Fiend Magazine hails from Australia, and is damn proud to say so: “Considering our numbers are not that huge, what we have to offer the rest of the world, and our own local subcultural and/or artistic communities, is something to be proud of.” This is the country that gave us Vicious Venus, so I’m inclined to agree. This quarterly mag features global coverage of all things dark, while rooted in a fierce hometown pride.
Subcultural mags frequently focus on the music with a few cultural tidbits here and there, and of course bands and album reviews get the most ink. But fashion, art, fiction, video games, and DVD’s are all given their due, and their choice of subjects is delightfully eclectic: issue 8 features Diamanda Galas’ new album, The Blythe-meets-Clockwork orange dollygirl fashions of Wendy Where, an interview with Tim Burton, lovely photography from Viona Ielegems, critiques of Sin City and Chuck Palahniuk’s post-Fight Club scrawlings. And while Fiend is on top of all the latest in goth, they also dip back into the past for homages to the Prom Night slasher series and a camp deconstruction of Flash Gordon, as well as new wrinkles in the mystery of Jack the Ripper. It’s a potpourri with something for everyone, mixing a little history in with what’s happening now.
The writing is smart and informed, while not taking itself too seriously – potshots at BlutEngel and references to “La Vida Spooky” abound – while delivering snark where deserved: who else but an underground cinephile would be able to point out the plot of techno-torture flick Demonlover was lifted from Cradle of Fear? A dispatch from the Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig is written in freewheeling Hunter S. Thompsonesque prose: “…footpaths were a mass of discarded cigarette butts, lost eyebrow pencils, and stray hanks of mesh like gothic tumbleweeds in the wake of these baby-bat battallions.” And an editorial questions the intentions of “flesh tourists” making a buck off the scene without being in it, and while I don’t agree with what the writer considers “bona fide,” it’s nice to see someone actually asking the question. The longest articles run only a page, but the bite-size presentation crams an impressive amount into 68 pages. Fiend can be ordered online for only $6.95, with subscriptions available.
Finds from the 1890’s through the present, with a heavy focus on cocktail gowns, tailored suits, fabulous hats, lingerie, and a little jewelry. 
Delicately sculpted fantasy jewelry that pagans and goths will adore, ranging from twenty-dollar charms to birthday present-priced arrangements of bats and stars. There are a ton of themes to browse through, and this is an especially excellent place for ear cuffs.
Latex straight from the red-light heart of Amsterdam. Corsets, uniforms, lingerie, and accessories all sculpted and shiny, and pages of playthings. Mistresses get their own special section for discounts and wish lists and the Lady Boss collection, “that looks strong and is pleasant to wear when you’re at the job.”
This NYC boutique seeks out indie designers for their kitschiest creations, resulting in style, bath & body, kids’ stuff, drinkware, and decor fashioned from novelty toys and random silliness. Motel keychains, ceramic coffee cups, Valley of the Dolls-sized pill containers, pillar candles, photo mobiles, and sprinklings of anti-Bu$h sentiment here and there.
This Hollywood propmaker features a catalog of morbid thingies: coffin furniture, Halloween costumes, body-part gelatin molds, anatomical everything.
