About Borderlands
By Way Of Explanation,
The Editorial From Issue One
Once upon a time, there were no markets in Australia for short tales of science fiction, fantasy and horror.
This, fortunately, has not been true for a few years. Quite apart from the occasional anthologies from professional publishers (such as Dreaming Down Under and Gathering the Bones), the internet and the increasing sophistication of desktop publishing software means that it is much cheaper and easier to publish fiction, either on web pages or in small press anthologies or journals. If you want a comprehensive list of these, look in the editorials and Honourable Mentions columns in the Year's Best anthologies and you may find yourself wondering, "Do we really need another one?"
The writers who sent us more material than we could use obviously thought you did. After all, any day now, a giant asteroid might crash into the Earth and kill off all the small press publishers except one mutant species, and... Okay, I admit that sounds unlikely, but have you noticed what's happened over the last few years to independent bookshops, to publishers, to distribution companies? If we project this trend into the future, one day there may only be two of each, about as easily distinguishable as Pepsi and Coke, or Democrats and Republicans. Those two bookshops will have two of each type of best-seller per month (endless fat fantasy, thriller, romance, cookbook), one by each publisher, all of which will disappear as soon as they become 'backlist' a few months later...
A dystopian vision of the future? A wildly imaginative horror story? I hope so. This is a fiction magazine, after all. That's why we're here.
- Stephen Dedman, committee member
Borderlands Publications, Inc.
History
Borderlands is a magazine of high quality Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror stories, non-fiction and artwork, which evolved out of a desire to see more publishing opportunities for Australian writers in these genres.
The magazine will be published several times a year, with individual copies being for sale either from this website or select retailers. Annual subscriptions are also available.
Borderlands Publications Inc. is a non profit organisation with an editorial committee that oversees all aspects of production, publication and promotion.
The Committee
© Borderlands Publications, Inc. 2003-2006