Borderlands was first published by Borderlands Press (Nedlands, Western Australia) in 2003, by a collective initially comprising Simon Oxwell (Managing Editor); Stephen Dedman (Fiction Editor); David Cake, Sandra Norman, and Sarah Xu (Editors); Grant Watson (Art Editor); Anna Hepworth (Production); and Jodie Hunter (Promotions/Publicity). They were later joined by Amanda Ellis. All were based in Western Australia.
According to Dedman, the motivation to start the magazine came about following the demise of Eidolon: 'We thought there was a niche for a new Australian magazine of literary science fiction, fantasy and horror. We were after well-written, ideas-driven genre fiction' (Hanson, p.162). When the Eidolon venture failed to materialise, the work that had gone into what had been planned as Eidolon no. 31 became instead the first issue of Borderlands.
From the start, the Borderlands committee announced its intention to publish thought-provoking non-fiction about ideas and, in line with its more literary and critical trajectory, the magazine's committee of editors also chose not to publish reviews or interviews. Writing to the Eidolist (Eidolon mailing list/discussion group), Jodie Hunter said, 'Borderlands will be an edgy, modern genre journal with high content standards. Our mission is to provide readers with an exciting and provocative range of short stories, novellas and non-fiction' (ctd. Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet, March 2003).
Borderlands was initially announced as a tri-annual publication, providing a permanent platform for Australian speculative-fiction writers. The magazine was available through subscriptions and selected book stores, and the editorial committee also planned for it to be published in a downloadable format. In issue 8 (Oct. 2006), it was announced that the journal was to be reduced to a bi-annual magazine. However, only one issue was published in 2007. Two years later, the March 2009 editorial announced that that issue (no. 11) would be the last.
Among the authors to have their works published in the magazine were Stephen Dedman, Simon Brown, Lee Battersby, Grant Watson, Richard Harlan, Sean Williams, Cat Sparks, Chris Lawson, Barbara Robson, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Rosaleen Love, Cathy Cupitt, Gary Kemble, Kyla Ward, Tony Williams, Sue Isle, Shane Dix, Robert Hood, Kaaron Warren, Ion Newcombe, Hoa Pham, Robert N. Stephenson, Bill Congreve, Felicity Dowker, Karen Maric, and Simon Petrie.
Further Reference
Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet, March 2003. Online. (Sighted: 14/07/2011)
http://fanac.org/fanzines/Bullsheet/Bullsheet2-012.html
Hanson, Donna Maree. Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview. Murrumbateman, NSW: Australian Speculative Fiction, 2005.
