Australian Horror Writers Sampler 2013

A group of Aussie authors got together and produced this sampler, featuring seven authors and one Australian artist. I'm one of them, and here is the blurb:

Inside this book you’ll find a taste of some of Australia’s top horror writers.

“The Grief School” by Matthew Tait – as a man of chance, Myles Lacey understood all too well the whims of the universe, and that meant death was a constant in life.

“Harry's Dead Poodle” by David Kernot – tells us there is more to people than what you see on the outside, like ex-butcher Harry Mills, who is good with a knife.

“Hear No Evil” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings – Blaine wakes in hospital after an accident. Although deaf, only he can hear a distant, desperate scream. What evil will he face when he answers the call?

“The Nightmare Dimension” by David Conyers – modern day mage Gordon McColley might not have sold his soul to the demons of hell, but they still have work for him to do, and he can’t refuse.

“The End of Ever” by Troy Barnes – In a world where nightmares reign, an unlikely group of friends must face the unknown and travel through the sinister heart of Ever in search of a way home. Friendships will be torn apart. Lives will be lost. Will anyone live happy after Ever?

This sampler collection provides links to the various author’s works, personal interviews, and further information on their e-books.

Step inside, and discover the horror lurking in the Land of Oz…

Here is the Amazon.com review of my story:

"The Nightmare Dimension is another rollicking good novella from David Conyers. Take a pinch of Clive Barker, a drop of Hellblazer, a good glug of quality writing, a handful of magic and demonology and shake vigorously and you have this heady brew of a story. Conyers never fails to impress with the sheer fun that he conveys through his writing."

Download it here from Amazon.com for only 99c.

Rage Against the Night in support of Rocky Wood

I'm excited to say I'm appearing in an anthology with Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson, Joe McKinney and many other huge names in the history genre.

Rocky Wood is the President of the Horror Writers Association, an award-nominated scholar, and a top bloke. He is also battling motor neurone disease.

Rage Against the Night, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, brings together the megastars of horror in support of Rocky. Rage Against the Night features stories of triumph against the forces of  darkness from the biggest names in horror. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to Rocky so he can purchase an eye gaze machine, which will help Rocky communicate as his disease progresses
Rage Against the Night will be published by Brimstone Press in late December (ebook edition) and January (print edition).

The anthology includes my original novella, "The Nightmare Dimension", the first in my new Gordon McColley series.

Here is the impressive line-up:

• The Gunner's Love Song—Joe McKinney
• Keeping Watch—Nate Kenyon
• Like Part of the Family—Jonathan Maberry
• The Edge of Seventeen—Alexandra Sokoloff
• The View from the Top—Bev Vincent
• Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway—Gary A. Braunbeck
• Following Marla—John R. Little
• Magic Numbers—Gene O'Neill
• Tail the Barney—Stephen M. Irwin
• The Nightmare Dimension—David Conyers
• Roadside Memorials—Joseph Nassise
• Dat Tay Vao—F. Paul Wilson
• Constitution—Scott Nicholson
• Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle—Peter Straub
• Agatha's Ghost—Ramsey Campbell
• Blue Heeler—Weston Ochse
• Sarah's Visions—Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• More Than Words—David Niall Wilson
• Chillers—Lisa Morton
• Changed—Nancy Holder
• Dead Air—Gary Kemble
• Two Fish to Feed the Masses—Daniel G. Keohane
• Fenstad's End—Sarah Langan
• Fair Extension—Stephen King
• Rocky Wood, Skeleton Killer—Jeff Strand

 The e-book can be purchased at Amazon.com or Smashswords.

Midnight Echo 6 Interviews: Shane Jiraiya Cummings

With the release today of Midnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Issue in e-format, here is the second interview with the authors from the issue. Shane Jiraiya Cummings is well-known for promoting Australian horror fiction internationally and as co-founder with Angela Challis of Brimstone Press, Australia’s leading small press publisher in the genre. He also knows how to craft compelling and horrific tales, and “Graveyard Orbit” is a good example of Cummings skills.
1. What is your favorite Sci-fi horror novel or short story?

To throw a curve ball, my main sci-fi horror influences have been films. I don’t read enough novels, let alone sci-fi novels, to easily cite an influence. Having said that, I don’t know if there are that many truly awe-inspiring sci-fi horror novelists out there (excluding the thriving Cthulhu Mythos mob – guys like Cody Goodfellow and our own David Conyers have produced some exceptionally imaginative Mythos work that blends SF with horror).

  

I love a dark, gritty story set in outer space, a trillion trillion kilometres from home, which is why films such as Event Horizon and Alien really appeal to me. Perhaps it was my stage in life and the circumstances that particular evening, but Event Horizon scared the bejeezus out of me when I first saw it at the cinema. That combination of the extreme isolation of space, the claustrophobia of a derelict ship, and the threat of the supernatural really resonates with me. I feel that people find comfort in technology, and these kind of films touch on this as the protagonists often rely on advanced equipment and weaponry, and as a result, they enter situations with way too much confidence (the Colonial Marines on LV-426 in Aliens, anyone?). I love that moment when the characters’ belief in advanced technology fails and they need to rely on neglected, almost antiquated skills to survive (such as good old fashioned human ingenuity). I particularly enjoy clashes of technology and the supernatural. An intriguing, if a little cheesy, take on this occurred in Jason X (the tenth Friday the 13th film, set aboard a starship).

2. Tell us about your story and what your influences are?

Directly, you can blame the band Filter for “Graveyard Orbit”. I sometimes like writing to music, and when a particular song matches the words well, melds into the background, and no longer intrudes on the creative process, I put it on endless loop until the story is finished. It’s a bit Asperger’s, I know, but I have those tendencies. In the case of “Graveyard Orbit”, it was a song titled “The 4th" by Filter. There are no words (discernible ones anyway, as a phrase is repeated in reverse and then buried under a creepy, atmospheric tune) but the song really helped me bring the story to life.

Indirectly, you can blame David Conyers. I’d always wanted to write a Cthulhu Mythos story, and when David invited me to contribute to the Call of Cthulhu fiction anthology Cthulhu’s Dark Cults (Chaosium, 2010), he sparked my imagination. The resulting contribution, “Requiem for the Burning God”, became a novella (and was later published as a standalone ebook) and the first in what I call the ‘Ravenous Gods’ cycle of stories. “Graveyard Orbit” is the second story in the ‘Ravenous Gods’ cycle, although chronologically, it will probably be the fourth or fifth (once I write the intervening stories). Without revealing spoilers, even though the two stories are set roughly 500 years apart, they have a character in common.

I believe that a big idea should be at the heart of every story, which is why my stories are getting longer and longer. In “Graveyard Orbit”, I hint at an explanation for why there are holes in the universe’s dark matter structure. There is an underlying Mythos-inspired supernatural explanation for the structure of the universe, and while this story doesn’t explicitly offer explanations, it lays clues for what could be revealed in future ‘Ravenous Gods’ stories. And it wouldn’t be a Mythos-inspired story without a brush with the alien, the bizarre, the unknowable, and that is exactly what you will find in orbit around the planet Osiris II.

3. Tell us something about yourself as a writer that isn't common knowledge?

I have years of experience as a journo, and I find writing news or non-fiction easier than writing fiction (although the mechanics of journalism – interviewing people and transcribing quotes – is a lot more exhausting), but ultimately, I feel more intense satisfaction from completing a work of fiction.

Now for something completely new – as a person (not just a writer), I possess a bizarre ‘superpower’: I am invisible to birds. Whether I’m in my car or walking, my fine feathered friends simply can’t see me. It’s a completely useless and only mildly inconvenient power. The worst of it is when I’m driving and trying to avoid birds on the road or when I need to walk through a large flock of birds (pigeons are a delight – I’m almost guaranteed to have a stray wing smack me in the side of the head, and given that I’m now used to the unexpected brush of feathers, the bird is usually more surprised than I am!). I first discovered this dubious ability when as a teenager I was sitting in a park in Sydney and a particularly imposing ibis spotted the chips I was eating and methodically stalked its way towards them, stepping over my legs and completely ignoring my warding arm. It nabbed one of the chips, but it must have been disturbed when (to its eyes) the rest of the chips levitated away as I left the park in annoyance. My experiences with birds will make great fodder for a story in the future!

Graveyard Orbit

Shane Jiraiya Cummings

System: HD 209458 (designation: Osiris).
Distance from Earth: 150.4 light years (Pegasus Constellation).

“What in hell is that?” Walker pointed to the brown-yellow smudge on the central viewscreen.
Lost to his interface with the ship, Peng took a few moments to answer, “What?”

“You mean, ‘what, Captain’,” Walker said with distraction. He’d spent the entire three month journey reminding his subordinates of his position, and correcting them had become an automatic response.

“Uh, yeah, what, Captain?” Peng said, although he remained interfaced with the ship and didn’t bother to turn to address him.

Peng’s crewmate—and the Wellington’s first officer—Huang was also interfaced, but he appeared to quiver slightly. Although his back was to Walker, he was sure Huang was suppressing laughter.

“Enough, you two,” Walker chided. “I want a full spectrum analysis on that planet. Thermal, radiation, gravity density mapping, atmospheric composition, the works.”

“Sure, Captain.” Huang swivelled in his chair to face Walker. “Although if you just interface... oh, very sorry, I forgot, you’re not enhanced.” The wireless pods embedded in Huang’s temples pulsed with lights. The magnetically insulated strips that ran up the sides of his neck and disappeared into his hairline strobed in a lightning-fast sequence of flashes.

Walker grimaced. The instant information Huang was accessing from the *Wellington’s* telemetry arrays was more of a slap in the face than his words—and Huang knew it. It wasn’t the first time his subordinates had mocked him for his humanity. Mundanes such as Walker were fast becoming obsolete. If he hadn’t owned the *Wellington*, he’d be unable to pick up work in interstellar exploration.

“Just show me what you have, Huang.” Walker sighed. “Main screen.”

The image was still grainy. Walker rubbed his eyes. The advanced telemetry of the *Wellington’s* equipment should have been able to display the visual with crystal clarity. Even with Huang’s tweaking, the image refused to resolve itself.

“Serious ionisation,” Peng muttered.

“Speak up, Peng,” Walker said.

Peng muttered something inaudible, lost as he was to the interface with the ship. Huang, too, was silent as he absorbed the data.

Walker thumped the arm of his chair. “Come on, guys! Don’t drift on me. I need answers!”

Peng straightened in his chair but took a few seconds to disengage from the data stream. “Osiris II has an atmosphere of approximately six hundred klicks. Apart from the ionisation, I’m getting no readings at all.”

“Something wrong with the equipment?” Walker asked.

“No,” Huang answered after a pause. “I ran a diagnostic and the arrays are in working order.”

Walker glanced at the planet on the main screen again. “Strange. It looks like pollution haze. Reminds me of home.”

Although his vision was unenhanced, Walker pressed his face to the nearest viewport. Until today, Osiris II had been an unclassifiable planet, identified only as a gravity distortion by telescopes in far orbit in the Sol System. Walker’s best guess was that it was akin to Venus, a rocky planet covered in a thick layer of gasses, but he needed a closer look.

“Move us into low orbit.” Walker commanded as he returned to his chair. “I want to pierce the veil.”
Within moments, the ship lurched to the right, and Walker’s stomach with it. The planet loomed in the viewport larger by the second.

As their approach vector changed, Walker spotted something.

“Stop the ship!” he called to the crew. Within seconds, the ship slowed and stopped. Walker’s stomach lurched a second time from the deceleration. He was forced to grip his chair tight to avoid being dumped on the floor.

“See that debris? What is that?” Walker asked.

Biography – Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Shane Jiraiya Cummings has been acknowledged as “one of Australia’s leading voices in dark fantasy”. He is the author of Shards, Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves, The Smoke Dragon, Requiem for the Burning God, the four volumes of the Apocrypha Sequence, and the forthcoming collection The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After. More on Shane can be found at www.jiraiya.com.au. “Graveyard Orbit” is part of Shane’s ‘Ravenous Gods’ cycle of Cthulhu Mythos-inspired stories.

The Eye of Infinity Reviewed on Horrorscope

The Eye of Infinity has just been reviewed by Shane Jiraiya Cummings on Horrorscope.com.au, the first review for my new Major Harrison Peel release, which should be back from the printers any day now:

The Eye of Infinity is a standalone novella and the latest in a series of Cthulhu Mythos-style adventures featuring protagonist Major Harrison Peel. In the novella, Peel has retired from the Australian armed forces (following the catastrophic events in The Spiraling Worm) and now works as a consultant for the USA's National Security Agency (NSA). He struggles to balance his home life with long-term girlfriend Nicola and his duties as a 'spook' on the frontline protecting mankind from alien incursions.

But The Eye of Infinity is no Men in Black pastiche, with cute aliens to befriend and singular enemies to defeat. David Conyers dredges up all the dark creations of cosmic dread spawned from H. P. Lovecraft's imagination and gives them a modern twist. Men and women like Harrison, Nicola, and NSA agent Jack Dixon fight the almost futile fight to keep shoggoths and star spawn from our door, and unfortunately for them, their victories are always Pyrrhic.


Central to The Eye of Infinity is the concept of subjective reality. Can we believe what we see in the deep, dark reaches of space? To a less indoctrinated mind, the vast expanse of stars and galaxies could be celestial dragons or roiling, living chaos. In the multi-dimensional adventure of The Eye of Infinity, this is exactly how reality is portrayed. Knowing that reality hinges on the fragility of the human mind - and that the horrors experienced by protagonist Harrison Peel could be wrought by his own mind - is a terrifying concept. What if malevolent alien wills were shaping the human race into their own dark image ... and we were convinced this was in our best interest? This is the question posed by Conyers - and it is a compelling one.


David Conyers has grappled with the true, terrifying nature of evil in his previous Mythos stories - most notably, The Spiraling Worm, his collaboration with John Sunseri - but in The Eye of Infinity, he has succeeded in showing the reader just how insignificant humanity is in the grand scheme of the universe. At the same time, Conyers' hero Harrison Peel has to contend with rogue elements in his own (adopted) government, which when contrasted with the scale of the forces threatening to engulf humanity, highlights the petty nature of humanity.


Conyers' interpretation of the Outer God Azathoth is revolutionary. In keeping with Lovecraftian tradition, Conyers manages to evoke cosmic horror on a grand scale, and yet, he simultaneously applies scientific principles by describing the god in terms of quantum physics as a force above and beyond nature.


While not the rollicking adventure of The Spiraling Worm, The Eye of Infinity is a well-crafted tale of espionage and counter-terrorism (of the alien, reality-warping kind) that is permeated by a sense of loneliness. Peel struggles against the threat of unimaginable forces, and he can't even open up to his girlfriend or accept the happiness of a mundane life.


Although the relationship between Peel and Nicola is critical to the story and Peel's motivations, the dialogue and emotions expressed felt stilted in places. While Conyers excels at making impossible dread possible, he needs to flex his authorial muscles more when it comes to romance and the nuances of relationships. Much of the interaction was good, but there were a few discordant notes in the dialogue and characters' actions that portrayed them as somewhat wooden.


However, the sense of loneliness came through strongest when Peel was travelling the cyclopean wastes of other worlds. It was fantastic to see the development of Harrison Peel's human side. Over the course of The Spiraling Worm, Conyers gave Peel a compelling character arc from naive but tough military man to a dying martyr filled with regret. Miraculously cured of his fatal disease at the end of The Spiraling Worm, Peel has become a more three dimensional character in The Eye of Infinity. Peel's inner struggles with his life's direction, his doubts, and more importantly, his fears (based on previous near-death experiences with shoggoths and other creatures) are the threads upon which the plot hangs, and as such, Conyers has moved beyond Lovecraftian tropes to ascend to the highest - and most captivating - form of storytelling: creating a character that the reader will genuinely care about.


The other downside, perhaps because of the use of recurring characters: much of the protagonist's backstory is filled in with chunks of exposition. While necessary in parts, this bogged the story's pace down somewhat.


Niggles aside, The Eye of Infinity is the epitome of modern Cthulhu Mythos fiction: tough, probing characters facing unfathomable beings and making impossible decisions. It's round two in the biggest fight we'll ever face - humanity vs. cosmic horror - and this time, no one is going to escape unscathed. David Conyers is the reigning king of the Cthulhu Mythos Down Under. With Conyers at the helm, you won't be disappointed by your journey.

This review was originally published here.

I've also included a reading list of Harrison Peel stoires in chronological story order, and where each story can be most easily found. Hopefully, there will be a second collection that captures these tales (fom "The Eye of Infinity" onwards):

• "Made of Meat" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm, Chaosium Inc. 2007)
• "To What Green Altar" by John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "Impossible Object" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm)
• "False Containment" by David Conyers (Horrors Beyond, Elder Signs Press, 2005 and The Spiraling Worm)
• "Resurgence" by John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "Weapon Grade" by David Conyers (The Spiraling Worm)
• "The Spiraling Worm" by David Conyers & John Sunseri (The Spiraling Worm)
• "The Eye of Infinity" by David Conyers (The Eye of Infinity, Perilous Press, 2011)
• "Not What One Does" by John Sunseri and C.J. Henderson (Lai Wan: The Dreamwalker, Mythos Books, 2007)
• "Stomach Acid" by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons (Cthulhu Unbound 3, Permuted Press, 2008)
• "The Masked Messenger" by David Conyers and John Goodrich (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 52, forthcoming)
• "The R'lyeh Singularity" by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons (Cthulhu Unbound 3, Permuted Press, forthcoming)

I'm working on several more Harrison Peel tales, which will fill in many of the gaps between "The Spiraling Worm" and "The R'lyeh Singularity".

Midnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special

The Australian Horror Writers Association is pleased to announce the line-up of the sixth issue of their official fiction magazine, Midnight Echo. This edition is a themed issue, with all stories being science fiction horror.

The nine stories are set in the far future and taking place in the distant reaches of space. Inside you’ll discover a strange world with a planetary ring forged from organic matter, bizarre aliens cataloguing and collecting humans to populate their idea of paradise, Lovecraftian horrors come to life in the heart of a comet, cybernetic monsters hunting humans in the hull of an abandoned star ship, and paranoid space explorers pushed to their limits at the frontier of an uncharted universe.

Stories have been penned by various renowned speculative fiction authors from Australia and the United States, including:

• Cody Goodfellow – editor of Perilous Press and author of Radiant Dawn and Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars
• Cat Sparks – fiction editor for Cosmos Magazine and multiple Aurealis Award winning author
• Stephen Dedman – Australian science fiction veteran and author of Shadows Bite and Foreign Bodies
• Shane Jiraiya Cummings – Managing Editor of Horrorscope.com.au and author of Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves
• Joanne Anderton – author of upcoming speculative fiction novel Debris

Emerging talented authors include Helen Stubbs, Alan Baxter, Andrew J. McKiernan, Mark Farrugia, and poet Jenny Blackford.

The issue will feature an in depth interview with Charles Stross, one of the most imaginative and insightful science fiction authors writing today. Stross has been honoured with two Hugo awards and Locus Reader awards, and has published more than a dozen novels, including Saturn’s Children and The Fuller Memorandum. He talks to David Conyers for Midnight Echo about his Lovecrafitan science fiction horror series, The Laundry, and his latest novel, Rule 34.

A second interview is with Chris Moore, world renowned British science fiction artist best known for his striking covers for Orion Publishing’s SF Masterworks series and for his official wallpaper art for film The Empire Strikes Back. Insights are gained into Moore’s process for achieving his striking and imaginative art, and the many changes he has been facing in the publishing industry since he began illustrating in the 1970s.

The cover for Midnight Echo 6, ‘Strange Behaviour’, is a creation of talented UK artist, Paul Drummond, who will be well-known to readers of Interzone for his striking depictions of star ships, futuristic humans and robots.

Featured interior illustrators include:

• Steve Gilberts – Apex Digest, Space and Time, and Book of Dark Wisdom
• David Lee Ingersoll – The Black Seal and Worlds of Cthulhu
• Olivia Kernot – Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
• Nathan Wyckoff – Jumpgates Comics

Midnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special, has been edited by South Australian trio, David Kernot (editor of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine), Jason Fischer (Writers of the Future winner and Aurealis nominee), and David Conyers (author of The Eye of Infinity, The Spiraling Worm and co-editor of Cthulhu Unbound 3), and is due for release in November 2011.

Further details on Midnight Echo can be found at http://www.australianhorror.com/

Previous issues of Midnight Echo can be purchased at http://www.shop.australianhorror.com/

The Grand Conversation on E-Books

One of Australia's most talented authors, editor and publisher of dark fiction, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, has been running a series of interviews with various participants of the publishing industry from around the world seeking their views e-books and the future of the written word, be it ink, pixels or something else entirely. He's calling it The Grant Conversation on E-Books, and they have been insightful, informative, sometimes scary, but always entertaining articles.

Well today is my turn, and I contributed an article E-Thoughts for an E-Future were I speculate on where e-books might be 10, 20, 30 or more years from where we are today.

I see a future where e-books come full circle and resemble a paperback. Everyone owns one book with paper. You download an e-book, and like magic, all the pages are filled with your latest book. The cover changes, too, with a blurb, captivating jacket artwork, author and broadsheet testimonials, and a sales blurb. There will even be copyright information, or not, depending on whether your scruples allow you to read pirated copies or not (let’s hope not). Wait, you want to go back and check the last book you read because there is a scene you really like? A quick command and the book transforms again because you have thousands of books in the memory. It looks like a paperback, if feels like a paperback, and hopefully the resolution is just like paper, but it’s an e-book. It might even come with a bookmark that even if it falls out tells you the last page it was in. The book might even read to you, and you can choose whose voice you want to hear it in (think of your favorite, sexiest movie star and you’ll see what I mean).

Read the rest of of my entry here, and more insightful articles on the same topic on Shane's website.

Cthulhu's Dark Cults in Preliminary Bram Stoker Award Ballot

Fantastic news, Cthulhu's Dark Cults has just made the preliminary ballot for the 2010 Bram Stoker Awards in Superior Achievement in an Anthology. Not only that, Shane Jiraiya Cumming's "Requiem for the Burning God" included in Cthulhu's Dark Cults made it in the ballot for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

Also shortlisted for Superior Achievement in an Anthology is Scenes from the Second Storey edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall (Morrigan Books). My openning story "Dream Machine" appeared in that fine collection.

The list of Australian nominations can be found here.

Shane Jirayia Cummings Releases Requiem for the Burning God

Shane Jiraiya Cummings, who wrote the longest novella in Cthulhu's Dark Cults, has recently released that same novella as an e-book.

Evil festers beneath the mountains of Peru, and British Great War ace turned mercenary Captain Max Calder unwittingly stumbles into the thick of it! Confronted by Lovecraftian horrors, the machinations of a world-spanning conglomerate, and a lunatic song that haunts his every step, Calder may pay the ultimate price to save the world from danger. Requiem for the Burning God is a grand pulp adventure inspired by the darkest imaginings of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Purchase this and other Shane Jiraiya Cummings novellas here, at very reasonable prices too, $Us0.99 to $Us2.99.

Fantastic Review of "Dream Machine"

Just found this fantastic review of Scenes from the Second Storey by Shane Jiraiya Cummings on Horrorscope. I mean, I can't ask for a better review than this one:

Imagine this reviewer's surprise, then, when the first story in Scenes, "Dream Machine" by David Conyers, turned out to be one of the best stories of 2010! "Dream Machine" follows Adamson, a man literally pulling himself back together after countless years of torture in Hell. Satan raises Adamson up as Hell's Assassin and then the fun begins! Adamson's journey to learn his trade shows Conyers at his imaginative best. Not only that, as part of this training, the reader is offered glimpses into scenes from the other stories in the anthology (a literal pun on the anthology's title, particularly given the perspective with which Adamson views these scenes). Conyers prose in "Dream Machine" is much more assured than in his earlier work, and his seamless portrayal of a somewhat unsympathetic protagonist (in light of the reveal at the end) shows his growth as a storyteller. Dark, flawed, but sympathetic protagonists is a theme amongst many of the later stories.

Read the rest of the review here, which is very complementary to the whole anthology. Congrats to the editors Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall, and publisher Mark S. Deniz.

HorrorScope Recommended Reading List 2010

Great way to start the new year, with several personal listings on Horrorscope's Recommended Reading List 2010, for both my fiction works and for stories in my edited anthology Cthulhu's Dark Cults, with recommendations for stories by Shane Jirayia Cummings and Penelope Love. The relevant extracts (for me) are as follows:

Anthologies:

• Cthulhu's Dark Cults, edited by David Conyers (Chaosium)

Novellas/Novelettes:

• "Requiem for the Burning God" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Cthulhu's Dark Cults)
• "Sweet As Decay" by David Witteveen & David Conyers (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)

Short stories:

• "Dream Machine" by David Conyers (Scenes from the Second Storey)
• "The Whisper of Ancient Secrets" by Penelope Love (Cthulhu's Dark Cults)

I'm particularly proud that "Dream Machine" got a High Recommendation, with three or more contributors recommending the work). Check out the full list here.

Six Aussie Horror Anthologies

Shane Jiraiya Cummings has posted his picks for six great Aussie horror anthologies to come out this year, with commentry. It's nice to see that I'm in three of them, including Cthulhu's Dark Cults. They've all got really nice covers too.

Cthulhu's Dark Cults Reviews Keep Coming: Scary Minds

Scary Minds, a website run by Jeff Ritchie and devoted to reviewing all things Aussie/New Zealand and horrorific (films, books, comics, etc) has just posted a very nice review of Cthulhu's Dark Cults. My favorite bit of the review follows, particularly the last sentence. Thanks Jeff.

The writers in the collection have really captured the true nature of the Cthulhu Mythos and have managed to twist that nature in a new direction. It's quite the achievement and the collection really does become a must have for lovers of the horror genre. I'm calling this the best Mythos collection since Brian Lumley's seminal Titus Crow works.

Jeff's favorite stories were from John Sunseri, David Witteveen, Shane Jiraiya Cummings and my own.

Cthulhu's Dark Cults: "Requiem for the Burning God" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

The longest story in Cthulhu’s Dark Cults was penned by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, a novella of 18,000 words which involves a sinister global corporation that featured in the Call of Cthulhu gaming supplements Day of the Beast, At Your Door and Unseen Masters. Shane’s tale, “Requiem for the Burning God”, like “Devil’s Diamonds” by Cody Goodfellow and my “Sisters of the Sand”, is a tale written in pulp adventure style with lots of action, suspense and intrigue. I put all three stories last, as the energy and pace picks up in these tales compared to the more subtle and personal horror of earlier tales. I also did this because the later tales are more in line with the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game’s Pulp Cthulhu style adventuring, if that supplement is ever released.

Shane Jiraiya Cummings is one of the most active members of Australia’s horror writing communities, and in the small press, one of our countries more successful writers with more than sixty short stories published in Australia, the United States, and Europe. He is the Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association and an active member of the US Horror Writers Association. Shane has won the Ditmar Award twice, and has been nominated for over twenty other awards. Recently moving into longer works, Shane's recent books include Shards (Brimstone Press) and Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves (Damnation Books). He is currently working on a Japanese fantasy series and other novels.

Shane said this about his story, “As a Lovecraft fan, I've always wanted to write a Mythos-inspired story, and when David Conyers invited me to contribute to Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, my dream was realised. I wasn’t very familiar with the Call of Cthulhu game, but David gave me the scenario and – Peru, early 1930s – and the rest of the story leapt onto the page. “Requiem for the Burning God” soon became an epic that incorporated my fascination for biplanes, zeppelins, and the corpses of mysterious gods.”

An extract from his story follows:

REQUIEM FOR THE BURNING GOD
Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Callao, Peru, 1932

Part I

A week at sea was one thing; a Pacific storm adding a day to the voyage and wobbling Max’s sea legs was something else altogether. Used to the constant downpour, the gloom, and the isolation for seven very long days, he was caught off guard by the glare of the dawn sun and the noise as he disembarked the gangplank onto the Callao docks.

A man with ferret features pushed through a knot of wiry, brown-skinned dock workers. “You Calder?”

“Who’s asking?”

“The name’s Neville.” He extended a hand, which Max shook with the curtness of a professional. “C’mon. The others are in the truck.” Neville thumbed at an open-backed truck parked on the dock. The paint job looked fresh, with a prominent New World Incorporated logo emblazoned in red on the door.

The four men sitting in the back, all white, wore uniforms that matched the newness of the truck. Three clutched rifles. The Peruvian dock workers circled wide of the truck. For their part, the NWI men watched everyone with suspicion.

“Those are German rifles, right? Mauser carbines?” Calder asked.

“Very good, Mr. Calder.” Neville stroked his chin. “You know your guns.”

“That’s what I told your man in San Francisco. That’s why I’m here, I guess.”

“Yes, yes. Tell me, Mr. Calder, are you a Max or a Maximillian?”

“I’m a Maximillian but Max will do.”

“Very well then, Max. I can’t place your accent. South African?”

“Displaced British, actually.”

“Displaced?”

“Yeah.” Calder kept his eyes ahead, studying the NWI recruits who in turn studied him as he approached.

Neville waved a hand at the truck. “Up you go, Mr. Calder. Make yourself as comfortable as possible. The trip to the mountains is long and bumpy to say the least.”

As Max tossed his backpack up into the truck, Neville opened the passenger door and stepped up. “A word of advice, Mr. Calder.” Neville paused on the threshold of the cabin. “Keep your eyes open for trouble. President Cerro’s government may welcome New World Incorporated but some of the locals are less enthusiastic about our presence. These are difficult times and you know why you’re here.” As if to emphasize the point, Neville pivoted to reveal the handle of a Colt .45 auto jutting from his belt.

Midnight Echo #2 Released in June

Coming next month: Midnight Echo #2, edited by Angela Challis & Shane Jiraiya Cummings, and featuring creepy stories by Kurt Newton, Bob Franklin, David Conyers, Andrew McKiernan, Joanne Anderton, Shaun Jeffrey, Felicity Dowker, and many more... plus artwork from David Schembri and many talented dark fantasy artists.

Features my Australian Horror Writers Association's Flash Fiction Award winning story "Homo Canis" which originally featured in 2008 Award Winning Australian Writing from Melbourne Books.

"Homo Canis" - Aaron Sedgwick broke the law, killing his wife in a car accident while intoxicated with alcohol. For his punishment, he is sentenced to eighteen years hard labor, remade as a dog.

Recommended Books: Shards by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Shane Jiraiya Cummings has just released his first book, Shards, out this week from Brimstone Press. The collection contains much of his short fiction, all of it dark, and some previously unpublished tales. The book is also enhanced by the wonderful illustrations of Andrew J. McKiernan.

Shane has been active in the dark fiction scene in Australia for many years editing several anthologies including Shadow Box and Black Box, and is the managing editor of OzHorrorScope. He and his wife Angela Challis also produced the very slick online flash fiction site Shadowed Realms, and Black Magazine. So he’s really contributed a lot to making dark fiction and horror as big as it is in Australia.

That said, I recommend Shards because Shane is a great writer. Last year he contributed a tale to the anthology I edited Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, and it was a great action packed tale of horror, “Requiem for the Burning God”. This story won’t appear in Shards, but plenty of other great tales will. I'm looking forward to it.