Editorial: HorrorScope's 2010 Recommended Reading List

Every year, HorrorScope's team of reviewers (and a select group of friends in the industry) compile a Recommended Reading List of work published that year. In previous years, we've cast a wide net, but for the 2010 list, we focussed exclusively on Australian work. Our focus is more honed this year, too, with only horror and dark fantasy works in our sights.

Works are listed in alphabetical order (by author, where applicable). Works in bold are Highly Recommended (i.e. three or more contributors recommended this work).

We encourage you to seek out these works and enjoy them as much as we have! Enjoy!

Novels:

• Pilgrims by Will Elliott (HarperVoyager)
• Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson (Orbit Australia)
• Managing Death by Trent Jamieson (Orbit Australia)
• Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott (Picador)

Collections:

• Souls Along the Meridian by Bill Congreve (Blade Red Press)
• Under Stones by Bob Franklin (Affirm Press)
• The Girl with No Hands by Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications)
• Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren (Ticonderoga Publications)

Anthologies:

• Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears, edited by Angela Challis & Dr Marty Young (Brimstone Press)
• Festive Fear 2: Global Edition, edited by Stephen Clark (Tasmaniac Publications)
• Cthulhu's Dark Cults, edited by David Conyers (Chaosium)
• Scary Kisses, edited by Liz Grzyb (Ticonderoga Publications)
• Scenes from the Second Storey, edited by Amanda Pillar & Pete Kempshall (Morrigan Books)

Novellas/Novelettes:

• Requiem for the Burning God by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Cthulhu's Dark Cults)
• Snakejaw by Andrew Gallacher (LegumeMan Books)
• The Fear by Richard Harland (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
• All the Clowns in Clowntown by Andrew J. McKiernan (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
• Erina Hearn and the Gods of Death by Kyla Ward (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
• Sweet As Decay by David Witteveen & David Conyers (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)

Short stories:

• Insurrection Snowy Mountain Style by G. N. Braun (LegumeMan Books)
• Santa Akbar by G. N. Braun (Festive Fear 2)
• Schubert by Candlelight by Matthew Chrulew (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
• Dream Machine by David Conyers (Scenes from the Second Storey)
• Bread and Circuses by Felicity Dowker (Scary Kisses)
• From Little Things... by Felicity Dowker (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #43)
• The School Bus by Jason Fischer (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #46)
• Sebastian by Jason Fischer (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #44)
• Her Gallant Needs by Paul Haines (Sprawl)
• Feast or Famine by Gary Kemble (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
• Lollo by Martin Livings (Close Encounters of the Urban Kind)
• Border Crossing by Penelope Love (Belong)
• The Whisper of Ancient Secrets by Penelope Love (Cthulhu's Dark Cults)
• The Desert Song by Andrew J. McKiernan (Scenes from the Second Storey)
• Bequest by Greg Mellor (Flesh and Bone: Rise of the Necromancers)
• Sister, Sister by Angela Slatter (Strange Tales 3)
• The Whims of My Enemy by Amanda J. Spedding (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #48)

Comics:

• The Dark Detective (Black House Comics)
• Dave: Zombie Hunter #1
• Decay #5 (Dark Oz Productions)
• Eeek! (Black House Comics)
• Kagemono: Flowers And Skulls (Black Glass Press)

Films:

• The Loved Ones, directed by Sean Byrne

Contributors to the HorrorScope 2010 Recommended Reading List include the HorrorScope team (several members of which are currently serving as Australian Shadows and Aurealis Awards judges), Liz Grzyb (co-editor of the forthcoming Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror from Ticonderoga Publications), Jeff Ritchie (ScaryMinds reviewer and Australian Shadows Awards judge), and Geoff Brown (AHWA Vice President).


On behalf of the HorrorScope team, have a Happy New Year!
- Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Managing Editor

Review: Dog Blood by David Moody

About a quarter of the world population has succumbed to 'The Hate'. Haters are driven people, compelled to brutal acts of violence with the sole aim of killing as many of the Unchanged as possible. The Unchanged retreat into vast refugee camps in the city centres and rely on the military to hunt down and kill the Haters. Unfortunately for the terrified majority, basic infrastructure and food supplies are breaking down. To add to their woes, elements within the Haters are organising in a bid to crush Unchanged resistance.

Danny McCoyne is a Hater and, like his colleagues, dedicated to killing and maiming. He does have another agenda, however, and that is to find his daughter, who has changed as well. As he gets closer to her, he is captured by a group whose motives are not quite what they seem at first. Meanwhile, Mark Tillotsen is holed up with his pregnant girlfriend and her parents in a cramped hotel room. They are harbouring a secret tenant whose presence could result in disaster.

Dog Blood is the second book in a proposed trilogy that started with Hater. The focus has shifted in this book because the main character has changed. Now that Danny is a Hater, there's a subtle loss of sympathy for him at first. After all, this is a guy who, if he met one of us, wouldn't hesitate to kill. But he is humanised by his quest to find his daughter. Mark, who is much easier to identify with, features less often but plays a crucial role in the unfolding narrative. As in the previous book, Moody does an excellent job describing a crumbling and uncaring world. There are interesting new touches. The Brutes are basically extreme versions of Haters. There's also a political leader who is trying to unify the Haters to make a last stand against civilisation. The genius in this book is in how the author almost gets us to identify with the enemy rather than our own kind. It's that conflict that compels you to keep reading even when half of you hopes that the 'hero' will fail.

The ending is gut wrenching as well as inconclusive. The third part in the trilogy, aptly titled Them or Us, is due out next year. Moody has created a post apocalyptic scenario with a lot of potential. It's hard to see him stopping at a third book. In any case, I keenly await the next installment.

Dog Blood is published by Gollancz.

Review: Autopsy (2008)

Here are ten things I learnt from watching this movie:

(1) If you're young and attractive, fond of drinking and doing drugs, and enjoy visiting exotic locales like New Orleans to unwind, your outlook is grim.

(2) If your car crashes in the backwoods of Louisiana, never get into the back of an ambulance being driven by a man who looks like a cross between Anton LeVay and the Illustrated Man.

(3) It's not a great idea to accept medical advice from a doctor named after a character in the Naked Lunch.

(4) A film named Autopsy may not actually feature said medical procedure. It is more likely to show cutting-edge organ transplant experiments (with the emphasis on cutting and not so much on adequate anaesthesia.)

(5) Some doctors are not really that interested in the Hippocratic Oath.

(6) If you want to keep your wife alive, suspending some poor schlub's organs like Christmas lights outside his abdominal cavity and somehow pumping his life fluid into your spouse's veins is quite effective.

(7) The running time of a movie can be easily extended by repeated shots of people running up and down hospital corridors.

(8) Robert Patrick plays the scariest looking doctor ever to pick up a stethoscope. Like the Terminator in a white coat, oddly enough.

(9) This plays better if regarded as a pitch black comedy. Perhaps it's a condemnation of the appalling state of health care in the U.S. or a searing indictment of the American government's response post Hurricane Katrina. Or maybe it's just a little bit silly.

(10) Old school gore is still alive and well.

Autopsy is released by Icon Film Distribution.

Review: Stephen King – Full Dark, No Stars

King returns to better form with his latest book Full Dark, No Stars – a collection of four novellas that explore the darkness of humanity through a series of realistic, but horrific situations. Leaving behind the supernatural realm of his earlier short fiction works, King’s latest stories focus on what drives ordinary people to murder, rape and pillage. In his afterward King describes trying to ``record what people might do, and how they might behave, under certain dire circumstances’’. These stories do just that.

In 1922, the first and longest of the quartet, King explores the consequences of a farmer’s decision to kill his wife to stop her from selling nearby farmland to a corporation. Set during the early 1920s, the murder itself takes place in the early pages. The remainder of the story, some 100 pages, looks at the effects of that decision on the farmer and the people around him.

The story begins with such promise but is – dare I say – let down when King tries to inject a supernatural element to what is in essence a character piece. The farmer is haunted by the appearance of rats which feed on his wife’s body, but it is when these rats take on the role of supernatural jurors that the story loses its way. The sub-plot of his son’s demise into a cross-county criminal feels contrived and the story could have done with a trim of 30-40 pages.

Likewise, Big Driver also outstays its welcome after a gripping first half in which a mystery author is raped and left for dead by a man on a back highway. Similar in tone to the exploitation rape revenge films of the 1970s, it features some of King’s darkest and most disturbing writing, but is let down as the author's course of revenge turns into a twist-ridden trail of mistaken identity.

Fair Extension is the closer to the classic supernatural King short fiction of the late 1970s and benefits from a more restrained story length. A take on the traditional genre tale, a cancer ridden man is granted a 15-year extension on his life at the expense of the family of his best friend. The story’s darkness comes not from the tragedy of what is unfolding, but the man’s lack of concern at the cost of his new life.

A Good Marriage explores the decision a woman must make after discovering that her husband of 27 years is a serial rapist and killer. The standout story of the book, its power comes from the realism of the situation and the weight of the decision the woman must make.

Full Dark, No Stars represents a mature King and is a good read, but with some trimming could have been a great one. It represents his best - his superb characterisation and gripping prose - and worst - his tendancy to be self-indulgent and overwrite - in one package. It's also - in entertainment value at least - a far cry from the horror stories of Graveyard Shift. But after the somewhat wayward output of late - I'm yet to be able to finish Duma Key - it’s a worthy addition to the ever expanding King library.

Review: Triangle (2009)

Jess, a harried young mother of an autistic boy, goes sailing on a friend's yacht. It's a beautiful day, her companions are young and good looking. What the hell could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, a freak electrical storm results in the boat capsizing and one of the passengers drowning. The rest are saved by the timely arrival of a large cruise ship. Oddly,the ship seems to be deserted, and Jess starts to suffer from a serious case of deja vu. Why does she recognise the ship's interior? Why has someone written mysterious messages in blood on the mirror? And who is trying to kill them? That's the rather unpromising premise on which Triangle is built. But if you think you know where this particular voyage is headed, think again. Thankfully, it's not Ghost Ship.

This is a little gem of a film. Like Christopher Nolan's films Inception and Memento, Triangle plays with narrative and time to menacing effect. It's difficult to discuss the story too much without giving the game away. Even if you do work out what's going on, it has a disturbing momentum that keeps you riveted. Melissa George does a sound job as the distressed mother, although in general the actors really don't have much to do apart from showing various increments of fear or surprise. The storyline is the thing here. I suspect if you stop and think about it for too long, some of the narrative threads might come apart, but while you're watching it, it's a gruelling, mind-bending trip.

There are several memorable scenes. In particular, one of the characters is forced to crawl across a pile of corpses in order to die. Which of itself doesn't sound that amazing, but trust me, it's spooky. The ending will have some scratching their heads while others will be moved. Or possibly both at the same time. It's a film that would reward repeat viewing. This marks director and writer Christopher Smith out as someone to watch in the genre.


The DVD release features an auditory commentary with the director, the making of Triangle, deleted scenes, storyboard and The Storm featurette. It's released by Icon Film Distribution.

News: NecroScope Fiction - Goodnights to Heaven

To celebrate the Yuletide season with an appropriate dose of festive fear, the team at NecroScope are proud to present an original piece of zombie fiction by Australian author Jason Fischer. Just follow the link below to enjoy the Christmas-themed tale, 'Goodnights to Heaven'.

http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/fiction-goodnights-to-heaven.html

Review: The Last Deep Breath by Tom Piccirilli

Another prolific writer whose talents have managed to slip under the radar, Tom Piccirilli is a four time Bram Stoker winner with over twenty novels to his credit and a slew of shorter tales that range the gamut of mystery, thriller, horror, erotica and science fiction. A heavy-hitter in the horror clique, his name has clout – so I was excited to finally delve into his take on the novella form with Tasmaniac Publications The Last Deep Breath.

Even from the illustration and from Tom’s reputation I pieced together this is a kind film-noir frolic and that’s exactly what is on offer. The story follows Grey, a washed out drifter with no clear idea or centralized compass on where he wants to be - he only knows that he must find his foster sister before the excesses of the world kill her. After both of them escaped the tortuous embrace of abusive foster parents, their crimes have seen them go in different directions … and his sister only desires reconciliation when death is just around the corner. After another vanishing act he follows her again – this time into the bustling heart of Hollywood. Soon he is seduced into a dirty world of scummy agents, fading movie stars and half-baked leads.

The first thing that jumped out at me is the prose: Tom’s style is immediately accessible and I’ve always been partial to writers who are not afraid to lay on heavy doses of metaphor. It was a little gyrating at the beginning to be sucked into a hard-boiled world set in the present day (let’s face it, most of us are conditioned to see this world through black and white sepia mirroring the styles of a bygone era). But this knee-jerk reaction is probably caused by not having read far and wide enough in the genre. Having never tackled a tome by Elmore Leonard, unfortunately this reviewer’s familiarity with the genus extended no further than films like Get Shorty with the locale setting of Mulholland Drive

Like other Tasmaniac titles, this one is short and slips by with the speed of our protagonist Grey experiencing a chemical high. There are cool vintage cars, porn stars and pimps; there are movie stars and murders. And underlying all of it is the mystique and allure of what it is to come to Hollywood for the first time. Also, it wouldn’t be a Tasmaniac edition if it didn’t have a lengthy and very entertaining foreword - this time by Patrick Lussier.

To top it off there is a bonus short Between the Dark and Daylight, a completely original and funny romp whose idea might have been spawned by the real life ‘balloon boy’ saga that dominated headlines some time back. Although comical, it’s still skewed with the penchant for violence.

As with my previous review for Within his Reach, it seems Tasmaniac have already sold out of this limited edition. But don’t let that deter you. Head on over to their web presence and grab another of their glossy little novellas before they too suffer the same fate.  

Reviewed by Matthew Tait

Review: Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 42

Edwina Harvey edits issue 42 of this august mag with an appropriate tip of the hat to the mighty Douglas Adams. There's a fine selection of stories on offer here with the pick of the bunch being Caroline M Yoachim's tartly amusing piece, Pageant Girls. It's a black comedy take on the lengths that some parents will go to in order to have their daughters shine in beauty pageants. There's a sour twist at the end which was both unexpected and very satisfying.

Dream (TM) by Simon Petrie is short and funny and probably the closest in style to Adams, giving us an insight into the dangers of corporate technology interfering with our dreams. Robert Shearman presents the Devil as romantic novelist in Love Among the Lobelias. It's a daft idea but against the odds it works. Over the Rim reveals the dangers of letting your dog off the leash in a diverting story of parallel worlds by Ripley Patton and Felicity Dowker reveals the hitherto unknown (to me at least) connection between cosmology and tattooing in Celebrity Skin.


Dave Luckett tackles military madness in the solid but unspectacular Soldiers. Pinked Djinn by Dave Freer has a great set up but is let down by a fairly predictable ending. Alex Dearney channels his inner Terry Pratchett with The Good, the Bad and the Donkey. Meanwhile, Laura Goodin posits the possibility of zombie horde as religious cult to pleasing effect in The Name Thieves. Zombie fans might be interested in J W Schnarr's Parasitic Worms of the Living Dead. It's unusual in being a non-fiction piece on the possible role of toxoplasmosis in creating our favourite posthumous shufflers. While quite fascinating, it does seem a little out of place here.



Many of the stories in this issue are fairly short so as you can see there's a lot of variety here. You'd be hard pressed not to respond positively to something on offer in this issue. You can subscribe to print or PDF editions and buy back issues at the ASIM website.

News: Australian Shadows and Aurealis Awards closing very soon

Australia's two awards for horror fiction, the AHWA's Australian Shadows Awards and the Aurealis Awards close at the end of the month.

Aurealis Awards:
To ensure that entered works are received by the Aurealis Awards judges before the judging deadline, the online entry form for the Aurealis Awards will close at midnight this Thursday 23 December 2010.

Entrants who are mailing a paper-based entry form must ensure that their form reaches the Aurealis Awards at PO Box 23, Forestville NSW 2087 no later than close of business Thursday 23 December 2010.

Copies of works mailed to judges must be received by the judging panels at the addresses supplied to entrants no later than Friday 31 December 2010 in order to be eligible for judging. There will be no exceptions.

Entry information can be found on the Aurealis Awards website.

Australian Shadows Awards:
Works must be received by the Australian Shadows judges by Friday 31 December 2010. To enter a work into one of the three categories (short fiction, long fiction, and edited publication), contact Awards Director Shane Jiraiya Cummings.

Entry information can be found on the Australian Shadows Awards website.

Review: Dave: Zombie Hunter #1

Written by Stewart Cook. Illustrated by Timothy Ide.

Visit NecroScope to read this review:
http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-dave-zombie-hunter-1.html

This review is part of the 2010 Australian Horror Comics review series by Shane Jiraiya Cummings. To read other reviews in this series, search for the Label 'Oz Horror Comics'.

Review: The Last Exorcism

Guest review by Erol Engin

Want to see the remains of a pulverised cat? Or a sixteen-year-old girl break a couple of her own fingers? No? How about yet another horror movie that pretends to be 'found footage' (a la Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project)? You’ll get all this and more with The Last Exorcism, which could go down as one of horror’s great missed opportunities.

I say missed because this low-budget frightfest, directed by Daniel Stamm and produced by Eli Roth, features one of the most engaging first thirty minutes for a horror film – and perhaps any film regardless of genre. The fascinating subject is the Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a Bible belt preacher who scams people by performing exorcisms for supposed victims of demonic possession. It’s great fun to watch the supercilious Marcus trick his congregation into praising not Jesus but banana bread. In fact, it’s so much fun to be a fly-on-the-wall in Marcus’ scam artist world, played with such charismatic relish by Fabian, that the rest of the movie, and all of its possession hoo-ha, pale by comparison.

The film smoothly changes gears from laughs to frights when Marcus answers what he thinks is a routine letter requesting an exorcism. He soon finds himself in over his head at a remote farm in Louisiana when he meets sixteen year old Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell). For much of the film, we are uncertain whether Nell is genuinely possessed or psychologically traumatised by her boozing, God-fearing, yokel father (played with gravity by Louis Berthum). As such, she forms an interesting counterpart to Marcus, who is presented in similarly ambiguous fashion (preacher? scammer? dutiful father?). Though admirably realised by Bell (who did all her own stunts), Nell’s demonic weirdness (unnatural body and face contortions, etc) are nothing that we haven’t seen before, and are a great deal tamer, than those in 1973’s The Exorcist. That said, for a PG-rated possession flick – and thanks to the effective use of the hand-held camera (showing us just enough to creep us out) – there are some truly tense moments and hair-raising scenes. Just not enough.

The movie’s greatest sin, however, is that it loses sight of Marcus’s engaging struggles with his faith and his very real need to provide for his family. These rather adult concerns get lost in the mumbo-jumbo of its rushed and unconvincing ending. All I can say is, if you’ve seen Rosemary’s Baby …

Will The Last Exorcism be the last film about exorcisms? Since it was produced for about two million bucks and has thus far grossed over forty million, I’d say not. But hopefully the next one can have the confidence to treat its audience and its main premise (if you believe in God, you have to believe in the devil) with respect and intelligence for the whole film – not just the first thirty minutes.

Review: Hush (2009)

Driving along an English motorway one rainy night with his girlfriend, Zakes Abbot momentarily spots a half naked girl trapped in the back of a semi-trailer. Before he knows what's going on, the door closes and he's left to contemplate what to do next. Complicating matters is the strained relationship with his partner, who may or may not be cheating on him. They stop at a motorway service station and matters escalate when she is abducted by the mysterious truck driver. The odds are really stacked against our hero as he must track down his girl alone, while being framed for murder.

William Ash as Zakes does a good job eliciting our sympathy. Mark Tonderai ably directs the suspense, particularly in two very tense set pieces - one in an old couple's house and the finale where Zakes penetrates the villain's lair. Tangentially it addresses the serious issue of people trafficking but is content to be chiefly an atmospheric thriller. In that regard it works well. The bleak interiors of the motorway service station are almost as depressing as the fortified camp where the film climaxes. Interestingly we never see the face of Zakes's nemesis, reminiscent of the driver in Spielberg's Duel. His features constantly concealed by a hood, he becomes a standard boogeyman and this approach almost gives him a supernatural quality.

A couple of scenes strain credibility somewhat. Was it really necessary to nail one of the character's hands to the floor in order to restrain him? Surely a bit of rope or some masking tape would have sufficed. Generally though, this is another effective b-movie. At a time when Hollywood horror films are largely remakes, reboots or reimaginings, we should be grateful for this minor English classic.

Hush is released in Australia by Madman.

News: Ticonderoga Publications announces Darkest Hours anthology series

Ticonderoga Publications has announced a new annual horror/dark fantasy anthology series by the award-winning editor Angela Challis. The series, entitled Darkest Hours, will be open to submissions from writers around the globe, with the expectation that each volume will collect approximately 100,000 words of original fiction.

"We’re thrilled to have Angela Challis editing an anthology for us," Ticonderoga Editor Russell B. Farr said. "She has a fantastic enthusiasm for darker stories, and there is nothing that really scares her," Farr added.

Angela Challis is Australia's leading horror fiction anthologist, having edited several ground-breaking anthologies including Macabre: A Journey through Australia’s Darkest Fears (2010), and the critically-acclaimed Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror 'year's best' series. Many of her edited publications have been nominated for Australia's genre fiction awards. In 2009, she was awarded the Ditmar (Australian SF Award) for her achievements in establishing Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine. Angela was a founder of Brimstone Press and the Australian Horror Writers Association.

Darkest Hours Volume 01:00 is scheduled for publication in late October 2011. The anthology is expected to be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions. More information and submission guidelines will be available on the Ticonderoga Publications website in coming months

Source: Ticonderoga Publications

Competition: Pitch a Zombie TV Show!

Would you like to win a Christmas prize-pack of zombie-related goodies? Would you like to see more zombies on TV? Great! Because now you can achieve the former by pitching the latter,

Huh?

Just visit our zombie review subsite - NecroScope - for more details. But hurry, because this competition closes Christmas Eve!

http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-competition-pitch-zombie-tv.html

News: Dark Prints Press anthologies opening soon

New Australian horror/crime publisher Dark Prints Press has announced guidelines for two new anthologies - the post-apocalyptic horror anthology Surviving the End and the crime anthology The One That Got Away. Both are edited by Craig Bezant.

Both anthologies will have a submissions period of 1 January 2011 to 30 April 2011.

Surviving the End:
Imagine the world has ended, that all but a small portion of Earth's population has been wiped out. You have never had time to find out why. Your energy is spent on surviving – skewed weather patterns, crumbling buildings, starving creatures, and humans mercilessly hunting their own kind. You left the confines of your home long ago, alone, searching for remaining shreds of humanity. Then, one day, you finally stumble upon a small group of survivors who wish you no harm. They have something to share with you. Something to help you survive. Stories, modern fables, of how to avoid the nightmares you hadn't even considered. These stories and more, from across the world, are collected within these pages, told by survivors just like you, to help with ‘Surviving the End'.

Full guidelines here.


The One That Got Away:
Too often our crime-solving heroes do just that – solve crimes. But what about the ones who get away – the grifters who con and don't get caught, the criminals who play cat-and-mouse games with the law only to disappear into the unknown? What goes through their minds, or the minds of their victims and pursuers? What legends do they leave behind, both inspirational and terrifying?

Full guidelines here.


Source: Dark Prints Press

News: Ticonderoga Publications forthcoming titles

Independent Western Australian publisher Ticonderoga Publications is in the midst of an impressive expansion and has announced several new upcoming titles, including an open call for a new anthology.

New Market:

Damnation and Dames edited by Amanda Pillar and Liz Grzyb

The editors are looking for stories which show the paranormal and noir crime worlds colliding. For example, werewolf femme fatales, vampire hardboiled detectives, alcoholic psychic journalists, zombie bankrobbers, ghostly gendarmes, demonic insurance salesmen, down-on-their-luck djinns, double-crossing mummies, or even fae with a love for red herrings.

The anthology will be published by Ticonderoga Publications in 2012. Fulll guidelines here.

---

New forthcoming titles announced by the publisher are:

• Midnight and Moonshine, a collection of collaborations by  Lisa L. Hannett (whose collection Bluegrass Symphony will be published by Ticonderoga next year) and Angela Slatter (whose collection The Girl with No Hands was published by Ticonderoga this year). The collection is scheduled for November 2012.
• Heliotrope, the first collection from bestselling UK novelist Justina Robson (best known for her Quantum Gravity series), to be published in 2011.
• The 400-Million-Year Itch and Invisible Kingdoms by Steven Utley, the two volumes of which collect his acclaimed Silurian Tales. These collections are scheduled for publication in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Other titles already scheduled for release in the next two years include the anthologies The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror edited by Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene and More Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb and collections by Sara Douglas, Lucy Sussex, Felicity Dowker, and Lezli Robyn.

Source: Ticonderoga Publications

News: Aurealis Awards update

Entries for this year's Aurealis Awards, Australia's premier awards for speculative fiction, close at the end of the month. Entry is simple (via the Aurealis Awards website), but works must be received by the judges by midnight EST Friday 31 December 2010.

Nominations for the Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award for Excellence also close on 31 December 2010. This award is for achievement in speculative fiction or related areas. It may take into account a body of work over a number of years; it can also be for a work of non-fiction, artwork, electronic or multimedia work, film or TV that brings credit or attention to the speculative fiction genres.

The recent Aurealis Awards fundraising Ebay auction raised $867 (net), which will go towards hosting the Aurealis Awards ceremony in Sydney. To ensure the ceremony is a success, the awards' new administrator, SpecFaction NSW, has signed publisher HarperVoyager as exclusive major sponsor.

Stephanie Smith, Associate Publisher of HarperVoyager, said of the deal, "HarperVoyager is delighted to be the sponsor of the Aurealis Awards in 2011. The awards have been instrumental in the development of the speculative fiction genre in Australia and are a source of pride for the genre community."

Finalists will be announced in late March 2011 and winners announced at a special presentation evening in Sydney on 21 May 2011.


Source: SpecFaction NSW

Review: Altered (2006)

It's a cliche of course. Aliens always seem to abduct white trailer trash from obscure backwoods U.S. towns. Altered takes this template and runs with it. Three men hunt down and capture an alien life form which they take to Wyatt's (Adam Kaufman) house. Here it is chained to a table while the four contemplate revenge. Years earlier they had been kidnapped by aliens and one of their friends killed in the process. While the erstwhile chums bicker over the creature's fate, it's not too big a stretch to predict that the monster escapes. And so the fun begins with Wyatt's girlfriend dragged into the mess. Do they kill the creature before it kills them, and in so doing attract the unwelcome attention of its colleagues who are capable of destroying the human race? Or do they try to take it prisoner and risk the telepathic control that it manages to exert over its captors?

This is a B movie in the best possible sense. It has that energy and manic conviction that a lack of budget can often engender as compensation for the lack of funds. The cast give it all they've got. Adam Kaufman plays Wyatt with bug-eyed intensity, while Mike C. Williams keeps the doomed Otis on a constant knife edge of hysteria. Special kudos to Paul McCarthy-Boyington whose turn as Cody is initially annoying but becomes almost touching as his character fights for his life. Director Eduardo Sanchez doesn't match the heights he reached with Blair Witch Project but then Orson Welles didn't have much of a time of it after Citizen Kane either. What are you going to do?

The special effects are pretty good. Although the monster resembles a bit of mash up of Xtro, Giger's Alien and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, it fits right into the ambiance of this film. There are plenty of icky highlights for the gore aficionado including a tug of war involving intestines and some claw-like transmitters that sit in the hosts' guts.

One sticking point, however, is the case which advertises itself as a special edition. Apart from a couple of deleted scenes which really add little to the viewing experience, there's nothing.

This Saturday night, park the ute, get a six-pack of Bud and get yourself Altered...

Altered is released in Australia by Icon Home Entertainment.

Review: Zombies vs Unicorns

Ed. Justine Larbalestier & Holly Black, 2010, Allen & Unwin

Visit NecroScope to read this review.

http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-zombies-vs-unicorns.html

News: Macabre flash fiction freebie for Christmas

Brimstone Press is offering a macabre bonus this Christmas. Anyone who purchases a copy of the landmark horror anthology Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears directly from Brimstone Press will receive a free copy* of a flash fiction book (a choice of either Shards by Shane Jiraiya Cummings or Book of Shadows edited by Angela Challis). This 'flash fiction freebie' is a special offer only available until December 21.

Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears is priced at $33+P&H. Stock is limited.

Further information about Macabre and the flash fiction titles is available from the Brimstone Press website. Read Chuck McKenzie's HorrorScope review of Macabre here.


*Conditions:

• Offer ends December 21.
• Only valid for purchases directly from the Brimstone Press website.
• Australian-based customers only.
• Purchasers will be emailed and asked their choice of free flash fiction book before their copy of Macabre is posted.

Review: Wanted: Undead or Alive

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Jonathan Maberry & Janice Gable Bashman, 2010, Citadel Press

These days, the minions of evil are everywhere - in books, on TV and film - and it's never been more important to know what you can do to keep them at bay...

Wanted: Undead or Alive is the latest in a series of non-fiction publications (thus far including Zombie CSU, They Bite!, The Cryptopedia, and Vampire Universe) in which Maberry and various co-authors and contributors take an in-depth look at various specific trappings of horror and the occult. In the case of W:UoA, the focus is chiefly on those who hunt the monsters - exorcists, vampire hunters, and the like - with examinations of such related topics as the nature of evil itself, monsters in folklore and fiction from around the world, traditional methods of dispatching supernatural beasties, and legendary creature-killers (both classic and modern).

Wanted: Undead or Alive is an enjoyable read, packed with loads of interesting information, and written in the manner of a 'popular science' book - that is, fun and easy to digest, without being too simplistic. If you've appreciated Maberry's previous books in the series, you'll certainly appreciate this one as well.

Review: Quake by Richard Laymon

Richard Laymon was an author whose prolific sensibilities and writing work ethic guaranteed himself a legacy that keeps on giving: even if you’ve managed to slough through the majority of his tomes, chances are there is still a couple more lurking in the wings somewhere, just waiting to be tapped. It was many novels ago during my reading life that I picked up a battered paperback copy of The Stake, and over the years I’ve kept coming back, sampling each novel in turn like a much beloved dish, never rushing the process and spacing them out so I can go on living with the sure knowledge there will always be another on horizon. In 2001, the world of horror literature lost a unique and glowing talent that comes along all too seldom.  

With a title like Quake and the accompanying illustration, Laymon enthusiasts will no trouble envisioning what’s on offer here: a gargantuan earthquake has devastated most of down-town Los Angeles. If this isn’t the big one, it’s certainly close to it – and the subsequent havoc wrought might just give Stanley Banks the opportunity he’s been waiting for with neighbor Shelia Banner. Every morning she jogs past his living room window, and every morning he ogles her. With his domineering mother now out of the equation and the streets in ruins, normal suburbia is suddenly transformed into a macabre playground for the depraved.

Racing to get home is Shelia’s daughter Barbara and her friends from school. Her husband Clint is also stranded and pairs with unlikely allies as the streets abruptly become rife with roving gangs and looters. As the body toll rises, Clint and Barbara try to make it home before Stanley catches Shelia, now trapped within her bathtub among the debris.   

One of Laymon’s more ambitious efforts standing at nearly 600 pages, the author never loses his stride. Though sometimes small on action, he writes with the uncanny knack of making hundreds of pages fly by as though dozens of advents are transpiring. A lot of this can be attributed to his study of character: rarely have I come across a novelist who can articulate common people’s reactions and speech so accurately. Those familiar with his formula will know his work is sometimes like a play - pure narrative simplicity but handled so craftily the tale becomes intricate. And it’s never more evidenced than in Quake. Probably the only pitfall in a novel like this is it’s often outdated nature – at the time of publication in 1995, hand-held electronic devices were still some way from the mainstream. Hopefully this doesn’t deter a new generation from embracing Laymon’s creations.

As a horror writer, Richard Laymon was utterly authentic - someone that wore the genre like a badge of honour and never apologized for it. He paved the way for many others like Brian Keene and Bentley Little to fill a void after his departure. My only hope is that one day the world of celluloid will pay homage by adapting one of his many visions.

Reviewed by Matthew Tait