2010
7 September 2010
Aussiecon 4 – the 68th Worldcon – has just taken place in Melbourne. I managed to win a Ditmar for Best Fan Writer (for Undead Backbrain). Also several stories were published: "Getting Rid of Mother" reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fifth Annual Volume, edited by Bill Congreve for MirrorDanse Books; "Primal Etiquette" reprinted in Orb: Greatest Hits. The Best of Orb. Issue #8, edited by Sarah Endacott; and "Ego" published in Scenes From the Second Storey, edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall, Morrigan Books.
11 August 2010
"Getting Rid of Mother" from Creeping in Reptile Flesh is to be reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fifth Annual Volume, edited by Bill Congreve for MirrorDanse Books. Due September 2010.
10 July 2010
"Desert Madonna" has been accepted for Anywhere But Earth, edited by Keith Stevenson for Coeur De Lion, 2011.
26 June 2010
My short piece on writing for the official Doctor Who anthology Destination Prague is up at George Ivanoff's Literary Clutter blog. Check it out.
1 May 2010
As advertising for it has now appeared on the web, I guess the forthcoming publication of Zombie Apocaylpse -- an anthology of connected zombie stories edited by Stephen Jones for Mammoth Books -- is no longer a secret. I have a story of approx. 10,000 words in it, tentatively titled "Wasting Matilda". It's due out later this year.
20 February 2010
New interview by Kathryn Linge for the Australian 2010 Snapshot project here.
17 February 2010
A story of supernatural self-obsession, "Ego", will appear in Scenes From the Second Story, edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall. The anthology, inspired by the God Machine album of the same name, will be published by Morrigan Press in September 2010. More information here.
2009
29 September 2009
My story "Behind Dark Blue Eyes" (which is to be published in the upcoming anthology Exotic Gothic 3, edited by Danel Olson) has met with a very positive response from the publisher at Ash-Tree Press. It is to be the lead story.
28 September 2009
A review of the anthology Dead Souls, edited by Mark Deniz, calls my story "Sandcrawlers" "one of the top stories of this anthology". The "Anthology of Darkness and Mayhem" has just been launched and is now available from the publisher's website. Full review
2 September 2009
An excellent review of Creeping in Reptile Flesh has appeared on the Australian horror review website, Scary Minds.
1 September 2009
Just published in Dead Souls, an impressive and gritty new Horror anthology edited by Mark S. Deniz and published by Morrigan Books, is my story "Sandcrawlers" -- a particularly nasty tale featuring my hardboiled character Michael Crowe and based on the real-life Wanda Beach Murders of the 1960s. The "Anthology of Darkness and Mayhem" includes authors such as Ramsey Campbell, T.A. Moore, Paul Finch, Kaaron Warren, Gary McMahon, Tom English, Robert Holt, and many more. It is now available from the publisher.
Also completed is a new horror story inspired by the God Machine song "Ego". It will appear in an anthology compiled in dedication to God Machine's album Scenes from the Second Storey.
20 July 2009
The publication of my short YA novel Robot War Espresso (Twelfth Planet Press) has been moved to 2010, due to ... ahem ... technical difficulties (that is, I haven't finished writing it yet -- and it's getting longer).
On that subject, I have created a Robot War Espresso blog, which features articles relating to robots in fiction and the real world -- and later information on the book. Check it out occasionally.
17 June 2009
"Behind Dark Blue Eyes" has been accepted for inclusion in Exotic Gothic 3, edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press). Expect publication in September.
17 June 2009
Old news now, but at Conjecture, the 48th National SF Convention in Adelaide, held on 5-8 June, 2009, I won a Ditmar Award for Best Fan (Unpaid) Writer for my review/commentary blog Undead Backbrain.
My work had been nominated in several categories of the Ditmar Awards (which are Australian achievement awards in SF equivalent to the US Hugo Awards) -- including Best Short Story for "Moments of Dying", Best Novella for "Creeping in Reptile Flesh", Best Collection/Anthology for Creeping in Reptile Flesh (Altair Australia Books), and the Atheling Award for Criticism and Review for the article "George A. Romero: Master of the Living Dead" in Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #2). You can see the full list here.
16 April 2009
An interview with Australian horror writer Kaaron Warren, who has recently sold three novels to new UK imprint, Angry Robot, has just gone up on the site. Kaaron is a terrific -- and disturbing -- author (well, her work is), and the interview is definitely worth checking out! Here's the link.
10 April 2009
Starting today in the Unnatural History section of the website! Mike Bogue and Todd Tennant's graphic novel serial, Tales of King Komodo. It features an original giant monster creation in a series of punch-ups with man and various daikaiju opponents. Beautifully drawn, the serial originally appeared in the pages of G-Fan issues 83 to 87, but it is appearing here for the first time in colour. It is made up of five episodes and I will be putting one episode up each week -- though I will hold off on the final one for a while as it has only just appeared in the pages of G-Fan -- you will have to grab a copy of that excellent magazine to learn about KK's ultimate fate. So, for today: enjoy Episode One of Tales of King Komodo.
27 January 2009
The Australian professional genre awards -- in the form of the 13th Annual Aurealis Awards -- took place on 24 January at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane, and I was there hoping to receive an award in the Best Anthology/Collection category for Creeping in Reptile Flesh. Unfortunately, my book was running against Sean Williams' Magic Dirt: the Best of Sean Williams (Ticonderoga Press) and it was announced as the winner. Very deserving, of course, and not unexpected -- and Sean was so generous in his acceptance speech, I was forced to abandon my plans for terrible retribution. Sean is one of our great writers and he more than deserves the piece of curved glass and the kudos, and I certainly don't begrudge him the victory. In the words of the Perpetual Runner-Up, it is simply an honour to get on the shortlist with him.
The Judges' report on Creeping in Reptile Flesh read: "An impressive, very personal and thematically cohesive collection of stories from horror writer, Robert Hood, and nicely laid out by Cat Sparks. Creeping shows the significant contribution Robert has made to the Australian horror genre." It's excellent that Cat received some well-deserved kudos there, too.
2008
20 December 2008
I haven't been updating news here with much frequency, a slackness I'll have to redress in the new year. Meanwhile, here's some of the latest writing news.
- "Kulpunya" has been published in Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo, edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press) to (so-far) good reviews.
- My new collection of horror stories, Creeping In Reptile Flesh (Altair Australia Books), was launched at this year's Conflux by Jack Dann. It is available for purchase here and here.
- Creeping in Reptile Flesh is a finalist in the Best Collection category in this year's Aurealis Awards, up against Magic Dirt: The Best of Sean Williams (Ticonderoga Press).
- The titular novella from the new collection, "Creeping in Reptile Flesh", has been listed in the worldwide 2008 Best Short Story list compiled by the folk at Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth (who, insanely, try to read everything published in the speculative fiction genre)
- The Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth team listed both "Creeping in Reptile Flesh" and "Unravelling" from the same collection on their all-Australian list.
- "Sandcrawlers" will be re-printed in Dead Souls, edited by Mark S. Deniz, Morrigan Books, expected March 2009.
- An as-yet-unfinished novella, Robot War Espresso, has been accepted by Twelfth Planet Press for publication as a chapbook in 2009.
- Other publications for this year are detailed here. All up, the year saw 9 new stories published, one collection, two academic columns, a major interview with George Romero, assorted film and book reviews, and various other journalistic pieces. Several novels got a little closer -- but so far, no cigar. A few accepted stories await publication.
21
August 2008
- "Remainders" in the thematic anthology Voices, edited
by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar, Morrigan Books,
2008 (comprises six discrete but connected short stories:
"1928", "1948", "1968",
"1988", "2008" and "Epilogue")
- "Zombie
Au Gratin" in Scary Food, edited
by Cat Sparks, Agog! Press 2008 -- this is a book
being published as part of the Australian SF community's
Paul Haines fundraising project.
- "Creeping
in Reptile Flesh", "Unravelling" and "Getting Rid of Mother" are all previously unpublished stories due to appear
in my collection Creeping in Reptile Flesh,
to be published by Altair Australia Books. It can
be pre-ordered now from here.
- "Romero:
Master of the Living Dead", an interview
with George A. Romero in Black Magazine,
issue 2, due September. The issue also includes my
interviews with Aussie filmmakers Jon Hewitt ("Acolytes")
and Steven Kastrissios ("The Horseman").
- "Evolution
of the Zombies" -- a short piece to accompany the above mentioned
Romero interview.
14
July 2008
My five-part story "Moments of Dying" has appeared in the inaugural issue of Black
Magazine. Part 1 ("First Moment of Dying")
was first published in Shadowed Realms #11
in 2006, but the remainder are previously unpublished.
Also in Black #1 is an interview (which
describes me as "Aussie Horror's Wicked Godfather"!!).
It's a terrific magazine, which includes much of great
interest apart from the above -- including a new story
by Stephen King). You can pick up a copy from your local
newsagent (in Australia anyway).
7
March 2008
Read
a Lovecraft-inspired story, "Call of Cthulhu's
Mum" here.
2
March 2008
Newly
added: a repository of my stories
online, on this site and outside it. This will expand
as time goes by. First off, a meta-fictional piece on
Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, called "Dear
Mary".
1 March 2008
My
story "Pseudomelia of the Masses" -- an SF
comment on the current working climate -- has finally
surfaced in the excellent anthology, The Workers'
Paradise, edited by Russell B. Farr and Nick
Evans and published by Ticonderoga Publications. Buy
a copy here!
27 February 2008
A
ghost/horror story set in and around Alice Springs and
Uluru, "Kulpunya", has
been accepted for Exotic Gothic 2,
by editor Danel Olson. It will be published by Ash-Tree
Press in Autumn 2008.
18
February 2008
I've
just been nominated in the Best Fan Writer category of the Australian 2008 Ditmar Awards, for the
film reviews on this site. Members of the Natcon (Swancon this year) get to vote. Unfortunately I won't be there
in person, but if any of you reading this are going,
you can check out the reviews here and then vote for me with all due enthusiasm!
The most recent reviews are on this
page.
18
February 2008
Both
the US paperback and hardcover editions of Daikaiju!
3: Giant Monsters vs the World are now available
from Amazon.
Updates to the website,
giving a full contents list, have also been made. Go
take a look at the great line-up -- and then buy a copy!
16
February 2008
On Undead Backbrain I've been providing information on a slew of new
giant monster films. Go there to check them out!
28
January 2008
The Giant Monster Movie List has now be updated
and added to Undead
Backbrain.
27
January 2008
I've
just been to Brisbane for the Aurealis Award
Ceremony for 2007 -- the annual awarding of
kudos to Australian speculative fiction writers -- where
I was presenter (and not a nominee) in the Horror Short
Fiction section. The Award went to Anna Tambour. Congrats,
Anna! Meanwhile my partner Cat Sparks won the Award
for Best SF Short Fiction for her story "Hollywood
Roadkill". She then went on to win the Golden Aurealis
Award -- the Best of the Best Convenors' selection --
for short fiction. She was suitably shocked! Pics here.
23
January 2008
So far,
the Big Event of 2008 (from a purely biased POV, of
course) is the release of producer J.J. Abram and director
Matt Reeves' new giant monster film Cloverfield.
The first real US Godzilla? Read my
thoughts on the matter.
2007
28
November 2007
And now, I have put together a
companion to the Ghost Movie list: a Zombie
Movie list. It, too, is on the Undead
Backbrain site.
17
November 2007
The Ghost Movie
list has been updated and moved over the the Undead
Backbrain site -- for convenience.
14
November 2007
I'm back from the World
Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs
NY and will be catching up with things over the
next few weeks. Check here and the Undead
Backbrain.
4
October 2007
Over at the Talking
Squid, there's a Squidsquatch
running -- that is, "A new interview (almost)
every day. A single question. The subject one
day becomes interviewer the next." I've just
posted an answer to the question (asked by Chris
Lawson): "Rob, I may be over-simplifying,
but it seems to me that witches are mediaeval,
werewolves are late feudal, vampires are Victorian,
and apocalyptic flesh-eating zombies are late
20th century consumerist. What new monsters are
in store for this coming century?" Go check
out my answer.
2
October 2007
Back from Conflux 4, where Daikaiju!
3: Giant Monsters vs the World was launched.
The event was very successful, despite potential
disaster in the form of an absence of books (they
turned up in time). I'll put up a longer account
and some pictures when I get a chance.
27
September 2007
I just heard that Daikaiju!
Giant Monster Tales contributor Terry
Dartnall passed away at his home on Monday
evening (24 September). Terry had been suffering
from cancer for some time. Knowing that he was
gravely ill we had dedicated Daikaiju! 3:
Giant Monsters vs the World (in which he
had a second giant monster story) to him and hoped
that he would live to see the book. It wasn't
to be, but we will remember him as it is launched
on the weekend.
The
funeral is on Friday 28 September.
6
September 2007
Nick Stathopoulos' superb cover
image for Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters
vs the World has been revealed!
17
August 2007
New
interview as part of the 2007 Australian
Speculative Fiction Snapshot.
15
August 2007
Here's
the first
review of the Doctor Who Short Trips book
Destination Prague, in which
my story "Gold and Black Ooze" appears.
The latter gets a passing mention...
9 August 2007
I have
joined the team at the Australian Horror site
Horrorscope.
Some of my reviews and interviews will be appearing
there first (though they will end up on this site
as well, eventually). Join us there. It's a great
resource!
8 August 2007
Giant Monstrous Limerick competition! Win a copy
of Daikaiju!2: Revenge of the Giant Monsters!
Here!
Or just read the great limericks that visitors
have left there...
4
August 2007
Recent
additions to Undead Backbrain
include: a review of the graphic novel Giantkiller
by Dan Brereton  ;
and some information on the new Korean giant monster
flick, D-Wars .
27
July 2007
Review
of, or more accurately some comments on, George
Pal's 1960 version of H.G. Wells' The Time
Machine. Click the footprints
for access to the Undead Backbrain.
17
July 2007
In
order to make the posting of information easier,
I have started a News
blog. It's called "Undead Backbrain"
and will include publishing news, latest sales,
random comment, notice of changes to this website
or new review links... that sort of thing. As
it is a blog, visitors can interact directly and
it has been syndicated to LiveJournal
so that updates appear there. Hopefully all this
will expedite the whole process. (Note: if you
want to comment through LJ, you have to go to
the actual blog site, or I won't see it!)
See
you there!
20
June 2007
The
undead secret is out, thanks to Martin
Livings, author of Carnies.
What secret, you ask? Go here
to find out.
16
June 2007
Though
I previously announced that the Dr Who anthology,
Destination: Prague (edited by
Steve Savile) was officially available, the announcement
proved rather premature. Now, however, we have
official confirmation that the book is "at
the printers" and will be available for shipping
in about two weeks -- in all its hardcover glory.
This is perhaps the biggest of the Short
Trips anthologies to date, full of excellent
writers and truly inventive stories. You NEED
to order a copy... now! You can do so from Big
Finish, from Amazon
and other enlightened booksellers. Buy it! You
won't be disappointed.
12
June 2007
Daikaiju!2:
Revenge of the Giant Monsters has
been officially launched! The event took place
at Convergence 2: the Australian National SF Coinvention
on Saturday 9 June, in the presence of four of
the authors and a menagerie of well-wishers. The
room was so packed -- and so noisy -- that hotel
management came and closed it down!
31
May 2007
Guidolon,
the Giant Space
Chicken,
who was first introduced to the world in Daikaiju!
Giant Monster Tales, is now out in an animated
version, Director's Cut. Check it out here!
It's excellent!
30
May 2007
At
long last Daikaiju!2: Revenge of the Giant
Monsters is finished and at the printers.
It will be available in Australia in a few weeks
-- and worldwide through Amazon.com a bit later.
For a peek at the cover (featuring artwork by
Todd Tennant) go here.
10
May 2007
I've
been working on some specific writing projects
that are awaiting final approval (before I can
report on them), doing requested revisions and
editing Daikaiju! 2: Revenge of the Giant
Monsters, so I haven't been updating
very effectively. What's needed is a picture of
a cat. So here's a cute one of Pazuzu (taken by
Cat Sparks, of course):
21
April 2007
Just
added -- a collection of
reviews and comments on my stories and books.
It's in no way comprehensive at the moment, but
I'm working on it!
13
April 2007
Fantasy
artist Marianne Plumridge has
posted an enthusiastic review of Daikaiju!
Giant Monster Tales on her blog. Read it
here.
10
April 2007
Fantastic
Wonder Stories, edited by Russell B.
Farr (Ticonderoga Press,
2007), which includes my story "Luxury Goods",
was launched at Swancon in Perth over the Easter
weekend. From a quick glance, it looks like a
great collection of fantastical tales. Check it
out here
-- and don't forget to order a copy!
2
April 2007
"Fafrotskies"
-- a short short story -- has been accepted
for Black
Box, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
(Brimstone Press, due Jan 2008)
30
March 2007
"Man
and Super-monster: A History of Daikaiju Eiga
and its Metaphorical Undercurrents", from
Borderlands #7, 2006, has been
nominated for the 2006 William Atheling Jnr
Award for Criticism or Review.
30
March 2007
A
near-future SF story about work, "Pseudomelia
of the Masses", has been accepted by editors
Russell B. Farr and Nick Evans for The
Workers' Paradise (Ticonderoga Press).
Due out on May. This story is dedicated to my
old friend David Young, who died unexpectedly
last year.
22
March 2007
The Dr Who Short Trips anthology
Destination: Prague, which
includes my story "Gold and Black Ooze"
as well as stories from such great writers as
Sean Williams, Stephen Dedman, Lee Battersby
and Paul Finch, is now officially available.
It's edited by Steve Savile. The
site even allows you to download a teaser extract
from my story. Check
it out here
-- and buy a copy or two!
16
March 2007
Having finished reading the five
excellent works shortlisted by the Australian
Shadows Award judging panel for 2006,
I have now fulfilled my duties as Guest Judge
for this year and announced my choice of winner:
Will Elliott's grotesquely funny evil-clown
opus, The Pilo Family Circus.
I loved it and recommend it to all! You can
read my comments here.
27
February 2007
Horror story featuring cicadas,
"Monstrous Bright Tomorrows", accepted
for UK anthology In Bad Dreams,
edited by Mark Sin Deniz and Sharyn Lilley.
11
February 2007
Nasty
zombie story "In the Service of the Flesh"
(from Aurealis #36) has been chosen
by editor Angela Challis for inclusion in Australian
Dark Fantasy and Horror 2007 (Brimstone
Press' annual year's best dark fiction omnibus).
28
January 2007
SF
story "Luxury
Goods" accepted by Russell B. Farr for
Fantastic Wonder Stories (Ticonderoga
Press, due March 2007). The book can be pre-ordered
here.
14
January 2007
My
week at Clarion South is over.
There's a bit of a rundown here.
1
January 2007
It's
the New Year. Clarion South beckons (read about
it here).
Hopefully
2007 will be a great year for publication. Though
I'm still waiting on word regarding a couple
of novels and a slew of stories, I'm already
looking forward to the appearance of several
I'm very pleased with: the Doctor Who tale "Gold
and Black Ooze" in Destination: Prague,
"Redlight Dead" in Steven Savile's
Monster Noir, and the next four instalments
of my "Moments of Dying" sequence
in Shadowed Realms (as well as assorted
re-print stories in various Brimstone Press
volumes). Details here.
Also likely is a collection of horror stories
from Altair Publications, tentatively titled
"Creeping in Reptile Flesh". Meanwhile
the two sequels to Daikaiju!
will finally appear in June this year.
The
Year That Was
Though
it was a slow year publication-wise, I sold
a total of eleven stories and articles (many
of which are awaiting publication), completed
an additional three or four that are in editorial
limbo and am currently working on several others.
I'm a bit closer to finishing a horror novel,
Dead Matter, but failed to get the
sequels to Daikaiju! edited and published
as originally planned.
It
was a good year for film-related non-fiction:
I won an Atheling Award for my King Kong article
and had two other major articles published,
one in Borderlands and another in G-Fan,
both to good review. As well, "State of
the Zombie Film" was reprinted in Australian
Dark Fantasy and Horror 2006 edition
(Brimstone Press, 2006).
Though
there were many good books published this year
-- a year characterised by a welcome upsurge
in Horror publishing in Australia, largely thanks
to Lothian -- and I saw many decent movies (not
necessarily new), for me it was the Year of
the TV Series. The following were my favourites
(in no particular order), though few of them
were actually produced in 2006:
-
Carnivale
-
Wire
in the Blood
-
Afterlife
-
Sea
of Souls
-
The
new Doctor Who
-
Dead
Like Me
-
Masters
of Horror
-
Deadwood
-
Life
on Mars
-
Battlestar
Galactica (season 2)
-
Beasts
(Nigel Kneale's anthology series from 1976)
-
Family
Guy (cartoon series)
-
Ghost
in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (anime)
-
Ghost
in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig (anime)
- Ultraman
Nexus / Ultraman Max
All
in all, some great television genre work --
and a standard of originality and relative excellence
that I'm not sure is being offered by cinema
releases, not to the same extent anyway. The
only downside is that these shows frequently
get prematurely cancelled before they've reached
their anticipated conclusion....
2006
30
December 2006
My
stint as the first of this year's Clarion
South tutors begins shortly. I've started
a pseudo-blog about it here.
Must be the beginning of a downhill spiral.
7
December 2006
I've
added a bunch of old editorial and other cartoons
to the site. This will grow in number over time
and I may even draw new ones now and then. Check
them out!
1
December 2006
New
Zealander Michael J. Asquith
has been kind enough to send me a DVD of the zombie
movie (titled Zombie Movie) that
he made with chum Ben Stenbeck. The short film
is available online for download,
but the required software isn't executable on
Macs. Both Michael and Ben worked for WETA as
designers/SFX artists on Jackson's Lord
of the Rings trilogy, and their living
dead side project is a doozy. Read my review here.
25
November 2006
Daikaiju!
contributor
Eric Shapiro -- has just announced
the publication of his latest novel, Days
of Allison. Read
what he had to say about it... and, of course,
pick up a copy or three.
12
November 2006
An SF story "God
of War" has just appeared in the
latest issue of Borderlands
(#8). Along with some excellent stories by other
authors, there is a fascinating history and re-appraisal
of the Kevin Costner "mega-flop" Waterworld
by Grant Watson. Check it out.
30
October 2006
Yesterday, the great British TV genre writer,
Nigel Kneale, creator of Professor
Bernard Quatermass and one of the scariest ghost
stories ever broadcast, The Stone Tape,
died at age 84. He was one of my writing heroes.
Here
is an obituary of him that I wrote for the Talking
Squid site.
26
October 2006
As
last year, this Halloween sees the US online podcast
site, The Writing Show, headline
members of the Australian Horror Writers Association
reading one of their own stories. My story "Peripheral
Movement in the Leaves Under an Orange Tree"
has just gone up, followed by an interview conducted
by host Paula Berinstein. Check out the terror
here.
24
October 2006
This
week there's an interesting article on Daikaiju!
contributor Stephen Mark Rainey
in his local entertainment paper, YES, WEEKLY.
Mark talks about horror, his writing career and,
of course, Godzilla and co. Read it here.
17
October 2006
WA independent
publisher Brimstone
Press has been busy. They've just
announced their first two book titles: Australian
Dark Fantasy & Horror 2006 (a Years
Best) and Book of Shadows 1 (a
collection of flash fiction from the first six
issues of Shadowed Realms, plus
other new stories). The first includes an article
I wrote on recent zombie movie developments; and
the second includes my nasty piece of work ("banned
in Queensland"), a horror story called "Autopsy".
Check
out the books. They look great. And don't
forget to order copies!!
16
October 2006
Shadowed
Realms #11 has just gone online.
This beautifully produced e-zine includes my story
"First Moment of Dying"
-- the first of five stories to be published in
Shadowed Realms as a thematically connected
sequence.
16
October 2006
Well,
Horror Day is over and some of the prizes have
been won. I'm leaving up my page and plan to update
it shortly as an ongoing feature. So come back
to check it out occasionally.
13
October 2006
Welcome
to World Horror Day. To celebrate horror
fiction in its various forms, I've created a special
Horror
Day page, which will give you access
to stories and quizzes -- including lots of giveaways.
11
October 2006
This
Friday -- Friday the 13th of October -- has been
declared International Horrorday.
Intended to promote horror fiction in any way
possible, Horrorday will feature media interviews,
readings, signings, give-aways and other wonders/horrors
-- and has been enthusiastically embraced by the
Australian
Horror Writers Association in Australia. The
AHWA's Horrorday info site is here.
Check
back here on the day for some special surprises,
and check Articulate
and the AHWA site
for Australian happenings more generally. The
main international website is here.
1
October 2006
Now the
greatest anthology of giant monster tales ever
produced is available in the US and on Amazon
-- softcover and hardback. Don't forget to pick
one up!
5
September 2006
Just
completed -- and accepted for publication in
G-Fan,
the long-running magazine of giant-monsterdom
-- is an article on the Japanese gargantuan superhero
Ultraman. The article's title is "A Giant
Against Giants: Ultraman for the New Millennium"
and it looks at the latest incarnations of the
daikaiju-fighting hero. It will be in issue #77
of G-Fan and is due out in the
next month or so. Keep an eye out for it!
4
August 2006
For the
past week and a bit I've been Guest Writer on
the speculative fiction website, ASif.
I'll be there until next Wednesday, so feel free
to drop by to ask questions, chat, be witty or
whatever. You do have to register in order to
post questions, but it's not difficult to do so.
So far there's been some very interesting discussions.
And the entire site is worth scanning while you're
there. So drop by!
26
July 2006
Some
excellent news regarding the anthology Daikaiju!,
listing stories from that volume that have been
included in Ellen Datlow's Highly Commended
list for 2005. See here.
27
June 2006
A new
story, "God of War", has just been accepted
for publication in Borderlands
#8. This is an SF anti-war diatribe, very internalised
and intense. It should be out later in the year.
25
June 2006
The
first installment of an ongoing column, tentatively
known as The Ossuary, has been accepted
for the inaugural issue of a new academic journal,
Studies in Australian Weird Fiction.
The essay is titled "Ghosts, Monsters and
Chainsaws" and deals with naturalistic vs
supernatural content in horror fiction.
14
June 2006
In case
there are some who haven't heard, I have been
asked to be a tutor for Clarion
South -- the prestigious "boot
camp for writers" -- in 2007. It's a great
honour and I'm really looking forward to it.
13
June 2006
New out
is my extensive article, "Man and Super-monster:
A History of Daikaiju Eiga and its Metaphorical
Undercurrents" in Borderlands
#7.
31
May 2006
An older
story of mine -- and one of my personal favourites
-- has just gone up on author Anna Tambour's Virtuous
Medlar Circle website. The story, a particularly
grim gargoyle tale, is called "Rough Trade".
You can read it here.
26
April 2006
A few
new stories sold, including one exciting commission:
a Dr Who story in an official BBC anthology! I
share this honour with three other Australians:
Sean Williams, Stephen Dedman and Lee Battersby.
More details here!
20
April 2006
This
year's Australian National SF Convention, Conjure
2006, proved a particularly good one for me --
and for giant monsters! Daikaiju! Giant
Monster Tales won a Ditmar (the Australian
Hugo) for Best Collection of 2005, and my article
in the BenBella Book anthology King Kong is
Back! -- "Divided Kingdom: King Kong
vs Godzilla" won an Atheling Award for Genre
Criticism or Comment. Read
the article.
28
February 2006
Newly
added to the Daikaiju! section
of the site is an ongoing report on Todd Tennant
and Frank Wu's exciting Guidolon Project.
What's it all about? Go
and find out!
28
February 2006
On
the weekend, two stories from Daikaiju!
tied in the Best Fantasy Short Story category
of the Aurealis
Awards (Australia's Nebulas)! They were
Rosaleen Love's "Once Giants Roamed the Earth"
and Richard Harland's "The Greater Death
of Saito Saku". Congratulations to them both
for this remarkable result!
24
February 2006
My story
"Cross-currents" can now be read online
on the excellent new COSMOS magazine fiction
webpage. Some terrific short stories here, chosen
by fiction editor Damien Broderick. Check
out all the stories!
23
February 2006
"Man
and Super-monster: A History of Daikaiju Eiga
and its Metaphorical Undercurrents" has just
been accepted for publication in Borderlands,
an excellent Western Australia-based speculative
fiction magazine.
21
February 2006
There's
a new review of Daikaiju! on
Bookgasm.com.
A good one, too!
14
February 2006
Well,
here we are into February and this is the first
entry I've made for 2006! Life has been busy.
The good news is: my story "Birthmark"
-- a sort of post-human ghost story -- has been
accepted by Keith Stevenson and Andrew Macrae
for their cØck anthology.
This should be an interesting one, a collection
of original spec-fic stories addressing issues
of masculinity. Look out for it in the future!
In
other news, selection of the first four novels
to be published in Lothian Books "Dark Suspense"
line of horror novels (in which process I was
heavily involved) has been made. They are:
Carnies
by Martin Livings
Prismatic by Edwina Grey
The Darkness Within by Jason
Nahrung
The Mother by Brett McBean
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