Friday’s session at Swancon went swimmingly. I caught up for drinks with fellow horrorites Martin Livings (and the lovely Izz), Craig Bezant, and Pete Kempshall, shot the breeze with Russell at the signing, had a lively panel on horror writing with Martin, Stephen Dedman, and Sue Isle, and had a few important chats, too.

Easter has also brought two fabulous reviews on HorrorScope.

The first, by Chuck McKenzie, was a praiseworthy summary of Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume 3, the latest ‘year’s best’ anthology from Angela Challis. The review doesn’t mention my story, “The Cutting Room”, but it’s such a fabulous review, that hardly matters. The anthology is, in my opinion, the best of the series so far, and showcases not only the best of Australia’s contemporary dark fiction, but has a comprehensive overview of the independent press and spec fic awards and resources. If you’re interested in the current wave of Aussie dark fiction, this book is a must read! It’s on sale now from the Brimstone Press website and most good bookstores.

The second, and most personally relevant, review is also from HorrorScope, this time from Mark Smith-Briggs. Mark has posted the very first review of my collection Shards. Shards is my first book, my first collection – a (mostly) flash fiction collection at that – with each story magnificently illustrated by Andrew J. McKiernan. This is an advance review as Shards won’t hit bookstores for another couple of months (although orders should ship direct from the Brimstone site within a month).

Mark has plenty of great things to say about Shards, such as:

“Cummings has long been an advocate for the style [flash fiction], and Shards shows that when done right, the micro form can be as powerful and lasting as any form of longer works.”

… and …

“Cummings’ work possesses a King-like quality, creating rich and colourful characters in a handful of words”

Sweet!

Mark and Chuck are two of the hardest working and insightful reviewers at HorrorScope, and despite the connections we all share in the horror community, these guys are thoroughly professional and independent. When the Ditmars roll around, I’d thoroughly recommend these two excellent blokes be given a best Fan Writer nod.

Also on the subject of reviews, I unearthed a couple of recent reviews of Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine. Jeff Ritchie has a rambling but incredibly enthusiastic review of Black #3 here, while Gene Melzack seems to be off the mark by some margin in his review of issue #1 at ASif. It mentions one or two constructive criticisms but also diverts significantly into the reviewer’s misconceptions. Nevertheless, reading negative reviews like this is still informative for an analytical Joe like me.

I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that I was nominated for a Galley Club Award for the design/galley work on Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror 2007 edition.

The book was nominated, appropriately enough, in Category 13 (of 18): Non-standard Mono/duotone digitally printed book.

2008 marks the 32nd annual Galley Club Awards, which are presented for excellence in book and magazine production and issued by the Galley Club of Sydney.

The winners were decided this weekend, although no word as yet on who the winners are.

[EDIT: I've since discovered that I did not win category 13, but it's fantastic to be nominated for a national award for excellence in book production. I wasn't even aware such a thing existed until the Google Alert came in. But anway, woot!]

I have finally completed my duties as an Australian Shadows Award judge. Today, the Australian Horror Writers Association released the list of finalists and honourable mentions. Congratulations to the well-deserved nominees! Our judges reports are also online and worth the read for anyone interested in the horror field from 2007.

I enjoyed judging for the Australian Shadows Award with Gary and Mark (and Kirstyn hovering in the background). So much, in fact, that I’ve agreed to a second year in my judging tour of duty. I’m not sure who the other judges will be (Mark has completed the second year of his ‘tour’).

Today also heralded the discovery of not one but two reviews for Angela’s Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror 2007 edition (featuring my story “The Garden Shed Pact”).

Chuck McKenzie’s review at HorrorScope is here.

Martel Sardina’s review at Dark Scribe magazine is here.

Although Martel doesn’t mention my story, Chuck says of “The Garden Shed Pact”:
‘The Garden Shed Pact’ by Shane Jiraiya Cummings deals with spiders. Or, to be exact, one very big spider. What could well have become a standard big-bug shocker in the hands of a lesser writer here is elevated by the author’s focus on the human element – loss, guilt and redemption – plus the niggling suspicion, raised through the way in which the author presents his protagonist, that there may be more than a whiff of mental illness involved here.

Thanks Chuck! Both reviewers have nothing but praise for the antho, which I feel (as someone who co-edited the first but not the second) is a superior product to the first volume.

While on the subject of brilliant reviews, my story “The Cutting Room” in Apex Publications’ Gratia Placenti anthology, has scored tremendously well with the reviewers.

Michele Lee at Dark Scribe said:
“The Cutting Room” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings easily surpasses its sex and gore façade. In this tale of a bizarre incident in an autopsy room and a corpse who isn’t quite done with the living, Cummings shows not only an innate knowledge of what happens after death but also an ability to twist a story around a reader like a deadly trap. Playful and sexually-charged in all the wrong ways, this tale of dead love puts the stories of necrophiliac morticians to shame.

Norm Rubenstein at Horror World mentions in passing:
Shane Jiraiya Cummings’ The Cutting Room is a very different, graphic, and entertaining take upon an autopsy, not necessarily the easiest of combinations to pull off.

At Fear Zone, Steve Vernon didn’t quite take to the story, while Gabrielle S Faust loved the anthology but didn’t go into specifics.

Still, I’m hard pressed to be disappointed by any of the above.

It’s here: the second installment in Brimstone Press’ ‘year’s best’ Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror series. It also has my spider story, first published in Borderlands #7, “The Garden Shed Pact”.

The anthology includes award-winners and nominees from some of the best in the business, plus an exhaustive overview of Australian horror publishing in 2006 and appendices on awards and Australian horror resources.

The full table of contents includes:

• “Surrender 1: Rope Artist” by Deborah Biancotti
• “Tarans” by Simon Brown
• “The Sidpa Bardo” by Nathan Burrage
• “Empties” by Jay Caselberg
• “Finding the Words” by Steven Cavanagh
• “The Garden Shed Pact” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
• “Dead of Winter” by Stephen Dedman
• “Cheat Light” by Terry Dowling
• “The Red Priest’s Vigil” by Dirk Flinthart
• “Father Father” by Paul Haines
• “In the Service of the Flesh” by Robert Hood
• “Under Hell, Over Heaven” by Margo Lanagan
• “Hieronymus Boche” by Chris Lawson
• “Cold” by Kirstyn McDermott
• “Pain Threshold” by Jason Nahrung
• “The Bat’s Boudoir” by Kyla Ward
• “Iron Shirt” by Susan Wardle
• “Ache” by David Witteveen

ADFH 2007 is a LIMITED EDITION – so it is only available for purchase through the Brimstone Press website (click on the Books link) for the excellent price of $24.95 (which includes postage to anywhere in the world). Writers: find out what makes a story ‘the best’ and use the appendices as a handy resource. Readers: get your horror freak on with a selection of the best and darkest all in one book!