Noctem Aeternus Gives Away Horror

From Sci-Fi Wire:

Michael Knost, editor and publisher of the new online horror magazine Noctem Aeternus, told SCI FI Wire that the magazine will be published on a quarterly basis and will be given away for free via e-mail.

"I wanted to make this project something to help readers introduce fiction reading to children and teens; therefore, I wanted to make it available to all fiction readers at no cost," Knost said in an interview.

After working in broadcasting and marketing for more than 20 years, Knost said that he was confident advertising would pay for the venture if he could build a large enough circulation. "Since there are no huge postage and printing costs, we look at paying the contributors a good wage," he said.

The first issue features fiction by and an interview with award-winning author Ramsey Campbell, as well as fiction by rising stars such as Cherie Priest and Charles Coleman Finlay. "Charles Coleman Finlay hammers our senses with a story of a father struggling to do what he knows is right while protecting his sons after an alien event causes infected humans to become breeding vessels of a horrific nature," Knost said. "However, the real horror is realized with the decisions the father is forced to make when he realizes his sons have become infected."

Knost said that he's looking for stories that pull him away from the words he's reading and draw him directly into the tale. "Fiction is a theater-of-the-mind medium," he said. "No visual media can generate the images or emotion the human mind can produce. ... We're not interested in blood and guts for the sake of having blood and guts. We want horror. We look more for a cerebral story where the characters are painstakingly developed to the point [that] subtle horror grows with the reader."

Issue number one of Noctem Aeternus is available now by signing up for a free subscription at the magazine's Web site.