DECAY ISSUE 20

Two of my scripts/stories have appeared in the latest edition of Dark Oz's DECAY . Australia's longest running horror anthology. I was under the belief that only one was to appear with another to be published next year as well as a  story being run in DECAY's sister publication RETRO SCI-FI. So we'll see how that pans out.

Cover art for DECAY 20

Jason Paulos and Dave Dye Australian comic book legends also make an appearance in this colourful gore-fest not for the squeamish. Of course I can't be objective since I'm in it so this isn't a review just a call to go out and buy the thing and promote Aussie comics.

The Night Before Christmas is about two young aliens on "schoolies" who cause all kinds of mischief and ultimately stack their Dad's car ruining Christmas for everyone. Literally
Artwork is supplied by the talented Argentinian Carlos Angeli. With Letters done by Dark Oz editor Darren Koziol.

The second is a story I wrote for the OZ ZOMBIE universe and tells the story of a lone survivor looking for lodgings in the abandoned upper crust residences of apocalyptic Melbourne.
This one was drawn by someone I know nothing of or have any contact for, a local by the name of Mick Anderson.

REVIEW OF THIS ISSUE BY SCARYMINDS.COM.AU

DARK OZ DECAY and RETRO SCI-FI as well as selected back Issues are available here.
This is a composite of the content titles in this issue.

Review-HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two

Review HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two
Contributors: Various, Edited by Garth Jones

Then
 In the tradition of Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic, Tales from the Crypt, 2000AD, Oz Magazine and Metal Hurlant, Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an anthology of 75% R-rated (but not necessarily adult), uniquely Aussie myth spinning, prose, politics and pulp soundtracked by Rose Tatts, soaked in Melbourne Bitter and dyed defiantly navy blue.

Now
Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an Australian pulp narrative anthology showcasing comics, gonzo journalism, scathing political polemics and MORE.

Available as Digital download and Print On Demand Details Here

 HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two was delivered on time as promised and with it a few surprises. As an anthology it is still finding its feet,, experimenting with content and styles.
 A direction I’m quite pleased with,
This issue is more reminiscent of Dodgem Logic and Oz than the first which was heavy with sequential and satire pieces. Slightly larger than issue One it features Aussie comedian heavyweights Tony Martin and Justin Hamilton and top of their game comic contributors such as Sacha Bryning, Dean Rankine, Scott Fraser, Matthew Huynh and Matthew Dunn amongst others. This issue sees the first issue sequentials tucked away (with the exception of Scott Fraser’s Melbourne based supernatural turf war piece, SHADOW RUMBLE) the vacant pages have been jammed packed with essays, prose and pictorials which take nothing way from the original anthology concept but totally enhance it. Respected scribes Emma Beddows, Emmet O’Cuana, John Harrison and Laura Crawford provide informative and entertaining pieces as interesting as they are insightful and Kellie Gollings’ ABANDO photography is gorgeously reproduced and is a great argument for the procurement of the printed version. With the he addition of Turd Circus’ Tony Lewis we are also privy to some of the funniest satire you’ll see in Australia at the moment. The thing HBVB has going for it that I admire is that it has real “I’m a bastard, so what? “ attitude,   (just check out the provocative cover for proof) and wants to push the boundaries of safe traditional magazines. Who knows? Maybe the time is right to bundle everybody’s differing ideas into one package and fuck the niche markets. HBVB has a massive potential as a new outlet for established and new talent and its bold graphic design and content is loud enough to be noticed within the mainstream and hopefully scare it enough to take notice.
Issue Three promises the return of the sequential pieces BOLT, MARALINGA, HEAVY ANGEL, BABALON SHOKK and HOLT which were a large part of the promotion of Issue One,
BRING ON ISSUE THREE.

DECAY Issue 18 Review

Dark Oz DECAY is Australia’s longest running independent horror comic.
Those unfamiliar with DECAY, it is the brain child of South Australian resident Darren Koziol (The DK in DECAY) who, as well as writing and creating themes, tirelessly edits, publishes and travels around the country to various conventions promoting the comic and its contributing artists. This means he can put out at least two editions a year where others falter. This hard work has come to fruition when one of the DECAY stories was picked up by SciFI/Fantasy icon Heavy Metal.

DECAY caters to the gore hounds, slasher fans and horror buffs but in a distinctly Aussie way. DECAY is full on mature reading fun that revels in its unrestricted format. Koziol has created recurring characters such as The Sisters, three ageless sexy vampires who have a long history of mayhem and carnage and the Oz Zombie themed stories telling stories of the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse in an Australian environment and other artist are free to explore and build on these stories.

The latest edition of DECAY, (Issue 18) was released to coincide with the Sydney- Brisbane Comicon double header. It is an A4 sized comic in both colour and black and white and printing is high quality. At $8 a copy it is great value when compared against the monthly mainstream imports. Its front cover prepares the reader for what's in store and the first story Sister: Class of 2014 leaves them in no doubt the cover was in any way a false advertisement, all in vivid colour. With 27 writers and artists (check the screen grab below for more details) making up the contributors list and there is plenty of variety in story and styles. Colour is used to great effect in the stories Sisters: Harvest and the Oz Zombie based Papa gone a huntin’ just as the modern gothic of The Lazarus Box and the patient revenge of The Forgotten Patrol are as effective in black and white. A favourite would have to be Adoption. Katrina Young’s artwork with the gentle colour wash is a brilliant accompany to Brendan Crates story. The animal characters expressions reminded me of Frank Quietly’s art in We3.
The Selkie and The Cure are other stories that stand out for a short sharp shock.
 DECAY deserves your support because it offers something other Aussie comics can’t. Consistency, in quality and delivery.
A great read for a good price and worth it just for the great Chris Wahl artwork on the back cover.
Danny Nolan

SAMPLE OF ARTWORK FROM DECAY #18

Gorgeous artwork from ADOPTION

CAST AND CREW

Home Brew Vampire Bullets Issue One. REVIEW

Home Brew Vampire Bullets Issue One. 
Published by HBVB Editor: Garth Jones Available as 
digital download: Scribd ( AUD$6.99 )  P.O.D thru BLURB (AUD$34.99) 
Good previews available on both sites.

 

I suppose it’s a hallmark of the age we live in, the need to have something quickly, not to draw things out. The collective attention span of the Internet is short, to use a polite word. Where comics and magazines were once seen in the deep dark past as ephemeral, one has to think what digital downloads are going to be seen as in the next decade or so. I like my books and magazines and comics/comix.
I'm a tactile kind of guy but I'm also a realist who knows that the best new stuff appears on the web first and production costs for something to buy at your favourite shop are prohibitive for the small publisher. So if you want to wait a couple of weeks and pay through the nose to hold a book in your hand or have it now for next to nothing and still hold it in your hand albeit a tablet. That is a choice you have to make sooner than later.

There is a point to this babble.

Home Brew Vampire Bullets released its 60 page anthology in late September to a warm reception. It whetted the appetite for what was to come and at US$1.99 in 4 different formats it was a bargain to boot. It lived up to its promise of a larrikin publication inspired by ozploitation movies, good ol’ pub rock and the great underground press of the 1970s. Expectation for issue one (I speak only for myself here) was very high. Now I've got it and read it, I wish I wasn't so impatient. A good slab of issue one appeared in the anthology and kind of spoiled it a bit, thinking about this I thought maybe the publishers could have spread some of the singular pieces over the next couple of issues perhaps?. That aside (and the download problem I had, gallantly and quickly rectified by HBVB main man Garth Jones) the magazine itself is a beautifully designed piece of work , with excellent colour and graphics that makes you feel you are holding something of value (and at $34.99 P.O.D …..well, you are!)
Garth Jones as helmsman has done a truly remarkable job to give it a unique feel. The collection of artists and writers will no doubt help move some copies but its whether the stories themselves and their length as continuous pieces will bring people back. Christian Read takes a giant slice of the writers credits, a well known and respected figure he keeps it simple with R.S HELL and PALE MAGIC, stories with a haunting/poltergeist type bent. It’s when we hit BABALON SHOKK with (that man again) Garth Jones that we get into some meaty story line that leaves you wanting more. It’s just a pity the majority of it was used to heavily push the anthology. The prose pieces where enjoyable, though DINGOES was hard to read on my iPad due to background colours. But Micca Delaney’s words (or where they Scott Frasers?) kept me jumping hurdles.
Christian Read's DEVIL IN AUSTRALIA and Nick Lewis’ THE AUSTRALIAN MOTOR ENTHUSIASTS GUIDE are as good a  pieces of satire you'll see anywhere these days, both a highlight. The artist as story teller is carried by Scott Fraser in SHADOW RUMBLE, Simon Sherry with HEAVY ANGEL and Mathew Dunn's CEO.
The stand out pieces as sequentials are definitely MARALINGA , THE MANY HAROLD HOLTS OF SPACE AND TIME and BOLT These three stories will make me come back for more. The artwork in MARALINGA by Doug Holgate is a joy to look at and I found myself going over the landscape of a ruined Melbourne over and over again. The Ozploitation tag really hits high gear (and an R rating) with Mark Selan and Steve Martinez’s LUST OF CONVICTED VIXENS. This piece of sexy fun took me back to Slow Death Comix with Rand Holmes and Jaxon from the 1970s underground. Chuck in a few more stories about ignorant gangsters GUSTY SMYTHE and more devilish stories THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL with some leftie political essays in some of the other written pieces (including some fun faux adverts) and you get a great mixture for a good solid read and at a 152 pages enough to keep you satisfied until Autumn when the next issue is due.
I know I'm greedy but I was expecting a bit more of the stories already featured in HBVB ZERO.

Doug Holgate's MARALINGA artwork

Simon Sherry's Heavy Angel artwork in colour

Mathew Dunn's CEO artwork

Flashback 2011

It's that time of the year again when the Flash Fiction group over at the rather less important than it use to be Red Bubble thanks to their absolute lack of support for writing.
But somehow even under those repressive conditions the group has managed to  thrive and thanks to the many wonderful contributors another volume of the Best Of has been published.
I actually had a hand in this one but most of the glory sits squarely on the lovely Anne van Alkermade's shoulders who edited the whole book and supplied her ISBN for publishing immortality in the National Library.
Catherine Swanson supplied some inspired cover art as well as some of the most clever stories.
I did some proof reading, which is like asking a five year old to look after a sand castle, if you get my drift.
So check it out here and buy a copy if you feel the need.
There are some wonderful and rather witty works in there.
The must see section would have to be the Barbara Cartland Challenge.
It will bring tears of laughter and may  stir a loin or two.


Here's a couple of my stories.

Everyone reacts differently

He’d been at the door for hours now.
Just standing in the doorway with his “army” hat he’d made so that it looked just like his dad’s.
His mother was still lying on the bed sobbing uncontrollably clutching the official letter that arrived that afternoon.
In a scene of subtle synchronicity, the boy saluted the sun as it set in the mid winter sky just as his mother dropped the letter onto the floor.
As of tonight the world as they knew it would take a whole new course, meanwhile the cat went from room to room trying to get either’s attention so it could be fed.

Route 66, Critters 0

“I spy with my little eye something begging with E”
BOOINK!

“hahahha”

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with K”

BANG!

“HAHAHA”

“I spy with my little eye something begging with W”

BOOMP! BOMP! Thud Thud Thud

“Ooops”

“Right I hope you two are happy now “ cried Mum “ If you were that bored we could have stopped for a while gone for a walk. That Wombat has done some serious damage.”

Barbra Cartland NOT

He couldn’t stand it any longer.
It should be paradise.
The four poster bed, the silk sheets, the lace pillows and beautiful views from the second floor balcony just two steps away.
But it wasn’t, it was a hellish experience.
Here he was, the world’s most eligible bachelor in a villa surrounded by middle aged housewives .
The collective sound of heaving breasts making it impossible to sleep on his first vacation in years.

Pious & Moles misadventures in Rattown

Get your own - Open publication

Captain Goodvibes revisited

Growing up in the outer suburbs of Melbourne in the 1970s was pretty much a waste land.
Magazines like Tracks showed a world a million miles away aesthetically and socially.
It was the mag where even the ads took you somewhere else.
Besides the articles and photography of unattainable places there was the regular Captain Goodvibes strip.

Tony Edwards and the Captain

Creator Tony Edwards had a unique style that made hard lines obsolete, Each panel was a wonderland of dots and shading.
Each month the Good Captain with his faithful dog Astro managed to be disgusting, violent and hilarious all in one big mad adventure.

This gem is a short film from where I'm not sure but it faithfully reproduces the comic strip.
Conjures up what Yellow Submarine would have been like if the creators hit the gin and heroin instead of the acid.