Shane backs the new blood

Horrorscope editor and Ditmar-award winning author Shane Jiraiya Cummings is the guest host of the ASIF! forum this fortnight and was kind enough to mention me when talking about the future of Australian horror.

In a discussion on the state of Aussie horror, Shane mentioned myself along with other up and comers Susan Wardle, Steven Cavanagh, Mark Barnes, Liam Rands, Chris Elston, Stephanie Campisi, and Miranda Siemienowicz as the new wave of authors pushing through.

It's great to see Shane peddling a few new names to people in his support of the genre. Thank you Shane!

Midnight Express on track

My short story word count may have dried up the past month or so while I complete end of year assignments, but I have managed to get some of my own writing done.

Today I completed the second draft, and a major year long rewrite, of my feature film Midnight Express. While I'm still not entirely blown away by the end result it is a big step in the right direction for the story. Another week or so of re-edits and I'll be able to finally get back to working on some short fiction ideas I've been tossing about. One of them is going to be particually dark and nasty - it's not something I'm going as a writer, but one of those stories I need to write.

News: Horror Day thrill

I just wanted to issue a public thank you to Martin Livings and Stephanie Gunn for their great work on the Horror Day Anthology.
For those that missed it it was a special anthology put together in just one day and put online only for the October 13, Horror Day celebrations.
Despite the tight time restrictions, it turned into a fantastic collection of 15 horror stories from Australian authors Stephen Dedman, Stephanie Gunn, Robert Hood, Martin Livings, Robbie Matthews, Brett McBean, Chuck McKenzie, Nigel Read, Rhidian Rhead, David Schembri, Cat Sparks, Matthew Tait and Marty Young.
I was privelleged enough to have my story the Angler appear amongst such a distinguished and talented group.
By all reports the anthology was well received, even attracting attention from readers in the UK and US.

News: Space Junkies shuts up shop

It appears I have felt the cruel and fickle hand of the publishing world. My story, Breakdown, which was to be published in a Halloween issue of Space Junkies magazine will no longer be appearing because the magazine has folded as of October 1.
Unfortunately, the only way I discovered this was to cruise across their site at http://www.spacejunkies.net/sjmindex.html

On a brighter note, a film maker I know is interested in developing the story into a short film early next year. So I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Break out the Champagne

My first official payment for horror fiction arrived in the mail today. A $5 US note from Canadian anthology Champagne Shivers. My story is going to be included in the next anthology published in January, 2007. The anthology is going to feature work from 24 authors from six countries, so it's a good one to be a part of.

Also Martin Livings is creating a unique one-day anthology for Horror Day on his website tomorrow. It will feature one of his short stories and fiction from other authors. I have sent him my short story the Angler for inclusion in the anthology.