Tag Archives: short stories

New Release: Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies

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IFWG is very excited to announce the release of its second of three new anthologies this year, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, edited by Deborah Sheldon. This is a particularly unique anthology for us, as it is the very first that is sourced from a fiction callout, with the exception of four commissioned pieces.

Some of our commissioned authors include Jack Dann, Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams, and we certainly attracted amazing additional talent from the Australian shores: Geraldine Borella, Renee De Visser, Jason Fischer, Tracie McBride, Rebecca Fraser, Gary Kemble, David Kuraria, Paul Mannering,  JM Merryt, Samantha Murray, Robyn O’Sullivan, Kat Pekin, Antoinette Rydyr, Charles Spiteri, HK Stubbs, Matt Tighe, Mark Towse, Ash Tudor, and Janeen Webb.

“This anthology is the culmination of a great deal of work,” said Gerry Huntman, Managing Director of IFWG,” and Deb Sheldon has done an amazing job. It was her idea and we gladly played along – we were particularly attracted to the concept of an Australian Body Horror anthology, and yet elevated with a good dose of literary horror. Is this work disturbing? Definitely. But it is also amazingly thought-provoking.”

Kudos should also be given to Keely Van Order who was challenged to provide the artwork and design of our cover. All of us in IFWG certainly believe she nailed the brief.

A selection of the darkest Australian fiction.


Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies taps into anxieties, painful memories and nightmares. Here, your worst fears come true.


Penned by established authors and fresh new voices, these stories range from the gothic and phantasmagorical, through the demonic and supernatural, to the dystopian and sci-fi.


Prepare for a visceral, frightening read.

Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies is now available for purchase world-wide, through bricks and mortar stores and online, in print and ebook formats.

New Release: Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 3

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IFWG is proud to announce the release of the third and final volume in its Cthulhu Deep Down Under series, edited by Steve Proposch, Christopher Sequeira and Bryce Stevens. We say ‘final volume’ but we aren’t necessarily holding to it: what we can say is that the series was conceptualised for three volumes, and we have delivered.

The publication of these three volumes was ambitious: we wanted to have as many of the talented Australian horror and weird fiction authors possible to contribute to Antipodean Lovecraftian fiction, and we believe we succeeded. We even had a small detour a few years ago publishing Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud and gathered a fine selection of New Zealand authors. This was a four-year journey (with a COVID-hiatus of one year thrown in), and it has been a great ride.

“Two things stand out in this final volume,” said Gerry Huntman, Managing Director of IFWG. “Firstly, the title only has one reprint, so a lot of original content is contained between its covers. Secondly, along with a great introduction by Cat Rambo, we have a series closure essay by Jack Dann that deserves to be featured in itself. Bravo to all contributors!”

Finally, special mention should also be given to Steve Santiago, the cover designer for all three volumes and the New Zealand addition. For the three volumes we challenged him to present iconic Australian settings, and it ended up a great success: Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Australian outback, and in this final volume, the Daintree Rainforest.

In the story that first established the monstrous cosmic terrors of his Mythos writer H. P. Lovecraft said “We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity…” 

Which makes it all the more fitting that the adepts of Lovecraft’s vision writing today would choose to unveil ever-evolving and terrible fears besetting those that live on the largest island on the planet, and force the protagonists of some startling new horror fiction tales in this book to face, indeed, not placidity, but their own black seas of infinity…and madness.

Again, some of the greatest scribes of the weird and startling from the land down under bring you brand new stories in the Lovecraftian genre, taking you from the realms of contemporary Australian cities, to the blood-soaked, post-colonial past (touching the powerful original cultures of the land), and even hinting at the disturbing future of Terra Australis.

You will fear a sunburnt country.

Tales of terror by Alan Baxter, David Conyers, Julie Ditrich, Jason Fischer, Steve Kilbey, Steven Paulsen, Steve Proposch, Alf Simpson, Cat Sparks, Maurice Xanthos. Introduction by Cat Rambo and Afterword by Jack Dann.

Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 3 is now available in Australia, UK, Europe, and New Zealand in all good bookstores, bricks and mortar as well as online, print and ebook formats. It will be released in North America 30 June 2021.

New Release: Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract

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IFWG is incredibly happy to announce the world-wide release of Rebecca Fraser’s dark and weird collection of short fiction, Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract. Fraser has published through IFWG before, and we are very pleased to see her talent and skills shine in the adult fiction catalogue.

A surfer who becomes horrifyingly one with the sea. A new mother’s devastating search for belonging. A stone gargoyle with a violent history. A fisher boy who discovers the real cost of forbidden love. A farmer whose delight at drought-breaking rain quickly turns to terror. A hedonistic rock star who manifests double trouble. A young girl’s chilling sacrifice for justice. A dirty ex-cop with a dirtier secret. An unscrupulous mayor’s solution to rid her city of the homeless…

These are just some of the characters you’ll meet in this collection of dark offerings.

From the harsh terrain of the Outback, to the depths of the Pacific Ocean, the wilds of Tasmania, dystopian futures, enchanted lands, and the familiarity of suburbia, Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract takes readers on a journey into unsettling, unforgiving, and unforgettable territory.

Rebecca Fraser is an Australian author who writes genre-mashing fiction for both children and adults. Her short stories, flash fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous award-winning anthologies, magazines, and journals, and her first novel Curtis Creed and the Lore of the Ocean was released in 2018 (also with IFWG Publishing Australia). Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract is her first collection.

Rebecca holds an MA in Creative Writing, and a Certificate of Publishing (Copy Editing & Proofreading). To provide her muse with life’s essentials, Rebecca copywrites and edits in a freelance capacity, and operates StoryCraft Creative Writing Workshops for aspiring authors of every age and ability. However, her true passion is storytelling.

Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract is available now in all good print and ebook stores and online stores.

Cover Reveal: Drive, She Said by Tracie McBride

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Drive, She Said Book Cover

We are excited to reveal the cover of Tracie McBride’s upcoming short fiction collection, Drive, She Said and Other Stories. The artwork and design is by the wonderfully skilled and talented Keely Van Order.

A collection of horror and dark fantasy short stories.

The themes and settings are diverse, but one common thread runs through the stories—they all feature women.

Women as protagonists. Women as doomed heroines. Woman as villains. Mothers and spinsters, wives and prostitutes, sisters and witches.

And in some stories, monsters in feminine form.

Drive, She Said and Other Stories will be released world-wide in March 2020. Preorder facilitates will be available early next year.

New Release: Figments and Fragments by Deborah Sheldon

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Figments and Fragments Book Cover

IFWG is very pleased to announce the world-wide release of Deborah Sheldon’s collection of short dark fiction, Figments and Fragments. “We are so pleased with this title,” said Gerry Huntman, Managing Director of IFWG, ” as it loops back to some of Sheldon’s earlier dark fiction, but also adds new stories – enriching the depth of our catalogue of her short fiction. This book is a celebration of Sheldon’s mastery of the genre.”

IFWG would also like to acknowledge the wonderful cover art and design by Keely Van Order.

Brutal. Compelling. Sinister.

From wheat farms, roadhouses, caravan parks and beaches to quiet suburban streets and inner-city apartments, award-winning author Deborah Sheldon tells distinctly Australian stories about violence, loss, betrayal and revenge.

Figments and Fragments includes three new stories written especially for the collection.

Figments and Fragments is available world-wide in all good online and bricks-and-mortar stores, and also in ebook formats.

New Release: Metamorphosis by Claire Fitzpatrick

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It is with great pleasure and pride that we can announce the world-wide release of Claire Fitzpatrick‘s collection of short body horror fiction, Metamorphosis.

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“Body horror is a specialised dimension of horror,” stated Gerry Huntman, Managing Director of IFWG Publishing, “and there are several authors in Australia who have mastered it, lifting it to an art-form that is more than just guts and gore. Claire Fitzpatrick is definitely one of them. We believe this collection fills this sub-genre niche in our catalogue perfectly, and the quality of Claire’s writing also meets the high standards of horror writing that we look for. This is a winner.”

Madeline will never become a woman. William will never become a man. Does June deserve to be human? Does Lilith deserve a heart?

Seventeen stories. Seventeen tales of terror.

If imperfection is crucial to a society’s survival, what makes a monster?

Australian Shadows Award-winning author, Brian Craddock, describes Claire’s work perfectly: “Visceral and demented, full of flesh that twists and deforms…Fitzpatrick’s stories will either sicken or delight.”

Metamorphosis is now available world-wide, in all good online and print stores, and in ebook formats.