Ghosthunting in Australia

Over the last six months, I’ve taken part in a few stays in haunted locations.

First was the official Australian Horror Writers Association’s Aradale Asylum Creative Retreat, in February of this year. It was three days and two nights of writing, paranormal investigations, and fun. There is an official blog for the participants of that weekend.
Then, it was another weekend in May that was arranged by the people who run the ghost tours at Aradale. More fun, ghosts, and a lot of freezing cold.
I wrote two columns at the UK site This is Horror, based on the experiences we had on that weekend. The first has had a great response. The second is just up today.

Next month, we will be staying the night at Old Geelong Gaol.

Then, in October, we have another AHWA Creative Retreat, this time held at Beechworth, at the old Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum.

Ah, the fun of hunting ghosts here in Australia…
More to come once we make it back alive from Geelong.

Geoff

 

Geoff Brown Talks to Alex Laybourne About Overcoming Adversity, Personal Triumphs… and Editing | Official Site of Alex Laybourne – Author

Geoff Brown (aka G.N. Braun) was raised in Melbourne’s gritty Western Suburbs. He is a trained nurse, and holds a Cert. IV in Professional Writing and Editing and a Dip. Arts (Professional Writing and Editing).
He has had many short stories published in anthologies around the world, as well as numerous articles published in newspapers. He was the president of the Australian Horror Writers Association, as well as the past director of the Australian Shadows Awards. His memoir, Hammered, was released in early 2012 by Legumeman Books. He is the owner of Cohesion Editing and Proofreading.

I like to begin my interviews with something gentle, so please tell us a little about yourself?

via Geoff Brown Talks to Alex Laybourne About Overcoming Adversity, Personal Triumphs… and Editing | Official Site of Alex Laybourne – Author.

Midnight Echo Issue 9, Edited by Geoff Brown » This Is Horror

Midnight Echo Issue 9, Edited by Geoff Brown (aka GN Braun)
eBook 150pp
Release Date: 31 May 2013

I edited this issue, and this review by UK site This is Horror is fantastic.

“Mythology is the theme for this issue of Midnight Echo, and it’s testament to the editors that the familiar and often overdone folklores are left out in favour of more obscure legends that will thrill, chill and enchant you.”

Read more via Midnight Echo Issue 9, Edited by Geoff Brown » This Is Horror.

Aradale Asylum

Well, the weekend is over (I know, it’s Thursday, but I’ve included recovery time) and what a weekend it was.

I took part in a creative writing retreat with nearly twenty other people. We went to stay at Aradale, an abandoned 1800s lunatic asylum that is of a staggering size.

We all stayed in the dining hall (it also used to double as a dance hall and a place to hold religious services, so you can imagine the size) for both nights. We had originally planned to move over to the old staff quarters for the second night, but the distance and the stairs would have made it very difficult to move all twenty of the mattresses over there. After what happened in the staff quarters on the second night, I’m glad we didn’t. More on that in a later post (it deserves it’s own post).

For more info, keep an eye on this blog, and check out the dedicated Aradale 2013 blog HERE.

The rise of Australian horror and the Oz Horror Mini-con » This Is Horror

We’ve had a first here in Australia this month.

Our first single-genre horror convention, the Oz Horror Mini-con was a pre-cursor to the main Oz Horror Con 2013, to be held in January in Melbourne. Previously we’ve had multi-genre conventions, not least of all AussieCon 4 and World Con back in 2010. That was a great year for horror in Australia, but World Con is still a sci-fi convention, with slight undertones of horror—provided, in this case, by the Australian Horror Writers Association, who held the Nightmare Ball, a costume ball with strong horror themes. The AHWA also held the 2010 Annual General Meeting of the association at the convention.

Now, along comes the Oz Horror Con.

via The rise of Australian horror and the Oz Horror Mini-con » This Is Horror.

Aradale and Midnight Echo Magazine

Hi everyone,
A short Australian Horror Writers Association update for October, with news on U.S. distribution for Midnight Echo, as well as an update on the Aradale Asylum Creative Retreat.
MIDNIGHT ECHO NEWS:
October 18, 2012 – Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) President Geoff Brown, and Midnight Echo Executive Editor Marty Young, are pleased to announce that the AHWA and JournalStone Publishing (JSP) have entered into an exclusive joint marketing agreement pursuant to which the AHWA and Midnight Echo magazine will be the exclusive Australian distributor of the quarterly magazine, Dark Discoveries, while JSP and Dark Discoveries Magazine will become the exclusive USA distributor of Midnight Echo. Both parties voiced their enthusiasm for the agreement, which means that the pre-existing high premium that potential readers of each respective magazine have had to pay to receive the other periodical in their respective countries will be eliminated making both magazines much more affordable and accessible/available for all. Look for availability on both the JSP and Midnight Echo websites soon, where you will be able to purchase the magazines individually or in a bundled offering that includes both Dark Discoveries and Midnight Echo.
Midnight Echo is also holding a subscription drive in the buildup to the eagerly awaited Issue 8, with a whole stack of prizes to be won. Just take out a 1- or 2-year print subscription between now and November 30 and you will go into the draw to win the following:
• ‘The Woman’ signed by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee
• ‘Edge of Dark Water’ signed by Joe R Lansdale
• Original ME8 artwork by Glenn Chadbourne (signed)
• A copy of ‘Tolerance’ plus 3 signed lithographs, by ME8 cover artist Chris Mars
• 1-year print subscription to Cemetery Dance magazine
• Original Allure of the Ancients artwork, signed by creators Mark Farrugia and Greg Chapman
• 1-year print subscription bundle to Midnight Echo and Dark Discoveries magazines
The winners will be announced on December 1.
Full subscription details can be found at http://midnightechomagazine.com/subscribe-to-midnight-echo/

ARADALE ASYLUM CREATIVE RETREAT:
Writers, editors, artists, photographers, filmmakers, game designers, screenwriters, and anyone creative that I have missed.
All welcome.
The Australian Horror Writers Association has arranged a three-day/two-night stay at Aradale Mental Hospital (formerly Ararat Lunatic Asylum) for writers, editors, artists and any other creative-type people.
It will involve having the days to create and the nights to investigate how to be scared stiff. There will be a ghost tour on the Friday night, and a paranormal investigation on the Saturday night (all equipment supplied).

When: THREE (3) DAYS – February 22-24th 2013
How Much: $395 PER PERSON all-inclusive three days
Includes: accommodation/full catering/tour/paranormal investigation.
Supplied: All meals, camp-beds.
Please supply sleeping bag or bedding (if you are travelling from interstate, talk to us and we will be able to help with this).

Confirmation of interest in attending will be accepted UPON PAYMENT OF $195 deposit (refundable up to thirty (30) days prior to the event. If, for any reason, you are unable to attend, notify us by Thursday 24th January for a full refund of deposit).

Full details here:
http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=317

Geoff Brown – president, AHWA

A short history of Australian horror » This Is Horror

My new column at This is Horror. Check it out!

Australian horror

These two words have different connotations for many people worldwide.

Australian horror has exploited fears of Australia’s ‘wide-open spaces’, and the isolation and vulnerability of people where the population drops to less than fifty individuals per square kilometre. Wolf Creek and Snowtown are based on real-life crimes such as Ivan Milat’s ‘backpacker murders’, or the murders in Snowtown last decade. The desolation of much of the Australian landscape, and the vulnerability of those within these areas, has been driven home both by crimes of opportunity and well-planned killing sprees. This is the horror of Australia in reality.

For many overseas residents, it seems Australia has a reputation as the home of many things that have no other aim in life but to kill humans in very nasty ways. Crocodiles, poisonous snakes and spiders, serial killers, giant insects, deadly jellyfish, shark attacks, drop-bears… the list goes on.

See the whole column HERE: A short history of Australian horror » This Is Horror.

‘The horror! The horror!’: An interview with Geoff Brown — Speakeasy

For those of you who have been seduced by the dark side of writing, it’s time to give form to your finest literary golems, and unleash them on an unsuspecting public: the Midnight Echo goblins will soon be hungry for submissions.

Midnight Echo is one of Australia’s premier horror magazines, and the official magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA). Submissions for the upcoming issue #9, ‘Mythic Horror’, will open up from October 1, 2012. Guest editor, Geoff Brown, will be looking for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and artwork to load the pages of ME#9 with all the mythic horror, terror, fear and trepidation he can cram in.

Speakeasy recently caught up with Geoff Brown (aka. G. N. Braun), realist and dark fiction writer, president of the AHWA, and guest editor of Midnight Echo’s forthcoming ‘Mythic Horror’ issue.

See the entire interview via ‘The horror! The horror!’: An interview with Geoff Brown — Speakeasy.

Submission Guidelines « Midnight Echo magazine

Midnight Echo Issue 9 – Mythical Horror
(edited by GN Braun)

Research and modernise a myth, legend, folk-tale etc. The tale must be written in such a way that the myth is recognisable, yet without ‘info dumps’. What we are looking for are re-workings of myths and legends, brought into the modern world and ready to scare the pants off us.

Remember, though: the tale must have horror as a central theme.

The Brothers Grimm defined legend as a historically-grounded folktale. For this purpose, that is not quite the definition we are looking for. We all know legends, yet not all of them are grounded in history. Loch Ness, Bigfoot, Johnny Appleseed… the list goes on. Use this concept to shock and amaze us.

Myth: a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being, hero, or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

Myths have defined society for as long as there have been human beings. Whether those myths are religious or cultural or a mixture of both, we have always lived with them, one way or another.

Ancient Greece, Egypt, Sumeria; they all have their unique mythology. Sometimes, the myths cross over, due to immigration or expansion or colonialism.

NOTE: Any stories involving cultural borrowing from indigenous cultures should be respectful of the beliefs of the traditional owners.

via Submission Guidelines « Midnight Echo magazine.

From the Goblin Office « Midnight Echo magazine

The print copies of Midnight Echo Issue 7, the taboo issue edited by Daniel I Russell, have sold out!

Digital copies are still available for only $1.99–although we are taking orders for a second print run. If you want a print copy, place your order here before the 16th of August.

Midnight Echo Issue 8 is coming together well, too. Edited by AJ Spedding, Mark Farrugia, and Marty Young, this issue features all new stories by Joe R Lansdale, Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee, interviews with Jack Ketchum and Glenn Chadbourne (as well as new artwork by Glenn!), and a whole lot more!!

We will announce the full Table of Contents as soon as possible, so stay tuned. And as soon as that comes out, we’ll open for pre-orders. You don’t want to miss out on this issue!

In the meantime, why not check out the Guidelines page? We’ve put up the new guidelines for Issue 9, to be edited by GN Braun. The theme is mythical horror–but remember, we’re not taking submissions until October 1.

via From the Goblin Office « Midnight Echo magazine.