Initially published as a high-quality digest-sized magazine (and later in digital format), Dark Animus is nevertheless dedicated to the pulpier side of speculative fiction. Edited by its founder James Cain, an author who later graduated from the inaugural Clarion South Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop (2004), the magazine was conceived as a means of helping support the work of emerging writers, poets, and artists in Australia and overseas. Each issue offers an anthology of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and otherwise 'strange' fiction, coupled with poetry and illustrations.
The magazine started out publishing four issues a year (beginning in November 2002), but this schedule was cut back in 2004 when several individuals were unavailable to continue financially supporting its operations. In response to the strain of publishing in paper format (which, at that time, saw each issue produced at a loss), Cain planned to switch to publishing Dark Animus in digital format from 2008, which would have seen it return to a quarterly schedule. On 9 June 2008, he said of his plans to turn Dark Animus into an e-zine:
Our purpose is to give exposure to emerging writers and remaining a purely print format we are not doing this efficiently, hence the change. The pay rate remains the same for fiction and we will be producing special print editions (like the anthology edition) as funds permit. As a result subscription costs have been reduced accordingly. Existing subscribers will receive the issue in CD format until their subscription is fulfilled and we will be purchasing software for new subscribers to read Dark Animus online like a magazine. We expect the format to be very attractive. I am aiming for the Dark Animus #12 E-zine to appear in September 2008.
No further issues of the magazine (in either print or online versions) have been identified to date, and all activity on the Dark Animus website appears to have ceased in June 2008 (although the website itself is still accessible as of July 2011).
Unlike most other speculative-fiction publications, Dark Animus did not publish interviews. Its book reviews were also only ever published online via its website, which was used to promote both the magazine and some of the emerging and existing writers and illustrators whose work had appeared in previous issues.
Dark Animus also presented its own award in 2003 (donated by George Higham of Poe Puppet) as a means of recognising the best cover, internal illustration, poem, and new fiction that had appeared in Dark Animus over the past year. Although Cain indicated the award would be run intermittently, and planned for another award to cover issues 6 (2004) through to 10/11 (2008), it is unclear if this went ahead.
