Midnight Echo is the official magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association. Midnight Echo comes out about twice a year. Each issue contains over 100 pages of horror literature, art, poetry, a regular column on understanding poetry, author interviews, articles on movies and a vampire comic called Allure of the Ancients which is illustrated by Greg Chapman.

The theme for issue 9 of Midnight Echo is mythology. The issue contains an article on Russian mythology and every story in the magazine deals with mythological creatures. Some of the stories in this magazine include Changeling by Jonathan Mayberry which is about shape shifters, The Wee Folk by JG Faherty about a group of little people who live in the woods and kill those who bother them and there is another great story by the name of Little Boy, Little Girl Lost In The Woods by Mark Patrick Lynch which gets into witches and Hansel and Gretel. This story shows how much fun fairy tales can be with a horror twist thrown in.

My favorite story is The Fathomed Wreck To See by Alan Baxter which takes a look at the myth of Sirens. This story is so amazingly good that I’m dying to ruin it so I can talk about it, but I won’t because I really think you should buy Midnight Echo issue 9 and read it for yourself. The story is about a man named Dylan who is having problems with his wife and a Siren who wants Dylan to herself. This is a love story but it looks at the dark side of love and is not one of those make you feel good kind of love stories.

Proving that Midnight Echo is not your normal horror magazine is the regular column called Tartarus by Charles Lovecraft which helps explain how metre and resonance are used in dark poetry. There is also a great article on movies based on Australian myths including films about a haunted house and one about an Aboriginal spirit that feeds on animals, women and children called the Bunyip. The magazine also includes articles on Middle Earth mythology, an interview with the creator of the comic Killeroo and an interview with author James A Moore.

Midnight Echo is an excellent horror magazine. This magazine is for the hard-core horror fan, the type that can’t go to long without reading a good horror story or watching a horror movie. It’s also for the people who are always on the look out for great horror fiction, art, and interviews with the people who make them. If you’re not a hard-core horror fan you might not be able to appreciate it, but If you live and breathe horror, you owe it to yourself to buy a copy. ( )

I've been a fan of the magazine of the AHWA (Astralian Horror Writers Association) since issue 5 and here we are at issue 9 of this great quarterly.

Over the last year or so, I've discovered a number of new writers either directly or indirectly through the pages of Midnight Echo and issue 9 is no exception.

Between the covers of the Myths & Ledgends issue from May of 2013 I found "Black Peter." a haunting story of racism and monsters set in Bari Italy from Martin Livings, "Ltttle Boy, Little Girl, Lost in the Woods," sort of an old school fairy tale of a couple unable to have children from Mark Patrick Lynch, and "The Fathomed Wreck To See," a fanciful story of a lost man and an enchanting siren. All great tales from writers I may have never read had it not been for Midnight Echo.

In addition to many new voices for me there were several stories from other writers I already admire. For example, James A. Moore has a story here about a ghost train called, "Black Train Blues." How can you go wrong with a ghost train? There's a fun story about "The Wee Folk" from JG Faherty, and a terrific Joe Ledger short from Jonathan Maberry entitled, "Changeling." That one has a killer opening line, "The world keeps trying to kill me."

In addition to the stories, Midnight Echo also includes author interviews, poetry and topnotch artwork. Just look at that cover.

Midnight Echo 9 is available for the Kindle for under 3 bucks or the print format is available from www.midnightechomagazine.com.

Strongly recommended. ( )