Books of the Dead Press (http://www.booksofthedeadpress.com/)

E-book: ISBN 978-1-3117783-8-3

Suspended in Dusk is the latest anthology from Books of the Dead Press, and the first for Australian editor Simon Dewar. Featuring 19 tales from a mix of new and established authors, and an Introduction from Bram Stoker Award winning Jack Ketchum, Suspended in Dusk hits its mark more often than not.

It’s always nice to have a note or introduction from the editor at the beginning of an anthology; a place where they lay out their thoughts and goals, their targets. Simon Dewar does this quite well. He tells us that the stories are all about change, and the time between those changes, much as dusk is “the time between the light and the dark”. Some of these changes are metaphorical, while others take the theme more literally.

To the stories! I might not mention all of them, only the ones that really stood out for me. This isn’t to say there are any bad stories in the anthology; that certainly is not the case. Any reader of horror will find plenty here to enjoy, and those tales that weren’t quite for me might be exactly what another reader is looking for.

First up is “Shadows of the Lonely Dead” by Alan Baxter. A beautifully written and emotional tale about a hospice worker with a gift for easing the suffering of the elderly as they slip into death, and the greater ramifications that has on her life outside the hospice.

Anna Reith’s “Taming the Stars” takes us to the dark and gritty side of Paris, with a story of a drug deal that goes horribly (and gruesomely) wrong.

“At Dusk They Come” by Armand Rosamilia invites us to a small town at sundown for a well written take on the old tale of ‘doing deals’ with the nefarious.

Rayne Hall brings us “Burning”, a Southern Gothic flavoured tale with a conspicuous absence of the supernatural, but all the more horrifying for it. As in real life, “Burning” shows us that people — especially those isolated by the ignorance of their own world views — are much worse than any monsters we can imagine.

Chris Limb’s “Ministry of Outrage” reveals the truth behind corporate and governmental conspiracies in a tale that is all too scary for its plausibility.

S.G.Larner give us “Shades of Memory”, wherein religion reigns in post-apocalyptic Queensland and the locals of a small town, who want no part of it, have some ghostly superstitions of their own.

“Outside In”, a strange Quantumpunk-Noir by Brett Rex Bruton, is one of the most interesting pieces in the anthology. The story begins: “I swing my feet from beneath the warmth of the covers and down on the cold, hard copy of the opening paragraph.” I stared at that — “hard copy of the opening paragraph” — and wondered if it was some kind of strange typo, an editor comment inserted by accident. But no, it isn’t! It is slips like this, in the walls of reality between story and reader, that really made this story stand out for me. Very original.

“Would To God That We Were There” is the creepy science fiction story I’ve been trying to write for years. I even have 10yr old opening paragraphs that are near identical. I never knew where to take the idea, but it seems that Tom Dullemond did, and he does a wonderful job of it.

The anthology finishes on a high-note too, with Angela Slatter’s “The Way Of All Flesh”. I love a post-apocalyptic story that doesn’t focus on the actual apocalypse, but instead on the people who are trying to get on with their lives. “The Way Of All Flesh” accomplishes this brilliantly, subtly, and in the end, very disturbingly. It’s a fitting end to a collection of so many fine stories.

As I said earlier, I haven’t mentioned every story; only those that really shined for me. A few of the other stories just weren’t too my taste, or I found personally a little predictable. Be that as it may, there isn’t a badly written story here. In every case the prose is well constructed and, in a few stories, quite beautiful.

Overall, Suspended In Dusk is a very good collection. I think there’s something for everyone’s taste — vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies and plenty of nefarious humans — and I’m sure others will find things in certain stories that I didn’t. And the mix of authors, old and new, means you’re certain to be introduced to someone you’ve never heard of before: which I think is the most exciting part about reading any horror anthology.

Thirteen O’Clock will always have a third party contributor review the Contributing Editors’ work. Such reviews will be unedited (aside from standard corrections to typos and grammar), posted in full (be they negative or positive), and will always be accompanied by full disclosure of Baxter, Dowker, and McKiernan’s place at Thirteen O’Clock. At no point will Baxter, Dowker or McKiernan review their own work.

Last Year, When We Were Young
by Andrew J McKiernan

Satalyte Publishing (www.satalyte.com.au)

Paperback: ISBN 978-0-9925095-2-1
E-book: ISBN 978-0-9925095-3-8

Review by Greg Chapman

Andrew J. McKiernan’s collection, Last Year When We Were Young, is proof yet again of the incredible writing talent that can be found in Australia and further still, proof that horror can have a meaningful voice that goes well beyond blood and gore.

Whether it is a story about a secretary taking phone messages from the dead, a group of clowns trying to avoid forced conscription in a travelling circus, or astronauts encountering cosmic monsters in the depths of space, the impossible in McKiernan’s stories never fails to engage because the stories always orbit characters that are quantifiably human.

McKiernan’s deft hand with prose is also addictive, with each turn of phrase sweeping the reader away from reality. Although many of his supernatural tales exude mysterious atmosphere, demonic forces or faith, I think the stories where the uncanny takes a back seat are where he really shines. Here the horror is less inexplicable, but no less haunting. The tales, White Lines, White Crosses, The Memory of Water, Calliope: A Steam Romance, and the title story being prime examples.

Overall, the collection is engrossing, every story leaving the reader with sensations of loss, hope, melancholy, repulsion and joy. It’s not often that a writer can convey such a broad section of emotions, but this is what makes collections so worthwhile – and enjoyable.

I recall reading one of Andrew’s Facebook posts some time ago about how he was finding it a real challenge to select the stories for Last Year, When We Were Young, but I can safely say that he and Satalyte Publishing have put together a wonderful treasury of fiction that is well worth any reader’s time, horror fan or no.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Year-When-Were-Young/dp/0992509521/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22523234-last-year-when-we-were-young

Review by Greg Chapman (http://www.darkscrybe.blogspot.com/)

Thirteen O’Clock will always have a third party contributor review the Contributing Editors’ work. Such reviews will be unedited (aside from standard corrections to typos and grammar), posted in full (be they negative or positive), and will always be accompanied by full disclosure of Baxter, Dowker, and McKiernan’s place at Thirteen O’Clock. At no point will Baxter, Dowker or McKiernan review their own work.

Review by Andrew Kliem

Like Greg Chapman before me (who recently reviewed Cemetery Dance Issue 65), I’m new to the world of literary journals. They’re just underground enough to fly under the average person’s radar. But I have recently begun delving into the back catalogues of several prominent speculative fiction magazines and I’m amazed at what I’ve found.
For this review I’ll be looking at the latest issue of Midnight Echo, which is the official magazine of the Australia Horror Writers Association. It’s a quarterly publication packed full of fantastic horror fiction, as well as a smattering of interviews and local art. If you buy the e-book version it will only set you back two dollars, which is a ridiculously good buy given the quality and quantity of its contents.

This particular issue is dedicated to fiction that marries the genres of science fiction and horror, which leads to some truly wonderful and creepy tales. I’ve always felt those two genres go hand in hand; the future often seems bleak and a lot of sci-fi tends to venture into darker territory anyway. There’s something for everyone here, from dystopian futures to hard sci-fi to Lovecraftian mythology. I’ve decided to elaborate on a couple of my favourites and then touch on the rest.

The magazine opens strongly with Earthworms by Cody Goodfellow. Set in a desolate future where the world is on the brink of collapse it tells the tale of a man who is picked up by the aliens he always believed would come, only to have a terrible truth revealed. The language is beautiful and evocative and the story simple, yet scarily plausible.

Possibly my favourite piece is Joanne Anderton’s Out Hunting for Teeth. It’s inventive yet also deeply personal. Wype is a spell cast by The Witch to scavenge scrap metal and human remains from the bowels of a derelict space craft, but one day on a routine hunt, he discovers information that could change everything. It’s a touching story, despite the subject matter. You can’t help but become attached to the cybernetic main character and the boy’s mind he carries around inside him.

One thing that became clear when reading this issue is that Midnight Echo isn’t afraid to tackle confronting material if it’s handled intelligently, and Mark Farrugia’s Seeds is a perfect example of this. It explores a dystopian world where women are no longer born and the supplies of female seeds are beginning to run dry. Many men have turned to homosexuality, but Australia has become a brutal theocracy in all but name and crossing the church is a dangerous prospect. We follow two men, Royce and Grant, who are desperately trying to scrape together enough cash to buy some seeds and start a family, but both their methods and lifestyle go against everything the church stands for. It’s a gripping story, from the arresting opening scene to the chilling climax.

The other particularly confronting piece in this issue is Stephen Dedman’s More Matter, Less Art, which casts its lens into the mind of a paedophile and the tenuous balance he’s achieved.

In Cat Sparks’ Dead Low (which was recently nominated for an Aurealis Award), Clancy and her crew are scavenging for lost treasure in the depths of space, but they find more than they bargained for and nobody’s motivations are what they seem.

Surgeon Scalpelfingers by Helen Stubbs is short but terrifying story of a genderless protagonist who wakes up in pieces on a laboratory floor, while Graveyard Orbit by Shane Jiraiya Cummings tells the tale of a space crew on the edges of the known universe who stumble upon something inexplicable.

There are also two stories from Thirteen O’Clock staff members in this issue. Trawling The Void by Alan Baxter explores the depths of space paranoia and evokes a fantastic Event Horizon vibe. Meanwhile Andrew J. McKiernan’s The Wanderer in the Darkness is an excellent piece of Lovecraftian fiction with hints of hard sci-fi.

There’s one poem in the mix, Silver-Clean by Jenny Blackford. It’s an evocative, ominous little piece, and it’s accompanied by some very creepy art.

Rounding out the fiction are the two winners from the 2011 Australian Horror Writers Association Flash and Short Story Competition. In Duncan Checks Out by Nicholas Stella, a simple checkout worker, begins to learn some troubling secrets, while Winds of Nzambi by David Conyers and David Kernot is a unique and rather dark tale of Portuguese colonisation and gods brought to life.

The magazine also has two excellent interviews. The first is with Scottish author Charles Stross, whose latest novel, Rule 34, was recently nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke award. He discusses growing up under the threat of nuclear war and the way he has melded that persistent paranoia with a love of crime fiction and Lovecraftian mythology.

The second interview is with renowned Science Fiction artist Chris Moore, who has drawn covers for such classics as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and We Can Build You. Covers are an often overlooked part of publishing and it’s great to hear the process a designer goes through. It’s particularly interesting to note that Chris says he has little contact with the actual author the majority of the time.

The thing I found most disappointing about the issue was the art, but I think this may be simply due to reading it in e-book form. I found that on my screen, the majority of it came across as pixelated and lacking clarity, but perhaps the printed issue would rectify this.

Still, that is a small blemish on an otherwise amazing publication. All in all I can’t recommend this issue of Midnight Echo enough. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better way to spend two dollars (and even the printed version is a steal at ten dollars). I have a feeling a subscription may be finding its way onto my credit card sometime soon.

Midnight Echo magazine is available in both print and e-book editions from http://midnightechomagazine.com/

Andrew Kliem is a journalist and freelance writer with a penchant for all things dark and speculative. When he’s not trying to carve the perfect sentence, he’s playing poker and consuming more coffee than a man should. He can be found lurking at his website http://www.andy-kay.com, where he posts a variety of rambles, reviews and miscellaneous thoughts.

From the website:

The theme of Midnight Echo Issue 8 is knock our socks off with a damn good horror story! What do we mean by that? Well, we’re looking for stories that we might have trouble digesting. Stories that leave us feeling scared and excited about what’s in store… Scare us, shock us, freak us out, get up-close and personal with your imagination and startle us with the end result. We’re open to everything, but only the best will survive.

Marty: “I want people to really stretch their imaginations. Take us into space, into hell, or into beyond—and leave us there if you need to, but don’t take us into wacky, weird, gonzo style stories. If you need to be explicit to do this, then fine, but there’s nothing wrong with the old quiet school of horror, where what you don’t see is what does the damage.”

Mark: “I want to publish stories that challenge the way I think about traditional values—faith, love, desire, religion—stories that blur the line between right and wrong, fantasy and fact. Stories intertwined with emotion. Content is not an issue with me but the more adult the theme, the better the writing has to be. Don’t be frightened to sub the ol’ tropes (vampire, zombie, werewolf) but make it something special.  Surprise me. Shock me. Entertain. I am not adverse to poetry but it has to engage me in some way, the things I have highlighted above would be a good place for poets to start.”

Amanda:”Scare us. I’m looking for character-driven stories that push the limits of horror versus hope—I want to see the internal and external battle between predator and prey. Delve into the darkness of the mind, or the formless abyss where monsters live and inflict your worst, but make it war. I’m after content and combat in context, though, so any splatter-porn should be backed up by a damn fine story.”

The AHWA and creators of Midnight Echo magazine are pleased to announce that a new short story by horror legend Graham Masterton will be appearing in Issue 7.

Graham has published more than 35 horror novels in his career, his debut being The Manitou in 1976 which became an instant bestseller and was made into a motion picture. He has been awarded numerous awards and recently had a special issue of Cemetery Dance in his name.

‘Graham Masterton has been a hero of mine since I first read him as a teenager. He is iconic within both the horror genre and the larger literature scene, especially here in Australia and in Europe. To have Graham in Midnight Echo is a great honour, and hopefully begins a new era for the vanguard magazine of the AHWA.’ Geoff Brown, AHWA President.

Graham’s story, What the Dark Does, in Midnight Echo #7 explores childhood fears that follow us into our adult lives…particular the terror of the dark, what it hides and our reluctance to reveal this childish phobia.

In addition to Graham’s story, we’re also happy to reveal that acclaimed horror photographer and artist, Joshua Hoffine, will be providing cover art.

“Horror tells us that our belief in security is delusional, and that the monsters are all around us.” (from http://www.joshuahoffine.com/)

We’re certain the cover for Issue 7 will live up to the high Midnight Echo standard while setting the taboo feel perfectly.

Full details can be found at: http://midnightechomagazine.com/2012/02/11/special-guests-revealed-for-midnight-echo-7-the-taboo-issue/

Ticonderoga Publications

The editor says in the submission guidelines:

Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights stories have captured imaginations for a millennia. Fairy tales and fables abound, telling of the fantastic and mysterious, the comic and dramatic.

This anthology, with the working title Dreaming of Djinn, will look at romantic Orientalism through a speculative fiction lens. You might find lost cities, magical lamps, mummies, thieves, intrepid explorers, slaves, robotic horsemen, noble queens, sorcerers, outcast princes, harems, dancers, djinn, assassins and even smart-talking camels and cats, set in exotic Persia, Egypt, Arabia, the Ottoman Empire, or a modern incarnation of these.

The anthology will be published by Ticonderoga Publications in 2013 and submissions are open between 1st March and 15th October 2012.

Full submission guidelines can be found at: http://ticonderogapublications.com/index.php/guidelines/dreaming-of-djinn

The editor says in the submission call:

This is the first in a series of anthologies from Ticonderoga Publications that will focus on non-traditional horror. I want stories that are horrific, but that also fit within other genres—let’s look beyond the borders. This year’s anthology will focus on non-traditional urban fantasy. This means that I don’t want stories that feature vampires, witches or werewolves; if you send one, it probably won’t make it through to the final cut.

Give me tales of Sirens, Harpies, Bunyips, goblins, djinns, Mesopotamian demons, deposed gods…characters that spill from mythology and into modern suburbia.

Any stories involving cultural borrowing from indigenous cultures should be respectful of the beliefs of the traditional owners.

Romantic elements are acceptable, as long as the story is dark and has horrific themes/elements.

The story must be set on contemporary Earth, but it can take place in a fictional city.

The anthology will be published by Ticonderoga Publications in late 2012.

Full submission guidelines can be found at: http://ticonderogapublications.com/index.php/guidelines/bloodstones

The following are the guidelines for submission.

• Manuscripts should be 500 to 5000 words in length. Exceptions will be made either over or under the word limit based on quality. Poetry will be considered.
• Manuscripts should be single spaced with breaks instead of indentations to denote new paragraphs. Please use size 12 Times New Roman font. Manuscripts should be submitted in DOC or DOCX formats.
• We accept electronic submissions only through the following email address: submissions@horrorworld.org. Please allow up to 3 months for a response.
• No multiple submissions. Please wait until you receive an acceptance or rejection before sending another story.
• We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
• Payment: Horror World pays 2 cents per word for First Worldwide Electronic and Print Rights. Payment is made upon publication.
• We will be accepting submissions until July 1, 2012
• Any type of horror-related story is acceptable but we are looking for stories that are scary and original or stories that bring a fresh perspective to a familiar trope.

Source: http://www.horrorworld.org/hw/horror-world-announcements/