AHWA NEWS DIGEST [16.06.09-02.07.09]

The following digest of recent horror news is compiled from pieces published to HorrorScope and the Australian Horror Writers' Association website.

Leisure Books' Fresh Blood contest
Leisure Books, the company "leading the way in publishing paperback horror," is partnering with Rue Morgue magazine in association with ChiZine to present "Fresh Blood," a new writing contest specifically for unpublished horror authors. Click through for competition details.

2009 AHWA Flash and Short Story competition winners
The 2009 Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) Flash and Short Story competition attracted over 100 entries. The short story and flash fiction winners will be published in Midnight Echo #3 later this year. The winners will also receive an engraved plaque. Click through to view the winners.

Midnight Echo #2 now available
Issue #2 of Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association, is available to the public. Edited by Angela Challis & Shane Jiraiya Cummings, this issue of Midnight Echo is a mind-bending joyride into the horrific. Contributors include David Conyers, Bob Franklin, Kurt Newton, Felicity Dowker, Andrew J McKiernan, and Joanne Anderton, among many more. Art Director David Schembri has assembled an array of darkly visual delights from artists such as George Cotronis, Will Jacques, Liza Phoenix, Khara Burgess, and more. Issue #2 also continues the 'New Blood' series of interviews conducted by Stephen Studach (this issue featuring Jason Crowe). Click through for purchase and AHWA member download details.

Australian SF Blog Carnival June 2009
The Australian SF Blog Carnival for June 2009 is hosted at HorrorScope, and has been assembled by the AHWA News Editor. Click through for highlights of the blogsphere.

The Writing Show's Halloween contest
US podcast website The Writing Show will not continue the tradition in recent years of running the 'AHWA Days of Halloween'. Instead, this year, The Writing Show is hosting a Halloween fiction contest (with a US$75 prize). Click through for conditions of entry.

Classic horror-themed First Tuesday Book Club
Leigh Blackmore will guest on an episode of First Tuesday Book Club, hosted by Jennifer Byrne, along with childrens' book writer Catherine Jinks, novelist Tara Moss, and novelist Will Elliott. The special programme will focus on the classic horror novels DRACULA by Bram Stoker, THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS by Guy Endore, FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley and DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson. Keep an eye on HorrorScope for an announcement of the airing date.


Submitting News

If you have news about Australian and New Zealand Horror publishing and film, or news of professional development opportunities in the field, feel free to submit news to Talie Helene, AHWA News Editor. Just visit HorrorScope, and click on the convenient email link. (International news is not unwelcome, although relevance to Antipodean literary arts practitioners is strongly preferred.)

For information on the Australian Horror Writers' Association, visit australianhorror.com.

This AHWA NEWS DIGEST has been compiled, written, and republished in select Australian horror haunts by Talie Helene. Currently archived at the AHWA MySpace page, and Southern Horror; hosted at the social networking sites Darklands and A Writer Goes On A Journey; and hosted by AHWA members Felicity Dowker, Brenton Tomlinson, Scott Wilson, and Jeff Ritchie (Scary Minds: Horror's Last Colonial Outpost).

If you would like to support the AHWA News effort by hosting a copy of the AHWA News Digest on your blog or website, contact Talie to receive a fully formatted HTML edition of the digest by email.