In preparation for this blogpost, I contacted a number of writers and publishers seeking their views on the past, present and future of short crime fiction in Australia. Professor Stephen Knight’s name invariably popped up in these responses, as did his very popular short story anthologies, Crimes for a Summer Christmas. So I contacted the … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Louise Swinn
1.Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Salinger is the biggest cliché but aside from authors I’ve published – too numerous to mention – he still stands out, as does Amy Witting, Dorothy Parker, Michael Chabon. Emmett Stinson’s Known Unknowns has been the most recent to make me … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks A.G.(Andy)McNeil
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Recently I’ve been on a bit of a William Maxwell trip and I seem to enjoy his short fiction more than the novels. ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ is the notable exception there, but it’s a novella. I always enjoy … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Deborah Biancotti
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? ‘Admire’ is such an admirably bold word! I admire Terry Dowling and Kelly Link and Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages and Rob Shearman for their short fiction. I admire Paul Haines though I’m also rather *appalled* by his stories (is … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Jennifer Mills
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? There are too many. I’ll restrict myself to the living: Cate Kennedy, Paddy O’Reilly, Steven Amsterdam, Gillian Mears, Yiyun Li, Etgar Keret, Karen Russell, and I know he’s won too many awards to be fashionable now but I loved Peter … Read More
Guest blogger Ryan O’Neill
Marcus Clarke’s Offspring In his 1958 essay, “The Prodigal Son” Patrick White railed against Australian fiction as being “the dreary, dun-coloured offspring of journalistic realism.” While it is true that realism has long been dominant in Australian writing, and the Australian short story, there is a long tradition of experimental stories in Australia, as far … Read More
Standing up for short Australian stories
Welcome Welcome to Spineless Wonders’ blog, The Column. Here you will find news, views and reviews from the short fiction scene. In coming weeks we will be posting Spineless Wonders Asks, a series of interviews with short story authors from around Australia. Here at Spineless Wonders, we love quality shorts of any stripe and we … Read More