Australian Nightmares
More Australian Tales of Terror and The Supernatural
Edited by James Doig

Equilibrium Books 2008

Web: http://www.equilibriumbooks.com

When I was younger I loved to search through second-hand bookstores looking for strange fiction. It was a grand journey through dusty paperbacks, ancient magazines and newspapers and many old decrepit shops. Along the way I made many unusual discoveries and found titles I still treasure today. However, as I get older the search becomes more difficult, the finds become fewer and with the cost of rent, second hand bookstores become less prevalent and they seem more aware of the value of the treasures they hold !

One of my favourite adventures was to look for unusual ghost, horror and gothic tales, it was amazing what you could find. However, missing from my discoveries were Australian stories, I always wondered why there was a dearth of older Australian supernatural fiction.

I was accordingly excited when I first read Australian Gothic: An Anthology of Australian Supernatural Fiction by James Doig. He had uncovered an amazing array of “missing” stories and forgotten authors. We not only received some uniquely top class fiction, but stories set within the Australian environment. It was also a joy to be introduced to authors long since forgotten, authors whose work was of exceptional quality yet somehow had slipped through the pages of history.

In Australian Nightmares: More Australian Tales of Terror and The Supernatural James Doig has returned from another expedition into dusty libraries, old newspapers and magazines and forgotten collections. It is a journey not many of us have the time or perseverance to make and I for one and am very pleased Doig is doing it for us !

In Australian Nightmares we have a great collection of tales ranging from traditional ghost stories to those of rats bearing disease, tales of vampirism to psychological terror, premature burials to obsession. This is a wide reaching selection with introductory vignettes on each author so we can appreciate their lives and work, most of which would have otherwise been forgotten.

Included here are many tales of terror and supernatural horror from the pens of James Edmund, Charles Junor, J. A. Barry, Morley Roberts, Ernest Favenc and even stories by the infamous Witch of King’s Cross Rosaleen Norton.

This series of anthologies is not only entertaining but offers a unique insight into an overlooked facet of Australian literary heritage, that of the the “gothic” strain within Australian literature. They are significant volumes and I recommend them highly.

If you don’t already have the first volume, Equilibrium Books is offering a special deal on both volumes.

See http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/australian_nightmares.htm