Macabre eBook is now available

Great news!

The eBook version of the Australian Shadows Award winning and Bram Stoker nominated Macabre; A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears is now available via Amazon and Smashwords, and is expected to be available via all other outlets by Oct 30.

It's only $4.99, and that's one hell of a bargain for this 672 page tomb containing 38 short stories by some of the past, present, and future masters of Australian horror. Over 200 years of terror, now at your fingertips.

Also, the Print On Demand version has been accepted by Lightning Source and is expected to be available via its global distribution network within 4 – 8 weeks. I'll have more information on this version in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, for the price of a hamburger you can now purchase your very own copy of Macabre, and that's just cool.

It's alive (again)! ALIVE (again)!!

Well, it turns out I get bored if I'm not waist-deep involved in the spec-fic scene... So say hello to the new (again) Executive Editor of Midnight Echo magazine.

First point of business was to set up the magazine with it's own website, which we've done. Check it out here (I had a slight accident with the url--don't ask--but we'll be moving to midnightechomagazine.com in November).

Then we decided to double payment rates, from 1c/word to 2c/word. We're planning on getting those rates up to professional rates of 5c/word...

And to celebrate this 're-launch,' we're holding a massive subscription drive across the Halloween month. There are loads of prizes to give away, including $200 in cold, hard cash! So don't miss out. Take out a subscription!

The website also provides all the latest news regarding the up-coming sci-fi horror issue 6, edited by David Conyers, David Kernot, and Jason Fischer, plus submission guidelines for issue 7, to be edited by Daniel Russell and with the delectable theme of taboos...

So go check it out--and better yet, help us spread the word.

Exciting News

So I have some cool news to announce but I think I'll leave that for a bit and instead share with you one of my favourite childhood memories from TV land. Sesame Street, of all places, back when the Cookie Monster was only interested in cookies, and the only definition for the word 'gay' with Ernie and Bert meant laughter and fun.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are the Yip-Yips, encountering a radio:

Funny what sticks in your mind, but I remember these things so clearly. Remember them finding a phone for the first time, too. Ah, such times :)

Writing times, Macabre the eBook - plus Spider Goats!

I've had my bum firmly planted in my seat lately, writing away til the wee small hours of the night when it seems I'm the only one left alive in the world. With so much silence surrounding me, the writing has been going well. Heck, I've even managed to cram in a short story, almost ready to submit. Got two others burning holes in my cranium in order to get out so I really need to write them down before I fill up with water next time it rains.

Novel 2 is coming on strong and it's an action-packed joyride into psychosis and paranoia, and maybe a dash of a global conspiracy, too. It's been fun to write, and far more up tempo than my usual psychological style. I wonder if this will come across in future short stories?

The eBook version of Macabre is well and truly a happening thing so expect this within the next month or so. All the contributors are on board and it will be great to see the anthology released in this format. It will make it far more accessible to the wider public as I know postage costs have been causing headaches for some, especially those on the other side of the world. I'll post more on this in the lead up to its release.

And now for something truly different. Spider Goats! Awesome. Yes, I know they're old news but I love 'em. It seems as if there is a new use for the silk gene that has been introduced into goats, and that is to use it to make bulletproof skin for humans! A wonderfully wacky scientist is working on this, and even plans to replace the keratin in our skin with spider silk so our bodies become bulletproof!

Sometimes it's like I fell asleep and woke up in a truly weird place...

Alfred Hitchcock is back!

It seems one of Alfred Hitchcock's earliest films, 'The White Shadow,' has been unearthed in the land of the hobbits (that's New Zealand, for those who don't know their hobbits). It was found amongst a collection of unlabelled American nitrate prints that had been stashed away for the past twenty-odd years and only now come to light.

Only the first 3 reels of the 6-reel feature film made back in 1923 have been found. Hitchcock was 24 at the time, and was credited as the writer, assistant director, editor, and production designer. This is the earliest feature film with his name on it. Not sure if the rest of the film will ever be recovered though, as apparently no other copies exist.

But what a find this is! I'm a huge Hitchcock fan; he made some brilliant movies and was a true master of the suspense film. The White Shadow, which starred Betty Compson as twin sisters, one of which didn't have a soul, will be shown on September 22 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles. Not sure when/if it'll be shown in Australia, but it sounds interesting...

If they don't find the rest of the film, I wonder who they could get to complete it...?