Bloodsongs magazine was created by Steve Proposch and Chris A. Masters in 1993 as a vehicle for original horror fiction. It was published by Bambada Press in Melbourne Australia from 1993 to 1997.
The Melbourne University Press Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction & Fantasy (1998), edited by Paul Collins considers Bloodsongs to be "Australia's first professional horror and dark fantasy magazine" (p. 143).
The first three issues of the magazine were co-edited by Steve Proposch and Chris A. Masters. Issues four to seven were edited-in-chief by Steve Proposch and co-edited by Chris A. Masters and Bryce J. Stevens. [1] According to the MUP Encyclopaedia, issues 4-7 reflected a "swing away from graphic horror to a more balanced approach." (p 143). Writers who published stories in the magazine included Ramsey Campbell, Poppy Z. Brite, Robert Hood, Sean Williams, Richard Harland, Kyla Ward, Kaaron Warren and D.F. Lewis. Issue One contained an interview with Leigh Blackmore. [2]
Bill Congreve, Sean McMullen and Steve Paulsen's William Atheling Jr award-winning essay, "A History of Australian Horror", notes that "Issue 1 received some criticism for tending towards the splatter end of the genre... A Category One Restricted rating by the Attorney General's department saw it restricted to readers 18 years and older, and banned altogether in the state of Queensland." (Bonescribes: Year's Best Australian Horror 1995, p. 135)
During that time all published contributions to the magazine were paid for, and all submitters were offered detailed and prompt feedback on their fledgling work. Kyla Ward acted as NSW agent and advertising manager for the magazine.
In 1997 Bloodsongs was taken over by Implosion Publishing, based in the USA. The Implosion Publishing issues (Nos 8–11) were given UK distribution through BBR Distribution of Sheffield. In the US it was sold through heavy metal record shops and other outlets. Steve Proposch remained fiction editor until issue 10 (1998), after which publication of the title was discontinued. Due to an agreement between Bambada Press and Implosion Publishing, copyright for the title and masthead design has now reverted to the original owners, being Steve Proposch and Chris A. Masters.
Bambada Press also published one separate chapbook - Olympia by Francis Payne.
Sean Christopher McMullen is an Australian science fiction and fantasy author.
Atmosfear is an Australian horror video board game series released in 1991 by Phillip Tanner and Brett Clements.
The Ditmar Award is Australia's oldest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and horror award, presented annually since 1969, usually at the Australian "Natcon". The historical nominations and results of the Award follow.
Paul Collins is an Australian writer and editor who specializes in science fiction and fantasy.
Robert Maxwell Hood is an Australian writer and editor recognised as one of Australia's leading horror writers, although his work frequently crosses genre boundaries into science fiction, fantasy and crime.
Terror Australis: the Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine (1988–1992) was Australia's first mass market horror magazine. It succeeded the Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine (1984–87) edited by Barry Radburn and Stephen Studach. AH&FM was the first semi-professional magazine of its kind in Australia to pay authors. After working on the production crew of AH&FM, when Radburn eventually suspended publication, Leigh Blackmore took over the subscription base and with co-editors Chris G.C. Sequeira and Bryce J. Stevens founded Terror Australis. Kevin Dillon, a longtime Australian sf fan who had belonged to the Australian Futurians had the role of 'Special Consultant' for financial support and proofreading work on the magazine.
The Australian Horror and Fantasy Magazine (1984–86) was edited by (Michael) Barry Radburn and Stephen Studach. The first Australian semi-professional publication devoted to the weird and the macabre, it was published by Radburn's imprint Dark Press. It ran six issues; Issues 1, 2 and 3 all appeared in 1984, issue 4 in 1985 and the last, issue being a double issue (5/6) which was co-edited by Carol Dobson and Nerida Radburn, 1986.
Christopher Sequeira is a Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction and mystery realms.
Kaaron Warren is an Australian author of horror, science fiction, and fantasy short stories and novels.
The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) is a non-profit organisation that commenced in 2003 with the goal of providing a unified voice and sense of community for Australian writers of dark fiction (horror and dark fantasy) and to further the development of dark fiction in Australia.
Terror Australis: The Best of Australian Horror was Australia's first original mass-market horror anthology for adults. It was edited by Leigh Blackmore..
Bryce John Stevens is a horror writer, illustrator and editor. He grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to Sydney in the mid-1980s. From childhood he was fascinated with the supernatural and terrifying consequences of events from stories such as "The Tinderbox", a predilection which continued through his high school years and beyond.
Rick Kennett is an Australian writer of science fiction, horror and ghost stories. He is the most prolific and widely published genre author in Australia after Paul Collins, Terry Dowling and Greg Egan, with stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies in Australia, the US and the UK.
The Australian Shadows Awards, also known as the Australasian Shadows Awards, are annual literary awards established by the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) in 2005 to honour the best published works of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian/New Zealand/Oceania resident in the previous calendar year.
Australia, unlike Europe, does not have a long history in the genre of science fiction. Nevil Shute's On the Beach, published in 1957, and filmed in 1959, was perhaps the first notable international success. Though not born in Australia, Shute spent his latter years there, and the book was set in Australia. It might have been worse had the imports of American pulp magazines not been restricted during World War II, forcing local writers into the field. Various compilation magazines began appearing in the 1960s and the field has continued to expand into some significance. Today Australia has a thriving SF/Fantasy genre with names recognised around the world. In 2013 a trilogy by Sydney-born Ben Peek was sold at auction to a UK publisher for a six-figure deal.
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Bill Congreve is an Australian writer, editor and reviewer of speculative fiction. He has also published the work of Australian science fiction and horror writers under his MirrorDanse imprint.
Steven Paulsen is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction whose work has been published in books, magazines, journals and newspapers around the world. He is the author of the best selling children's book, The Stray Cat, which has seen publication in several foreign language editions. His short story collection, Shadows on the Wall: Weird Tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Supernatural), won the 2018 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collected Work, and his short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Dreaming Down-Under, Terror Australis: Best Australian Horror, Strange Fruit, Fantastic Worlds, The Cthulhu Cycle: Thirteen Tentacles of Terror, and Cthulhu Deep Down Under: Volume 3.
Kyla (Lee) Ward is an Australian writer of speculative fiction, poet and actor. Her work has been nominated multiple times for the Ditmar Award, the Aurealis Award, the Australian Shadows Award, the Bram Stoker Award and the Rhysling Award. She won the Aurealis Award in 2006 for her collaborative novel Prismatic.
Kirstyn McDermott is an Australian writer of speculative fiction.