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.

Fantastic Asia Film Festival hits Melbourne

VIEW the latest horror, science-fiction, thriller and fantasy films from Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and the Philippines at the inaugural Fantastic Asia Film Festival in Melbourne this week.

Run by Melbourne film distributors Monster Pictures and Cinema Nova the festival features 20 of the most bizarre and extreme offerings from the region’s filmmakers.

It runs from November 10 to 13 at Cinema Nova,

380 Lygon St, Carlton

.

Opening night includes a screening of Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Helldriver, which will include an introduction of the film and question and answer session by the director.

Nishimura’s previous films include such fare as Tokyo Gore Police, while he worked as a special effects artist on The Machine Girl.

Attendees can also attend the opening night after party with the Nishimura at Luwow Bar in Fitzroy.

Tickets are $27.

Online tour planned for Noctuary release

QUEENSLAND author Greg Chapman has announced an online book tour to promote the release of his forthcoming novella The Noctuary.

The Noctuary blog tour will run from December 5 to 16 and involves author appearances and chats with fans on selected blogs.

A limited number of ebooks for review are available here for bloggers who want to host Chapman on his tour.

It is sponsored by Pump Up Your Book.

The book is due to be released in December through Damnation Books.

Chapman’s debut novella Torment was released through the publisher in March.

Conyers releases cosmic horror novella

DAVID Conyers new novella The Eye of Infinity is out now through Perilous Press.

The novella is a cosmic horror which tells the story of an army major who investigates the suicide of an astrophysicist who contracted a hideous mutative plague.

It is available from Perilous Press for $US15.50 plus shipping.

Autopsy trilogy announced

LEGUMEMAN Books has picked up Melbourne author Steve Gerlach’s new novella Autopsy.

According to Gerlach’s website, the novella is book one of a planned trilogy and will be released by Christmas.

It will be released as both a paperback and ebook.

Details on the plot and price are still under wraps but are expected to be released via Gerlach’s website in the next few weeks.

Also on release is The Tumours Made Me Interesting by fellow Melbourne scribe Matthew Revert.

The book follows his 2009 collection A Million Versions of Right and is available in paperback and ebook formats for $19.95 including postage.

Aurealis #46 released

AUREALIS #46 has been released through smashwords and features new fiction by Greg Mellor and Andrew J. McKiernan.

The issue is available free as an ebook download and is the publication’s second release since it transformed from a print publication into a monthly online format.

The issue also contains an interview with Felicity Pullman as well as news and reviews.

The magazine is published by Chimaera Publications.

Surviving the End available for pre-order

DARK Prints Press is taking pre-orders for its debut anthology Surviving the End.

The anthology features stories told by a small band of survivors in a post apocalyptic world.

Authors include Jason Nahrung, Martin Livings, Amanda J. Spedding, Joseph D’Lacey and Michael Bailey.

It has been edited by Craig Bezant.

The anthology is available for $19.95 plus postage and will be released in April, 2012.

Year's Best horror antho out now

TRADE and hardback editions of the Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror anthology are available through Ticonderoga Publications.

The anthology, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, features the best 33 genre stories from Australian authors published in 2010.

The anthology is available in hardcover (RRP AU$50) and trade (RRP AU$35).

It will also be released in an ebook edition.

Land of Bad Dreams launch performances released online

SEE video from the launch of Kyla Ward’s new poetry collection The Land of Bad Dreams online.

The footage was filmed at The World Bar in Kings Cross in September and includes live and multimedia packages.

The collection is available through P’rea Press.

READERS can get a sneak peak at Midnight Echo’s science-fiction horror issue due out this month.

The magazine has posted an interview from author Andrew J. McKiernan as well as an extract of his tale The Wanderer in the Darkness which will be appearing in the issue.

Pre-orders of the limited print edition are available for $10 plus postage.

The magazine is holding a magazine subscription drive this month.

Anyone who signs up for a one-year print or emagazine subscription before November 20 goes in the running to win $200 in cash, plus books signed by Kylie Chan, Greig Beck, Brett McBean and Tim Curran.

Subscriptions start at $3.75.

Submissions for issue seven are now open.

Aussie horror anthology contents named

AUTHORS have been named for the Australian Literature Review’s forthcoming anthology Ho Ho Horror.

The all-Australian line up includes Christmas themed fiction from eight authors and will be illustrated by Andrew J McKiernan.

Fiction to appear includes:

Ho Ho Ho by Gordon Reece

Let it Snow by Sam Stephens

Unwanted Gifts by Belinda Dorio

Naughty or Nice by Cameron Trost

Satan Clause by Keith Mushonga

X-mas Secrets by Steven Gepp

Rainmaker by Kathryn Hore

Glittering Were the Leaves by Tony Dews.

The anthology is expected to be released by Christmas.

Daly unleashes army of the undead

THE Army of the Undead - the second book in Stuart Daly's Witch Hunter Chronicles - will be released on November 1.

The novel, aimed at young adult readers, continues the story of 16-year-old Jakob, a seventeenth century witch hunter who has been charged with stopping Armageddon by fighting off a horde of 2000-year-old zombies set forth to retrieve an ancient tablet.

It is the Sydney high school teacher's second novel and was inspired by his own studies of the English Civil War.

The first, The Scourge of Jericho, has been widely praised by reviewers.

The Witch Hunter Chronicles: The Army of the Undead is available in print and ebook through Random House Australia for $17.95.

Blood Song released

MELBOURNE author Rhiannon Hart has released her debut book Blood Song through Random House Australia.

The novel tells the story of Zeraphina, a princess with a craving for blood, who when travelling to a foreign land when her older sister is betrothed learns that her own origins may lie not with her own kingdom, but that of the nightmarish people of the neighbouring country Lharmell.

It is aimed at young adult readers and is the first book in a planned Lharmell series.

The novel is available in print and ebook format for $18.95.

Cover work unveiled on Fischer zombie trilogy

THE cover art for Jason Fischer’s latest instalment in the After the World zombie series has been unveiled by Black House Comics.

Corpus Christi is the sequel to Fischer’s Afterworld story and again follows the story of bow-slinging Tamsyn as she battles to survive in a zombie ravaged world.

The novella is the second part of a planned trilogy.

Issue 3 of the After the World magazine series has also been released and also features work by Clinton Green, Raymond Gates, Jason Franks and Pete Kempshall.

Each edition features at least one work set in the zombie world as well as other tales of horror and science fiction by Australian writers.

Each issue is available for $5.

Macarbe released on ebook

BRIMSTONE Press’ Australian horror tomb Macabre: A Journey through Australia’s Darkest Fears has been released on ebook.

The award-winning anthology collects 38 stories from Australia’s past and present horror authors including Henry Lawson, Barbara Baynton, Terry Dowling, Kaaron Warren, Paul Haines, Richard Harland, David Conyers and Will Elliott.

The anthology won the 2010 Australian Shadows Award and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award the same year.

Richard Harland’s the Fear won the 2010 Aurealis Award for horror short fiction.

It is available through Smashwords for $US4.99.

Aurealis makes switch to e-mag

AUREALIS magazine has made the switch from print to a monthly e-publication starting with issue #45.

The edition, which features stories from Lachlan Huddy and Aimee Smith, an interview with Glenda Larke, reviews and news, has been released in a number of e-reading versions through Smashwords.

It can be downloaded free and is available in iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Kobo Reader and PDF formats.

The issue is the first publication since the departure of editor Stuart Mayne last year and replaces the biannual print format which has been in place since 1990.

It is unclear whether payment rates for authors will change under the new format.    

Man Who Could Not Climb Stairs released on ebook

PAUL Mannering’s new short story collection The Man Who Could Not Climb Stairs and Other Strange Stories has been released on ebook.

The collection is available for kindle through Amazon for $2.99 and includes 21 stories from the award-winning New Zealand author.

Tales range in genre across the dark fiction spectrum from gothic horror and suspense to science-fiction and bizzaro.

The book has been published through BrokenSea Productions.

New horror books on release

A LIMITED run of Kyla Ward’s horror poetry collection the Land of Bad Dreams is available for purchase.

The collection, launched this month, is now available from P’rea Press for $18.

FOR a limited time, you can also pick up a free copy of South Australian horror author Matthew Tait’s debut short story collection Ghosts in a Desert World.

The 13-story collection is now free via smashwords.

Submissions open for horror club anthology

SUBMISSIONS are open for a new anthology of unspeakable horror entitled Tales From the Bell Club.

Edited by New Zealand author Paul Mannering and published by Knightwatch Press, the anthology calls for stories set in the early 20th century from members of the Bell Club – an exclusive establishment whose members have experienced unspeakable horror.

Successful membership requires the applicant to tell a story - and if the members find it disturbing enough – the applicant is granted access. It's like a nascent support group for the traumatised.

No one judges or questions the stories told - because all the members have seen such things as no man can rationalise - and who are they to judge if a fellow storyteller is lying, mad or hallucinating?

By its nature the stories are set in the early years of the 20th Century, with male or female protagonists.

Payment is $25 plus a free eBook edition of the anthology.

Submissions close on December 20, with an estimated publication date of Spring, 2012.

King donates book to dinner dance auction

A SIGNED first edition of Just After Sunset personally donated by Stephen King tops the list of items donated to next month’s Halloween Fundraiser Dinner Dance auction in Melbourne.

The rare collector item is among several collectable books and items up for auction including personally signed editions of Stephen King, a literary companion and Horrors: great tales of fear and their creators by Rocky Wood, artwork by Greg Chapman and a sterling silver opal pennant.

The dinner dance is hosted by the AHWA and Australian-American Association.

It will raise money for the purchase of an Eye Gaze Device for Rocky Wood, a Melbourne horror author and past president of the HWA who has been diagnosed with an incurable motor neurone disease.

Tickets for the event at City of Melbourne Bowls, Flagstaff Gardens on Saturday, October 29 are $55 and include a buffet dinner and entertainment.

Donations for the auction can be made here.

Check out the auction items or learn how to make a bid here.

New website launched for Midnight Echo

A NEW website has been launched for horror magazine Midnight Echo.

The Australian Horror Writers Association’s official publication has been given its own site as part of a relaunch of the magazine.

Former AHWA president Marty Young has been appointed as the magazine’s executive editor.

The new website includes news, reviews, interviews and submission guidelines

A subscription drive has also been launched.

Print subscriptions are $20 a year (two issues) while PDF subscriptions are $3.85 a year.

AHWA members recieve a free PDF copy of each issue.

In good news for authors, the magazine has doubled its payment rates to 2c/word to $75.

Issue 6, a science-fiction horror special edited by David Conyers, David Kernot and Jason Fischer will be released in November.

It includes stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Joanne Anderton and Alan Baxter.

Daniel I. Russell has been appointed guest editor of issue 7 which will cover the theme taboos.

“Be it sexual fetishes, dreams of violence, the sites you delete from your history, drug cravings and that… thing you like to do when you’re all alone,'' Russell said.

``We want the things you can’t discuss in polite conversation, the guilty, twisted needs that eat away at you.”

For more details go to the magazine’s website.

Demons walk among us in Mammon

PERTH author J.B. Thomas explores a world where humans can degenerate into demons in the young adult novel Mammon.

The first book of the Ferryman Chronicles tells the story of a world where demons walk among humans and of a young man with the ability to open dimensional rifts that lead to other worlds.

It has been published by Random House Australia and is available in print and ebook formats for $18.95.


Mammon is Thomas' first novel.


View a trailer for the release here.

Sara Douglass loses battle with cancer

AUSTRALIAN fantasy author Sarah Douglass has died after a long battle with cancer.

The popular author of the the Axis Trilogy, Wayfare Redemption series and Troy Game books died this morning about 5am.

Douglass had previously spoke of her long battle with the illness via several websites.

The sad news of her passing was posted by a friend on Douglass' facebook feed today.

Snowtown released on DVD

SNOWTOWN, the film which recounts the story of Adelaide serial killer John Bunting, has been released on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Directed by first-timer Justin Kurzel, the film follows the story of 16-year-old Jamie, who is drawn into the world of Blunting when the killer takes on the role of his father figure.

DVD/Blu-Ray special features include audio commentary with Kurzel, deleted scenes, casting footage, a featurette on the real life crimes, the short films Blue Tongue, Bell and Pulse, a stills gallery and trailers.

The film is released through Madman Entertainment.

Conflux 7 event nears

CONFLUX 7, Canberra's annual speculative fiction convention, will be held at the Quality Hotel Woden this weekend.

The three-day event, from October 1 to 3, includes panels, workshops, author readings, book signings, an art show and banquet ball.

This year's guests of honour are Kim Westwood, Natalie Costa-Bir, Lewis Morley and Marilyn Pride.

Tickets are $80 per day or $250 (at the door) for the whole convention.

Children under 12-years-of-age are free with a paying adult.

A full programme is available online.

Donation page set up for Melbourne writer

A DONATION page has been set up for Melbourne writer and former Horror Writers Association president Rocky Wood.

The online donation page is designed to help Wood raise up to $20,000 for the purchase of an eye-gaze device following his diagnosis of a motor neurone disease earlier this year.

The machine will allow him to communicate through eye movements recorded on a computer screen during once he loses the ability to speak.

The machine will be donated to the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Victoria after his death.

Wood is the author of five non-fiction books on the works of Stephen King and a contributor to the Glenn Chadbourne illustrated graphic novel Horrors! Great Stories of Fear and their Creators.

The donation page can be accessed at the Australian Horror Writers Association site.

Supernatural themed steampunk anthology released

WORLD Fantasy award-winning editor Jack Dann’s new supernatural steampunk anthology Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense is out through Harper Voyager.

Co-edited by Nick Gevers, it features 17 Victorian era veined tales from authors Peter Beagle, James Morrow, Sean Williams, Gene Wolfe, Garth Nix, Marly Youmans, Jeffery Ford, and Robert Silverberg.

Amazon has the paperback listed at less than US $10.