Madeline Bailey Madeline Bailey i(13570184 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Spare Queens Madeline Bailey , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Summer no. 110 2017-2018; (p. 9-11)

'In crumpled boxes on back shelves in op shops there are wooden queens (hand-painted), and marble queens with blue felt glued to their bases. Also glass queens who would clink as they touched pieces they were taking, and magnetic queens who would snap to their squares and never scatter. In chess, queen is a verb. To queen a pawn is to promote it into a more powerful piece. Chess operates like gender: it is an open system of signs where prescribed categories and conventions collapse and split into infinite permutations. To play is to create configurations. Chess and gender are languages. To queen is to disrupt both.'  (Publication abstract)
1 Recovering Texture Madeline Bailey , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Spring no. 105 2016; (p. 21-24)

'Bev says that you dissolve during starvation. She says calories get saved for vital organs and the other parts of you stop operating, so this is why you feel cold and your hair rips. This is why you cannot concentrate, or grow bones, or be fertile. I suppose that this is also why my dreams stopped...' (Publication abstract)
1 The Encyclopaedia of Wild Things Madeline Bailey , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Summer no. 106 2016-2017; (p. 103-107) The Best Australian Stories 2017 2017; (p. 83-88)

'In year 4 We built a fox. We made it out of facts, so it was bigger than a real fox, and slinkier. It prowled between the bushes in the scrubland behind the oval. We pretended to play cricket, but we were watching the shrubs swish. We lost score each time we thought we heard it padding.' (83)
1 The Rule of Law Madeline Bailey , 2015 single work short story
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Spring no. 101 2015; (p. 54-58) 'My lawyer had told me to imagine I am someplace else. 
'"You have a good imagination, Oliver," he'd said. "Can you do that for me?" '
I imagine the court walls becoming clear and the outer benches stretching up into curved windows. I picture lines of brand new cars inside. They are the metallic colours of bright planets: red, blue, silver. Some collect more people in their orbits than others, glinting inside rings of prospective buyers. I like to sit with the cars that get ignored. '
I whisper, "I'd take you away if I could. I want to help." '

 (Publication abstract)
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