Other
Stories
Other Stories,
Black Pepper*,
2010. ISBN 9781876044664. 172 pgs. RRP A$26.95
*This title only available through blackpepperpublishing.com
Shortlisted: 2011 Queensland Premier's Literary Award
News:
- 4th November 2012. A Hair of the Dog (from Other Stories) broadcast on ABC Radio National.
- June 2012. Other Stories reviewed in Antipodes Journal. (See below)
- 23rd August 2011. Other Stories shortlisted for a Queensland Premier's Literary Award.
- 31st July 2011. A Short Report From Happy Valley
(from Other Stories)
broadcast on ABC Radio National.
- 1st February 2011. Other Stories reviewed in Australian Book Review. (See below.)
- 7th
December 2011. An interview on Channel 31's 'Behind the Words', talking about Other Stories
and other things.
- 2nd December 2010. Other Stories
reviewed on LiteraryMinded. (Read it here.)
- 13th November 2010. Other Stories reviewed
in The Weekend Australian. (See
below.)
- 11th November 2010.
Interview on 3CR with Jan Goldsmith. (Podcast here.)
- 26th October 2010. The official launch of Other Stories.
North Fitzroy Arms, 296 Rae St,
North Fitzroy. Launched by Emmett Stinson, short story writer and
academic. (Read what he said here.)
- 24th October 2010. Other Stories is
reviewed in The Sunday Age. (See
below.)
- 23rd October 2010. Other
Stories is the 'Pick of the Week' in The
Age. Review by Cameron Woodhead. (See below.)
- 20th October 2010.
Interview on Aural
Text on 3RRR. (Podcast here.)
- 7th September 2010: Other Stories
reviewed on 3RRR radio. (See
below.)
Reviews:
"What sets Macauley apart from his contemporaries is his willingness to experiment with form and theme.
Other Stories is an excellent collection... lyrical, rhythmic prose melds effortlessly
with Macauley's uncanny ablility to create an indelible image...
a thinking man's compendium of quality literature."
Laurie Steed, Australian Book Review
"Other
Stories brings together Melbourne-based Wayne Macauley’s output over the past
decade and counting.
... this is an accomplished collection from an as-yet underappreciated
Australian writer who is,
nevertheless, slowly, surely achieving a significant output."
Elizabeth
Bryer, LiteraryMinded
(Read the
full review here.)
"... poised and darkly
ironic... Macauley's true metier is a form of slyly satirical comedy...
by turns strange, unreal or merely funny... each tale is crafted into a
small self-contained world.
His barbs can be pointed but his humour is generally
forgiving... it is the persistent and
welcome note of affirmation that makes this a likeable collection."
James Ley, The Weekend
Australian
(Read the full review here.)
"... a writer of great purity, combining social critique,
fertile imagination, and the highest aesthetic scruples.
His work is some of the best fiction Australia has to offer... the
sardonic exaggerations of these stories
have such clarity of outline, and the writing is so controlled, that
they have the graphic power of the very best cartoons.
Macauley's work is dark and more than tinged with melancholy; it is
also often wildly funny.
Like Bail and Murnane, he is one of Australia's deadpan visionaries, a
teller of tall and cerebral tales."
Owen Richardson, The
Sunday Age
"... Wayne Macauley is a compelling voice in contemporary
Australian literature. Other
Stories, a collection of his short fiction,
showcases his willingness to see - and interrogate - aspects of
Australian culture that normally pass under the radar.
Macauley is an excellent short fiction writer; this volume a miscellany
that grabs and gnaws on absurd threads
of experimental suburban dreaming. Macauley is a spry and compassionate
humorist of the postmodern soul.
In lamenting the marginalisation of art from politics, he writes it
back into the picture."
Cameron Woodhead, The Age
(Pick of the Week)
.
"... an impressive unity of vision, as well as an extraordinary - if
uniquely Australian - voice.
Macauley’s prose is
absolutely beautiful... eclectic, often
experimental... affecting and hysterically funny.
Wayne Macauley should be recognized as one of Australia’s best living
writers.
This is one of the best books by an Australian I’ve read all
year."
Emmett
Stinson, 3RRR Radio
(Read
the full text at Emmett Stinson's blog here.
Or download an MP3 file of the radio review here.)
"... the language here is evocative, sensual and pitch-perfect. It aspires to suggest, not to teach.
These are stories that demand and reward rereading.
... abundant irony, inventiveness and humour."
Brian Keenen, Antipodes
"a true ‘writer’s writer’... discomforting, strange and endearing... Macauley writes like no other Australian writer.
If he were a film-maker, his name might be David Lynch, his genius recognised. It was not surprising that Macauley
was signed by Text Publishing immediately following the release of Other Stories. While the novel was received
with due praise, those who follow his writing hope that he will continue to also publish short stories."
Tony Birch, The Long View (Wheeler Centre)
Back Cover Blurb:
Wayne Macauley’s Other Stories
is a much-awaited collection. Here at last Macauley’s peculiar take on
the world is gathered together in short stories, satires, fables and
anecdotes. Many are set in the hinterland of the outer suburbs, where
big cars, big driveways, big houses and big skies make small people
feel lost and strange. The familiar world seems eerie, like a Jeffrey
Smart painting. His yarns of the margins are at the centre of our
culture.
His short fiction
has appeared for over a decade in our most prestigious literary
magazines, including Meanjin,
Overland, Westerly, Island and Griffith Review. As
novelist and playwright he is one of our most original and challenging
writers and a winner of The Age Short Story
Competition. His two corrosive novels, Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire
Canoe and Caravan
Story, were critically acclaimed.
For anyone who thrills to a
hypnotic prose style and incisive social satire, I would urge you to
discover his work! - Martin Shaw, Readings
Monthly
Acknowledgements
Page:
The author gratefully
acknowledges the previous publications in which many of these works
first appeared.
‘One
Night’, in Meanjin,
Vol. 62, No. 1, 2003; ‘Bohemians’, in Overland,
Issue 163, Winter 2001; ‘Wilson’s Friends’, in Eureka Street, Vol.
12,
No. 8, 2002; ‘A Short Report From Happy Valley’, in Westerly, Vol. 45,
2000; ‘Simpson And His Donkey Go Looking For The Inland Sea’, in
Westerly,
Vol. 46, 2001; ‘A Hair Of The Dog’, in Overland, Issue
173,
Summer 2003; ‘Jack The Dancer Dies’, in Meanjin, Vol. 59,
No. 2, 2000
(also anthologised in Best
Australian Stories 2001, edited by Peter
Craven, Black Inc, 2001); ‘Man And Tree’, Island, Issue 112,
Autumn
2008; ‘The Bridge’, in Griffith
Review, Summer 2006-2007; ‘The Streets
Are Too Wide’, in Eureka
Street, Vol. 8, No. 6, July/August 1998; ‘So
Who’s The Wrecker Then?’ in Arena,
No. 43, October/November 1999;
‘Reply To A Letter’ (winner, 1st Prize, 1995 The Age Short Story
Competition), in The Age
Saturday Extra, 28 October 1995; ‘The Affair
In M—’, in Meanjin,
Vol. 63, No. 1, 2004; ‘The Farmer’s New Machine’,
in New Australian
Stories edited by Aviva Tuffield, Scribe, January
2009; ‘The Dividing Spring’, in Meanjin,
Vols. 66.4 & 67.1,
2007/08; and ‘Gordon’s Leap’, in Overland,
Issue 129, Summer 1992.
An earlier version of ‘The Man Who Invented Television’ was runner-up
in the 2000 HQ/Sceptre Short Story Contest and was published in HQ
Magazine, Aug/Sept 2001.
Extracts:
One
Night
Jack
the Dancer Dies
The
Farmer's New Machine
Links:
Black Pepper Other Stories page.
Emmett Stinson online
review and launch speech.
3RRR interview (podcast)
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