Midnight Echo 16. The official magazine of the Australasian Horror Writers Association, featuring short fiction, poetry and non-fiction from some of Australasia's best writers of dark fiction. Issue 16 includes:
A Word from the President Alan Baxter
Editorial - Tim Hawken
Shattered Reflections - Fiona L Renton
Ghosting - Naomi Hatchman
The Dead and I - John Grey
We Had To, Didn't We? - Jane Brown
Alma Mater Benedictus Est - Jeff Clulow
The Collapse - Emma Nayfie
Politics of the Unalive - Jacqui Greaves
Something Unnatural, Something Alien - Erol Engin
Between the Lines - Melanie Harding-Shaw
Wake In Fright at 50: Quintessential Australian Horror - Claire Fitzpatrick
The Hatchling - Geraldine Borella
Snip - PS Cottier
Goon of Fortune - Geneve Flynn
Slim Djinn - Ron Schroer
The Stairwell - Deborah Sheldon
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep - Liz Simrajh
The Beating of Her Heart - Louise Zedda-Sampson
Alone in the Dark: Exploring Isolation Horror - Tabatha Wood
The Quiet Room - Martin Livings
Stella - Rebecca Fraser
The Feeding - Bronwyn Todd
Spores - Erin Munzunberger
Wither - Greg Chapman
The Best Medicine - Pauline Yates (AHWA Short Story Competition Winner 2020)
Mother Always Gets What She Wants - Tim Hawken (AHWA Flash Fiction Competition Winner 2020)
Tim’s first novel, Hellbound, was born while on the road, written on airplanes and in hotel rooms. The book was discovered on an online writer’s forum by Dangerous Little Books author CJ Werleman (God Hates You, Hate Him Back), who immediately recommended it to his publisher. Hellbound has since been followed by sequels, I Am Satan and Deicide.
Tim has gone on to win the AHWA ‘Flash Fiction’ Story of the Year twice (2013, 2020) and has been shortlisted for an Australian Shadows Award. He has recently contributed to best-selling books such as Dear Santa, Dear Dad, and Dear Mum, plus released a literary fiction novel under the pen name T.S. Hawken.
To get frequent updates about Tim and his work you can sign up to his newsletter on his website, or follow along on Instagram where he posts a 100-word, art-inspired story most days (@tim_hawken).
A hefty issue with 25 contributions from the Australasian horror-writing community. (N.B. I have a story in this, which I'm leaving out of my review.) Guest editor Tim Hawken has put together an entertaining anthology with something for every reader, spanning poetry to short stories to essays, while Greg Chapman made the eye-catching cover.