Rick Kennett Ernie Pine ghost stories available for download

Rick Kennett is not a member of SSWFT. Oh no. But he's one of Australia's finest, most prolific (and unjustly overlooked) writers of horror, ghost stories and science fiction.

I recently stumbled across a site which has two of Rick's stories of Ernie Pine, reluctant ghost-hunter, available for download. You can get them here:

http://dunesteef.com/category/rick-kennett/

Check 'em out!

Mark Valentine's The Lost Club

We have neglected hitherto to mention The Lost Club, a journal and website run by SSWFT's Mark Valentine and by Roger Dobson of the UK. The website can still be found at: http://freepages.pavilion.net/tartarus/lost.html and includes profiles of many neglected authors, some supernatural.

It appears the journal itself (published by Tartarus Press) may have ceased: we will seek information from Mr Valentine to clarify this. Meanwhile, the website is well worth consulting for its useful information on authors from Micahel Arlen to Francis Brett Young.

Pictured is Edward Heron-Allen, a writer who published various supernatural short stories and also published novels as Christopher Blayre.

Phillip A. Ellis poetry e-books available

Phillip A. Ellis informs us: "Travelling North_, a collection of twenty four quatorzains had previously appeared translated into Polish. Now the poems are
available in a printable e-book for $5 only, delivered directly to
your email inbox. For copies, contact phillip.a.ellis@gmail.com to
arrange your payment options. As a special offer, I'll add a unique
free verse sonnet for every additional $5 (Aust)"

Third issue of Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes hits the stands!

The third issue of the superlative Australian graphic novel mini-series from Black House Comics, THE DARK DETECTIVE: SHERLOCK HOLMES is out now!

Penned by Christopher G.C. Sequeira and superbly drawn by Phil Cornell, with a dramatically brilliant cover by Dave Elsey, and printed in full colour, this issue will knock your socks off, as the conclusion of the story featuring the mythical chimera creature unfolds!!

Only $5 Australian at your local newsagents. Snap them up while they last, these are sure to become collectors' items.

Overseas (outside Australia) readers should contact the publisher at:

http://www.blackhousecomics.com/the-dark-detective-sherlock-holmes.html

Tasmaniac Publications a boon for horror fans

We'd like to put in a plug for our friends at Tasmaniac Publications. This Tasmanian-based horror publisher is producing some really good work in the field.

Check 'em out at:

http://www.tasmaniacpublications.com/

Brimstone Press is one of Australia's foremost horror publishers

Angela Challis and Shayne Jiraiya Cummings have run Brimstone Press for some years now. They have a great range of horror books and e-anthologies, including the annual 'Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror' available from their website:


http://www.brimstonepress.com.au/

Check out Horrorscope for news of Australian horror

HorrorScope is an award-winning Australian news and literary criticism zine dedicated to dark fiction (and some speculative fiction). HorrorScope is published by Brimstone Press and acts as the official news source for the Australian Horror Writers Association. Catch more dark fiction news from their Twitter site.

General enquiries to:
Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Managing Editor

News items to:
Talie Helene, AHWA News Editor

http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/

AHWA publishes Midnight Echo Issue 3

The Australian Horror Writers Association publishes an excellent horror magazine with a different guest editor each time.

From Issue 3 onwards, Midnight Echo will be available directly from the AHWA.

For members:
AU$10 + postage ($2.75 anywhere in Australia)

For non-members:
AU$14 + postage ($2.75 anywhere in Australia)

AHWA also have a limited number of print copy backorders of Issue #1 and #2 available at the above rates. The deadline for placing an order for these is September 30, 2009.

Please contact them at midnightecho@australianhorror.com for more information.

The reading period for Midnight Echo Issue 4, edited by Lee Battersby, is 1 September 2009 to 31 January, 2010. Full details and Submission Guidelines can be found here.

http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=115

M. John Harrison official blog

M. John Harrison, author of the 'Viriconium' series, and acclaimed sf novels 'Light' and 'Nova Swing', amongst many others, has his own blog at


http://www.mjohnharrison.com/

If you like Harrison's oblique fictional observations, you may enjoy his oblique observations of life to be found here.

H.P. Lovecraft and His Legacy blog full of Lovecraftian treasure

Chris Perridas' blog 'H.P. Lovecraft and His Legacy' has been going for some time now. It's full of fascinating information and images which will enthrall even the most longterm Lovecraft fan or enthusiast. Worth checking out at:


http://chrisperridas.blogspot.com/

A Feast of new Terry Dolwing books on the horizon

There is a veritable feast of new publications due from Australian writer Terry Dowling.

We have already reported on the two new volumes from Ticonderoga Press, 'Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear' and 'Make Believe: A Terry Dowling Reader'.


As if all that wasn't enough, Terry has a major new collection of previously uncollected and acclaimed stories of sf, fantasy and horror appearing soon in America. 'Amberjack: Tales of Fear and Wonder' will appear from Subterranean Press in 2009 and boasts a glorious cover by none other than Nick Stathopoulos, renowned Australian artists who provided covers for Dowling's Rynosseros cycle books.

And! Terry's horror novel 'Clowns at Midnight' is forthcoming from PS Publishing in England in either late 2009 or early 2010.

Now all we need is a reprint of 'Blackwater Days' and 'Wormwood'...

Alan Gullette website recommended for fans of supernatural literature

Alan Gullette has a very useful and informative website which most SSWFT members would fascinating, and which of course is useful to anyone interested in the classic authors of horror and the supernatural. It covers authors such as Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, M.P. Shiel, Fitz-James O'Brien (perhaps a more more minor writer than the rest), and also has an excellent range of links and a photo gallery.


You can find Alan's site here: http://alangullette.com/lit/horror.htm

Leigh Blackmore Honours thesis on Terry Dowling completed

Leigh Blackmore has just completed his 15,000 word Honours thesis for the Bachelor of Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong. The critical component of the thesis is on Australian writer Terry Dowling and is entitled : "'Individuation', 'Mytho-realism' and Surrealistic Traces in Terry Dowling's Tom Rynosseros Cycle". This is the first tertiary thesis to have been devoted to Dowling's work. It examines Dowling's four-volume cycle of stories set in a futuristic Australia and featuring the hero Tom Tyson, via C.J. Jung and Joseph Campbell's conception of the 'monomyth' and via Surrealist theory.
Leigh will be looking for a suitable journal to publish it once marking at the university has been completed.

The Creative component of Leigh's thesis is a 25,000 word self-contained excerpt from Leigh's novel in progress, Ghosts in the House of Life, which focusses on the relationship between Pre-Raphaelite poet-painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his lover and model, poet-painter Lizzie Siddall. Leigh plans to complete the writing of the novel after his graduation, during 2010.

Leigh Blackmore Lovecraftian essay reprinted on web

Leigh Blackmore's essay "Leon Stone: Amateur Journalist and Pioneer Lovecraft Collector" was originally published in his zine Red Viscous Madness [vol. 1 no. 1] dated August 1984, circulated in the October 1984 mailing of the Esoteric Order of Dagon Amateur Press Association.

In April 2009 it was reprinted in The Fossil (official organ of The Fossils amateur press association), Issue 340 (Vol 105, No 3), courtesy of American Lovecraftian Kenneth W. Faig.

The Fossils website now has a Word Document and a PDF version of the essay available for download. Go here: //www.thefossils.org/fossil/index.html">

Monsters and Bloodsuckers special - more info

For those that missed the "Jennifer Byrne Presents: Monsters and Bloodusckers" special which screen last night (Tues Sept 8, 2009) on ABC1 Australia, and may want to catch up on it, you can get a vodcast (video streamed copy) of the show here:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/video/podcast.htm

(You need to scroll down to the Jennifer Byrne Presents heading, and click on either WMV or MP4, next to "Vampires, wrewolves and man made monsters in literature".

A written transcript of the show (as edited for air) is available here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s2674298.htm (Click on transcript tab)

If you're in Australia and missed it, there's also a repeat next Sunday night Tues Sept 13, at 7pm on ABC 2.

Leigh Blackmore on ABC1 TV "Monsters and Bloodsuckers" Special

From the Australian TV online blog "throng.com.au":

Jennifer Byrne Presents is a series of individual treats for lovers of books and writing. It features discussions with leading authors and investigations into the popularity of writing genres such as crime, sex and romance and fantasy.

Tonight (Tues Sept 8, 2009), Jennifer and her guests explore the very darkest of literary worlds. From zombie mayhem in Jane Austen's core text, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies... to the Twilight vampire series, horror is hot, and in fact it always has been. There is something we love about books that scare the hell out of us.

For the Monsters And Bloodsuckers special, Jennifer has summoned a quorum of dark souls to lead us through this murky world: Catherine Jinks is the author of more than thirty books in most genres and for all ages - including The Reformed Vampire Support Group. She's currently up to her neck (ahem) in werewolf research for her next book...

Will Elliott's first novel, The Pilo Family Circus, picked up many major horror awards and was shortlisted for the 2007 International Horror Guild Award where he was up against fellow horror-meisters, including Stephen King. His latest book, Strange Places, is a memoir in which both werewolves and vampires have walk-on roles.

Leigh Blackmore is an academic, editor and contributor to such blood-drenched journals as The Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine, Terror Australis and The Encyclopedia of Supernatural Fiction - to name just a few.

Tara Moss writes best-selling crime novels and reads in even darker places, counting Dracula and Frankenstein among her favourite gothic ghouls.

Jennifer Byrne Presents will be repeated on ABC2 - Sunday, September 13 at 7:00pm http://abc.net.au/iview/