War has always been a subject for poetry – for all forms of literature – in every culture, in every time. It’s been examined, glorified, abhorred. Rarely does a writer …
Hard Notes of War: Susan Hawthorne's Valence
Review by Lesley Lebkowicz War has always been a subject for poetry – for all forms of literature – in every culture, in every time. It’s been examined, glorified, abhorred. …
The Pre-Dentist Not Wearing Red (Lara S. Williams)
She says she will soon be a dentist. She likes teeth and is fascinated with their decay. At the Canada Bay Private benefit she attracts a crowd of followers who, …
Guns N'Coffee (A.S. Patric)
I work in the middle of the damned city. I start when every other son-of-a-bitch is about to clock-in as well. It doesn’t matter where I go, I can’t get …
Neal Stephenson's Reamde reviewed by Robert Goodman
Neal Stephenson, one of the Godfathers of cyberpunk and deliverer of massive, engaging tomes full of historical and philosophical fun returns to the present day, real world (of sorts) with Reamde. The first …
Good Guys and Guns: Neal Stephenson's Reamde
Review by Robert Goodman Neal Stephenson, one of the Godfathers of cyberpunk and deliverer of massive, engaging tomes full of historical and philosophical fun returns to the present day, real world (of sorts) …
FROM DEEPEST DEATH TO FULLEST LIFE: an interview with Patrick West
LAURIE STEED You are noted as saying it’s essential a short story ‘spend time in the foreign territories of the writer before it is midwifed onto the page’. How would …
What Will Happen Next (Emilie Collyer)
We called the show ‘Maybe we’re never together’ – so what did we expect? Right at the very end, once the show was over, someone said to me: ‘So it …
Bag Bog Cat, the Caterpillar an’ the Glue Man (Andrew Galan)
Horse serrations vibrate floorboards ta’ squeal a rockin’ billycock woe · · an’ we was diggin’ ditches an’ shovelin’ mud an’ burnin’ faeces when the Caterpillar said sorry, sorry was for …
Patrick West's The World Swimmers – Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Short stories are their own particular art form. Like poetry, they are often the expression of an idea or a mood or a character. A distillation of a thought into …