HorrorScope: The Australian Dark Fiction Web Log is a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

and

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

dedicated to

horror literature Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. ...

and

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. The zine was created by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

independent publisher A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

Brimstone Press in August 2005. HorrorScope and its editors have won two

Ditmar Award The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise a ...

s (Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awards) and attracted several award nominations.

Publication history

The zine is edited by a group of reviewers led by founder and managing editor

Shane Jiraiya Cummings Shane Jiraiya Cummings (born 24 April 1974) is an Australian horror and fantasy author and editor. He lives in Sydney with his partner Angela Challis. Cummings is best known as a short story writer. He has had more than 100 short stories publis ...

. Aside from Cummings, the foundation HorrorScope staff writers were Stephanie Gunn, A D John, Andrew J McKiernan, Miranda Siemienowicz, Mark Smith-Briggs, and Matthew Tait. Heather Gammage joined the staff in December 2006. The

Australian Horror Writers Association 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 furthe ...

's news service was amalgamated with HorrorScope in March 2007. With AHWA news editor Talie Helene joining the HorrorScope editorial team, the combined serviced provided a single, streamlined source for Australian horror publishing news. Award-winning horror

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

Robert Hood Robert Hood (born 1965 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He is a founding member of the group Underground Resistance as a 'Minister of Information' with Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills. He is often conside ...

joined the HorrorScope team in August 2007. Aside from regular news items and reviews of

books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ar ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

, and

, HorrorScope has published interviews with notable Australian and international horror and

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

authors such as RL Stine,

Will Elliott Will Elliott (born 1979) is an Australian horror fiction, horror and fantasy literature, fantasy writer living in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland. He currently tutors at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Profile Elliott dropped ...

Stephen Dedman Stephen Dedman (born 1959) is an Australian author of dark fantasy and science fiction stories and novels. Biography Dedman's short stories have appeared in ''Year's Best Fantasy and Horror'', '' Year's Best SF'', and ''The Best Australian Sc ...

Martin Livings Martin Livings (born 1970) is an Australian author of horror, fantasy and science fiction. He has been writing short stories since 1990 and has been nominated for both the Ditmar Award and Aurealis Award. Livings resides in Perth, Western Aust ...

Brett McBean Brett McBean is best known as an award-winning Australian horror fiction, horror, thriller (genre), thriller and speculative fiction writer. He was born and raised in Melbourne. He is also a drummer and has an Advanced Diploma from Box Hill, Vic ...

Rocky Wood Rocky Wood (19 October 1959 – 1 December 2014) was a New Zealand-born Australian writer and researcher best known for his books about horror author Stephen King. He was the first author from outside North America or Europe to hold the pos ...

Queenie Chan Queenie Chan is a Chinese-Australian Original English-Language comic artist who co-wrote and illustrated the graphic novel '' In Odd We Trust'', a prequel to Dean Koontz's '' Odd Thomas'', and published by Del Rey. She illustrated the sequel, ...

, Jason Nahrung, and

David Conyers David Conyers (born 30 May 1971) is an Australian author. Conyers writes predominantly science fiction and Lovecraftian horror. Biography Convers was born in Sydney. Most of his childhood was spent in the Adelaide Hills, before moving to Me ...

.HorrorScope interview search list
/ref>

Awards

Wins

*2007

, Fanzine: HorrorScope (ed. Shane Jiraiya Cummings et al.) *2006 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Shane Jiraiya Cummings (HorrorScope)

Nominations

*2007 William Atheling Jr Award: Paraspheres review by Miranda Siemienowicz (HorrorScope) *2007 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Shane Jiraiya Cummings (HorrorScope) *2007 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Stephanie Gunn (HorrorScope) *2007 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Miranda Siemienowicz (HorrorScope) *2007 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Mark Smith-Briggs (HorrorScope) *2007 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Matthew Tait (HorrorScope) *2006 Ditmar Award, Fanzine: HorrorScope (ed. Shane Jiraiya Cummings et al.) *2006 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Shane Jiraiya Cummings (HorrorScope) *2006 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Stephanie Gunn (HorrorScope) *2009 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Chuck McKenzie (HorrorScope) *2010 Ditmar Award, Fan Writer: Chuck McKenzie (HorrorScope)

Notes

External links

Horrorscope.com.au archivedArchived blogspot websiteBrimstone Press websiteAustralian Horror Writers Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horrorscope 2005 establishments in Australia 2011 disestablishments in Australia Defunct literary magazines published in Australia Horror fiction magazines Horror fiction websites Online literary magazines Magazines established in 2005 Magazines disestablished in 2011