Lee Battersby signs two-book deal

PERTH author Lee Battersby has signed a two-book deal with Angry Robot.

The publisher has picked up his fantasy novel The Corpse-Rat King, as well as its sequel as part of its open door submission month.

The Corpse Rat-King will be published next year, with the sequel to hit shelves in 2013.

It will be Battersby’s first published novel.

An Angry Robot synopsis of the project is as follows:

“In the highly imaginative The Corpse-Rat King, readers are introduced to Marius Helles as he plunders the bodies of the dead after a major battle – a crime punishable by death. The dead tell Marius that they need a King – the King is God’s representative, and they need someone to speak to God and remind him where they are. He doesn’t actually want the job, but when the alternative is to deny a legion of angry corpses, it’s that or find a suitable compromise – and quickly: the dead aren’t known for their patience.”

Jungle novella available for pre-order

BRETT McBean’s new novella Neighbourhood Jungle is available for pre-order through Tasmaniac Publications.

The novel is the sequel to Concrete Jungle and is available in a 180-print run, signed and numbered soft cover edition for $14.

The novella is set six months after the first and follows the story of a civilisation cast back into primitive living.

It also includes bonus short stories from Kealan Patrick Burke and R. Frederick Hamilton.

Noctuary released

GREG Chapman’s new horror novella The Noctuary is now available through Damnation Books.

The novella is available in both ebook format for $4.50 and print for $8.26.

Midnight Echo 6 released

MIDNIGHT Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special is now available.

The official fiction publication of the Australian Horror Writers Association features fiction from nine local authors including Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Andrew J McKiernan, Cat Sparks, Stephen Dedman and David Conyers.

It has been edited by David Kernot, Jason Fischer and David Conyers.

The issue also includes the 2011 Australian Horror Writers Association’s Flash Fiction and Short Story award-winning entries, as well as interviews with Charles Stross and Chris Moore.

It is available to buy in PDF and print formats.

See below for a full table of contents:

Earthworms by Cody Goodfellow

Trawling the Void by Alan Baxter

Out Hunting for Teeth by Joanne Anderton

Graveyard Orbit by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Surgeon Scalpelfingers by Helen Stubbs

Silver-Clean by Jenny Blackford

The Wanderer in the Darkness by Andrew J McKiernan

Winds of Nzambi by David Conyers & David Kernot

Duncan Checks Out by Nicholas Stella

Dead Low by Cat Sparks

More Matter, Less Art by Stephen Dedman

Seeds by Mark Farrugia

Behind the scenes video launched for Dark Axis comic

A BEHIND the scenes video for Greg Mclean’s Dark Axis comic series has been released.

The video, which can be viewed on You Tube, includes discussions by Mclean and artist Xavier Irvine on the Dark Axis project, creatures and features a sneak peek at artwork from upcoming issues.

The comic series Dark Axis – Secret Battles of WW2 is a four part comic book series that follows a US military team which stumble across an abandoned Nazi scientific facility full of blood thirsty creatures.

Issue 1 is available now.

Aurealis Awards closing soon

AUTHORS and publishers have until December 31 to enter the 2011 Aurealis Awards.

The awards are Australia's premier awards for speculative fiction and open to works written by an Australian citizen or permanent resident and published for the first time this calendar year.

Categories include best fantasy, horror, and science fiction novel and short story as well young adult and children’s speculative fiction and illustrated works.

To enter go to the awards' website and fill in the online form.

Copies of entered works must be received by the judges by December 31.

Finalists will be announced in late March, 2012 and winners announced at an awards evening in Sydney in May.

AHWA board announced

THE Australian Horror Writers Association’s 2011/2012 committee has been voted in at its AGM at the weekend and is as follows:

President: Geoff Brown

Vice President: Daniel I. Russell

Secretary: Mark Smith-Briggs

Treasurer: Carl Schaller

Membership Officer: Amanda Spedding

Ordinary Members: Andrew J. McKiernan, Scott Tyson, James Doig.

Brown replaces Leigh Blackmore who has stepped down from the role of president, while Russell has stepped into the vice president’s position vacated by Brown.