Darker Magazine (Russian: Даркер) is a Russian monthly horror webzine.[1] It covers various sorts of horror media, including slasher, splatter, exploitation films, as well as horror literature, videogames, comic books and dark music. The magazine is in regular publication since April, 2011. It is part of Russian Horror Web. It publishes articles, interviews, reviews and short stories by Russian and foreign authors.[2][3] The zine also helds an annual literary contest “The Devil's Dozen”, which is the largest among horror stories in Russian. Darker Magazine is a cult outlet in Russian Internet horror segment, and its mission is support of horror in Russia. It is published on the initiative and with the assistance of The Horror Authors Association and Horror Web media network. The zine is funded by its subscribers.

DARKER
#7, July, 2020

Theme: Confined spaces.

If you don't have claustrophobia, it doesn't mean that you have nothing to fear.
EditorBayazid Rzayev
Categorieshorror fiction, popular culture
Frequency12 per year
PublisherMikhail Parfenov
First issueApril 21, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-04-21)
CountryRussian Federation
Based inRussian Federation
Websitedarkermagazine.ru
ISSN2222-9116

History

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Darker was founded in 2011 succeeding another webzine The Darkness (Russian: Тьма).[4] Darkness' editor Mikhail Parfenov ran the new project that soon became even more successful than its predecessor. The first issue of Darker Magazine has been released on April 21, 2011 and since then has been publishing every month on 20th. Since that time Darker released a lot of reviews of books and movies and also interviews with notable horrormakers.

Notable authors

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DARKER has been first in Russia to translate some short stories by such horror authors as H.P. Lovecraft,[5] Clive Barker, Tomas Ligotti,[6] Jeff Vandermeer, Graham Masterton,[7] Christopher Golden, Joe Lansdale,[8] Ramsey Campbell, Robert McCammon, Adam Nevill,[9] Ken Liu, Gwendolyn Kiste,[10] Matthew Stokoe[11] S.T. Joshi[5] and more.[12] Also publish for the first time some short stories of the famous Russian writers as Mariya Galina, Svyatoslav Loginov, Anna Starobinets.[13] The zine also publishes interviews with notable horror figures, and among them are Mike Flanagan, Lin Shaye, Chris Walas, Brian Lumley, Ryuhei Kitamura, Mick Garris, André Øvredal.

Critics

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Famous British author Graham Masterton notes the educational role of Darker Magazine:

[…] to make horror popular and to bring together a community of people who find horror exciting, frightening, wildly imaginative and highly creative. DARKER does the same for Russia. There is a wonderful tradition of dark and disturbing literature in Russia. […] DARKER is helping to breathe life back into that tradition and I admire your courage and determination in doing that.[14]

Notable contributors

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Awards

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Award Year Category Outcome
Eurocon 2013 Spirit of Dedication Award. Best Fanzine Nominated
Eurocon 2014 Spirit of Dedication Award. Best Fanzine Won[15]
Masters of Horror 2018 Best periodical/fanzine Won[16]
Masters of Horror 2020 Best project Won[17]

Literature

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  1. Nesterik, Ella, Kazbekova, Maiya, Supernatural Horror in English Literature and Means of it Realization, European Researcher (2014)
  2. Ksenia Olkusz, Zombie w kulturze, Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Ficta (2015)
  3. Ksenia Olkusz, Krzysztof M. Maj, Narracje fantastyczne, Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Ficta (2018)
  4. Nosachev, Pavel, The Influences of Western Esoterecism on Russian Rock Poetry of the Turn if the Century, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade (2018)

References

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  1. ^ "Russian Magazines, Journals, and Periodicals". w3newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  2. ^ "My Interview for "Darker" Magazine". Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  3. ^ J, Steely. "My Interview at DARKER Magazine". Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  4. ^ Darker magazine (in Russian)
  5. ^ a b "S. T. Joshi Blog". stjoshi.org. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  6. ^ "Томас Лиготти: Самое страшное — это быть живым". darkermagazine.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Graham Masterton The Official Site: Interviews". grahammasterton.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  8. ^ "Джо Р. Лэнсдэйл: Люди обожают ужасы с доисторических времён". darkermagazine.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Interviews". Adam LG Nevill. 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  10. ^ "About". gwendolynkiste.com. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  11. ^ Stokoe, Matthew (2016-07-21). "Cows Finds Fans in Russia". matthew-stokoe. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  12. ^ List of translated works and translators in "DARKER" magazine (in Russian).
  13. ^ "Press Anna Starobinets". starobinets.ru. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  14. ^ "DARKER — 6 лет!". darkermagazine.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  15. ^ Eurocon. "ESFS Nominations 2014 – European Science Fiction Society". Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  16. ^ Премия "Мастера ужасов" (in Russian).
  17. ^ "Издательство "Астрель-СПб" — Финальный день "Самого страшного фестиваля": круглый стол, презентация новинок и премия "Мастера ужасов"". astrel-spb.ru. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
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