Outback Horrors Down Under: An Anthology of Antipodean Terrors

by Steve Dillon (Editor), Robert Hood, Chris Mason

Eleven new stories from some of the best horror writers in Australia and New Zealand! Originally intended for launch at the Worldcon 2020 in New Zealand, which was badly affected by the current pandemic, the anthology presents an array of stories that can only really be set here in Australia/New Zealand. Written by authors who are either born or live here, providing an authentic view of really scary scenarios... Edited by Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author and Things in the Well series editor, Steve Dillon.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

284 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2020

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steve Dillon living now in Melbourne, Australia is the visionary behind the Refuge Collection. Steve is series editor, sponsor, publisher and a contributor as both a writer and artist.

Reviews

[Crastinator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Weather: 3
Saltbush Queen: 5
House of Waite:
On Home Soil: 3
Roadside Line: 3
Heritage Hill: 3
Lineage: 3
Itchy: 5
Long Drop: 5
Kua ...:
Roadside Flies: 3
A couple of great reads in here.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few good shorts here. One or two are excellent. Highly recommended for lovers of outback scaries/horror.

[Stephen Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As editor and publisher, I'm biased. I also curated the stories, initally by asking some of the best Australian and New Zealand writers in the field of dark fiction, and then by a callout for the final couple of stories. What we have is a unique snapshot of Antipodean terrors that is so good, I withdrew my own story from the collection. It's that good. Enjoy!

[Anthony Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of stories from some of Australia's prominent horror writers. Good to see a publisher tackling the inexplicable alien terror of the great Australian interior, and the unwelcome intrusion on it by those second hand Europeans, pullulating timidly on its desert shores, Wake in Fright style.

The stories which most resonate with me are Chris Mason's The Saltbush Queen, Graham Hague's Roadside Linda, and Marty Young's Roadside Flies, if only because they encapsulate the oil and water merging of the laconic Aussie and the almost anthropomorphic presence of the inhospitable landscape.

However, these are all good tales and other readers will no doubt pick other favourites.

[M.R. Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this anthology is very hit and miss. A couple of stand out stories, a definite dud I couldn't even read, and the rest mostly okay, but not groundbreaking.

That said, I really enjoyed The Saltmarsh Queen. It was the second story in the collection. It wasn't at all scary or horrifying, but it was engaging, well-written and, as far as I'm concerned, worth the cost of the anthology. I also really connected with the very last story Road Flies. Road Flies was the only story in the book I found even remotely scary from a scare perspective.