Dear SPINELESS WONDERS, I facilitate a group of young, emerging writers and have been encouraging them to enter your Icons competition. Could you tell us a little more about it? Yours, Frustr8d Teacher Dear FT, Thank you for your inquiry and for the chance to explain a little more about our latest competition. An icon … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Vivienne Plumb
1. What inspired you to write the prose poem/microfiction which is published in Small Wonder? I started writing prose poems a while back and really enjoy writing in that compressed form. About ten years ago, I was invited to an amazing literary festival called Vilenica in Slovenia, and it was there that I met the … Read More
Small Wonder review
We are reproducing, in full, this terrific review by Ali Jane Smith of our first prose poetry/microfiction anthology, Small Wonder. You can find other reviews, great fiction and poetry in the final issue of Famous Reporter here. Copies of Small Wonder can be purchased from our Products Page or ask for it at your local … Read More
What we talk about when we talk about collections and anthologies Part 2 Book Clubs
In Part 1, I asked some of our top reviewers how they felt about the task of reviewing short fiction. In Part 2, I ponder why it is that Book Clubs may shy away from discussing collection and anthologies, I ask the opinion of some short fiction writers and finally, I provide a few tips … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Louise D’Arcy
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? I admire Cate Kennedy for the quiet way she digs deep into a story and, almost without you noticing, takes you somewhere you weren’t expecting. I’ve just read Ryan O’Neill’s collection, The Weight of a human heart and thoroughly enjoyed … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Monica Goldberg
1. What inspired you to write the prose poem/ micro fiction which is published in small wonder? The realisation that I may never find the right words to describe my visit to Skierniewicza. My grandmother’s parents and siblings were victims of the holocaust. They simply vanished. I wanted to at least try to describe how … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Mary Manning
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? There are so many: Colm Tóibín, Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Malouf, Banana Yamamoto, Amy Kempel, Keri Hulme. Haruki Murakami has had the most influence on my own writing in recent years. 2. What is the most memorable short story … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Laurie Steed
1. What inspired you to write the prose poem/microfiction which is published in Small Wonder? There’s been much written about love being either romantic or dystopic, or first one and then the other. I wanted to explore the idea of love occurring at the end of a relationship; how trust, quite often, comes in letting … Read More
Spineless Wonders Audio
EARWORMS Breaking the Silence When I first began thinking about Spineless Wonders back in late 2010, I envisaged the three platforms, PRINT DIGITAL AUDIO. At last, we are now offering short Australian stories as audio files or, as we like to say, as Earworms, stories that stay with you. In writing this blog post, we … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Keri Glastonbury
1. What inspired you to write the prose poem/microfiction which is published in Small Wonder? I was travelling in China and India in 2009. After many years of teaching creative writing and facilitating other students’ work I felt very unsure of myself as a poet, but could feel myself being stimulated again by cultural differences … Read More