Pan Macmillan, 2008, Australia, 9780330424165 Courtney Marlow becomes the star of new reality TV Show Real Teens despite the fact that she doesn't watch much reality TV. Her boyfriend, Liam, had encouraged her to audition. Is she following through just for him? And how will she cope with cameras in her face just months after … Continue reading Loathing Lola – William Kostakis
Australian literature
Helen Garner's The Spare Room left me staring at the wall
Text Publishing, 2008, 9781921351396 (Aus, US) The Spare Room left me staring at the wall of my bedroom. The illness of Nicola, the anger of Helen - a few weeks pass in a few reading hours, simply told but infinite. I stare at the wall and realise this novel will take hold of me over the years. … Continue reading Helen Garner's The Spare Room left me staring at the wall
Late Connections by Aileen La Tourette
2008, Ilura Press, 978921325052 It’s a shame to read a story that feels as though it has been wrestled into the wrong medium. Aileen La Tourette’s Late Connections might have made a good dramatic play with its style, overt exposition, and historical setting. We begin in Paris, where seamstress Annie Doulard works on the dress … Continue reading Late Connections by Aileen La Tourette
Literary Smiles
I need to share some recent happiness. You'll be getting to see more of me in print in the coming months! Today I received the news that I have been shortlisted for the Page Seventeen short story competition, which means my story 'Mentioning Ben' will be published in Issue 6 (November). This also coincided with … Continue reading Literary Smiles
An Extraordinary Life – Interview with Jim Sharman on Blood & Tinsel
Blood & Tinsel, Jim Sharman, August 2008, HB (Australia) Miegunyah Press, 9780522853773 (Aus, US) This interview was first published in the June 2008 issue of BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2008 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC). A doctor said to your parents when you were a child that you have the makings of a philosopher. … Continue reading An Extraordinary Life – Interview with Jim Sharman on Blood & Tinsel
Harvest #1 and Voiceworks #73: Carnivale – Journal Review
A loud established journal and a studious newbie are both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating. Voiceworks #73 is themed Carnivale and even more-so than previous issues revels in quality quirk as well as showcasing the colourful talents and opinions of Australian youth. In contrast to the oft blunt-ended pieces in Voiceworks, the first issue of … Continue reading Harvest #1 and Voiceworks #73: Carnivale – Journal Review
The Best Unpublished Books – Part Three (Children's/Young Adult)
Body Swap – Jerome Parisse Didn’t you just love those stories when you were a kid where magical things could happen in ordinary circumstances? Things like turning invisible, or wishing on objects? Well Jerome’s Body Swap has this mysterious magical quality that gets the imagination firing. 13 year-old William has moved to Fulton with his … Continue reading The Best Unpublished Books – Part Three (Children's/Young Adult)
The Best Unpublished Books – Part Two
The Ice Age – Kirsten Reed I think, if I’d read this book between the ages of 14-17, it would be my favourite book. Not that it only has young adult appeal. I still found that the laid-back protagonist, who doesn’t seem particularly fazed most of the time to be on the road with a … Continue reading The Best Unpublished Books – Part Two
The Best Unpublished Books – Part One
From the Deep End Table – Christopher Currie I tracked down Chris after reading an amazing story of his in Voiceworks a couple of years ago, called 1969. It was about Woodstock – the summer of love. I found his writing to be incredibly insightful, subtle, and beautiful. I was instantly a fan. Chris has … Continue reading The Best Unpublished Books – Part One
Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster
This review was first published in Idiom 23, 2007. In the opening pages of Feather Man (Aus, US), amongst the stench of wet chook feathers and shit, something is taken from the young female character. ‘Lionel robbed me of naturalness’ she later reflects. It is a beginning and it is an end. ‘Sookie’ (as her … Continue reading Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster
LiteraryMinded 