Fantasy & Dark Fiction Author
It’s summer in the northern hemisphere and today, US publisher Black Ink Fiction released their next holiday microfiction anthology Summer Terrors.
Summer Terrors features my two dark tales of macabre Australian summer with the grisly “Summer at the Beach” and, inspiration from Namorroddos, terrifying winged vampire beings from Australian Aboriginal lore in “Summer Moon, Leather Wings.”
You can find more details on how to purchase Summer Terrors as an ebook or paperback copy here.
I am excited to announce the vampire-themed anthology Bloodlust (Legends of Night Drabbles, #2) published by Black Ink Fiction was released on 13th July, 2021.
Bloodlust (Legends of Night Drabbles, #2), is a vampire-themed microfiction collection, featuring two of my 100 word drabbles “The Hungering” and “The Burial” both inspired by vampiric folklore, legends and archaeology. You can read more about the research behind these drabbles here.
More details on how to purchase ebook or paperback copies of Bloodlust (Legends of Night Drabbles, #2) can be found here.
I had a wonderful opportunity to chat with author Clare Rhoden recently about what inspires my writing.
I also shared an extract from “The Golden-Lion Monkey” published in Leo (The Zodiac Series, #8) by Deadset Press.
The 2020 Australian Shadows Awards by the The Australasian Association of Horror Writers is the premiere horror and dark fiction awards for Australian and New Zealand authors.
For the first time I had short stories in anthologies Greed and Phantom #3 from Black Hare Press that were eligible for the Short Fiction category.
I also had the honour of judging the Collected Works category for horror and dark fiction collection by a single author. This was an amazing opportunity and such incredible writing talent made for fierce competition!
The finalists and winners for the 2020 Australian Shadows Awards categories are:
I am excited to announce the supernatural anthology Bones (Five Hundred Fiction Series, #4) published by Black Hare Press was released on 29th June, 2021.
Bones (Five Hundred Fiction Series, #4) is a an occult, voodoo themed anthology, features my own flash fiction story “The Bones of a Dead God”, inspired by Aztec history, ritual and archaeology. You can read more about the research behind my story here.
More details on how to purchase ebook, paperback or hardback copies of Bones (Five Hundred Fiction #4) can be found here.
I am excited to announce the zombie-themed anthology Infection (Legends of Night Drabbles, #1) published by Black Ink Fiction was released on 29th June, 2021.
Infection (Legends of Night Drabbles, #1), is a zombie-themed microfiction collection, featuring my own 100 word drabble “The Revenants”, inspired by witchcraft and revenant folklore. You can read more about the research behind this drabble here.
More details on how to purchase ebook or paperback copies of Infection (Legends of Night Drabbles, #1) can be found here.
I am pleased to announce my short story “The Dark Horseman” will feature in forthcoming horror anthology Legends of Night to be published by Black Ink Fiction.
You can read more about the research behind the legend, folklore and history of the Dullahan, or the Irish headless horseman, here.
More details on preorder links, and how to purchase copies of Legends of Night coming soon!
I have always been fascinated by the folklore of the headless horseman. I first became aware of this harbinger of death in the famous story by Washington Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow set in rural region in the state of New York. But the Irish legend of the Dullahan (“dark man”), the headless horseman is a harbinger of death. In the legend of the Dullahan, he carries a moldy severed head under his arm, taking a blood sacrifice (and the head) of his intended victim. According to folklore of the Dullahan, he only speaks once during his furious ride through village and field, and those words are only for his victim, the sacrifice.
The connection between the headless horseman and sacrifice is related to Celtic mythology and the ancient god, Crom Dubh, a fertility god to whom blood sacrifices were made. In county Cavan, the Killycluggin stone is believed to be an ancient representation of Crom Dubh, and like the Dullahan of legend travelling the roads, the large carved stone was found on a main road close to a nearby Bronze Age stone circle.
I was inspired by the Dullahan, this embodiment of Crom Dubh, and in writing a short story, I’ve incorporated these elements of folklore, legend, archaeology and mythology to weave a new tale of this infamous headless horseman.
One of my recent short stories, a work-in-progress, was a reimagining of a tale recounted in the classic rendition, The Arabian Nights translated by Sir Richard Burton. The volume, also known as One Thousand and One Nights follows the sultana Scheherazade who cunningly begins a tale each night, never finishing it until the next, to prevent jealous and murderous husband from killing her, and ensuring her survival.
In developing an original tale inspired by The Arabian Nights story “The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peri Banu”, I also incorporated inspiration from the fourteenth century Iberian Moorish kingdom, the Nasrid caliphate in Granada, Andalusia. In Persian folklore, the peri were diminutive brilliantly coloured winged-beings, a race that were seperate and as powerful as Jinn and Ifriit, and hunted by both. These rare fairy-like beings are the focus of my reimagined and original tale.
Recently I have been exploring the concepts behind the Red Riding Hood fairytale. There are two main versions I have used as inspiration for writing a new short story. The version by Charles Perrault called “Little Red Riding Hood” and the version by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm called “Little Red Cap”. Both examine a young girl who is travelling through the woods and meets a charming stranger who tries to lead her astray. Both versions also share a dark undertone, the stranger portrayed as menacing despite his charming words.
When writing my short story, I wanted to delve into the concept of the forest as a dangerous place, sinister and treacherous for those uninitiated. In my recent reimagining of the red riding hood tale, I’ve included the concept of an unwary youth and the historical setting of pre-Napoleonic France. I’ve included some more modern interpretations like the werewolf folklore of the French “loup-garou” and explored sensitives around homosexuality, the sheltered son of a Marquis seduced by an eloquent nobleman. Here, the passage between innocence and experience of the adult world is represented by the transference of the werewolf curse. This was a complex story to write, delving some darker elements, both historical and modern sensitivities of seduction, society and acceptance of LGBTQI individuals throughout history and still today.
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