombies is very much a worthwhile addition to any zombophile's collection, and as likely to appeal as much to fans of zombie art or comics as fans of zomfic.

Book Review: The Enemy

Charlie Higson, Penguin Books, 2009

When the sickness came, everyone over the age of fourteen - every adult in the world - fell ill. The lucky ones died. The survivors are crazed. Confused. Hungry. Encouraged by rumours of a safe place to hide, a community of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city, down alleyways, in deserted house, underground, the Grown Ups lie in wait...

Those famillar with the highly-successful Young Bond series will already be aware that Higson rarely avoids depicting realistic brutality and violence in deference to his Young Adult readership - although more extreme events do tend to be understated, or even occur 'off screen' - and The Enemy certainly continues that tradition. In what is essentially an 'infected' zombie-apocalypse tale for younger readers, scenes of gore and violence, as well as themes of a fairly dark and often 'deep' nature, abound (although Higson avoids gratuitous nastiness). That said, it's adults who may find this novel especially disturbing for the fact that the horrors therein are visited almost exclusively upon children.

A genuinely chilling page-turner, The Enemy is a brilliant thriller that will disturb readers of all ages. The Enemy is currently available in Australia through Penguin Books, and is the first in an ongoing series.

Book Review: The Anthology of the Living Dead

Ed. J. Travis Grundon & L. B. Goddard, Black Bed Sheet Publishers, 2009

Boasting the by-line 'Forrest J. Ackerman Presents', and featuring a dreadfully pun-filled introduction by the late genre-fandom personality (which neither 'sells' nor detracts from the publication, in my opinion, though fans of 'Uncle Forry' may beg to differ), The Anthology of the Living Dead is an oddly mixed bag of zombie-themed short fiction, featuring some of the very best zomfic I've ever read on the one hand, along with several unutterably ordinary entries on the other. Fortunately, the brilliance of the former outweighs the 'drag' of the latter, making this an above-average zomthology, and definitely one worth reading.

Standouts amongst the standouts include 'Whimper', by Scott Lefebvre, 'Her Wound', by Dave Lounsbury, 'A Hiccup. A Remedy', by Joe Moe, 'Icy Dead People', by Jeremy Boland, and 'Braindead', by Sean Douglas, and it's no coincidence that all of the aformentioned venture into teritory previously uncharted by zompocalyptic fiction.

A strong entry into the subgenre; l look forward to seeing more from this editorial team.

News: Popcorn Taxi presents The Wolfman

POPCORN TAXI PRESENTS: THE WOLFMAN + Q&A with Creature Effects Supervisor, David Elsey!

Popcorn Taxi is proud to present a very special screening of The Wolfman, an exciting resurrection of a cinematic horror icon. Featuring the talents of Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and our own Hugo Weaving – The Wolfman is an exciting and gothic horror/thriller that takes state-of-the-art special effects and make-up techniques from legendary effects guru Rick Baker alongside our very own Oscar nominated creature and make-up effects maestro David Elsey – who will also be taking part in a live Q&A after the film.

Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Oscar® winner Benicio Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother...and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself.

As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love (Emily Blunt), Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself…one he never imagined existed.

POPCORN TAXI:

THE WOLFMAN
+ EXCLUSIVE Q&A WITH CREATURE EFFECTS SUPERVISOR

DAVID ELSEY

Rated: (this film is not yet rated)

Time: 7pm SHARP!

Date: Monday, February 8

Where: Event Cinemas, Bondi Junction (formerly Greater Union)

Address: Level 6, 500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction

Price: $25/23 (tix strictly limited)

Tickets available now from www.popcorntaxi.com.au

Source: Chris Murray, Popcorn Taxi

News: Theatre Of Blood Season One Finale!

Theatre of Blood

11pm Friday nights at the Newtown Theatre
SEASON 1 MUST END JANUARY 22!

If you were thinking of catching Season I of The Theatre of Blood, better clear the night of Friday the 22nd, and get along to the Newtown Theatre.
Better yet, book your tickets now! Bookings: 8507 3034

THEATRE OF BLOOD WILL RETURN WITH SEASON 2 IN MARCH!

Double feature tickets with mainstage productions are now on sale!

Tickets $19/Concession $15

Come in a gothic or horror costume
and pay concession prices!

Source: Kyla Ward & Theatre of Blood

News: Terra Incognita Podcast #015

Terra Incognita SF podcast #015 is now available for streaming and download at www.tisf.com.au, or on itunes!

This episode features:

• Marianne De Pierres reading In The Bookshadow
  
• Keith Stevenson reviewing Greig Beck's Beneath The Dark Ice
  

Source: Keith Stevenson

News: Australian Studies in Weird Fiction seek review material

Australian Studies in Weird Fiction (Equilibrium Books) is now publishing reviews. The bi-annual critical journal devoted to Australian horror, Gothic and dark fantasy writing, are seeking review copies of locally-published or written works; horror short story collections, and novels by Australian writers. Review copies may be sent in book form, or as PDF.

For further information please contact the editor, Phillip A. Ellis - phillip.a.ellis@gmail.com or co-editor Leigh Blackmore - lvxnox@gmail.com.

ASiWF will publish Issue 4 in early 2010.

Source: Leigh Blackmore

News: Tasmaniac Publications to publish Tom Piccirilli's The Last Deep Breath

Set for an August release and now up for pre-order is Tom Piccirilli's THE LAST DEEP BREATH, his second 'noirella' with Tasmaniac Publications that will blow you away! The story follows Grey, a drifter on the search for his foster sister, who showed up for the first time in ten years with a knife in her side, then vanished without a trace. Grey winds up in Los Angeles dealing with manipulative actresses and scummy agents, hoping to find some clue as to what happened to her after she dropped out of a porn career he didn't know about.

By now I'm convinced that Tom Piccirilli is genetically incapable of delivering a tale that's anything less than immaculately conceived and beautifully rendered. The Last Deep Breath is the latest evidence, a tough yet tender noir that cuts to the heart of what sibling bonds are all about. It ricochets around like a bullet in a cinderblock room — you can never be sure where it's going to go, but you know it's probably going to hurt before it's done.

Brian Hodge, author - Wild Horses, Mad Dogs

The Last Deep Breath is an absolute gem of a crime novel, with prose so dead-on and moving, you'll be laughing and gasping, often in the same sentence. Tom Piccirilli is already one of the big guns in crime fiction and proves here that he may be the heir to Elmore Leonard.

Jason Starr, author - Panic Attack, The Chill

THE LAST DEEP BREATH
Tom Piccirilli
180 signed soft covers - $14
26 lettered hardbacks - $80
Introduced by Patrick Lussier (Director of My Bloody Valentine, The Eye)
Artwork by Daniele Serra

Source: Tasmaniac Publications

Public Service Announcement: The Zombie Handbook

Rob Sacchetto, Scribo Australia, 2009

Following recent disclosure that Mel Gibson uses a lotion derived from (potentially MCD-infected) cow brains, it seems timely to draw public attention to Rob Sacchetto's landmark guide to surviving the coming zombie apocalypse. Covering essential topics such as the varying varieties of various zombies (viral, voodoo, alien-controlled, govt. created, etc), zombie diet and lifestyle, and survival tips, Rob Sacchetto's tome is illustrated throughout by illustrator Rob Sachetto, whose incredibly gory yet useful illustrations illustrate this book.

The Zombie Handbook is already standard reading, along with Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide, in most standard Australian retirement homes and Centrelink offices, and will without a doubt undoubtedly become compulsary reading in all households once the first reports of 'infection' hit the airwaves. Believe me, once you're bitten, you'll be glad of a reference that tells you exactly what's happening to your rapidly-decomposing body.

Buy it. Go on, I'll just wait here.

Oh, and it has four words by Jonathan Maberry. So. Y'know. Credibility.

Sorry - foreword.

This has been a Government Public Service Announcement (reported via Chuck McKenzie).

Book Review:Dead America

Luke Keioskie, Severed Press, 2009

Life's tough in America. Especially when you're dead. Minimum wage, biotic bigotry, rotting flesh. Against this backdrop, private investigator Jon Faraday has taken on the task of tracking down a runaway girl. Easy money. But when the girl turns up dead - truly dead; the first person in twenty years who didn't 'relive' - Jon finds himself drawn into a world of undead gangsters, zombie sex-workers, and a covert experiment that may see simmering tensions between pro- and anti-zombie interests explode into all-out warfare on the streets of New York City.

Let me say right from the outset that I enjoyed Dead America enormously; the story rolls along at a cracking pace, through countless twists, turns and surprises, to a bittersweet conclusion; the characters - while leaning dangerously close to cliche at times - are engaging and, if not alway likeable, entertaining at least. Prose and dialogue are competently handled. The background of this world, in which everyone reanimates shortly after death, and the walking dead are assigned the role of the disenfranchised (as in S. G. Brown's Breathers) is fairly well-realised, with even the massive infodumps doled out by the viewpoint protagonist somewhat forgiveable in that they are a staple of the 'hard-boiled PI' subgenre.

That said, there were two niggling issues that unfortunately prevented my complete enjoyment of Dead America; firstly, the author seems compelled to constantly remind us of basic plot and character information that has already been stated (such as the fact that the dead girl is 'really' dead); secondly, there's a major inconsistency regarding zombie 'biology', with the dead regularly referred to as being able to 'exist forever' on the one hand, but plagued by rot on the other. Mutually incompatible states, surely? Both issues, for me, became highly irritating before I'd even read a quarter of the way through Dead America; that said, it speaks volumes of the strengths of the novel that I was unable to put this book down.

Dead America is a wonderful, if flawed, zombie novel, and should please most fan of the subgenre.

Book Review: Red Queen

H. M. Brown, Penguin Australia, 2009

Brothers Shannon and Rohan Scott have retreated to their family's cabin in the Australian bush to escape a virus-ravaged world, quickly falling into a daily routine of rationing, guard duty, and good-natured sibling rivalry. Then an intruder - a young woman - slips past their defences, and the dynamic within the cabin is changed forever. Possessiveness takes hold, loyalties are split, trust is shattered. Before long, all three cohabitants will find themselves locked into a very different battle for survival.

From page one of this debut novel, the reader knows that things cannot end well: the amosphere, tension and undertones that characterise this tale from beginning to end are immediately plain to see, and author Brown skilfully builds upon these foundations to create a taut, unsettling thriller that never takes the easy or expected way out of any given situation. The prose and dialogue are wonderfully concise and loaded, with scarcely a line wasted, and the characters are all fairly unpleasant and untrustworthy, which keeps the reader guessing as to exactly how far they may go in their actions (even in the case of the POV narrator, Shannon). While some readers may feel somewhat cheated by the novel's conclusion, I can only say that the ending perfectly reflects the themes of the tale.

Quantifying Red Queen's place in the apocalyptic fiction subgenere: the novel is neither as nihilistic as Cormac McCarthy's The Road, nor as brutal as Stephen King's The Stand, but achieves maximum emotional impact nonetheless by applying the standard 'epic' implications of the end of the world to what is essentially a living-room thriller.

Red Queen is a great read. H. M. Brown is definitely an author to watch.

[Ed: An erroneous reference to an award has been removed from the last paragraph. HorrorScope apologises for any confusion. 20/1/2010.]

Review: Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves

Shane Jiraiya Cummings

eBook ISBN: 9781615720552

Published by Damnation Books

A richly Australian piece which will strike a chord with any connoisseur of dark tales. This is not a story full of rendered body parts, impatient sex or chilling tension, but it does have a core of vast proportions which lingers with the reader long after the final page has been consumed. Like the country it’s set in, there is an epic scale to all the facets of this easy read.

A man schooled in an ancient art allowing control of the elemental forces shaping life, tries to live a normal existence with his wife and two kids. He has the same issues we all face: make ends meet, not become dinner for mysterious monsters, nurture a loving relationship with his wife, try to understand a teenage daughter, and be a role model to a young son, but when he is once more drawn into the world of runes, symbols and power, everything shifts.

An elemental goes rogue when a major summoning is interrupted. What was meant to be a weapon against an infestation of monsters turns against its masters and the very land it was supposed to protect. Echoes of Australia’s attempts to control other unwanted creatures by introducing a predator abound, as does the catastrophic effects these introductions have had on an ancient land: think cane toads or rabbits or Patterson’s Curse. As with these other introductions, the elemental sweeps across this wide brown land with a vengeance. Magic brings it into being, but the interruption, caused by the main character, Damon, warps it, and also warps the protection magic around him and his family. This sets up a classic tale of guilt that can only be purged through an arduous journey and self sacrifice.

Cummings goes a little overboard with imprinting the West Australian countryside into our brain using a flowing prose sometimes excessively thick with pictorial descriptive, but even this serves the purpose of reinforcing the hopelessness of the main character’s quest by mirroring his enforced repetitive days in the loopbacked landscape he travels through. Small things change, but the final goal, and many of the obstacles in his way, remain constant.

The character empathy is well developed, the settings are comfortingly familiar, the ending unexpected. This is different from other stories I’ve read from this author. If you’re expecting something shocking, visceral or graphic in its terror, this isn’t it, but it is all encompassing, full of emotion and moving. This is a good read.

Recommended.

News: The 2009 (Genre) Bookselling Year in Review

...or, at least, one particular Australian booksellers' experience of it. From the blog of Horrorscope reviewer Chuck McKenzie:

http://chuckmck1.livejournal.com/17725.html

Includes lists of bestselling genre series, individual titles, media tie-ins, and Australian authors. Enjoy!

Book Review: 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die

Ed. Steven Jay Schneider, ABC Books, 2009

Adapted from the highly successful 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 101 Horror Movies is an informative and insightful guide to horror cinema (covering productions from 1919 up until 2007, with references to films produced as late as the end of 2009) that the various contributing reviewers consider to be required viewing. Each movie gets a two-page entry, comprising a brief synopsis (sometimes with spoilers) and critical analysis of the movie. It is in the analysis that the reader truly gets value-for-money, with close to forty professional reviewers contributing their opinions; not least because of the range of reasons why different reviewers consider particular movies 'must see'. Some have been chosen for their themes, scripts and acting, others for their tcchnical acomplishment or their 'scare factor', and yet others for their innovation, originality, or cultural importance.

It goes without saying, as with any 'best of' list, that horror fans will inevitably disagree with some of the inclusions or exclusions (I mean, Blacula, but no entry for Day of the Dead?). The definition (or not) of certain movies as 'horror' may also raise eyebrows (is Man Bites Dog really horror? And entries for both Alien and The Thing are relegated to the companion guide 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You Die - albeit with a nod to them being SF/horror crossovers). But then, that's cinematic criticism in a nutshell: it's all in the eye of the beholder.

All in all, 101 Horror Movies is a great read, as is the aformentioned Sci-Fi companion, and similar editions are currently available for War and Gangster movies. Definitely one to own if you're at all interested in the cinema of fear.

News: Nominations for the annual Hugo Awards

The nominating period for the Hugo Awards is open as of January 1 2010. The Hugo Awards celebrate the best in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Hugos are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) by the World Science Fiction Society.

The Hugo nomination process for works published or otherwise released in 2009 and individual achievement awards is open to current members of the World Science Fiction Society, which means supporting or attending members of the 2009 Worldcon (Anticipation) or the upcoming 2010 Worldcon (Aussiecon 4).

Nominations must be received by 13 March 2010. In order to participate, you must have purchased an Aussiecon 4 membership by 31 January 2010 or have been a member of the 2009 Worldcon, Anticipation.

According to Vincent Docherty, Hugo Awards Administrator, the best-known Hugo Award categories are Best Novel and Best Dramatic Presentation. “However, there are many other categories of Hugo Awards, including some for short fiction, for artists, and editors, and for activities by fans,” says Docherty, “Winning an award as prestigious as the Hugo can mean the difference between an author having one or two works published and having the industry keen to get its hands on anything you create.”

A shortlist of the five most popular works or achievements in each award category will be published in early April 2010, with the voting process open to Aussiecon 4 members until 31 July 2010.

The Hugo Awards Ceremony will be one of the highlights of Aussiecon 4, and will take place on the evening of Sunday 5 September 2010.

Aussiecon 4 will be held at the new Melbourne and Convention and Exhibition Centre from 2 to 6 September 2010. The convention will be a five-day event bringing together readers and fans and a premium field of authors, illustrators, publishers, scientists, and other leading genre figures.

“Worldcon is a truly amazing and unique phenomenon”, says Perry Middlemiss, Co-Chair of Aussiecon 4. “It has all the features of an international writer’s festival but celebrates a very specific genre: science fiction, fantasy, and horror.”

Source: Julian Warner, Aussiecon 4 Publicist

News: Sir Julius Vogel Awards nominations now open

The Sir Julius Vogel sub-committee of SFFANZ is currently accepting nominations for science fiction and fantasy works first published or released in the 2009 calendar year.

Nominations open on 1 January 2010
and close on 31 March 2010 at 8pm.

To make a nomination please email sjv_awards@sffanz.sf.org.nz. Anyone can make a nomination, and it is free of charge. Please send one nomination per email, and include as many contact details as possible for the nominee (as well as for yourself).

You can find full details about the nomination procedures and rules, including eligibility criteria online; a detailed nomination FAQ can also be found at the website.

Voting will occur at Au Contraire - the national science fiction convention being held in Wellington, New Zealand, over the weekend of the 27 - 29 August 2010.

More information about SFFANZ and the SJV Awards is available at the SFFANZ web-site.

Source: SFFANZ via Paul Haines

News: Indie Books support Toodyay BushFire Appeal

For the next two weeks Indie Books Online are donating $5 from every paperback and $10 from every hardback sold through the online store to the Toodyay Bushfire Appeal.

Toodyay is a small town about 80 km from Perth, in Western Australia. Reports are that between 20 and 30 homes have been lost in bushfires that are still being brought under control, and the township has been declared a disaster area.

Please, if you have a spare moment, check out the shop, buy something, and help Indie Books Online help out a small town. Alternatively, for those wishing to make a direct donation to the fund, Bendigo Bank have set up an account - BSB 633-000, Account Number 123 708 141.

Source: Russell B. Farr

Book Review: Zombies - Encounters With the Hungry Dead

Ed. John Skipp, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009

Zombies, edited by zombie supremo John Skipp (who co-edited the groundbreaking collection The Book of the Dead back in 1989, at a time when zombie fiction was still largely considered the poor cousin of splatterpunk), is a collection of 27 of the very best zombie-themed short stories of all time, and a definite must-have for any zombie afficianado. This is despite the fact that the bulk of tales herein may already be familliar to zombie fans, having previously been reprinted in some of Skipp's own earlier anthologies, as well as in more recent publications such as John Joseph Adams' The Living Dead.

Zombies includes a great mix of old and new tales, featuring zombies of all persuasions and inclinations, and boasts such contributors as Wiliam Seabrook, Stephen King, Poppy Z. Brite, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Neil Gaiman, and many more 'big name' writers. Skipp has also included a couple of informative essays as appendices to the anthology, 'Zombie Roots: A Historical Perspective' (by Christopher Kampe and Anthony Gambole), and 'They're Us and We're Them: Zombies in Popular Culture' (by Skipp and Cody Goodfellow).

Buy it, own it, love it. And perhaps the best news for Autralian deadheads is that Zombies, unlike so many other related publications, actually has a local distributor (Scribo Books), so your local bookseller can order this tome for you if it's not already sitting on the shelf.

Review: After the World

After the World: Killable Hours (Clay Blakehills) / After the World: Gravesend (Jason Fischer), Black House Comics, 2009

'Life on Earth has changed since the dead stopped dying...'

After the World is an ongoing series of self-contained novellas set against a 'shared-world' backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, published by Australian small press Black House Comics in a 'pulp'-style magazine format (although, as in the case of fellow 'pulp' magazine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, the publication truly is far too well-produced to truly qualify as pulp).

In Clay Blakehill's Killable Hours, protagonist Terry finds himself stuck in a skyscraper full of dead lawyers who won't stay dead, and - together with a small entourage of fellow survivors - must negotiate his way through the building in order to escape to whatever remains of the world outside. Can the group work together in order to survive, or will human nature (and flesh-eating senior associates) doom them all?

In Jason Fischer's Gravesend, life goes on (more or less) in the titular barricaded English village - school, politics, neighbourhood squabbles. It's just your everyday small town, albeit with an army of undead cannibals waiting to get in. And when a transmission from America sends ripples through the close-knit community, it may only be a matter of time before the walking dead get their chance.

The first two installments of this series are great fun to read. As with the bulk of apocalyptic zombie fiction there's (understandably) not a vast amount of innovation here, but both Blakehill and Fischer provide sufficiently original set-ups and characterisation to make these novellas compelling reading for the zombie afficianado. The differing ways in which the two authors approach this shared world, with regards to style, tone and focus, also gives each installment a fresh and unique feel, and bodes well for future installments by other writers.

Killable Hours is currently available from newsagencies for a mere AUD$5.00 (and soon via Black House Comics' online store), with Gravesend, and at least two further installments, due out in subsequent months. Go and hassle your local newsagent to stock this publication immeditely, and enjoy the zombie apocalypse in tasty, bite-sized servings.