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Bloodsongs Issue 2
Tabula Rasa As implied by its subtitle, Tabula Rasa concentrates mainly on the history of horror. Edited, written (almost all of it as far as I can make out), typed, and even printed by, David Carroll and Kyla Ward, TR isn’t a bad effort at all. Many of you may remember David Carroll from his previous Dr Who/Horror (yeah it is a strange mix) fanzine, Burnt Toast. The first thing that hit me about this mag was Rod Williams’ great cover illo. Next up is a nicely researched and written article on the The Life and Death of Vlad the Impaler. After this comes State of the Art –- a diary, which is a run down on the latest in horror, both in publishing and filmdom. For me the highlight of TR was the interview with Lloyd Kaufman from Troma Films. You know those responsible for such schlock classics as The Toxic Avenger, Igor and the Lunatics, The Class of Nuke ’em High, etc. Being a fan of many of these films it was interesting to hear what Kaufman had to say for himself. Then there’s also an incredibly ambitious piece titled The Dark Ages: Eight Centuries of Horror, here David and Kyla attempt to write a chronological account (starting with the order from the Vatican to establish an Inquisition “to re-establish the orthodoxy of the faith” in 1235) of horror and its development over the last 800 years! And they manage to do this in the space of 30 pages! And if this isn’t enough, there’s also an article, Which is Witch, detailing the advent of the Inquisition and its subsequent persecution of witches and heretics. Overall, the first issue of Tabula Rasa provided me with an informative and entertaining read.
Gaslight Firstly, I love the subtitles “Tales of the Unsane”. I’d heard good things about this little magazine, so it was quite a surprise to open an envelope I expected to be another Bloodsongs submission to find a review copy of this little mag lurking inside. After a quick flip through its pages one can see that Ms Gish takes a lot of care and puts much thought into how this mag is going to look. Gaslight is easy on the eye, easy to read and the layouts are effective without being distracting. This issue pays tribute to Charles Darwin –- I haven’t seen any other issues of Gaslight so I don’t know if this (paying tribute to someone) is a common thing with each issue –- with a quote from Mr. Darwin or some aspect of evolution heading each story and some of the poetry. Most of the fiction (or was it all the fiction … never mind) deals with these themes (mainly ones dealing with survival of the fittest) as well. My main complaint –- but only a minor one –- was the shortness of the fiction. Almost all of the stories were less than 2000 words in length. Pulling of fiction this short is very difficult to do (unless of course you happen to be D.F. Lewis) as a writer needs room to set the scene, characterise, etc. And more often than not, the stories in this issue would have been more effective if the writer had used a larger canvas.
Dark Times This is the second issue of the official "journal" for the Melbourne-based Vampire Legion, a society of vampire lovers and horrorphiles that boasts a membership of 200 plus. Dark Times is more than just a club newsletter, and can be considered as a horror magazine in its own right. And I’m one that’s always glad to see another local horror mag emerge, especially one of this quality. Immediately I could sense that a lot of time, care and effort have gone into this magazine: professional-looking layout, classy gothic feel to it, the bloody thing even smells eldritch! Illos are suitably dark and moody, plus some nice photography featuring sullen-looking ladies lurking in cemeteries. The poetry featured is also darkly sinister and moody. Michaela gives us an article on Gary Oldman, a fine actor, who I felt was miscast in Capolla’s Dracula. Next up, The Baroness introduces us to one Drew Stinton, a real-life Melbourne ghost hunter, a la Harry Price, after which Stinton recounts some of his adventures which include some fascinating material on Melbourne hauntings he’s encountered. I’ve always longed to experience some sort of supernatural phenomenon, so this sort of article always fascinates me. Following this is an article trying to explain some of the mystique surrounding Vlad Tsepes’ concubine/wife (not made clear which … who knows, could be both) Elisabeta. Then there’s review columns featuring books and music (usually of the gothic variety). Fiction there isn’t all that much of, but what’s there is of the very short variety. Barbara Welton serves up "Solitary Candle", a dark and nasty little vignette of the vampire variety. The Baroness gives us a nice little slasher short short "Call Me Razor". Then there’s also the three winners of a short story competition asking for 1000 word pieces centering on the theme of “The New Neighbours From Hell”. All in all, Dark Times is a nicely put together mag and satisfying read. Recommended. |
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All material on this site is Copyright 2007 to Chris A. Masters
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