With a twang in its heart and a song for luck on its tongue, Songs for Dark Seasons takes readers back to the lonesome dream counties introduced in the World Fantasy Award-nominated collection, Bluegrass Symphony.

Trailer parks and graves are only temporary homes for souls in these tales, where gods dwell in churches and parking lot groves. Friday night football stars mingle with sirens; hunters’ wives help their kids not to shoot, but to fly; Chanticleers spar their way into local government; and rash-afflicted men take dryads for lovers. In backwater towns, some witches have the know-how to pin pageant queens pretty, while others relieve girls of highfalutin aspirations. Local crow-boys and bloodthirsty Ursines are the best miners around.

In these thirteen stories, forests are imbued with the deepest, saddest strains of country music, cornfield horizons stretch as long as a lone fiddle’s wail, and distant hills make mandolin promises: sweet and catchy and short-lived.

With an introduction by World Fantasy Award-winning writer Helen Marshall.

Cover by Vince Haig.

This paranormal noir anthology brings you sixteen stories of murder and mayhem, monsters and mysterious femme fatales.

• Lindsy Anderson – The Third Circle
• Chris Bauer – Three Questions and One Troll
• Alan Baxter & Felicity Dowker – Burning, Always Burning
• Jay Caselberg – Blind Pig
• M.L.D. Curelas – Silver Comes the Night
• Karen Dent – A Case to Die For
• Dirk Flinthart – Outlines
• Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter – Prohibition Blues
• Donna Maree Hanson – Sangue Sella Notte
• Rob Hood – Walking the Dead Beat
• Joseph L Kellogg – The Awakened Adventure of Rick Candle
• Pete Kempshall – Sound and Fury
• Chris Large – One Night at the Cherry
• Penelope Love – Be Good Sweet Maid
• Nicole Murphy – The Black Star Killer
• Brian G. Ross – Hard Boiled

Introduction by Kim Wilkins

Cover illustration by Kathleen Jennings

The gods are dead, but will not be forgotten.

When Mymnir flees the devastation of Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to Ásgarðr — a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, Óðinn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family.

In planting seeds of the old world in the new, Mymnir becomes queen of a land with as many problems as the one she fled. Her long-lived Fae children ignite and fan feuds that span generations; lives are lost and loves won because of their tampering. Told in thirteen parts, Midnight and Moonshine follows the Beaufort and Laveaux families, part-human, part-Fae, as they battle, thrive and survive in Mymnir’s kingdom.

Midnight and Moonshine is a collection of interconnected tales with links between them as light and strong as spider-silk. From fire giants to whispering halls, disappearing children to evening-wolves, fairy hills to bewitched cypress trees, and talking heads to moonshiners of a special sort, Midnight and Moonshine takes readers on a journey from ninth century Vinland to America’s Deep South in the present day. Hannett and Slatter have created a mosaic novel of moments, story-tiles as strange as witchwood and withywindles.

Midnight and Moonshine is a rich tapestry of dark fantasy, fairy tale and speculation.

Publishers Weekly Starred Review

In “Seeds”, the opening story of Hannett and Slatter’s innovative dark fantasy collection, Mymnir, Odinn’s white raven, flees the Ragnarok, “an apocalypse for the gods alone,” and comes to the New World. There she creates a Fae kingdom in the image of Asgardr, transforming herself from a thieving, neglected raven into the fearsome, immortal Fae Queen. Though each story in this collection is self-contained and varied in tone and setting (Mymnir’s Fae Court, Prohibition-era Charleston, the present, to name a few), each one builds upon its predecessor, with multiple generations of protagonists and recurring objects, characters (especially Mymnir, whose desires and memories, over the centuries, bring her to the cusp of another Ragnarok), and themes. Marked by imagery both beautiful and grotesque, and unnerving twists that recall the uncanny horror of original fairy tales, this collection contains a unifying, multilayered plot that draws upon Norse mythology to take the reader on a thrilling, unsettling journey.

Introduction by Ann Vandereer

Winner of the Aurealis Award

Publishers Weekly review:

“Australian author Hannett’s first collection shows off her fondness for lush imagery, unsettling concepts, indirect prose, and multilayered plots. “Carousel” features a girl trapped in a shed by her oppressive father; her attempts to escape elicit the sympathy of unusual rescuers. “Depot to Depot” spins the tale of a trucker who takes unexpected passengers on a strange detour. “Down the Hollow” looks at the sacrifices people must make to appease the Earth and the ways such a negotiation can go wrong. The 12 stories, all but one original to this volume, push boundaries and experiment with style, form, and meaning, rarely straightforward and often hovering between fantasy and horror. By no means an easy read, this is a collection for fans of weirdness, wonder, and oft-disturbing twists.”

Collects 33 stories of horror and dark fantasy that acknowledge the undead as ineradicable members of Australian society. The best selections twine the vampire incursion with Australian history, as in Shona Husk’s “Mutiny on the Scarborough,” whose vampire narrator reveals himself to have been one of the earliest convicts transported Down Under. Angela Slatter’s “Sun Falls,” about a luckless vamp dependent upon his smart-aleck human slave, and “The Tide,” a multi-authored story that charts vampires’ rise from second-class citizen to the nation’s ruling elite, mix horror with humor.

The stories

• “The Tide”, Martin Livings and friends*
• “Mutiny on the Scarborough”, Shona Husk
• “Sun Falls”, Angela Slatter
• “Such is Life”, Jeremy Sadler
• “Apologetoi”, Chris Lawson
• “Punishment of the Sun”, Alan Baxter
• “Red Delicious”, Felicity Dowker
• “Just a Matter of Economics”, Yvonne Eve Walus
• “Quarantine”, Patty Jansen
• “Out of the Grave”, Amanda Pillar
• “Desert Blood”, Marty Young
• “Thin Air”, Simon Brown
• “Kissed by the Sun”, Jodi Cleghorn
• “Bats”, Jane Routley
• “Black Heart”, Joanna Fay
• “Renfield’s Wife”, Damon Cavalchini
• “Listening to Tracy”, Jen White
• “Breaking the Drought”, Jay Caselberg
• “Children of the Cane”, Jason Nahrung
• “The Sea at Night”, Joanne Anderton
• “Sky in the Morning”, Sonia Marcon
• “Taking it for the Team”, Tracie McBride
• “All that Glisters”, Pete Kempshall
• “The Rider”, Martin Livings
• “Vitality”, George Ivanoff
• “Coming Home”, Kathryn Hore
• “The Little Red Man”, Ray Gates
• “Deathborn Light”, Helen Stubbs
• “The Life Stealer”, Donna Maree Hanson
• “Behind the Black Mask”, Jacob Edwards
• “Interview with the Jiangshi”, Anne Mok
• “White and Red in the Black”, Lisa L Hannett
• “Lady Yang’s Lament”, Penelope Love

*Carol Ryles, Lezli Robyn, Kaaron Warren, Patty Jansen, Alan Baxter, Devin Jeythurai, Felicity Dowker, Andrew J McKiernan, Gillian Pollack, Chuck McKenzie

Introduction by Jack Dann

Winner of the Aurealis Award

A stunning, emotional and eclectic collection of fantasy and dark tales. These are the stories told to warn children, entertain adults and beguile all.

210 pages

Bluebeard
The Living Book
The Jacaranda Wife
Red Skein
The Chrysanthemum Bride
Frozen
The Hummingbird Heart
Words
The Little Match Girl
The Juniper Tree
Skin
The Bone Mother
The Dead Ones Don’t Hurt You
Light As Mist, Heavy As Hope
Dresses, Three
The Girl With No Hands

Cover design by Lisa L. Hannett

A collection of paranormal romance with bite.

On the menu is a tasty selection of heroines and heroes: time travellers, vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches, trapped spirits, dragons, wizards, monsters, even cartoons. From sweet to sexy, these stories will seduce.

208 pages

Contents
“The Anstruther Woman”, Nicole R. Murphy
“Fade Away”, Ian Nichols
“Bread and Circuses”, Felicity Dowker
“Black Widow”, Shona Husk
“The February Dragon”, Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett
“Growing Silence”, Matt Tighe
“The Hidden One”, Astrid Cooper
“A Darker Shade of Pale”, David Bofinger
“The Valley”, Martin Livings
“Cursebreaker: the Welsh Widow and the Wandering Wooer”, Kyla Ward
“Heat”, Donna Maree Hanson
“Phaedra”, Bruce Golden
“Date with a Vampire”, Annette Backshall
“Pride and Tentacles”, D C White

In the first volume of this award-winning series, editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled an impressive list of fantastic stories first published in 2010, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers.

The 33 stories selected are

• RJ Astruc: “Johnny and Babushka”
• Peter M Ball: “L’esprit de L’escalier”
• Alan Baxter: “The King’s Accord”
• Jenny Blackford: “Mirror”
• Gitte Christensen: “A Sweet Story”
• Matthew Chrulew: “Schubert By Candlelight”
• Bill Congreve: “Ghia Likes Food”
• Rjurik Davidson: “Lovers In Caeli-Amur”
• Felicity Dowker: “After the Jump”
• Dale Elvy: “Night Shift”
• Jason Fischer: “The School Bus”
• Dirk Flinthart: “Walker”
• Bob Franklin: “Children’s Story”
• Christopher Green: “Where We Go To Be Made Lighter”
• Paul Haines: “High Tide At Hot Water Beach”
• Lisa L. Hannett: “Soil From My Fingers”
• Stephen Irwin: “Hive”
• Gary Kemble: “Feast Or Famine”
• Pete Kempshall: “Brave Face”
• Tessa Kum: “Acception”
• Martin Livings: “Home”
• Maxine McArthur: “A Pearling Tale”
• Kirstyn McDermott: “She Said”
• Andrew McKiernan: “The Memory Of Water”
• Ben Peek: “White Crocodile Jazz”
• Simon Petrie: “Dark Rendezvous”
• Lezli Robyn: “Anne-droid of Green Gables”
• Angela Rega: “Slow Cookin’ “
• Angela Slatter: “The Bone Mother”
• Angela Slatter & Lisa L. Hannett: “The February Dragon”
• Grant Stone: “Wood”
• Kaaron Warren: “That Girl”
• Janeen Webb: “Manifest Destiny”

In the second volume of this award-winning series, editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled an impressive list of fantastic stories first published in 2011, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers. Includes Angela Slatter’s British Fantasy Award-winning story “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter”.

The 32 stories selected are

• Peter M Ball “Briar Day” (Moonlight Tuber)
• Lee Battersby “Europe After The Rain” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
• Deborah Biancotti “Bad Power” (Bad Power, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Jenny Blackford “The Head in the Goatskin Bag” (Kaleidotrope)
• Simon Brown “Thin Air” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
• David Conyers and David Kernot “Winds Of Nzambi” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
• Stephen Dedman “More Matter, Less Art” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
• Sara Douglass & Angela Slatter “The Hall of Lost Footsteps” (The Hall of Lost Footsteps, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Felicity Dowker “Berries & Incense” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Terry Dowling “Dark Me, Night You” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Jason Fischer “Hunting Rufus” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Christopher Green “Letters Of Love From The Once And Newly Dead” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Paul Haines “The Past Is A Bridge Best Left Burnt” (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)
• Lisa L Hannett “Forever, Miss Tapekwa County” (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Richard Harland “At The Top Of The Stairs” (Shadows and Tall Trees #2, Undertow Publications)
• John Harwood “Face To Face” (Ghosts by Gaslight, HarperCollins)
• Pete Kempshall “Someone Else To Play With” (Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books)
• Jo Langdon “Heaven” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
• Maxine McArthur “The Soul of the Machine” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
• Ian McHugh “The Wishwriter’s Wife” (Daily Science Fiction)
• Andrew J McKiernan “Love Death” (Aurealis #45, Chimaera Publications)
• Kirstyn McDermott “Frostbitten” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Margaret Mahy “Wolf Night” (The Wilful Eye – Tales From the Tower #1, Allen & Unwin)
• Anne Mok “Interview with the Jiangshi” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Jason Nahrung “Wraiths” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
• Anthony Panegyres “Reading Coffee” (Overland, OL Society)
• Tansy Rayner Roberts “The Patrician” (Love and Romanpunk, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Angela Rega “Love In the Atacama or the Poetry of Fleas” (Crossed Genres, CGP)
• Angela Slatter “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Lucy Sussex “Thief of Lives” (Thief of Lies, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Kyla Ward “The Kite” (The Land of Bad Dreams, P’rea Press)
• Kaaron Warren “All You Can Do Is Breathe” (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor)

In the third volume of this award-winning series, editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled an impressive list of fantastic stories first published in 2012, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers.

The 34 stories selected are

• Joanne Anderton, “Tied To The Waste”, Tales Of Talisman
• R.J. Astruc, “The Cook of Pearl House, A Malay Sailor by the Name of Maurice”, Dark Edifice 2
• Lee Battersby, “Comfort Ghost”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56
• Alan Baxter, “Tiny Lives”, Daily Science Fiction
• Jenny Blackford, “A Moveable Feast”, Bloodstones
• Eddy Burger, “The Witch’s Wardrobe”, Dark Edifice 3
• Isobelle Carmody, “The Stone Witch”, Under My Hat
• Jay Caselberg, “Beautiful”, The Washington Pastime
• Stephen Dedman, “The Fall”, Exotic Gothic 4, Postscripts
• Felicity Dowker, “To Wish On A Clockwork Heart”, Bread And Circuses
• Terry Dowling, “Nightside Eye”, Cemetary Dance
• Tom Dullemond, “Population Management”, Danse Macabre
• Thoraiya Dyer, “Sleeping Beauty”, Epilogue
• Will Elliot, “Hungry Man”, The One That Got Away
• Jason Fischer, “Pigroot Flat”, Midnight Echo 8
• Dirk Flinthart, “The Bull In Winter”, Bloodstones
• Lisa L. Hannett, “Sweet Subtleties”, Clarkesworld
• Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter, “Bella Beaufort Goes To War”, Midnight And Moonshine
• Narrelle M. Harris, “Stalemate”, Showtime
• Kathleen Jennings, “Kindling”, Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear
• Gary Kemble, “Saturday Night at the Milkbar”, Midnight Echo 7
• Margo Lanagan, “Crow And Caper, Caper And Crow”, Under My Hat
• Martin Livings, “You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet”, Living With The Dead
• Penelope Love, “A Small Bad Thing”, Bloodstones
• Andrew J. McKiernan, “Torch Song”, From Stage Door Shadows
• Karen Maric, “Anvil Of The Sun”, Aurealis
• Faith Mudge, “Oracle’s Tower”, To Spin A Darker Stair
• Nicole Murphy, “The Black Star Killer”, Damnation And Dames
• Jason Nahrung, “The Last Boat To Eden”, Surviving The End
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, “What Books Survive”, Epilogue
• Angela Slatter, “Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”, This Is Horror Webzine
• Anna Tambour, “The Dog Who Wished He’d Never Heard Of Lovecraft”, Lovecraft Zine
• Kyla Ward, “The Loquacious Cadaver”, The Lion And The Aardvark: Aesop’s Modern Fables
• Kaaron Warren, “River Of Memory”, Zombies Vs. Robots