I’m not entirely sure how and when this happened, but it appears I’m editing a horror mag called Midnight Echo for the Australian Horror Writers Association.  I’m not going to be alone in this endeavor, Kirstyn is also coming along for the ride. 

I met Kirstyn back in the good old days of the Australian Horror Society.  For those who remember – and yes, I’m looking at you Rod and Jocko – the AHS used to meet at the Maori Chief in South Melbourne and would discuss all things gory and extreme.  In between discussions about Bob and the Church of the SubGenius, Bloodsongs (where my first ever paid story appeared) and censorship of gory films, Kirstyn and I formed a pretty close relationship.   It helped that we both had a deep and abiding love for the works of Stephen King.

Actually, those meetings at the Maori Chief were pretty brilliant in a mad, scary sort of way.  For a young, naive, mostly orthodox Jewish guy, it was a tad confronting meeting people who didn’t give a shit about the mainstream.  Steve and Chris and Bryce and Ben and Sally and everyone else who popped along were all free thinking and free speaking in away I’d never experienced before.  They were about extremes and taboos and shock tactics.  Now, in hindsight, it all seems a bit immature and pretentious.  And yet, it opened my eyes to belief and opinions that you simply never read about (mostly because they were crazy and insane and have yet sent to jail).

What was my point?  Oh yeah, that’s where I first met Kirstyn.  Frankly, if I’d not met her there, I’d probably have left the AHS to its own mad ideologies and whacky conspiracies.  But Kirstyn was cool, and loved Stephen King and was a great writer and she was funny as well.  So I kept coming back.

And when the AHS ended in 96 or 97, Kirstyn and I remained friends.

And here we are editing a Horror Mag together.  And it’s just like the old days again.  Crazy talk included!

For those of you interested, by the way, click on the link above.  In short, we’re paying a max of $50 a story and were looking for  dark fantasy / horror pieces of no more than 5,000 words.  Inspired by mags like Shiny Magazine, it will be a PDF publication.  I’ve got no idea how the mag will do or have any expectations at all.  It might sink after the first issue.  But, with the AHWA and its membership supporting the mag, I’m hoping we can publish a few issues a year.

So send Kirstyn and I your best stuff.  And if we reject you, please don’t hate us.  Just loathe us in secret instead.