AHWA NEWS DIGEST - [11.12.09-01.01.10]

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

Indie Books support Toodyay BushFire Appeal
For the next two weeks Indie Books Online are donating $5 from every paperback and $10 from every hardback sold through the online store to the Toodyay Bushfire Appeal. Please, if you have a spare moment, check out the shop, buy something, and help Indie Books Online help out a small town. Direct donation is also possible. Click through for more details.

AHWA Flash & Short Story Competition 2010
The AHWA Flash & Short Story Competition is open to submissions from January 1, until May 31, 2010! We're after horror stories - tales that frighten, yarns that unsettle us in our comfortable homes. All themes in this genre will be accepted, from the well-used (zombies, vampires, ghosts etc) to the highly original, so long as the story is professional and well written. No previously published entries will be accepted – all tales must be an original work by the author. Stories can be as violent or as bloody as the storyline dictates, but those containing gratuitous sex or violence will not be considered. Click through for full competition guidelines.

Antichrist extended season at Chauvel Cinema
Sydney's Chauvel Cinema are screening Lars von Trier's controversial film ANTICHRIST.

Terra Incognita Podcast 014
Terra Incognita SF podcast features a bumper selection of speculative fiction stories read by the authors who created them! Trent Jamieson reads Always; Keith Stevenson reads ... They First Make Mad; Brendan Duffy reads a suitably Christmasy tale of familial joy, Come To Daddy, complete with rap and beatbox artistry from Matthew Chrulew! Free for streaming and download at http://www.tisf.com.au/, or on itunes.

Contributors sought for The Book Show blog
The Book Show, ABC Radio National, has a new blog and they want you to write for it. The Book Show and Express Media are in partnership to find a team of young Australian writers to contribute. If you’ve got an internet connection you can be part of it. Applications close January 25; for full submission details, visit The Book Show blog.

2009 Chronos Awards nominations open
Nominations for the 2009 Chronos Awards, for excellence in Victorian SF, fantasy and horror in 2009, are now open. All nominated works must have been published during the 2009 calendar year. All nominations must be received by final post on 10 January 2010; Winners of the Chronos Awards will be announced at Continuum 6: Future Tense. Click through to view all awards categories open for nomination.

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.