y separately published work icon The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories selected work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1987... 1987 The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

To read these stories is to look into a kaleidoscope - or a peepshow where, against bright backdrops, people and their passions shift and slide with a mysterious dark daring. (Souce: back cover, 1987 edition)

Notes

  • Dedication: For William and Laura Power, my father and mother.

  • Epigraph: There is a certain point in the mind where life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the incommunicable, the high and the low cease to be perceived as contraditions. André Breton

    Proceed from the dream outward. Jung

  • Contains thirteen of the twenty-four stories that appear in Woodpecker Point and Other Stories (1988).

Contents

* Contents derived from the Fitzroy, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,:McPhee Gribble ,Penguin , 1987 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
The Woodpecker Toy Fact, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 3-11)
A Taste of Earth, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 12-17)
I Was as Dumb as Dorothy McGuire, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 18-20)
The Quince Tree, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 21-23)
Higher Animals, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 24-27)
Kay Petman's Coloured Pencils, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 31-37)
Dark Stranger, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 38-42)
The Right Stuff, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 43-48)
Buttercup and Wendy, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 49-55)
Seeking its Level, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 56-60)
Introducing Your Friends, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 61-65)
The Best Thing to Do, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 66-70)
Buff Orpington and the Disasters of Middle Life Buff Orphington and the Disasters of Middle Life, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 71-78)
The Enlargement of Bethany, Carmel Bird , single work short story

Harry Stone runs an optometrist's in Woodpecker Point, where he knows nearly every one of the residents. He is smitten with Bethany Grey, the owner of the Orchid Frock shop across the street, but she has never come in for an appointment.

As Harry's receptionist, Lisa, gets married, he tries to connect with Bethany Grey, but loses his courage. He plans on gifting an enlarged photograph of her at the wedding to her. When he looks at the photo, he sees skulls in her eyes.

Harry gives a smaller version of the photo instead, one without the skulls visible. Bethany thanks him and mentions she's been meaning to make an appointment.

 (p. 79-88)
Cherries Jubilee, or, Whichever Way You Look at It, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 89-91)
Woodpecker Point, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 95-143)
VIEW ENTIRE CONTENTS ( works)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Fitzroy, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: McPhee Gribble ; Penguin , 1987 .
      Extent: 143p.
      Note/s:
      • 'The Woodpecker Toy Fact is my kind of book.' Gerald Murnane (appears on cover)
      ISBN: 0140104720 (pbk)
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1990 .
      Extent: 143p.
      ISBN: 0869141309 (pbk)
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.
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Related Works

y separately published work icon Woodpecker Point and Other Stories Carmel Bird , New York (City) : A New Directions Book , 1988 Z284128 1988 selected work short story This collection of short stories about everyday life hint at the ominous as they skate a fine line between the mundane and the fantastic and familiar images become startling icons. (Source: Copac)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

The Stranger's Eye Carmel Bird , 1988 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Phoenix Review , Spring/Summer no. 3 1988; (p. 65-68)
Untitled Carolyn Van Langenberg , 1987-1988 single work review
— Appears in: The Book Magazine , December-January vol. 1 no. 3 1987-1988; (p. 27-28)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
Love of Tasmania Shines Through Michael Dargaville , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Mercury , 20 June 1987;
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
Untitled 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 18 July 1987;
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
Of Maggers and Mermaids - and Aesthetic Schizophrenia Christina Thompson , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 93 1987; (p. 23-24)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
Local Short Fiction Getting Warmer Helen Daniel , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 June 1987; (p. 16)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story ; Australian Short Stories no. 17 1987 periodical issue ; Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories Jessica Anderson , 1987 selected work short story autobiography
In a Child's Eyes, then Disease, Death Katharine England , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 July 1987; (p. 3)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story ; Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories Jessica Anderson , 1987 selected work short story autobiography
Better a Magger with a Scone Peter Goldsworthy , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4 July 1987; (p. 47)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story ; The Penguin Best Stories of D'Arcy Niland D'Arcy Niland , 1987 selected work short story biography
Of Maggers and Mermaids - and Aesthetic Schizophrenia Christina Thompson , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 93 1987; (p. 23-24)
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
Untitled 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 18 July 1987;
— Review of The Woodpecker Toy Fact and Other Stories Carmel Bird , 1987 selected work short story
The Stranger's Eye Carmel Bird , 1988 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Phoenix Review , Spring/Summer no. 3 1988; (p. 65-68)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 19 Jan 2009 16:07:16
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