We had a fantastic book launch for Nosferatu Unbound on Friday 13th September at Collins Booksellers in the Bridge Mall in Ballarat as part of their “After Dark” series of events. Nosferatu was published globally by IFWG International on 16 September 2024, featuring four Ballarat contributors alongside well known writers from the US, UK and elsewhere in Australia.

• Steven Paulsen co-editor (with Christopher Sequeira from Sydney).
• Dillon Naylor with striking B&W frontispiece and backpiece artwork.
• And short stories by Kirstyn McDermott and Jason Nahrung (whose story is set in colonial Ballarat).

In addition, we launched Cruel Nights, a vampire novella by Jason Nahrung published by Brain Jar Press. This is a grunge-soaked tale of love and vampirism in ’90s Seattle. Trent Jamieson (author of Day Boy and The Stone Road) says: “No-one writes vampires like Nahrung.”

Dillon Naylor was also there to sign copies of Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker published by Comicoz to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the “Batrisha the Vampire Girl” comic strip that ran in K-Zone magazine between 2001-2017. It won a Comics Arts of Australia Award, 2023.

The photo in the Ballarat railway tunnel is courtesy of Tim Bottams (and the Ballarat Times).

I am proud to announce my novel DREAM WEAVER has been nominated for the 2024 Ditmar Award for Best Novel. A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who voted for my book. Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees. I am delighted to have Dream Weaver included alongside such a talented list of shortlisted writers.

I’m super-proud to have worked with Christopher Sequeira and a bunch of talented writers and creatives to help birth this baby. Nosferatu Unbound! Coming soon. And wait until you see the fantastic B&W frontispiece and back piece by the uber-talented Dillon Naylor! Brilliant cover art by Chantal Handley and fabulous design by Greg Chapman! Thanks to Gerry Huntman and IFWG Publishing.

My publisher says:

IFWG is very pleased to reveal the cover of Nosferatu Unbound, edited by Steven Paulsen and Christopher Sequeira, and consisting of a stellar array of writers. The superb cover art is by Chantal Handley and the atmospheric cover design is by Greg Chapman. Those who will purchase this upcoming title will also have the added pleasure of seeing two internal art pieces by the very talented Dillon Naylor.

Nosferatu began his reign of stark, silent, chiaroscuro terror over the public consciousness in 1922, when he first crawled onto cinema screens. No glamourous, cultured European vampire like the literary gothic titan whose legend he was trying to usurp. No: he was a thing of blade-like, angled animal talon and fang; hideous by any measure.

Inspired by F. W. Murnau’s masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema, supported by Max Schreck’s sinister portrayal of Nosferatu – an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula – this book presents a powerful collection of fiction by some of the best voices in contemporary horror. Look inside and be astounded.

Alongside these amazing new stories of Graf Orlok, Nosferatu, you will find an important account by Dacre Stoker, revealing for the first time the damaging impact the illicit breaching of the DRACULA copyright had on the Stoker family, and Dracula Society member Julia Kruk provides a tour of the actual locations – which still stand – where the 1922 classic was filmed.

Nightmare awaits within; as silent as death.

The contributors to this enthralling anthology are:

Leverett Butts
Sal Ciano and Peter Rawlik
Jack Dann
Claire Fitzpatrick
Aaron Harvie
Nancy Holder and Alan Philipson
Steve Kilbey
Jim Krueger
Julia Kruk
Brad Mengel
Kirstyn McDermott
Jason Nahrung
Deborah Sheldon
Jim Shepard
Dacre Stoker
Helen Stubbs
Steve Rasnic Tem

and an introduction by Leslie S.Klinger

Nosferatu Unbound will be released globally in June/July 2024.

A wonderful 5 star review of Dream Weaver to end the year!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6096855116

I’m delighted to announce that my new YA Historical Fantasy novel Dream Weaver has been published worldwide today. Thanks to Gerry Huntman and the IFWG Publishing team. Thanks to Eugen Bacon, Isobelle Carmody and George Ivanoff for their generous support and cover quotes. And thanks to Steve Santiago for the great cover art and book design.

Dream Weaver has already received some fabulous early reviews on Goodreads that bode well for the book’s reception by readers. You can find them here. Please check them out if you are interested or just go and buy the book, available in either eBook or paperback, online or in your local bookshop. Thanks.

Here’s the announcement and cover blurb from the publisher: