Peter Pierce Peter Pierce i(A24550 works by) (a.k.a. Peter Frank Pierce)
Born: Established: 15 Jan 1950 ; Died: Ceased: Sep 2018
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Peter Corris : A Cascade of Fiction Peter Pierce , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , June 2018;

'Charles Dickens died at his desk in 1870, aged 58, with his crime novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. Robert B. Parker also went out in harness – in 2010, aged 77 – so that there would be no more adventures (by his hand anyway) for the private detective Spenser and his peerless companion, Hawk, although at least readers were spared any more of the insufferable Susan Silverman. Michael Dibdin only reached sixty. The tally of his Aurelio Zen crime novels halted at eleven. Philip Kerr was two years older, his death coinciding with the publication of the thirteenth outing of Bernie Gunther, Greeks Bearing Gifts (2018) (a fourteenth novel is happily in the publisher’s hands). The career of Australia’s foremost crime writer (to call him the Godfather confuses the subject with the craft), Peter Corris, ended in 2017, the year he turned 75, because increasing problems with his sight (caused by diabetes) meant that he could no longer write.'  (Introduction)

1 David Crouch, Colonial Psychosocial : Reading William Lane. Peter Pierce , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 17 no. 2 2018;

'It begins with an anecdote, related at third hand. David Crouch opens his incisive and intermittently exhilarating account of the colonial author, radical and agitator William Lane with Vance Palmer describing how, during ‘a sweltering summer in Brisbane,’ writers Sydney Jephcott and Francis Adams were startled by a ‘ghastly apparition’ on the ‘dusty roadway’ before them. Jephcott takes the limping figure for Mephistopheles. Adams hisses ‘”shut up! It’s Billy Lane”.’ For many in late colonial Australia, Lane was the Messiah rather than the Tempter. Crouch does not venture a biography. Lane is lightly sketched—club-footed, adamantly teetotal, fiercely industrious, geographically restless and—especially through his own weekly magazine the Boomerang—‘able to pour his ideas into the moral marrow of colonial print culture.’' (Introduction)

1 Fresh Spin on Women of Letters Peter Pierce , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 17 February 2018; (p. 18)

— Review of Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , 2001 anthology correspondence biography

'The long subtitle of Marilla North’s entertaining revision of her book Yarn Spinners (first published in 2001) declares this to be 'A story of friendship, politics and a shared commitment to a distinctive Australian literature, woven through the letters of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin and their congenials'.' (Introduction)

1 Hot on the Trail of Dirty Deeds Peter Pierce , 2017 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 December 2017; (p. 16)

— Review of Wimmera Mark Brandi , 2017 single work novel ; Fatal Mistake Karen M. Davis , 2017 single work novel ; The Student Iain Ryan , 2017 single work novel ; And Fire Came Down Emma Viskic , 2017 single work novel

'For Emma Viskic, the challenge of her second novel, And Fire Came Down, is to build on the success of her prize-winning 2015 debut, Resurrection Bay. Appearing again is one of the most intriguing recent protagonists of Australian crime fiction: the deaf private investigator Caleb Zelic, a man self-destructively redoubtable and the cause — as he fears — of harm all around him.' (Introduction)

1 Beyond Belief Peter Pierce , 2017 single work review essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2 December 2017 2017; (p. 16)

'In October 1999, in his 84th year, Morris West died at his desk, as Charles Dickens had, as Robert B. Parker would. His final work, published posthumously in 2000, was The Last Confession, his account of ­Dominican friar and cosmologist Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition in 1600 and whose career and example had long fascinated West.' (Introduction)

1 Riding the Waves of a Turbulent World Peter Pierce , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18 November 2017; (p. 22)

'Two of Australia’s finest writers began by publishing poetry before switching to fiction in the 1970s. David Malouf’s debut novel Johnno appeared in 1975; Roger McDonald’s Gallipoli novel, 1915, four years later. McDonald has taken his time since, assaying rich yet untouched or little regarded seams of the nation.' (Introduction)

1 Harrowing Portrait of a Childhood Lost Peter Pierce , 2017 single work review essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 September 2017; (p. 22)

'For longevity and versatility, Garry Disher has few Australian equals. His tally of books is now more than 50. He has specialised in crime from both sides of the argument. Thus far, eight books feature thief and burglar Wyatt, while there are seven for police officers Challis and Destry. Disher’s latest novel is a signal departure in one way, though lawlessness is central to its business.' (Introduction)

1 Lucy Treloar, Salt Creek Peter Pierce , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 76 no. 3 2017; (p. 191-195)

'International recognition was accorded to Lucy Treloar for her first novel, Salt Creek (2015), when it was short-listed for the 2016 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. (Hannah Kent was the second Australian author to be short-listed, in the next year, for her novel The Good People). Thus Treloar was placed in the nominal company of the great writer who invented the historical novel and whose literary influence—at least in the nineteenth century—surpassed all others.' (Introduction) 

1 Small Miracle and Other Visions Peter Pierce , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24 June 2017; (p. 22)
'In the field of Australian poetry publishing, hope is never lost. However small the print run, limited the critical response, minimal the financial return, presses have always started up and battled on, fuelled by idealism. The latest player has made an ambitious ­beginning. The poetry series from Perth-based UWA Publishing was “established in 2016 in ­response to the decline in poetry publishing ­nationally and to the high volume of quality submissions we receive”.' (Introduction)
1 Quest Leads Sleuth Back to the Dope Zone Peter Pierce , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8 April 2017; (p. 18)
'Milton scholar, political radical, publisher at Wild & Woolley, novelist and critic, Michael Wilding has crafted one of the most remarkable careers of any contemporary Australian writer.' (Introduction)
1 New Dimensions Enrich Gallipoli Sniper's Saga Peter Pierce , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 April 2017; (p. 16)
1 Quirky Sleuths, Slippery Quarry Peter Pierce , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11 February 2017; (p. 18)
'Cairns and its region are still tourist drawcards, although it’s now ‘‘a mature destination’’, in the anxious phrase of operators seeking to rebrand the sights. Artists have called more often than novelists, among them Ian Fairweather, Donald Friend and Ray Crooke. Now far north Queensland has found an ambivalent literary laureate in Candice Fox, whose novel Crimson Lakeis set among ‘‘the croc-infested Cairns marshlands’’, ‘‘stretches of yellow sugar cane … running for kilometres, the walls of a hidden city’’.' (Introduction)
1 The Mischievous Artistry of Heather Rose Peter Pierce , 2017 single work review criticism
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , February 2017;
'Heather Rose’s career as a novelist has been pursued with a calm daring. Her four adult novels are notable for their narrative experimentation and for the different ways in which each tests readers’ credulity. ' (Introduction)
1 Barbed Wire & Cherry Blossoms : Anita Heiss on Japanese POWs and the Aborigines Reconciliation on the Homefront Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 September 2016; The Canberra Times , 3 September 2016; (p. 18) Brisbane Times , 2 September 2016;

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel

'Hiroshi's fortunate fate is to find himself protected in the Aboriginal mission.'In depicting an intimate sideline to the story of the breakout of more than 1000 Japanese prisoners from their camp in Cowra on August 5, 1944, Anita Heiss' Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms explores different territory from her predecessors...'(Introduction)

1 Reconciliation on the Homefront Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3-4 September 2016; (p. 20) The Saturday Age , 3-4 September 2016; (p. 20)

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel
1 Wisdom Tree Review: Nick Earls' Brilliant Use of the Novella to Look at Families Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 19 August 2016;

— Review of Wisdom Tree : Five Novellas Nick Earls , 2016 series - author novella
'Nick Earls' delicate and daring Wisdom Tree is a collection of five loosely linked novellas, each with a suggestive, but not straightforward place name. In Gotham, a musician turned journalist interviews the latest rap sensation Na$sti Boi, "nineteen and ascendant", but essentially "a lost boy". In a stunning shift, the story poignantly ends among children in Central Park. Next is Venice, which denotes a place of intense yearning for Natalie Landry (Australia's second most famous installation artist after Patricia Piccinini) as she vies to be the country's representative at the Biennale. ...'
1 A Sad Sweetness Links Striking Novellas Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 21) The Saturday Age , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 24)

— Review of Wisdom Tree : Five Novellas Nick Earls , 2016 series - author novella
1 Converging on the Playing Field Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 25)

— Review of Griffith Review no. 53 July 2016 periodical issue
1 Literary Intrigue in a Portrait of Hobart Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 July 2016; (p. 20)

— Review of Wood Green Sean Rabin , 2016 single work novel
1 Wood Green Review : Incisive Portrait of Hobart with No Escaped Convicts or Tasmanian Tigers Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 1 July 2016;

— Review of Wood Green Sean Rabin , 2016 single work novel
,Sean Rabin's first novel, Wood Green, is at once a brilliantly sustained comic performance, an anatomy of a small community halfway up a brooding mountainside, an imagining of the processes of making fiction and their human costs. ...'
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