Terror Australis: Dark Tales From Down Under

"How

chilly the night vapours were which rose from this large pool, for it was

more like the moat from some ancient ruin than an ordinary Australian

water-hole. How ominous the shadows that gathered over this dwelling, and

which even the great and lustrous moon, now clear of the gable end, seemed

unable to dissipate."





The

Australian landscape is one that lends itself to the uncanny: the

oppressively hot, fly-infested bush, populated with abandoned shanties or

rundown homesteads, slowly petering out into the empty, endless outback with

its blood-red sands and emaciated myall trees. It has birthed a weird

tradition that is often quirky, disorientating and unexpected; uniquely

blending imported gothic tropes with Aboriginal folklore and colonial horror.





These

twelve terrifying tales of bloodthirsty bunyips, displaced phantoms and

strange ancient magic, taking place in Aboriginal settlements, dusty desert

camps, remote country towns and bustling coastal cities, create chills enough

to quell the most shimmering-hot Australian summer day.