News: 2009 Bram Stoker Award winners

The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards at its annual Stoker Banquet held on the weekend as part of the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK.

This year’s winners are:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL
AUDREY’S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL
DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION
THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION
“In the Porches of My Ears” by Norman Prentiss (POSTSCRIPTS #18)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY
HE IS LEGEND edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)

Superior Achievement in a COLLECTION
A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O’Neill (Apex Book Company)

Superior Achievement in NONFICTION
WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)

Superior Achievement in POETRY
CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)


HWA also presented its annual Lifetime Achievement Awards and its Specialty Press Award. Brian Lumley was on hand to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, while fellow winner William F. Nolan offered a video acceptance. The Specialty Press Award went to Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker of Tartarus Press.

The Silver Hammer Award, for outstanding service to HWA, was voted by the organization’s board of trustees to Kathryn Ptacek. The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award was given to Vince A. Liaguno.


Source: HWA

News: Vincent Lyce's Final Curtain performances

Bare Elements Productions' horror-themed musical whodunit Vincent Lyce's Final Curtain returns for two performances in April.

The company’s first Melbourne offering, the sell-out show A Dinner to Die For, attracted packed audiences and great reviews at the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Simon J. Robinson, the director of both shows, said he set out with Vincent Lyce’s Final Curtain to create a night out in the same (bloody) vein, but with a different, devilish plot.

Offering original songs and with a new twist on a trusted formula, the ‘Final Curtain’ unfolds around guests who have gathered to celebrate forty years of Vincent Lyce’s career in the horror movie industry. The show builds to an original ‘mini musical’ and the traditional round-up, before revealing whodunit!

Venue: Queen's Loft, Southbank (Melbourne).

Dates: April 16 & 17.

Bookings: $65pp for dinner and show. Call Queens Loft on 9698 8011 or book online at http://vincentlyce.com (advance bookings essential).


Source: Bare Elements Productions

News: Carmilla Hyde wins SA Screen Award

Independent Aussie 'revenge thriller' Carmilla Hyde (dir. Dave de Vries) recently won the prestigious title of Best Feature at the 2010 South Australian Screen Awards.

The win continues Carmilla Hyde's success as an underground hit following on from the two awards the film received at last year's Melbourne Underground Film Festival (for Best Guerrilla Film and Best Supporting Actress for Georgii Speakman).

Carmilla Hyde is the 'Jekyll & Hyde' story of bookish virgin Millie who develops a sadistic alter-ego after being drugged, seduced, and ridiculed by her roommates and then sets out to exact revenge.

The film stars Anni Lindner, Sam Tripodi, and Georgii Speakman, and is directed by Dave de Vries, who has made the transition into filmmaking after a successful career as one of Australia's most renowned comic book artists and writers.


Source: Dark Mirror Productions.

News: Decay comic now available

New Aussie horror comic series Decay (from Dark Oz Publications) has been officially launched and is now on sale from the following comic book stores around the country:

Adelaide: Pulp Fiction Comics, Adelaide Comics Centre, The Comics Shop, and Kollectable Kaos.

Perth: The Comic Zone

Canberra: Impact Comics

Melbourne: Minotaur and Alternative Worlds.

Source: Dark Oz Publications.

News: Dead Bait 2 open to submissions

Melbourne-based Severed Press seeks short stories for its new anthology, Dead Bait 2. As with the original Dead Bait, stories must include themes revolving around fish/fishing and aquatic creatures (no mermaids). The editors will be looking for a good mix of horror, humor, and deviance. Stories can be set anywhere in the world and can be fresh or sea water, although exotic locations and unusual species of fish will be highly regarded.

NY Times bestselling author of the Meg series, Steve Alten, and author of The Crabs series, Guy N. Smith, have agreed to contribute to this anthology.

• Payment: $0.01 per word plus author copy.
• Word length: 2000-8000 words.
• Deadline: July 1st 2010 (replies will go out after this date).

Full guidelines are available here.

Source: Severed Press

News: SpecFicNZ logo contest

SpecFicNZ, a New Zealand-based group of speculative fiction writers and producers, is holding a logo-designing contest with a prize of $NZ140, an Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine subscription, and a copy of Daniel O'Mahony's book Newton's Sleep for the winning entry.

Full details of the contest are on founder Ripley Patton's website. The contest is open to anyone, and each entrant may submit up to five entries. The contest closes on April 15.




Source: Simon Petrie

The Great Australian Booklist

So you're after book that's published in the US or UK, but which is unavailable to purchase in Australia due to parallel importation restrictions? Maybe your local bookseller isn't stocking the desired range of exciting Aussie small press publications? Or perhaps that novel you've been looking for is long out of print? What can you, as an Australian reader, do to get your hands on the books you want to read?

Readers may now use the Great Australian Booklist to nominate 'wish lists' of overseas, local small press and out of print publications, which will then be made available to Australian publishers, distributors and booksellers, to be taken into consideration when purchasing copyright, choosing titles to republish, or stocking shelves.

With this register, book buyers and the Great Australian Public will benefit by having their say in our industry. Simply nominate all the books you wish you could get hold of, but that your local bookshop doesn't stock; or, if it's already up there, use your voting powers. Share your idea on Facebook or Twitter, and get others to vote for it.

Support the Australian Bookselling Industry: nominate here today!

Book Review: Under Stones

Bob Franklin, Random House Australia, 2010

Under Stones, Bob Franklin's debut collection, features twenty-four short tales that can all best be described as 'unsettling', most written in a style vaguely reminiscent of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected; slow-burn unease and stings a-plenty contrasted against (and often deliberately obscured by) a backdrop of everyday mundanity. Thanks to Franklin's masterful handling of prose and dialogue, and his ability to create and maintain atmosphere, these stories are guaranteed to play on your mind long after reading.

Under Stones is a must-read collection from a wonderfully entertaining and disturbing author. If, like myself, you've purchased and loved Paul Haines' Slice of Life and Deborah Biancotti's A Book of Endings collections over the past year, Bob Franklin's Under Stones will assuredly complete your 'set'.

News: Foz Meadows Signing

Foz Meadows - author of the YA vampire novel Solace & Grief - will be reading from, and signing copies of, her book at Dymocks Southland on Sunday 28th March, from 11.30am. Entry is free.

Dymocks Southland

3067/8 Westfield Shopping Centre

1239 Nepean Hwy

Cheltenham, Vic 3192

Tel: 03 9584 1245

We urge all local fans of paranormal fiction to come along on the day and support an exciting new Aussie author.

Review: Horns by Joe Hill

After success with short fiction (especially ‘20th Century Ghosts’) and graphic novels (‘Locke & Key’), acclaimed author Joe Hill returns to long fiction with ‘Horns’ (2010, Gollancz), his much-anticipated second novel. Whilst Hill reworked the traditional ghost story for his debut, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’, he grounds this story into a character-driven look at the darkness in humanity.

The story centres on Ignatius Martin Perrish, or Ig, who wakes with a terrible hangover. He can barely remember anything from the previous night, not least how he got the horns that seemed to have sprouted from his head. At first Ig thinks they aren’t real, and that he is in a dream, but the horns are tough and bleed and throb – definitely a part of him. Then he discovers what they can do, and it is here we tap into the horror in the story.

Ig came from a well-off family, his father a musician and his older brother, Terry, a talk show talent. Everything was going very well for him, until his childhood sweetheart, Merrin, was raped and murdered. Ig was the only suspect, last seen arguing with Merrin. He was never charged for the crime, but the town has been blaming him for it for a year. A lot of people hold various grudges and dark opinions about Ig, and he is about to hear them all.

You see, the horns make Ig the devil, a conduit which others talk to in a trance-like state, confessing their darkest secrets and deepest, dirtiest desires. Ig immediately finds this out as he steps out of his bathroom. His new ‘girlfriend’, Glenna, confesses she cheated on him with an old best-friend, Lee Tourneau. She then asks if she can scoff a box of doughnuts down, which she would normally never do, and Ig learns he has the power to allow people to crave to their darker desires. Ig leaves to go to the doctors, but only hears more disturbing stories there. It also becomes obvious people don’t remember their encounter with him – the sight of the horns takes them elsewhere. He visits several places on his way to the inevitable – his parents’ house. The truth he hears he is utterly heart-breaking. But it gets worse, when he talks to his visiting brother. Terry begins to confess to something that happened a year ago, something he was forced to keep secret. Something involving Lee Tourneau and Merrin. It seems Ig must use his powers for a little revenge, because (as the blurb wonderfully explains) ‘it’s time devil had his due’.

The premise to this story alone was enough to send a shudder of excitement through my reading bones. I love such stories, psychological horror that exposes the dark side of people, especially when it exploits those we are led to believe should always be upstanding role models (a priest, for example). Hill does a wonderful job of building up the powers of Ig’s horns. A first they are an extreme burden, and as each person confesses it just piles on the hatred the town really has for him (and the way many people in the town are playing each other). When revenge is firmly in his mind, Ig begins to use those powers to his advantage (especially the persuasion part). His confidence grows, with a little dark humour to boot. But many attempts also backfire. For instance, a bodyguard tries to simply ruff him up but can’t stop attacking him, because that’s secretly what he wants to do (although Ig never grants him the power to do this). And, of course, there is someone the devil cannot affect, because that someone is like the devil too.

The story begins as a rather fast paced arc from what-the-hell-is-happening-to-me, to the quest for revenge. However, there are several flashbacks that unfortunately break this up. The flashbacks are brilliantly written, the first showing when Ig, Lee, and Merrin all met as adolescents, another showing Lee through his eyes and not through what Ig thought he knew. They help to strengthen each character and I loved them (especially the adolescent phase, it was just so real). They also included key points to the plot. However, they really did interrupt the flow, almost as if Hill started out with one genre in mind and then changed his mind as he went along. Ig also has the power to touch someone and see glimpses of their dark past – really, he could have done this in fragments to get some of the past information, especially in regards to Lee’s flashback. Certain other elements were also bizarrely built up and then disregarded, which actually worked (to some extent). Ig begins to stay in a shelter, where he spent his childhood, near where Merrin was found dead. Hundreds of snakes come out of the wild and stay by him – animals of the devil, so to speak. Lee blatantly says he hates snakes, and I thought Ig would predictably use the snakes to scare him, but Lee just ignores them (they are actually petrified of him) and does something else. Bizarre, but unpredictable, nonetheless.

The interruption of the flow is perhaps the only criticism I really have with this novel, and that is clutching at straws. It is very well written and further places Hill as an essential figure in our dark genre. Stripping back humanity is one of the best forms of horror, because darkness lurks everywhere, and this novel is one of the better examples of that. Hill’s ability to write wonderful, deep characters has grown immensely. Get it now!

Review by Craig Bezant

Book Review: Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead

Ed. Christopher Golden, Hachette Australia, 2010

The hungry dead have risen. They shamble down the street. They hide in backyards, car parks, shopping centres. They devour our neighbours, dogs and policemen. And they are here to stay. The real question is: what are you going to do about it? How will you survive?

It's been a bumper couple of years for zombie anthologies (and for zombie fiction in general), and publications such as Golden's Zombie (evocatively titled The New Dead overseas) just keep raising the bar for excellence. The nineteen original tales published herein are all, without exception, brilliant, and I confidently predict that this anthology and its contents will be up for slew of awards over the coming year.

As always, there were personal favourites amongst the horde, including John Connolly's 'Lazarus', in which we hear the tragic other side of the titular Biblical tale; Jonathan Maberry's 'Family Business', a tale every bit as bleak and heartbreaking as Cormac McCarthy's The Road; Mike Carey's 'Second Wind', in which the undead protagonist discovers certain unexpected advantages and some slight annoyances that come with resurrection; James A. Moore's 'Kids and Their Toys', which serves to remind us that children, to, can be monsters; David Wellington's 'Weaponized', an uncomfortably credible examination of possible military applications for zombies; and Joe Hill's 'Twittering From the Circus of the Dead', in which the inane 'Twittering' of the teenaged protagonist gives this tale a terrifying immediacy as things slowly turn...nasty.

Zombie is a wholly engrossing, frightening and original read - and is happily available in Australia through Hachette. Shamble to your local bookstore for a copy now.

News: 2009 Australian Shadows Award finalists

The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) has selected thirteen of the best and scariest works of horror fiction from 2009 as the finalists in the annual Australian Shadows Award, the highest honour for horror, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction in Australia and New Zealand.

This is a landmark year for the award as it has expanded from a single category to three categories: Long Fiction (novels, novellas, and short story collections), Edited Publication (anthologies and magazines), and Short Fiction.

The Australian Shadows finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Long Fiction

• A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Red Queen by H. M. Brown (Penguin Australia)
• "Wives" by Paul Haines (X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing)
• The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette Australia)
• Slights by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot)

Edited Publication

• Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek & Amanda Pillar (Morrigan Books)
• Festive Fear, edited by Stephen Clark (Tasmaniac Publications)
• Aurealis #42, edited by Stuart Mayne (Chimaera Publications)

Short Fiction

• "Six Suicides" by Deborah Biancotti (A Book of Endings)
• "The Emancipated Dance" by Felicity Dowker (Midnight Echo #2)
• "Busking" by Jason Fischer (Midnight Echo #3)
• "The Message" by Andrew J. McKiernan (Midnight Echo #2)
• "The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfalls" by Kaaron Warren (Exotic Gothic 3)

The judges for this year's awards were Craig Bezant, Stephanie Gunn, and Chuck McKenzie. The winners will be determined by guest judges Bill Congreve (editor of the Year's Best Australian SF & Fantasy series), James Doig (editor of Australian Gothic), and Martin Livings (author of Carnies) will be announced on April 5.


Source: AHWA

Review: Savage Menace and Other Poems of Horror by Richard L Tierney

This volume of weird verse by an acknowledged master of the genre gathers 71 poems and abundantly surpasses in content the poet’s earlier acclaimed Collected Poems: Nightmares and Visions (Arkham House, 1981). Ably edited by Charles Lovecraft, the volume falls into three main sections, commencing with 'Things of Menace and Dread: a fear cycle,' followed by 'A Masque of Thalia: a humorous cycle' and 'The Doom of Hyboria: a poetry cycle.'

In the first section, Tierney gives us Lovecraftian rural vernacular in the deliciously macabre "Autumn Chill", a poem which treads a clever line between rhyme and free verse. Lovecraft’s imaginative influence recurs specifically in the four-octavoed "Kingsport", the sonnets "Yuletide in Kingsport", "Alhazred’s Legacy", and "The Silent Deep", as well as a twin sonnet sequence about "The Nameless City", demonstrating Tierney’s continued devotion to this great figure of weird literature. Tierney’s ability to straddle poetic forms of differing nature is clear in "Turn on the Heat", a version of Lovecraft’s story "Cool Air", in the modernist idiom of Joseph A. West.

The influence of Robert E. Howard is apparent in "Midsummer Nightmare", "Gol-Goroth", and "Tigers of the Sea", amongst others. Also worthy of Howard’s vigorous poetic style and subject matter is "The Stain of Victory":

Now raised we to the crimson skies
Our notched and crimsoned blades
And proudly howled our victory cries
O’er flaming palisades
While gods of War with flame-fierce eyes
Gave us their accolades.

Howardian bloodlust, too, haunts "A Song from Munich" and "A Song from Nuremberg", though this time transplanted to events of the twentieth century.

Tierney’s serious side is evident in the philosophical reflections of "The Sad and Spooky Time", whose memorable last lines (as the poet contemplates his frugal meal against the vast backdrop of boundless space) provide an impassioned plea:

What did its grim Originator gain
By fashioning such a swamp of suffering
As seethes upon the surface of this earth?

Tierney’s renowned misanthropy takes also potent form in "Apocalypse":

As in a Petri dish a living seed
Divides to fill and foul its finite room,
So on this globe shall human creatures breed
Until their very numbers spell their doom.
Then, from this festering swarm of planet-lice
The gods shall reap their greatest sacrifice.

Three poems inspired by the darkest aspects of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings form a powerful centrepiece to the first section. "Shelob" is grimly dark; "The Orc Hordes" has the rhythm of a marching army; and "Khazad-Dûm" atmospherically recapitulates the fate of this dwarvish citadel.

Tierney draws on Robert W. Chambers for another triad of poems. "The Curse of the King" displays his ability to write formalist sonnets with a powerfully dark impact. "Tatters of the King", in nineteen quatrains, evokes the world of Carcosa in a manner that Poe himself may have found difficult to surpass, while "The Passing of Cassilda" is another compelling portrayal of aspects of Chambers’ pseudo-mythology.

Lovecraftian and Chambersesque themes are combined in the sonnet "Dark Gnosis".
Tierney often displays a wittily mordant humour, as in his adaptations of popular songs such as "It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to the poem "In the Good New Summertime" or imbuing "Dig in with Ed Gein", a verse about the notorious serial killer of the title who inspired Robert Bloch’s Psycho, with the tune of "Begin the Beguine". Yet other poems such as "All-Hallowed Vengeance", "The Yuletide", "All Hallows’ Eve", and "
The House on the Cliff" rival the best serious work of any weird poet of the last one hundred years, including that of Joseph Payne Brennan.

Here we have (as in Collected Poems) Tierney’s further translations of Baudelaire in "Destruction" and "The Revenant". A number of the poems display Tierney’s interest in Orientalism and Islam (sometimes cleverly crossing with Lovecraft as in "The Cave of Baphomet"), whilst others deal with loci of the ancient world – Babylon, the Sphinx, Tyre. "Visions of Golconda" forms an epic in miniature which bears comparison with aspects of C. A. Smith’s "The Hashish-Eater" and George Sterling’s "A Wine of Wizardry", though perhaps those lofty summits can never be completely scaled by lesser poetic mortals. Tierney gives us two sonnets inspired by E. R. Eddison, but he also provides fragmentary 'translations' from a pseudo-mythological book called The Prophecies of Muthsa and which was 'unearthed' by long-time friend and Red Sonja collaborator, David C. Smith.

The humorous section takes more Lovecraft as a basis for poking fun. Other poems skewer some of Tierney’s favourite religious targets such as Christian fundamentalism ("Easter Ceil", "Flim-Flam Scam", "The Wonderful Pontiff of Rome"). These squibs alone are worth the price of admission.

In 'Part Three', we are back in deeply Howardian territory, with a sequence of twelve accomplished sonnets on barbarians, Pictish hordes, and Hyborian glories. "Vengeance Quest", a poem of Tierney’s Gnostic anti-hero Simon Magus, constitutes 'Part Four' and caps off the volume in fine style.

Mention must be made of the excellent moody illustrations and dust jacket by Australian author and artist Andrew J. McKiernan, which aptly complement and enhance various souls of the poems.

By turns dark, brooding, cynical, and sometimes delicate, the forceful verse of Richard L. Tierney collected here is an essential acquisition for enthusiasts of the fantastic, the weird, and the horrific.

RICHARD L. TIERNEY. Savage Menace and Other Poems of Horror. Arranged and edited by Charles Lovecraft. Preface by S. T. Joshi. Illustrations by Andrew J. McKiernan. Sydney: P’rea Press, 2010. 132 pp. $35.00 Aust. (By email: DannyL58@hotmail.com)


Guest review by Leigh Blackmore

Review: Breathers by S. G. Browne

During a recent trip to Singapore, in the southern hemisphere’s largest bookstore, I managed to discover amongst the packed shelves a little gem called ‘Breathers’ by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books, 2009). The blurb and cover art intrigued me – the use of a 60s Pop Art was hilarious, replacing an otherwise romantic image with zombie overtones. So I purchased said novel, also excited at the prospect of reading and reviewing a zombie story that my colleague and zombie aficionado, Chuck McKenzie, might not have read. Alas, I discovered Chuck is way ahead of me (May last year, actually), but still thought I’d put my five cents in.

‘Breathers’ is a great novel, fusing quite a few themes and writing styles in what is ultimately a dark zombie comedy. To my delight, the novel has also recently been shortlisted for a Bram Stoker Award – Superior Achievement in a First Novel, a recommendation in itself.

‘Breathers’ is a story told by Andy, a man who found himself walking along the road one day in a suit when he was meant to have been prepared for his own funeral. You see, Andy ‘survived’ a horrible car crash that left his wife permanently underground. There is no known reason why he was chosen to cheat death and live once more. But he has joined the undead underclass, society’s rejected rejects. He has lost his daughter because of this – the young girl was sent to relatives and doesn’t know of his existence, because a zombie father is not the social norm. He lives in his parents’ basement, locked away most times – abhorred by his father, receiving occasional sympathies from a mother who still won’t touch him. He drinks their expensive wine and watches boring daytime television, even though this barely reacts with his new body. He isn’t allowed to work. He must not stay out past eleven, as this is zombie curfew, and he will be sent to the ‘pound’ (or to zoos or laboratories), although to be out after any moment of darkness is a sure sign that some drunken frat boys and other deviants will try to hunt you down and claim your body parts as trophies.

Andy does not have the most wonderful second life. His wife, he feels, had a much better outcome from the crash.

To cope, Andy attends Undead Anonymous meetings, where he finally begins to fit in. To start with, Andy cannot talk (a result of the accident), communicating with a whiteboard and marker around his neck. He befriends Jerry and Rita, who almost make him feel alive again. After they are requested to bring more undead (or ‘survivors’) to their meetings, to extend the links of support, Andy and company meet Ray, an undead hunter living in a shed with two rather wild zombies. Ray offers them some preserved venison in a jar, which each person instantly takes to. Several more meetings and several jars later, Andy begins to notice something. His scars are healing; his voice is returning; and boy does he have an undead crush on Rita. Andy is beginning to see he can still have a life, even though he is considered dead.

The story is told in a way that is, in equal parts, humorous and brutal. Zombies are placed as the new minorities, and this allows the author to take a bleak look at how times were and are for many real minorities. Although at times Andy is a little selfish and focuses on bizarre things – hey, death makes you do crazy things – you really feel for his plight as he tries to get respect for the undead, right down to the dramatic, Chuck Palahniuk-esque conclusion. Such dark moments are complemented nicely with witty banter and descriptions, which means ‘Breathers’ will be finding a place on my bookshelf alongside Christopher Moore’s novels – simply because it is, like Moore’s, dark comedy done right; dark comedy that is intelligent without being pretentious.

I recommend you crack open a jar of venison and consume this novel. I eagerly await S.G. Browne’s next novel, due out later this year.

Review by Craig Bezant

Review: Mischief by Douglas Clegg

Douglas Clegg is another writer who (like Jack Ketchum) has managed to go under my radar over the past couple of years. Recently, however, his presence seems to be felt everywhere I look: social networking sites, web-presences that deal exclusively in the realm of dark fiction, and of course having his titles pop out with ever-increasing dexterity in bookshops and bargain bins displayed out the front. And (like Ketchum), seems to be one of those writers who is still sculpting a stellar reputation, releasing a novel every year with timely precision and garnering high words of praise from the giants in the industry.  

Apparently Mischief is the first of a trilogy of books in the Harrow Academy series, which also features a previous e-serial prequel Nightmare House, and the entire thing does read like something you must have insider knowledge of. I must admit my ignorance in regard to this was frustrating; there were too many mysteries that lacked revelation – too many character reactions that were perplexing. However, it must be said there are other fans of Clegg’s work who will know the Harrow legacy involved in Mischief … and it seems to be written with these readers in mind.

Jim Hook is on a scholarship at Harrow, a prestigious prep school located in the Hudson Valley of New York. Years before his older brother Stephen and father perished in a car accident, and the wounds are still raw. Not only was Stephen the epitome of a perfect brother everybody looked up to, he was also a catalyst for shaping Jim’s philosophy and might have secreted a small supernatural pledge into Jim’s life in the aftermath of his death. We follow Jim as he adapts to the all boys school and are introduced to the people around him: Lark, his beau from a nearby all Girls school; popular Trey Fricker, his best friend. Underlying everything is an almost invisible threat, never clearly articulated. It seems that when his brother Stephen died, Jim unwittingly became the channel that would enable something malign to enter the world, and when Jim gets caught for cheating he is inadvertently thrust into the realm of the Cadaver Society, a secret fraternity who has been pulling the strings at Harrow for a long time. Facing the threat of expulsion and upcoming initiation rights, he becomes haunted by ghosts of the living and dead.

A favorable thing for me was the prose; Cleggs style is simplistic and easily accessible with shades of Laymon. But there are many puzzling aspects here that seem like signposts with no clear direction: plot-strands involving Harrow’s principal that is curtailed before it even begins – the mystery of his father and brothers death with allusions that the official story involved a conspiracy. As a reader, I felt as if I had been handed a pile of jigsaw pieces, none of which seemed to belong to the same portrait. Clegg puts a lot of effort into making the climax creepy – but for me the aim was much too lofty, and ultimately confusion ensues in the aftermath of it all. That’s not to say other readers won’t find things to like, and I can see it appealing to those who like their horror with a smattering of the juvenile.

As a novice to Clegg’s work, I just think I have stumbled upon the wrong book to get the juggernaut rolling. But he has piqued my curiosity, and I have the novels You Come When I Call You and The Halloween Man with reviews to follow.  

Review: Matthew Tait

News: Midnight Echo #5 open to submissions

Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association, is open to submissions for its fifth issue. The submission period runs from March 1 to July 31.

Issue #5 is edited by Leigh Blackmore. Here is what Leigh is after:

"I would like Issue #5 to carry a mix of contemporary stories which stretch the boundaries of the genre in theme or style, and also stories which favour a more old-fashioned approach a la the Weird Tales/Lovecraftian genre. (The latter does not mean I am looking for Cthulhu Mythos stories because I won't be). I am open to ghost stories as well as stories of grue and physical horror. Authors of visceral horror ought to ensure that their writing carries its share of stylistic elegance as well, as I'm not in favour of splatter of the sake of it, and I'm liable to be not very receptive to yet another zombie story. I'd prefer to see tales of psychological horror and tales that are asking big questions about the universe we live in, as does a writer like Thomas Ligotti.

"I would like to see a strong representation of Australian writers in the issue as there is so much talent here, and though we will be publishing work by writers outside Australia, I will hope to receive stories from Australians that are gripping enough and challenging enought to "make the cut" for Midnight Echo Issue 5. Poets and artists are also encouraged to contribute."

Full submission guidelines can be found on the Midnight Echo website.

Source: AHWA

News: Midnight Echo #4 contents

Lee Battersby, current guest editor of Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association, has released the contents for issue #4.

Contributors are:

Short stories

• Cromwell's Beast by Steven J. Stegbar
• Carnal Knowledge by Don Norum
• The Moon & The Mesa by Dan Braum
• Sleeping Dogs by Geoffrey Maloney & Andrew Baker
• The Hand of God by Jason Crowe
• Where We Go To Be Made Lighter by Chris Green
• Tiny Drops by LL Hannett
• Little Boy Lost by Patty Jansen
• In The Walls by Philip Roberts
• Visiting by Richard Barber
• The Movie by Graham Fielding
• Poison Or The Knife by BL Hobson

Poetry

• Rabbit by Holly Day
• Mirror by Jenny Blackford
• The Fat Aftermath by Jude Aqulinia

Midnight Echo #4 will be available in April.

Source: AHWA