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Publisher of the Niche,
the Oddball,
the Unsettling...

We are a small press publisher operating out of Melbourne, Australia. Our current and forthcoming publications include science fiction and horror titles, management guides, single-author collections, novels and novellas, and funny cat books.

Current Titles

Conversations With My Cat

What does Schrödinger’s Cat have to do with a chewed computer cord? How do you fit work around a cat’s napping schedule? Why do cats change their minds as soon as you open the door for them?
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The Dark Man, By Referral and Less Pleasant Tales

An abused child encounters the local urban legend – the monstrous Dark Man – and finds himself querying the definition of ‘monster’.
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All I Want For Christmas: (Not) A Heartwarming Yuletide Novella

All I Want For Christmas

It’s Christmastime, and a full-scale covert alien invasion is underway! Bullied back into service, retired g’norr squadleader Sneet must help claim the primitive planet Earth for the glory of the G’norr Dominion by undertaking a mission that involves brainwashing human children in preparation for the takeover…all while working undercover as a shopping mall Santa....
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Latest News

Asylumfest 2024

Next Event: Asylumfest

Next Event: Metro Comic Con
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Metro Comic Con

Next Event: Metro Comic Con

Next Event: Metro Comic Con
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Aurealis Award Nomination!

The Dark Man, By Referral nominated for award.
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Recent Events

Recent events attended by Daft Notions...
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Chuck McKenzie: Upcoming Events

Daft Notions is scheduled to sell their titles at the following upcoming Australian events in 2024, with author Chuck McKenzie on hand to sign books.
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Author Chuck McKenzie interviewed at 3CR

Chuck McKenzie Interviewed on 3CR

Photos from the launch of 'Conversations With My Cat' at Mary Martin Bookshop, Queen Victoria Markets, Melbourne.
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'The Thing Under the Bed wasn't real. He knew that. But he also knew that if he kept his feet safely on top of his mattress, The Thing Under the Bed would never get the opportunity to reach out and grab his ankles...' From my free Flash Fiction piece, 'Tenant', now up on Antipodean SF (Issue 312). https://www.antisf.com/the-stories/tenant #horror #horrorstories #horrorshortstories #flashfiction #antipodeansf #aussiehorror #thethingunderthebed #underthebed #childhoodhorror #chuckmckenzie #creepy
So my quadruple-bypass surgery has been scheduled for Nov 11th, and I'm prepping for it by releasing two new titles for Asylumfest (October 25-27). Daily Grind and Other Astounding Stories of Mundane Matters is a collection of my (mostly humorous) science fiction tales from the past 25 years. Time Spent With A Cat (with cover art by @gregschapman76 ) is a hard SF, gonzo-fantasy murder mystery novella - expanded from my short story of the same name published in Who Sleuthed It? (Clan Destine Press, 2021) - that features a talking cat. I'll be selling and signing copies of both titles, along with copies of all my existing books, at Asylumfest, and will post additional ordering details soon! #chuckmckenzie #macreadymckenzie #ripleymckenzie #conversationswithmycat #alliwantforchristmas #thedarkmanbyreferral #dailygrind #timespentwithacat #daftnotions #sciencefiction #horror #humour #aliensanta #slenderman #gregchapman #australianauthor #indieauthor #indiepress
It's mah birthday, and my lovely fiance (who is a massive Swayze fan) gifted me this book WHICH SHE SWEARS IS NOT AN INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE I NEED TO READ BEFORE GETTING MARRIED. #chuckmckenzie #australianauthor #author #authorsofinstagram #sarahlemcke #allintheedit @its.allintheedit #editor #australianeditor #editingservices #engaged #gonnagetmarried #patrickswayze #dirtydancing
As an author I've hugely valued the amazing work my editor, Sarah, has done in whipping my manuscripts into publishable shape over the past couple of years. In fact, I value her so much that tonight I decided to ask her to be my Editor For Life...which is, of course, rhyming slang. Reader, she said Yes! @its.allintheedit #allintheedit #chuckmckenzie #engaged #proposal #gonnagetmarried #editingservices #editing #authorgram
Hey hoomans. Ripley here. So Food Guy was finally returned to us last night after three nights away, (presumably living la vida loca) in hospital after suffering from something called a 'heart attack'. I normally wouldn't countenance malingering, especially when it impacts my feeding schedule, but in this case he does seems genuinely poorly. Thus, I've made the executive decision to supervise him closely while he recovers. He seems appreciative, though still acts weird about the tongue baths I've been administering. So remember, fellow cats: look after your hoomans. After all, we don't have opposable thumbs yet. #chuckmckenzie #ripleymckenzie #macreadymckenzie #conversationswithmycat #cat #cats #cattitude #cats_of_day #catsofinstagram #catsofworld #cats_of_instagram #catsarethebest #humansarestupid #hoomans #medical #heart #heartattack #bypasssurgery
Post 2/2. TW: invasive medical procedures. (Pic above of me 33hrs after heart attack, finally out of bed and showered, and with many tubes and canulas removed from my body.) So why did this happen? Frustratingly, it's not down to anything I did or didn't do in maintaining my health, but was quite simply a fairly inevitable effect of suffering from type 1 diabetes since I was six (that'll be 48 years in October). T1D causes cholesterol deposits to build up on the walls of the arteries, refardless of how healthily you live. This layer eventually begins to flake away, and hey-ho-heart attack. So this wasn't an outcome I could have avoided with a better diet, etc. Sadly, as suggested in my previous post, there's more to come. There are more arteries requiring attention so that they don't also present a danger in the future; thus, sometime over the next few months, I'll have to undergo a double or triple heart bypass. This (TW) will involve taking blood vessels from my arms and legs and installing them in my torso to allow blood to bypass the constricted arteries, with surgeons having to open up my chest, crack open my ribcage, and stop my heart to complete the op. These operations are completed successfully every single day...which doesn't make me any less terrified. And once the op is done, my life goes on hold for 3mths while I heal. But it's what I gotta do, so *shrug*. I'll get through this. I got books to write, kids to watch grow up, an anazing partner to spend many years with, and - most importantly - two cats to feed. My one bit of advice to anyone who ever goes through anything similar is: get ambulance cover (it's only around AU$100 a year); call early if you feel ill (better to have the ambos laugh at you than to die, or live with the physical damage caused by waiting too long 'too see if it fets better'). I did both of these things, and am alive because of it. This post presented with a confidence I'm not completely feeling, so well-wishers and offers of fruitcake are welcome. #chuckmckenzie #macreadymckenzie #ripleymckenzie #australianauthor #heartattack #cardiacarrest #hearthealth #psa #proofoflife #hospital #royalmelbournehospital
Post 1/2. TW: invasive medical procedures. ... ... ... ... ... I generally try to keep the posts on this account pretty light and fun, but over the past couple of days something has occurred that motivated me to post this considerably less-fun update, partly to prove to those who've already heard about it that I'm still alive, and partly to spread some possibly life-saving info to those who may require it in the future. At 2am on the Saturday just gone I suffered a heart attack, which I've since been told was a particularly bad one. I've never had any history of heart issues, and live a pretty healthy lifestyle, so had dismissed the mild chest pain I'd started experiencing on Thursday as muscle strain from some new exercises I've been doing during my daily workouts. This, it seems, was due to a massive blood clot bumping around in my chest, looking for an artery to block. On Saturday morning the bugger finally managed to block the artery supplying blood to my entire right side, causing a sudden burning pain across my chest that became progressively worse over the next half hour and left me fighting for breath. Despite not feeling any tingling in my arms, or other well-publicised tells of cardiac arrest, I called the ambulance, and was having canulas, stents, needles, and arterial sheaths shoved into every part of me under what felt like very mild anaesthetic. Do you know what it feels like to have plastic tubing shoved along the artery in your groin? No? Well, I hope you never do. Anyways, needless to say, the cardiac surgeons saved my life, and it wasn't until many hours later that I was informed of what a near thing it was. I'm currently taking an enforced vacation at Royal Melbourne Hospital until possibly Wednesday this week, after which I'll need to make some tweaks to my life, both in order to recover from this attack and to prepare for another surgey (see Part 2, again with a major TW). #chuckmckenzie #hearthealth #heartattack #cardiacarrest #australianauthor #aussieauthor #hospital #psa #royalmelbournehospital
My publisher at work. #conversationswithmycat @conversations.with.my.cat #chuckmckenzie #macreadymckenzie #ripleymckenzie #cat #cats #cats_of_instagram #cats_of_day #cats_of_world #cattitude #catsareassholes
It arrived! Cooks of Horror - a ghastly collection of recipes from the author members of Books of Horror, which includes my recipe for Szechuan Chilli Chicken and Coconut Rice. There are over 60 recipes herein to suit a wide range of tastes, as well as a selection of short stories, so be sure to grab a copy! Available through Amazon. #booksofhorror #boh #cooksofhorror #cookbook #horror #horrorstories #horrorfiction #horrorwriter #chuckmckenzie
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