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Bloodsongs Issue 1
Horror in Australia has always been the underdog, the dark shadow in the literary recess. The mainstream, at best, has regarded horror as non-literary and unimportant, yet the demand for horror in Australia has always been there. One only has to look at the best-seller list for proof. Rarely is it that one cannot find names like Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, James Herbert, or one of many other writers working extensively in the genre. Even a quick look at the top ten video rentals and you are almost guaranteed to find a horror movie or two amongst the titles. As Bill Congreve pointed out in the foreword to his small press horror anthology Intimate Armageddons (Five Islands Press, 1992), the proof that horror sells in this country is that one rarely sees a horror title on the remainder shelves. So why aren’t there any Australian names amongst the Stephen Kings and Clive Barkers? In Europe and America during the early part of this century and through WWII, while the likes of Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dennis Wheatley, M.R, James and Sax Rohmer were being regularly published, and magazines such as The Strand in England and Weird Tales in America were nurturing the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, C.L. Moore, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth and many others, Weird Tales and other similar publications were actually banned from entering this country. Then through most of the 50s and 60s during the Menzies era and its aftermath; a time of heavy censorship, the Vietnam War, compulsory conscription and the White Australia Policy, Australians lived real-life horrors everyday. It wasn’t until 1971 with the advent of the R-Rating and with the election of the Whitlam Government the following year that a change was in sight. We began to shake off our shackles and look at some of our taboos. The success of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock and the film based on the novel, as well as other locally produced films such as Patrick and television shows like The Evil Touch, it seemed as though we were beginning to develop some home-grown horror. For some reason this surge disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. Overseas (and ironically, in Australia as well), Stephen King and others were selling millions of books, but nobody was producing horror here. The early 80s saw the genre re-emerge in the small press. Although this gave an outlet to the ever growing underground of Australian horror writers, it was still a limited market, and in essence, only preaching to the converted. With their limited distribution and support, these mags served mainly to keep horror alive amongst a small but loyal following of writers, artists and hard-core fans. What we needed was a vehicle to bring local horror to the masses who were watching the films and buying the imported books. And this is where Bloodsongs enters, hopefully to fill this gap. So what is it that makes horror fiction so popular? For a start, there’s nothing more entertaining than a well-written horror yarn. There’s no better medium in which to question our values, challenge our taboos, or just to entertain or offer an escape from nine-to-five boredom. Fear is an ancient thing, and it has long being recognised that to face your fears is to overcome them. Horror challenges our very sense of reality and safety, but always with the comfort of knowing that at any time we can close the book, leave the cinema, or turn off the VCR. Yet horror can be none of the above, all of the above and more. Horror allows one to isolate and explore the human condition like no other medium. It is the genre for now and for the future. A safe way to explore the threatening you might say? Well, read on. The content of this magazine, so wisely purchased, will, we believe, speak for itself. Please enjoy … at your own risk. Chris A. Masters & Steve Proposch |
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All material on this site is Copyright 2007 to Chris A. Masters
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