Media Archive
Black Box – it’s finally open…
Black Box, the sequel to Shadow Box, has been created by Shane Jiraiya Cummings. It’s a superb gathering of a multitude of different artistic talents, covering authors (some of Australia’s finest in the genre and some exciting new voices), alternative musicians (including our own Talie Helene), and visual artists. I was amazed at the range of skill on display, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Personal favourites include: magazine. He and White Box, Red Box, & Black Box (three separate stories) by Kurt Newton: torture through a simple cardboard box that ends in the unleashing of evil. David Conyer’s Hell’s Ambassador trilogy of tales is an eye opening and amusing look at things from the Devil’s advocate side, while Lyn Battersby’s The Wedding Dress is simply brilliant. Paul Haines is his normal twisted self with The Long Term Planner–but there is still yet a plethora of titles to be mentioned. Recognisable names around AHWA are well represented but there is also a number of authors I’d never read before. The tales get stronger as you work your way through but they don’t begin slow in the first place. There is simply not enough space to review all the stories included. Suffice to say, none drag their feet.
But this is a multimedia presentation so the fun doesn’t stop there.
The music is very alternative but even an old mainstreamer like me found pieces to enjoy. Covering Gothic, Metal, Gothic Metal, even Gothic Electronica, all the way to Hip Hop and two new genre’s I didn’t know existed called Dark Melodic Metal and Esoteric World Folk. I did say it was alternative. I was really hoping that something from Dandelion Wine, Wendy Rule, Opera Macabre, Pathogen, Temujin, Empyrean, The Eternal, Frankenbok, Virgin Black (Very slick website), or 4th Wall would take over from my favourite so I wouldn’t look like I was sucking up. Although all have their up side, my stand out was easily the Black Box Music Director, Talie Helene’s own offering, titled The Black Queen. Hypnotic. I’m looking forward to the EP’s release.
The inclusion of some of the video clips is a bonus. Make sure you click on the album covers as you work your way through.
But wait, there’s more. Scattered among the stories of fear and dred, complimenting the theme and accompanying music, are 6 wonderful examples of art from John Banitsiotis, Emily Steigerwald (this was the only link with any real info), Brian Smith, Peter Schwartz, Adam Duncan, and our own Andrew J McKiernan.
I’d be on the lookout for places to purchase these images of twisted imaginings, they are very good.
But Shane is still not done impressing us. On top of all the above, he also presents The Orpheus Project, by Bryn Sparks. A graphic novel of excellent quality both visually and in the story it tells.
The only downside I found in the whole presentation was the inserted sound effects for the stories. They were too short, coming across as gimmicky punctuations of sound rather than added effects. Personally I would have preferred Talie Helene’s score looped in the background… a soft cascading of notes to build atmosphere and tension as the reader quickly consumes more and more of the bite-sized tales of terror until they can take no more and rip the head phones from…
- Brenton Tomlinson, August 14 2008, HorrorScope
Interview by Chantal Teague for Box Hill Institute News.
Writing and music student contributes to an extreme magazine
Performing arts and professional writing student Talie Helene is a contributor for metal music magazine Zero Tolerance.Performing arts and professional writing and editing student Talie Helene combined her talents to land a job with the British metal music publication Zero Tolerance.
“It’s great. You meet a lot of like-minded people working on a magazine like this. It’s good to have that chance to network,” she said.
Talie said she promoted herself as an extreme person when she applied for the job with Zero Tolerance.
“The magazine’s motto is ‘extreme views on extreme music by extreme people’,” she said.“I’m interviewing a German band—at midnight. You can’t exactly complain about getting out of bed to do an interview when you’ve said you’re an extreme person.”
Over the years, Talie has been a member of many music bands such as Hobbs Angel of Death, Eden, Zauberei and Portrayal.
Talie said professional writing and music complemented one another.
“Music is an ensemble art, it’s a collaboration with other people. I’m a sonic animal—I love sounds and music. I live through my ears. I love the challenge of it,” she said.
“Writing is a different kind of alchemy. You can take someone into an experience with you. I love the stories people have.”
Chantal Teague, 2 December 2005, www.bhtafe.edu.au
