Editorial: Australian Dark fiction in 2008

2008 was a bumper year for Australian horror, with more local novels and short stories published than ever before. 2008 also saw the introduction of two vibrant new dark fiction magazines: the Australian Horror Writers Association's Midnight Echo zine and Brimstone Press' Black: Australian Dark Culture magazine.

Midnight Echo, co-edited by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond for its debut issue, launched a solid lineup of predominantly local talent, with small press regulars such as Deborah Biancotti, Paul Haines, Martin Livings, David Conyers, Brendan Duffy, and Stephen Dedman. The first issue also included recent World Fantasy Award winner Robert Shearman.

Black: Australian Dark Culture magazine published good quality fiction from Robert Hood, Paul Haines, Miranda Siemienowicz, Liam Rands, and Kathryn Gossow in it's first three issues, plus a treasure trove of features and interviews with George A. Romero, M. Night Shyamalan, Alice Cooper, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Fiona Horne, Marty Young, Robert Hood, Paul Haines, Nathan Burrage, and Lothian's Dark Suspense authors.

Contributors to HorrorScope's dark fiction recommended reading list (below) were HorrorScope's Craig Bezant, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, AD John, and Chuck McKenzie, Tom Bicknell (journalist), Steve Clark (Tasmaniac Publications), David Conyers (author), Kirstyn McDermott (AHWA committee member and Midnight Echo editor), Amanda Pillar (Morrigan Books), and Rocky Wood (author/Stephen King expert).

One of our panel praised the ongoing efforts of the Australian Horror Writers Association, saying: "The AHWA is doing an excellent job at promoting dark fiction, with competitions, awards, mentor programs, online forums, international guests and now its own official dark fiction magazine with Midnight Echo. It's a shame there isn’t as an equally dynamic society for Australian science fiction and fantasy writers. Similarly, Black magazine has probably done more to promote dark speculative fiction in Australia, getting the word out to the mass market."

Brimstone Press' Black Box e-anthology (sequel to 2005's Shadow Box), edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, was described by a panellist as "the Australian anthology of the year, if for no other reason than the talent in visual art, music, illustration and short stories that Cummings brought together to forge one very entertaining and creepy multimedia experience."

Morrigan Books' first anthology, Voices, co-edited by Aussie Amanda Pillar (and Sweden's Mark S. Deniz) had "a brilliant premise of horror confined in twelve hotel rooms. Stand out tales from Gary McMahon, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Pete Kemshall, Rodney J. Smith, and Paul Kane. Robert Hood writes some excellent flash fiction to tie the setting to time and place."

Other notable publications in 2008 included Robert Hood's latest collection, Creeping in Reptile Flesh, James Doig's second classic weird fiction reprint anthology Australian Nightmares, Jack Dann's Dreaming Again anthology (for a selection of several quality dark stories amongst the SF/F), Leigh Blackmore's poetry collection Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses, debut novels Fivefold by Nathan Burrage, Daughters of Moab by Kim Westwood, and The Opposite of Life by Narelle M. Harris, and The Seance, John Harwood's follow up to his award-winning novel The Ghost Writer.


HORRORSCOPE'S 2008 DARK FICTION RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Australian novels

• Darkest Kiss, by Keri Arthur (Piatkus/Hachette Livre)
• Fivefold, by Nathan Burrage (Random House)
• Ghostlines, by Nick Gadd (Scribe Publications)
• The Opposite of Life, by Narelle M. Harris (Pulp Fiction Press)
• The Seance, by John Harwood (Jonathan Cape/Random House)
• Daughters of Moab, by Kim Westwood (HarperVoyager)

Australian anthologies/collections/magazines

• Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses, by Leigh Blackmore (P'rea Press)
• Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror 2007 Edition, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press)
• Black: Australian Dark Culture magazine #1-#3, edited by Angela Challis and Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)
• Black Box, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)
• Dreaming Again, edited by Jack Dann (HarperVoyager)
• Australian Nightmares, edited by James Doig (Equilibrium Books)
• Creeping in Reptile Flesh, by Robert Hood (Altair Australia Books)
• Midnight Echo #1, edited by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond (AHWA)
• 2012, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Ben Payne (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Voices, edited by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar (Morrigan Books)

Australian short stories

• "The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga" by Peter M. Ball (Dreaming Again)
• "The Claws of Native Ghosts" by Lee Battersby (The Beast Within)
• "Pale Dark Soldier" by Deborah Biancotti (Midnight Echo #1)
• "Heere Be Monsters" by John Birmingham (Dreaming Again)
• "Smoke" by Matthew Chrulew (Midnight Echo #1)
• "Soft Viscosity" by David Conyers (2012)
• "A Picture of Death" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Voices)
• "Teeth" by Stephen Dedman (Clarkesworld Magazine)
• "This Way to the Exit" by Sara Douglass (Dreaming Again)
• "Honeytime" by Brendan Duffy and Andrew Macrae (Midnight Echo #1)
• "They Live Under the House" by Felicity Dowker (Midnight Echo #1)
• "Undead Camels Ate Their Flesh" by Jason Fischer (Dreaming Again)
• "Lakeside" by Christopher Green (Dreaming Again)
• "Her Collection of Intimacy" by Paul Haines (Black magazine #2)
• "Tanihwa, Swim with Me" by Paul Haines (Midnight Echo #1)
• "A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead" by Richard Harland (Dreaming Again)
• "Moments of Dying" by Robert Hood (Black magazine #1)
• "Remainders" by Robert Hood (Voices)
• "Accidents" by Dave Hoskin (Midnight Echo #1)
• "The New Deal" by Trent Jamieson (Dreaming Again)
• "Just Us" by Pete Kempshall (Voices)
• "Bitter Elsie Mae" by Tessa Kum (ASIM #34)
• "The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan (Del Rey Book of SF/F)
• "Skinsongs" by Martin Livings (2012)
• "Painlessness" by Kirstyn McDermott (GUD #2)
• "Smoking, Waiting For the Dawn" by Jason Nahrung (Dreaming Again)
• "Fleshy" by Tansy Rayner Roberts (2012)
• "The Casting Out" by Miranda Siemienowicz (Black magazine #2)

International novels

• The Painted Man, by Peter V. Brett (HarperVoyager)
• Stone Cold Calling/The Calling and Other Wraiths, by Simon Clark (Tasmaniac Publications)
• The House of Lost Souls, by F. G. Cottam (Hachette Livre)
• Meat, by Joseph D'Lacey (Bloody Books)
• The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway (Random House)
• Duma Key, by Stephen King (Hodder)
• Miranda, by John R Little (Bad Moon Books)
• Bad Moon Rising, by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
• Flesh House, by Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)
• Eden, by Tony Monchinski (Bloodletting Books)

International anthologies/collections/magazines

• Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, edited by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books)
• Just After Sunset, by Stephen King (Hodder)

International non-fiction

• Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead, by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel Press)

International short stories

• "N" by Stephen King (Just After Sunset)
• "Stationery Bike" by Stephen King (Just After Sunset)
• "The Things They Left Behind" by Stephen King (Just After Sunset)