Susan started smoking when she was sixty-three. She was bored with crossword puzzles, vacuuming carpet, and yelling through the tiny holes of the telephone. While zapping her routine Thursday-night Lamb …
Rare and endangered (Robyn Cadwallader)
Her parents had named her Dale. Dale Bailey Collins, but at home they called her Bailey, each claiming it was the other one that had wanted Dale. And so, Bailey …
Navigating the Mean Streets of post-war Melbourne: Geoffrey McGeachin’s Blackwattle Creek and Peter Twhoig’s The Cartographer
Review by Robert Goodman The crime genre is often used as an accessible vehicle for exploring the past. Two relatively recent Australian novels use the genre in very different ways …
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN NOSTALGIA AND SADNESS: an interview with Phil RetroSpector
In The Art of the Novel (1986) Milan Kundera said, ‘To compose a novel is to set different emotional spaces side by side – and that, to me, is the …
Drink Driving (Susan Austin)
Broken console, dusty dashboard. He pauses to belch before worming the key into the ignition. Outside the pub they stumbled into stained bucket-seat relief – escaped provocations, skins safe against …
Ogres are like Onions (Kyle Leong)
The stars saved my life, it’s true. I had the whole thing planned out. There is a table by the lake. Sort of. It’s either an uncomfortable piece of picnic …
Down the Main Trunk Line (Denise Young)
It’s seven o’clock on a newly minted Auckland morning when I step on board the Overlander for the twelve-hour journey to Wellington down the Main Trunk Line. The announcements begin …
Peaks from Start to Finish: Blemish Books' Triptych Poets Issue Three
Review by Mark William Jackson A year ago I was sitting here telling you about Triptych Poets Issue 2 from the good people at Blemish Books. I told you about …
A FULFILLING BURDEN: an interview with Craig Cormick
Ever met someone who’s had over 100 short stories published? No, Verity La hadn’t either – until we met Craig Cormick. Not only has Cormick been prolific with the short …
The Cold Submission (Paul Adkin)
Dear Mr Collector, I am sending you this unsolicited package containing my latest work, with the hope that you will deem it worthy for display in your museum. That you …