Whew! It’s been a headlong rush into the end of October for me and the month ended with a bang. Multiple bangs, actually. I was at Asylumfest 2023 at Beechworth, Victoria, last weekend and had a hell of a time catching up with friends in the Australian horror community, taking a workshop with the fabulous Kaaron Warren, sitting in on panels and ghost story readings, playing Call of Cthulhu, and generally all the shenanigans you’d expect from wandering around a haunted asylum. And if you ever find yourself in Beechworth, I cannot recommend the Empire Hotel more highly for its amazing food, awesome cocktails and in-house poltergeist.

On the Saturday night, the 2022 Australian Shadows Awards were announced and my collection Hard Places won the Best Collected Work! So exciting! The current trophy is a beautiful gravestone with the Australasian Horror Writers Association’s haunted tree. Definitely one of my favourites. You can see the full list of Australian Shadows finalists and winners here. Congratulations to everyone!

My short story, “Lemmings”, was also chosen for The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror Vol. 4 edited by Paula Guran which was published just before Halloween. Visit Paula’s website for more info including a couple of terrific reviews and a list of the authors. It’s a stellar TOC and I’m so proud to have a story included. An early review by Marlene Harris has some very kind words indeed:

“Lemmings” by Kirstyn McDermott (H) It’s fitting that “Lemmings” is the last story in this collection, because I actually remember the video game Lemmings from its original release, and this is absolutely the last place I ever expected to see it referenced. The game’s graphics were simple and the lemmings were suicidal, but underneath the pixelated gore was a story about scarce resources, preserving the tribe, and the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few and the few being ready, willing and able to throw themselves off a cliff to meet those needs. The way that this story takes that concept and merges it with a viral sensation and a viral plague takes the silly and makes it chilling in the extreme.

And then, of course, it was Halloween and MY BIRTHDAY! We weren’t at home this year so I didn’t go all out and decorate, but maybe next year . . . we have a garage full of creepy decor that cannot be allowed to languish forever!