''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 (who has gone on to publish novels as B. Michael 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 Leigh (David) Blackmore (born 1959) is an Australian horror writer, critic, editor, occultist, musician and proponent of post-left anarchy. He was the Australian representative for the Horror Writers of America (1994–95) and served as the se ...

took over the subscription base and with co-editors Chris G.C. Sequeira and

Bryce J. Stevens Bryce John Stevens (born 1957) 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 even ...

founded ''Terror Australis''. Kevin Dillon, a longtime Australian sf fan who had belonged to the Australian

Futurians The Futurians were a group of science fiction (SF) fans, many of whom became editors and writers as well. The Futurians were based in New York City and were a major force in the development of science fiction writing and science fiction fandom i ...

had the role of 'Special Consultant' for financial support and proofreading work on the magazine. "Australia has never produced a straight fantasy magazine, though in 1970 ''Sword and Sorcery'', a putative companion to Ronald E Graham's ''Vision of Tomorrow'', reached dummy stage before a poor financial deal killed it. ''Void'' (5 issues 1975-1977), an sf magazine, published occasional fantasy. Not until ''

The Australian Horror and Fantasy 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 D ...

'' (5 issues Summer 1984-Fall 1985) did a specialist publication emerge in the small-press field, though it concentrated mostly on horror, in imitation of

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...

. The same applied to ''Terror Australis'' (3 issues Fall 1988-Summer 1992), which emphasized graphic visceral horror." "''Terror Australis'' was launched in autumn 1988 and was more ambitious than AH&FM. The first issue, printed in Sydney, was a mammoth 170 pages and its fiction content was almost entirely Australian

The second issue, printed privately on a printing press owned by artist Kurt Stone, followed about July 1990, almost two years after the first, and despite its less than satisfactory physical appearance, was well received. Issue 2 was the only issue distributed to newsagents, via Wrapaway Distribution. The third issue, published in February 1992, Issue 3 was themed as a

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

special and contained stories of 'Ripperiana' together with media guides and non-fiction bibliographies around Ripper-based material

Issue 3 overcame all the production problems evident with the earlier issues. It was professionally typeset by a Queensland printer, printed on quality paper and perfect bound with a glossy cover. It was also the final issue. While ''Terror Australis'' was primarily a horror magazine, it published a number of well-regarded dark fantasy stories, including work by

Rick Kennett Rick Kennett'(born 1956) 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 (fantasy writer), Paul Collins, Terry Dowling and Greg Egan, ...

, Frances Burke, Graeme Parsons and Steven Paulsen."

Content

In addition to fiction, some of which was by writers best known for their mainstream work (such as Beth Yahp and

Coral Hull Coral Hull (born 1965) is an author, poet, artist and photographer living in Darwin, Australia. She has authored many books, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, artwork and digital photography. Her areas of special interest have been in eth ...

), each issue featured non-fiction columns including "The Black Stump" (editorial by Leigh Blackmore); "In the Bad Books" (horror reviews by Blackmore, 'David Kuraria' (

) and 'Carl Uda' (

Christopher Sequeira Christopher Sequeira (also published as Chris G.C. Sequeira, Christopher G.C. Sequeira, C.G.C. Sequeira) is a Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, ...

); "Out of Space and Time" (book releases in brief); "Views from Emerald City" (Fantasy Reviews by Phillip Knowles); "Dark Enchantments" (Horror and Fantasy Magazines); "Post-Mortem" (readers' letter column) and "The Chaos Club" (contributor biographies). Author Maurice Xanthos was the only author to have a story selected for each of the three issues. The column "Personal Terrors" by

appeared only in Issue 1, and that by Bryce Stevens, "Every Time the Candle Burns", in Issues 1 and 3 only. Mark Morrison's "Keeping Time" (column on horror gaming) appeared only in Issues 1 and 3. (Morrison notably went on to write various roleplaying game scenarios for

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

, including one as collaboration with

Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti (born July 9, 1953) is an American horror writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – most prominently weird fiction – and have been described by critics as works of ''philosophical'' horror, often formed into ...

, "In a City of Bells and Towers" (based on Ligotti's story "The Journal of J.P. Drapeau") for the ''Horror on the Oriental Express'' gaming module for the 5th edition of ''Call of Cthulhu'' (1991)). Keith Curti

s column "Bibliocide" (horror and true crime reviews) appeared only in Issue 1. The magazine also featured interviews with several international writers such as

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

and

Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels '' The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has mai ...

, and stories by such international writers as

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

Brian Lumley Brian Lumley (born 2 December 1937) is an English author of horror fiction. He came to prominence in the 1970s writing in the Cthulhu Mythos created by American writer H. P. Lovecraft but featuring the new character Titus Crow, and went on to ...

and

Nicholas Royle Nicholas Royle (born 20 March 1963 in Manchester) is an English novelist, editor, publisher, literary reviewer and creative writing lecturer. Literary career Author Royle has written seven novels: ''Counterparts'', ''Saxophone Dreams'', ''The Mat ...

. A wide range of Australian genre artists also featured in its pages. These included Gavin O'Keefe, Steve 'Carnage' Carter, Tony Baron, Karen Ravenlore, Brad Ellis, Mike McGann, Rama Mithiran, Physch, David Richardson, Jon Sequeira,

, Kurt Stone, Catherine Waters, Phillip Cornell, Igor Spajic, Neil Walpole, Kerry Kennedy and Bodine Amerikah. Ravenlore and Mithiran had previously had artwork featured in Terror Australis' predecessor,

Influence

Although its circulation was comparatively small, the magazine had a significant impact on the horror scene in Australia in the late eighties and early nineties. Issue 3 was reviewed outside Australia by Don D'Ammassa (''Science Fiction Chronicle'', Nov 1992). The success of ''terror Australis'' magazine led directly to the publication of the mass-market horror anthology '' Terror Australis: Best Australian Horror'' (edited by Blackmore alone) (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), a companion volume to

Terry Dowling Terence William (Terry) Dowling (born 21 March 1947), is an Australian writer and journalist. He writes primarily speculative fiction though he considers himself an "imagier" – one who imagines, a term which liberates his writing from the cons ...

and Van Ikin's ''Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993). Author

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

said ''Terror Australis: Best Aust Australian Horror'' was 'a landmark venture - a testament to the advancement of the genre'. Author

Leanne Frahm Leanne Frahm is an Australian writer of Speculative fiction, speculative short fiction. Biography Frahm was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1946. She received her first nomination for her work in 1978 when she was a finalist for the ...

's story "Catalyst" from the volume won the

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 ...

for Best Australian Short Fiction, 1993.

Russell Blackford Russell Blackford (born 1954) is an Australian writer, philosopher, and literary critic. Early life and education Blackford was born in Sydney, and grew up in the city of Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle, New South Wales. After graduating with ...

Van Ikin Van Ikin (born 25 November 1951) is an academic and science fiction writer and editor. A professor in English at the University of Western Australia, he retired from teaching in 2015 and is now a senior honorary research fellow. He has acted as ...

Sean McMullen Sean Christopher McMullen (born 21 December 1948 in Sale, Victoria) is an Australian science fiction and fantasy author. Biography McMullen is one of Australia's leading science-fiction and fantasy authors and has written over 70 stories and 1 ...

(eds). Although the Australian magazines ''Eidolon'' and ''Aurealis'' frequently published horror stories along with their sf and fantasy contents, ''Terror Australis'' remained Australia's only professional all-horror magazine until the advent of 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 furth ...

magazine ''Midnight Echo'' in the 21st century.

Issues

* 1, No 1 (Autumn 1988) Cover art by Gavin O'Keefe * 1, No 2 (Winter 1988

Cover art by Kurt Stone. Contents: Fiction and Verse * "The Mistake" by Graeme Parsons * "Castle Elacteu" by S.R. Schultz * "He Had a Soul" (verse) by 'Carl Uda' ( Chris G. C. Sequeira) * "How Long Will It Be" by Sheila Morehead * "Phantom of the Night" by Jonathan Krause * "Am I Not Asleep?" (verse) by Shane Doheny * "Willie's Struggle" by

Kurt von Trojan Kurt von Trojan (born Vienna, Austria, 1937 22 March 2006) was an Australian journalist and science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginativ ...

* "Strange Fruit" by

* "Guitar Man" by Maurice Xanthos * "Suck Your Guts Out" (verse) by

(as by 'Coral E. Hull') * "The Gift" by Frances Burke * "Old Wood" by Steven Paulsen * 2, No 1 (whole number 3) (Summer 1992): The

special Cover art by Phillip Cornell. Gregory Cheeseman's essay "Portrait of the Ripper" deals with the painter Walter Richard Sickert and the Ripper crimes.

References

{{Reflist * Collins, Paul (ed). ''The MUP Encyclopedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy''. Melbourne, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 1998, p. 11;46-47.

External links

Interview with Mark Morrison

1988 establishments in Australia 1992 disestablishments in Australia Defunct magazines published in Australia Horror fiction magazines Irregularly published magazines Magazines established in 1988 Magazines disestablished in 1992 Magazines published in Sydney

Content

Influence

Issues

See also

References

External links