In Sunshine Bright And Darkness Deep.

And so I can announce my story, Bloodlust, has been selected for inclusion in the inaugural Australian Horror Writers Association showcase, In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep. Slated for publication at Halloween, the TOC and cover were published online last week.

I'm pleased to be included alongside name writers like Marty Young, Cameron Trost, Jason Nahrung, Joanne Anderton and Dan Rabarts.

I love the cover artwork by Greg Chapman.

And the blurb? Those South-East Asian vampiric gangsters would be mine. I first encountered them when I was walking through the KLCC underground passages in Kuala Lumpur. They didn't want to stay there, hidden away.

"In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep is an anthology like no other. The tales herein will take you on a weird and terrifying journey. You will set out on a road trip and find yourself trapped in the arid Australian outback where a little girl and her grandfather struggle to survive. There are isolated farmhouses threatened by bushfires and bullets, and rainforests teeming with bloodthirsty bugs. The cities are full of trouble too. The murky waters of the Brisbane River hide spiteful spirits and the suburbs are infested with insane inhabitants masquerading as ordinary human beings. Then, you will leave Australia, departing from Melbourne, to hunt down vampiric gangsters in Southeast Asia, before sailing future seas and visiting realms beyond this world altogether. This inaugural showcase anthology features the work of just a handful of the many talented and darkly imaginative authors who make up the Australian Horror Writers’ Association. If you are unfamiliar with Australian horror, let this book be just the first step on a long voyage of discovery."

The River Slurry • by Rue Karney
Triage • by Jason Nahrung
Upon the Dead Oceans • by Marty Young
Beast • by Natalie Satakovski
The Grinning Tide • by Stuart Olver
Our Last Meal • by J. Ashley Smith
Veronica's Dogs • by Cameron Trost
Bullets • by Joanne Anderton
Saviour • by Mark McAuliffe
The Hunt • by Mark Smith-Briggs
The Monster in the Woods • by Kathryn Hore
Road Trip • by Anthony Ferguson
Bloodlust • by Steve Cameron
Elffingern • by Dan Rabarts

I Was Dancing Around The House.

Literally.  My dogs didn't seem to mind, though. They ran with me.

My wife was at work when I received the email informing me that I'd made my first sale. Of course I rang her straight away, and left a message as she was in a meeting. Then I rang my best friend, my second best friend, my third best friend, my Mum and Dad, some guy I met down the pub once, my third grade teacher that I haven't seen in 35 years...

You get the idea.

Anyway, Tasmaniac Publications bought a story of mine for inclusion in Festive Fear 2, due out later this year.  Last year's Festive Fear was fantastic, but this year's has gone global.

I'm really excited by this - and, as Marty Young, pointed out to me, it's been an incredible week for me.  First I score Paul Haines as a mentor, and now this.  I did a quick web-search and found G.N. Braun's writing  has also been accepted for this anthology. Congratulations.

And now, for the very first time in my life, I find myself signing a publishing contract. (Boy, that was fun!)

Support your local small press (and aspiring writers) and pre-order a copy as soon as you can.  They tend to sell out rather quickly.