EOD was an Australian horror fanzine that I edited and published in the early 1990s, and which ran for nine issues. The name of the magazine came from its predecessor, the Esoteric Order of Dagon Newsletter (or OOD Newsletter), which was published and edited by David Tansey.

The Esoteric Order of Dagon, or EOD, was a Canberra-based horror club that was started by David Tansey in December 1988. As he writes in his article " EOD: A Brief History" that was published in EOD #1:

The EOD was formed in December 1988, and produced its first Newsletter in January 1989. ... Why was EOD formed? Well' I subscribed to the Canberra SF Society Newsletter at the time and wondered why there was no horror equivalent. So I started one. ... By March 1989 the club had 7 members. ...

EOD derives its name from a secret society described in Lovecraft's stories. That society aimed to worship and eventually return to Earth various nasty entities. Our EOD was involved in a much lesser ambitious pursuit, namely to publish up-and-coming Australian writers and poets. The main vehicle of the society was the Newsletter, and correspondence between the members. Meetings were rarely held -- over 1989 to 1990 only four meetings were held -- on March 15th and August 20th each year -- respectively. Lovecraft's death and birth day. ...

The EOD Newsletter produced 8 issues during 1989. I regret to say that it was my fiction that dominated its pages -- not from vanity but from lack of other submissions. ...

1990 was a different matter. We entered the big time! EOD formed an arrangement with the Canberra SF Society so that we would handle a horror category of the latter's short story competition. (Previously the CSFS accepted horror stories under the umbrella of SF.) EOD would pay separate prizes -- totalling $65 -- and publish the stories.

During 1990 membership soared to 27. The Newsletter produced issue number 9 in January and number 14 (the final) in December. During this boom time a total of 27 stories from 23 authors were published.

I joined the EOD in early 1990. In late 1990 David Tansey disbanded the EOD and folded the Newsletter. At the time I was working in a government job and was in charge of our sections photocopy room, where they had this huge photocopier, as well as new computer equipment. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to produce my own little magazine so I wrote to David Tansey with the suggestion that I might take over the EOD Newsletter. David agreed immediately and even sent me his mailing and contacts list to help me get started. I changed the name to just EOD and the side-stapled A4 format to an A5 booklet with a wrap-around card cover ... and so EOD was born.

Over its nine issue run, EOD gave many local writers an outlet, and in some cases, their first taste of being published, many of whom have gone onto much bigger and better things. Amongst these are: Sean Williams, Bill Congreve, Steven Proposch, Tony Brook, Mark McAuliffe, Rod Williams, and many others.

As EOD was a non-paying market, I ran a short story competition where readers could vote for their three favourite stories in the first six issues. The winners were announced in EOD #7: the first prize of $80 going to Dead Air, by Rick Kennett (EOD #6); the second prize of $40 went to Maggie's Place, by Steven Proposch (EOD #5 and went on to be published in Bill Congreve's anthology, Intimate Armageddons); and the third prize of $20 went to Twist of the Knife, by Sean Williams (EOD #6).

Looking back I remember my time editing and publishing EOD with much fondness. It taught me a lot and for a while EOD was the only Australian publication dedicated to publishing horror fiction. Seeing how far things have come since then with Australian horror publishing, I am proud to say that EOD had a small part in it all.