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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Australian short fiction is where the action is: outward-looking, exciting, filled with surprises and joyful life. Delia Falconer In The Best Australian Stories 2008, Delia Falconer brings together the year's most exciting short fiction. Featuring established masters as well as fresh new voices, this is a perfect book for summer and an ideal introduction to Australia's best contemporary writing. 'As a reader,' Delia Falconer writes, 'I crave what the short story is most suited to deliver: a glimpse into the unpredictability of life, a quick burst of tone and voice, a bittersweet balance of surprising layers.' By turns global and domestic, subversively funny and wrenchingly sad, this year's Best Australian Stories delivers this, and more.' (Publication summary)
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Black Inc.
, 2008 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
-
His Blue Period,
single work
short story
'Every seasoned player in the mating game claims to have their own type, and the narrator of this story about the uses and abuses of contemporary love and sex wants to tell you about his. But even in the most casual of encounters, it seems, something may be left behind...' (Storycuts abstract)
- The Aquarium at Night, single work short story (p. 10-24)
- The Poetics of Space, single work short story (p. 25-32)
- Natural History (World-Swimming), single work short story (p. 33-38)
- Jap Floral, single work short story (p. 39-45)
- On the Splice, single work short story (p. 46-58)
- The White Hole of Bombay, single work short story (p. 59-72)
- Crackers, single work autobiography (p. 73-81)
- Distracted by Children, single work short story (p. 82-88)
- The Valley of Grace : A Novella, extract novel (p. 89-111)
- Gardening For Pleasure, single work short story (p. 112-121)
- Every Cure, single work short story (p. 122-129)
- Turning off the Lights, single work short story (p. 130-136)
- Music for Airports, single work short story (p. 137-148)
- The Patient's Letter, single work short story (p. 149-161)
- As Green as Blue, single work short story (p. 162-173)
-
Nine Days,
single work
short story
(p. 174-183)
Note: Written as Laura Jean McKay
- Isnis, single work short story (p. 184-199)
- Two Wrecks, single work short story (p. 200-209)
-
All the Things You Couldn't Say,
single work
short story
The narrator is a speech and behavioural therapist who works with a young autistic boy, Wilbur. Wilbur seems to point out the narrator's self-harm scars, naming a burn 'hot'. The narrator works with Wilbur for a long time, though with little hope, until one day they find Wilbur having beaten the side of his own head.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
A Hundred Baby Birds : Three Anthologies
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Indigo , Spring no. 4 2009; (p. 135-136)
— Review of First Page 2008 anthology ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
A Garden of Forking Paths
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 34-35)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
Stories of Cultural Clashes Replace Class Conflict
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 November 2008; (p. 32-33)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
Take Three
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 30 November 2008; (p. 22)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
-
Take Three
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 30 November 2008; (p. 22)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
Stories of Cultural Clashes Replace Class Conflict
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 November 2008; (p. 32-33)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
A Garden of Forking Paths
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 34-35)
— Review of The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story -
A Hundred Baby Birds : Three Anthologies
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Indigo , Spring no. 4 2009; (p. 135-136)
— Review of First Page 2008 anthology ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2008 2008 anthology short story
Last amended 18 Jun 2020 15:45:06
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