Celebrating Australian Women Writers in the Short Story Form.
One of the joys of undertaking this short story roundup is coming across sites I might otherwise miss. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anne Jenner’s review of Josephine Rowe’s anthology ‘How a Moth Becomes a Boat’. Rowe is a highly-accomplished, award-winning short story writer and Anne informs us this compact collection is a ‘tasting plate of [Rowe’s] luminous prose’. Check out Anne’s review and have a nosy around her site. You won’t be disappointed.
 
Nancy Elin loves short stories. And she loves Thea Astley’s novels. Unfortunately, as she reveals in her inimitable style, she did not fall in love with Astley’s short stories presented in ‘Hunting the Wild Pineapple’. Nancy points to the use of allusion which adds to the tone of Astley’s novels, yet somehow detracts in the shorter form. A very interesting review of a classic collection.Â
Nancy also reviewed one of my favourite short story writers Cate Kennedy, specifically the 2012 award-winning collection ‘Like a House on Fire’ and found the first five stories to be like a ‘sparkling glass of champagne’.
An aside: in the process of tripping around Nancy’s site, I discovered she was very much taken with Nadia King’s YA novel ‘Jenna’s Truth’ Check it out, if only to read about Nancy’s cats. Good fun.
Over on Goodreads, Jennifer Cameron-Smith reviews a collection (‘A Map of the Gardens’) by another of my favourite authors Gillian Mears, noting that Mears ‘had a gift for developing an extraordinary story from what are sometimes quite ordinary situations.’
Also on Goodreads, Kali Napier briefly reviews a couple of collections by Angela Slatter (speculative):
‘Sourdough and Other Stories’ and
‘The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings’
 Well that was fun. I’ll be back in a couple of months.
About Me.
I am a writer of short stories, essays, poetry and one novel and I am passionate about writing and reading the Australian voice. My bushfire themed collection of shorts (Flame Tip) was published in March 2017 by Hybrid Publishers and I’m currently working (oh, so slowly) on a water-themed contemporary historical novel. www.karenleethompson.wordpress.com
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Thank you so much Karenlee and all at #AWW for your kinds words.
Australia is on the other side of my world…but I feel close to you via literature!
Isn’t it wonderful, Nancy, how Literature, can bring us together! I love reading your reviews.
Enjoyed this roundup Karenlee… I must read Like a house on fire. I’ve only read a couple of Kennedy’s stories.
Definitely worth a read, WG. I certainly understand where Nancy is coming from when she writes in her review that the champagne of the first five stories ‘went straight to [her] head’ which meant that the last 10 ‘tasted like sparkling water – refreshing but without the “bubble buzz”‘. Sometimes, I think it just comes down to the collection arrangement and the way it is paced.
Thanks Karenlee. Collection organisation is important isn’t it. I understand why you really should read short story collection from beginning to end and not in some random order!