Welcome to SQ Mag’s 2014 Special Edition!

When I originally envisioned this theme for this year’s edition, I was hoping to celebrate the opportunities that being a writer and publisher in Australia offered. I have to confess that I didn’t imagine the scope and breadth that this edition would take on; though I should have.

It’s an exciting time to be an Australian publisher and writer in the first major strides of the digital publishing industry. We were thrilled to take SQ Mag into an online platform, and it is so fitting that it had to be reinvented to accommodate what is our best effort to date. And that is hard to top, given the reception for our 2013 Special Edition, Women in Writing.

Now that we have time to step back and admire this edition, I am humbled by the contributions we have received. Three pre-eminent writers—Alan Baxter, Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams—are featured as our headliners, each of them with different and fantastic stories and perspectives. Alan’s story, The Darkness in Clara, is the inspiration for our cover and a beautiful story of love and family in the face of darkness of the soul. Kaaron has written an intensely atmospheric, disturbing piece, Eleanor Atkins is Dead and Her House is Boarded Up, exploring Eleanor’s strange relationship with her confined world throughout her adult life. Sean’s story, Tyranny of Distance from his Twinmaker series, is a testament to loss and the search for understanding of nonsensical existence.

Each of our other contributors stole our imagination when the edition was open to submissions. Rhoads Brazos’ Tread the Brittle Shell delves deep into folklore and into the very earth of the dusty outback. Keep the Water Out by Mitchell Edgeworth touches on Australia’s current political climate and how the country will evolve under the effects of climate change. Michelle Jager takes us back to lonely stretches of rural outback roads with Bones, touching what can go on out where no one may ever find you. The authenticity of North Queensland S.G. Larner painted drew us in, but the questions about ancient ones kept us Chasing the Storm. Angela Rega stole our hearts with her charming bush fable, The Bush Bride of Badgery Hollow, and we know it will steal yours too.

We commissioned articles from Tehani Wessley and GN Braun to talk about how Australian speculative fiction is stacking up. Both our contributors have some interesting comments on where the publishing industry is headed. Tehani’s experience as an editor, and GN Braun’s work with his own publishing house, Cohesion Press, make both these writers well-placed to comment.

Our usual reviewers are back with some great Aussie fiction. Mysti Parker reviews Lexicon by Max Barry, and Damien Smith reviews Sabina Flavell’s Dagger of Dresnia.

With the recent release of the Wolf Creek prequels, we took the opportunity to interview authors Aaron Stern and Brett McBean about transitioning a famous movie franchise to novel format to tell a different aspect of the story.

All of us here at SQ Mag have to thank Elizabeth Lang for the stylish new header for our site. Elizabeth has been working with IFWG Publishing Australia for some time, and her work is always exceptional. With that same note of praise, I’d like to tell you how deliciously dark we found Jeffery Doherty’s work on the cover. Jeffery’s work is always executed superbly, and we’re so grateful to have him involved with us.

Now that I’ve told you what’s on offer, I hope you’re ready to dive into our Australiana Edition. Please, spread it far and wide. We want to show exactly the kind of Australia that will continue to make a mark on the world literary stage.

Sophie