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.

Reason number #1:

Yes, issue 2 of the magazine that has captured the hearts and minds of anyone with a dark side has finally arrived!

This one is bigger (64 pages) and packs a helluva punch compared to the first issue. What’s not to love:

• Robert Hood’s exclusive one-one-one with zombie maestro George A. Romero. Two of the world’s best zombie braaaaiiinzzzzzz together, at last!
• Gary Kemble’s massive (and massively excellent!) feature on the zombie lurch and flash mob phenomena.
• and zombies, zombies, zombies!
• Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki give us the lowdown on hunting demons on Supernatural (plus a bit of Gilmore Girls and Days of Our Lives).
• Fiona Horne & Wendy Rule – two Aussie musos & witches kickin’ arse in their own ways.
• Guillermo Del Toro & Selma Blair talk Hellboy 2
• Jon Hewitt – director of the new Aussie film Acolytes
• Steven Kastrissios – director of the new Aussie film The Horseman
• Huge photo editorial of the Supanova and Gencon SF cons
• The dark art of the Neo Goth art show.
• Halloween
• Black’s guide to spotting sub-cultures.
• The Page Thirteen pinup of scream queen Bella Dee!
• and a bucketload more (including many new columns: Andrew McKiernan on urban legends, Robert Hood on giant beasties, plus photography, sex, and ummm…. heaps of other stuff)!

Of special note is my one-on-one with Paul Haines, where we shoot the breeze on paedophilia, fighting cancer, and his new book (more on that last one soon!).

There’s also new fiction from Paul (and a damn, damn fine story it is, too!) and Miranda Siemienowicz. Top notch stuff!

Black #2 is on sale next Monday at more than 1,000 newsagents, Borders stores, and a whole bunch of independents (now including Raven Clothing in Canberra). Or beat the queues and subscribe now!

You don’t have to be a horror nut to love this mag – it’s frickin’ awesome for anyone who likes to look on the dark side of life.

Tonight, another awesome moment.

Robert Hood. George A Romero. One on one. At the Melbourne International Film Festival.

The world’s leading zombie braaaaaaainzzzz together at last.

Another moment of zombie awesomeness brought to you by Black magazine.

You can read the interview in the second issue of Black (the one with the guys from Supernatural on the cover, and a whole lot of zombie action, too!). You have been warned!

In a spare five minutes yesterday, I popped into the big newsagent in Joondalup to see if they were stocking copies of Black. When I did so a week and a half before, they hadn’t heard of the mag. This time, though, I was very pleasantly surprised to see seven copies of Black displayed prominently near Empire and the TV mags. Cool, I thought, but not more than a minute later, as I was flicking through a nearby magazine, two teen boys come barrelling in, heading straight for the movie and entertainment section, and lo and behold, one points to the stand and says, “Black!”

While suppressing a smirk, the boys then have an animated discussion on whose armour they’d prefer to wear: Iron Man’s or Batman’s.

That moment was, for me, what Black is all about – reaching new people and spreading the darkness. It was a moment full of awesome.

My story “The Cutting Room” is available over at Pseudopod in all its blood-drenched glory. It’s been given life by Damaris Mannering, who does a splendid job as the creepy corpse sex-kitten. Now you really want to listen to it, right?

(and for anyone interested, the word you may not immediately understand is “diener”)

Comments and discussion on the Pseudopod message board has been intriguing. It’s well worth popping over there and adding your voice.

I’m particularly proud of comments such as “What the hell is wrong with this author?”; “This is exactly what horror should do, make you squirm and feel terribly uncomfortable.”; and “Good story, which was very well paced and played with our anticipations in an enjoyable way.” I also scored “This was the worst piece of dreck ever pulled from the bowels of any Escape Artists slush pile.” So there ya go, grossing people out and dividing audiences. Gotta love it!

On a completely unrelated matter, I was told today that Black magazine will be on sale at every Borders store in Australia – every store will have at least 10 copies! Keep an eye out for it from JULY 14 (i.e. don’t rush into your newsagency or Borders looking for it until then).