Cirrus@Austlit

'An arresting memoir about a 10-month migraine, a recovery in Australia, and a job on the railway when there were no other options

'Oliver Mol was a successful, clever, healthy twenty-five-year old. Then one day the migraine started. For ten months, the pain was constant, exacerbated by writing, reading, using computers, looking at phones or anything with a screen. Slowly, Oliver began to disappear.

'One evening, Oliver googled the only thing he could think of: 'full-time job, no experience, Sydney'. An ad for a train guard appeared. For two years Oliver watched others live their lives, observing the intimacy of strangers brought together briefly and connected by the steady march of time.

'Exquisitely written and bravely told, Train Lord is a searingly personal yet hugely relatable book, which asks what happens when your sense of self is suddenly destroyed, and how you get it back.'  (Publication summary)

'Every so often, and usually when the novice writer needs them most, a writer of immense stature, a writer who has written and published and continued to write and publish, impressively, joyfully, doggedly, over the course of forty years and seven books, a writer whose work has been long listed for the Miles Franklin three times and shortlisted twice before finally and deservedly winning the 2021 award for The Labyrinth, very occasionally, a writer like this, a writer named Amanda Lohrey will reach out to the inexperienced writer at the beginning of their career and say something kind. They will say that they like the work or they will recommend places to submit writing or books to read. More than anything, however, they will tell a writer to hold their nerve. They will tell them that writing is hard, that it takes discipline, that writing, true writing, is a practice. And though, I suspect, Amanda will frown, or perhaps laugh, at this backstory – for I know, at least in the literature she writes and reads, Amanda frowns, and sometimes laughs, at backstories – it cannot be underestimated how important these words have been.' (Introduction)

'An exuberant memoir from an original new voice.

'Oliver is a writer who’s just moved to Melbourne. He doesn’t have any friends yet; he can’t get his surly flatmate, Mark, to crack a smile; and the only ones who will talk to him are the odd assortment of characters at the KeepCup warehouse where he works.

'Oliver is lonely. Oliver is sleepwalking through life. Then he meets Lisa, and things begin to change.

'In the tradition of Sam Pink and Tao Lin comes a startlingly original, ambitious work of creative non-fiction that explores love, sex, and meaning in the age of Gen Y. Part romance, part tragicomedy, and part social critique, Lion Attack! is a hilarious contemporary coming-of-age story by a brilliant new writer.' (Publication summary)

 (Publication abstract)

'This national showcase of award-winning short stories and poetry is the fifth such anthology to be published by Melbourne Books.'