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image of person or book cover 9208068064564387401.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Things We Didn't See Coming selected work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Things We Didn't See Coming
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Nine connected stories, ' Things We Didn't See Coming follows a man over three decades as he tries to survive - and to retain his humanity - in a world savaged by successive cataclysmic events.

Opening on the eve of the millennium, when the world as we know it is still recognisable, we meet the then nine-year-old narrator fleeing the city with his parents, just ahead of a Y2K breakdown of the grid which signals the world's transformation and decline. In the wake of this develop strange, sometimes horrific, sometimes unexpectedly funny circumstances as he goes about the no longer simple act of survival: trying to protect squatters against floods in a place where the rains never stop; harassed (and possibly infected) by a man wracked with plague; functioning as a salaried embezzler of 'the state'; escorting the gravely ill on adventure trips.

Yet despite the violence and brutality of these days, we learn that even as the world is spinning out of control essential human impulses still hold sway - that we never entirely escape our parents, envy the success of those around us and, chiefly, that we crave love' (Harvill Secker website).

Exhibitions

15866155
15826549

Contents

* Contents derived from the Collingwood, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,:Sleepers Publishing , 2009 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
What We Know Now, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
The Theft That Got Me Here, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
Dry Land, Steven Amsterdam , extract novel
The rain won’t stop falling. Suburbs are being flooded and washed away. A government representative travels to sinking areas to encourage people to leave before it’s too late.
Cakewalk, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
Uses for Vinegar, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
The Forest for the Trees, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
Predisposed, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
The Profit Motive, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story
Best Medicine, Steven Amsterdam , single work short story

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Pantheon Books ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 4671059082162532578.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 199p.
      ISBN: 9780307378507, 0307378500
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Harvill Secker ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 75410926982029765.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 208p.
      ISBN: 9781846553660, 1846553660
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Hachette Australia , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 7562079925273603091.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 170 p.p.
      ISBN: 9780733636325 (pbk), 9780733636318 (ebook)
Alternative title: Wat we niet zagen aankomen
Language: Dutch
    • Amsterdam,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Ailantus ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 9097645073773912005.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 230 p.p.
      Description: illus., port.
      ISBN: 9789089530363 (pbk)

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

Reading I Didn't See Coming : How eReaders Change Everything Alice Robinson , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , October no. 7 2011; (p. 30-37)
Short Stories Sue Russell , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Library Journal , 15 January vol. 135 no. 1 2010; (p. 97)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
New Books : Steven K. Amsterdam Benjamin Moser , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Harper's Magazine , February 2010; (p. 67-68)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
Untitled Carl Hays , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Booklist , 1 February vol. 106 no. 11 2010; (p. 37)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
y separately published work icon Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam Natalie Gleeson , Carlton South : NEAP , 2010 8197196 2010 single work criticism
Subterranean Echoes Catherine Ford , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , March vol. 4 no. 2 2009; (p. 22)

— Review of The Book of Emmett Deborah Forster , 2009 single work novel ; The Virtuoso Sonia Orchard , 2009 single work novel ; Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
Light Edge on a Dark Road Venero Armanno , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 April 2009; (p. 13)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
[Untitled] Emmett Stinson , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Monthly , April no. 44 2009; (p. 72)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
Untitled Rebecca Starford , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 310 2009; (p. 63)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story
Beware the Apocalypse and Those Dodgy Estate Agents Emma Young , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-12 April 2009; (p. 28-29)

— Review of Things We Didn't See Coming Steven Amsterdam , 2009 selected work short story ; Sold Brendan Gullifer , 2009 single work novel
Things Worth Celebrating Jason Steger , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 22 August 2009; (p. 25)
Apocalyptic Novel Wins Book of the Year Jason Steger , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 22 August 2009; (p. 4)
Relax, It May Never Happen. But Then Again, It Probably Will Steven Amsterdam , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 29 September 2009; (p. 20)
New Territories : Sophie Cunningham Talks to Steven Amsterdam Sophie Cunningham (interviewer), 2010 single work interview
— Appears in: Meanjin , March vol. 69 no. 1 2010; (p. 150-159)
Stories from the Inner Strange Diane Stubbings , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 April 2010; (p. 13)
Last amended 24 Mar 2021 16:03:38
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